Berita Harian ! - Apple diramal hadapi era suram tanpa Steve Jobs !

STEVE JOBS menunjukkan iPad baru ketika mengumumkan produk itu di San Francisco, Januari lalu.

Peneraju iPhone, iPad letak jawatan, Tim Cook ambil alih

SAN FRANCISCO: Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) Apple, Steve Jobs, meletakkan jawatan itu semalam atas alasan beliau tidak lagi mampu meneruskan tugas tetapi akan terus terbabit dalam mengemudi syarikat, salah sebuah firma teknologi paling berpengaruh dunia.

Tetapi, Trip Chowdhry, penganalisis firma Global Equities Research, menyifatkan pendirian Jobs yang benar-benar memastikan produk dikeluarkan bermutu adalah faktor memisahkan Apple daripada syarikat lain.

Apple adalah Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs adalah Apple. - Trip Chowdhry, Penganalisis firma Global Equities Research

Katanya, operasi pengeluaran Apple tidak akan terjejas buat beberapa tahun akan datang tetapi syarikat itu akan mengalami masalah menghasilkan produk pada masa depan.

“Apple adalah Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs adalah Apple, dan Steve Jobs mewakili inovasi. Anda boleh ajar bagaimana untuk jadi berkesan, upah perunding untuk lakukannya tetapi hanya tuhan mencipta inovasi. Apple tanpa Steve Jobs tidak memberi apa-apa makna,” kata Chowdhry.

Tindakannya dipercayai berpunca daripada masalah kesihatan yang belum diketahui selepas beliau mengambil cuti bagi tempoh yang tidak dinyatakan sejak Januari lalu. Ketua Pegawai Operasi (COO) Apple, Tim Cook, dinamakan sebagai CEO.

Dalam suratnya kepada lembaga pengarah syarikat dan ‘masyarakat Apple,’ Jobs berkata: “Saya selalu berkata, saya akan beritahu jika saya tidak lagi mampu memenuhi tugas dan harapan sebagai CEO Apple. Malang sekali, detiknya sudah tiba.”
Syarikat itu berkata, Jobs memaklumkan peletakan jawatannya dan menyarankan Cook sebagai pengganti dan peneraju utama.
Apple berkata, Jobs dilantik sebagai pengerusi lembaga pengarah dan Cook salah seorang ahlinya.

Pelabur Apple sudah lama bimbang dengan kesihatan Jobs yang dianggap sebagai ‘tukang tilik industri’ kerana seolah-olah tahu apa yang diperlukan pengguna lebih awal daripada orang lain.

Selepas pengumuman itu, nilai saham Apple jatuh 5.4 peratus dalam urus niaga selepas waktu pejabat.

Pengarang Urusan berita online The Mac Observer, Jeff Gamet, berkata peletakan jawatan Jobs lebih bersifat sentimental dan menjangka ia tidak akan menjejaskan Apple.

“Apa yang dilakukan oleh Apple ialah mengesahkannya dan sekarang Tim mengendalikan hala tuju Apple dan Steve masih terbabit memastikan produk dikeluarkan memenuhi taraf Apple.

“Saya jangka meskipun ramai ketika ini bersedih atau takut kerana Steve tidak lagi menjadi CEO, pada akhirnya semuanya kembali seperti biasa,” kata Gamet. – AP

The Star ! - Samsung and other Apple rivals benefit

Assalamualaikum,,"

LAB 3



HONG KONG: Shares in Samsung jumped yesterday and other competitors also benefited as Apple chief Steve Jobs stepped down, with analysts seeing a window of opportunity for rivals of the trailblazing US firm.
Shares in Samsung Electronics, whose Galaxy tablet is sparring with the iPad, jumped 2.4%, while LG Electronics surged 1.27%.
Greg Roh, analyst at HMC Investment Securities, said the next three to four years would be vital for Apple's rivals as the Jobs era wound down.
“South Korean tech companies should work really hard to race ahead in this crucial period of time to catch up with or outpace Apple,” he said.
Bryan Ma, at Singapore-based research firm IDC, stressed that the influence of Jobs had benefited the entire technology industry for both Apple and its rivals.
“It may be getting their (competitors') hearts pumping but it does not mean it will fall into their laps by default. They still have to work for it,” he said.
“It does not matter who the competitors are, Asian or American, for them to capitalise it's whether they have the ability to captivate the hearts and minds of consumers the way Steve Jobs has.”
Samsung has been embroiled in a series of patent lawsuits with Apple over designs and technologies in their smartphones and tablet computers. Analysts said Jobs's departure would have little impact on the legal rows as Cook was unlikely to make any major change in direction for now.
Japan's struggling electronics giant Sony ended 2.06% higher in a strong Tokyo market. HTC, another smartphone and tablet computer maker, rose 1.4% in Taipei.
Chinese computer giant Lenovo, which has launched its own tablet and smartphone at home to compete in an increasingly crowded market dominated by Apple, rose 1.61% in Hong Kong.
China Unicom, the mainland's second largest mobile operator, did not suffer on the Apple news despite being the sole distributor of the iPhone in China. It soared 6.8% in Shanghai, fuelled by a robust first-half net profit. - AFP
“For handset makers it is a welcome relief their most formidable opponent and nemesis has retired,” said Francis Lun, managing director of Hong Kong financial services firm Lyncean Holdings.
On the other hand, Jobs' resignation as CEO hit Taiwanese firms involved in Apple's huge supply chain.
Hon Hai, which assembles Apple's gadgets in China under the Foxconn name, fell 4.63%. Touchscreen maker Wintek dived 7% and Catcher Technology, which builds casings for Apple gadgets, also lost 7%.
Apple makes up around 35%40% of Hon Hai's revenues.
But Jeff Kang, at Seoul-based Daishin Securities, said new CEO Cook could actually benefit Apple suppliers in South Korea and beyond.
“Cook is known to have communicated well with Asian component suppliers when he was in charge of Apple's global supply chain,” Kang told AFP. “He must be more knowledgeable about South Korea than Jobs, and may be less hostile to South Korean suppliers given his past experiences.” - AFP

The Star ! -Sime shines but warns of challenges!

Assalamualaikum..

( LAB 3 )


By Zaidi Isham Ismail
Kuala Lumpur: Conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd has reported record full-year numbers, driven by its plantation, industrial and auto businesses, but warned of tough times ahead.
It expects to post satisfactory results for the year to June 30 2012, but further weaknesses in the global economies could affect its performance.

"There is still room for further improvement across all business divisions and we will intensify efforts to enhance operational efficiency," president and group chief executive Datuk Mohd Bakke Salleh told reporters and analysts at a briefing here yesterday.

In fiscal 2011, Sime, which was dragged by its troublesome energy and utilities unit last year, also rebounded to a record net profit of RM3.7 billion from RM726.8 million before. Revenue hit an all-time high of RM41.8 billion from RM35.2 billion last year.

The group declared a final dividend of 22 sen per share, which brings the total dividend to 30 sen a share, three times more than 2010.

This was better than what it had expected. Sime had set a net profit target of RM2.5 billion and return on equity (ROE) of 11.5 per cent. Its actual ROE was 16.5 per cent. New key performance indicators will be announced in November.

Bakke said all of the group's six business divisions have emerged on a much stronger footing.

The plantation division achieved an operating profit of RM3.3 billion, an increase of 56 per cent compared to that of last year. This was on the back of higher crude palm oil prices, which averaged RM2,906 per tonne for 2011, against RM2,311 a tonne in 2010.

The industrial division registered its highest ever operating profit of RM1.1 billion. The 41 per cent increase was due mainly to strong sales in Australia/Pacific islands, China and Malaysia, as well as better prices across all regions.

The motor division had an exceptionally strong year with a record operating profit of RM633 million, or a 64 per cent increase.

This was driven by continued strong and sustained demand across all regions, especially for the new BMW, Hyundai and Ford models that were launched during the financial year.

The property division showed a slight decline in operating profit to RM456 million. If not for an impairment provision of RM78 million for overseas properties, the contribution from property development would have been higher than the previous year.

The energy and utilities division turned around when it registered an operating profit of RM313 million.

This was driven by the stronger performance of the ports and utilities businesses in China, coupled with the RM98.5 million write-back of provisions from the Maersk Oil Qatar project.

Meanwhile, on news reports that its chairman Tun Musa Hitam is resigning, Bakke declined to elaborate, only saying: "I don't know about that. He is still our chairman right now."

USM - ICT research platform in USM .

Assalamualaikum..

LAB NO.5

ICT Research Platform is embracing on the idea of integrating science & artswith computing. ICT in the past have driven the changes in sciences, it enables and facilitate scientific discovery that can only be effectively done with the help of computers. In the next twenty to fifty years however, it is anticipated that science will drive changes in computing. Hence, it is apparent thatinterdisciplinary research in ICT is embarked to create innovative and creativity solutions of computational resources to address forefront scientific problems. The ICT research platforms are focusing on developing capabilities that are applicable to multiple disciplines, by undertaking specific, well defined projects, thereby developing tools and approaches that can be generalised and shared. The projects (or clusters) aim to bridge the gap (and thus making contributions in this unaddressed area) that left open by each discipline in their ownright, and hence the focus of the projects undertaken will be on the interdisciplinary applicability of innovative computing across the scientific frontier.

One of such projects is the Grid Services and Application Research Cluster (GSARC), combining expertise from diverse scientific and engineering disciplines the main aims of the project are to grid-enable six seed applications and to train human capital in grid computing. The integration of enhanced grid technology to solve computationally challenging problems (e.g. modeling and predicting the vector borne diseases) on reasonable time scales, and to solve combinatorial explosion of test cases for software testing requires close collaboration between the world of computer science and scientific disciplines. However, the bigger impact of this project is on the fundamental sharing of the experiences gain during the course of integrating grid technologies and applications. GeoHazard Research Mitigation Project (GHRMP) is another example of interdisciplinary research mooted under the ICT Platform. This problem oriented project is focusing on landslide hazard mitigation, it forges deep interdisciplinary collaboration between expertise in School of Physic, Math, Civil Engineering, Distance Education, Education Studies, Mass Communication and Computer Science. What special about this project is the inclusion of social sciences experts in a technical-based research; their role is to study the impacts of landslide events to the community in affected area, while another group look at the mechanism to effectively disseminate vital information to the community in the landslide prone area before, during and after the landslide disaster. Another cross disciplined research project is the Delineation & VRTS project which involves medical experts, pharmacists and computer scientists. The goal is to develop an extensible software platform that could be used by the radiologists to examine medical images and annotate these images, thereby transferring their expertise into a machine-readable format or by computer scientists to develop new image analysis and 3D visualization algorithms that could be helpful in tumor delineation and quantification for clinical research and drug testing.

UKM - Hari ICT PTM UKM 2011 !

Assalamualaikum..

LAB No.5 





Hari ICT PTM 2011 diadakan selari dengan usaha menjadikan Pusat Teknologi Maklumat (PTM) sebagai sebuah pusat perintis ICT di UKM. Tahun 2011 merupakan tahun pertama PTM menganjurkan acara sebegini dengan objektif untuk melebarkan jaringan dengan industri ICT untuk ‘Technology Update’, memantapkan jaringan kerjasama antara IPTA dan stakeholder dan dalam usaha meningkatkan kualiti sistem penyampaian perkhidmatan PTM berdasarkan maklumbalas pelanggan.

Dengan tema ‘ICT Pemacu Transformasi’, Hari ICT PTM juga akan menjadi medan kepada warga kampus, IPTA, pelajar sekolah, jabatan kerajaan, syarikat swasta mahupun masyarakat umum khususnya di sekitar Bandar Baru Bangi mengenali dengan lebih dekat perkhidmatan yang ditawarkan oleh PTM. Selain itu, Hari ICT ini juga dapat memberi pengetahuan tentang perkembangan dalam bidang ICT selain mendapat maklumat terkini serta faedah lain melalui pameran, khidmat nasihat, ceramah ICT dan lain-lain lagi daripada syarikat-syarikat ICT terkemuka.

UPM - Majlis Perasmian Black Cube UPM .

Assalamualaikum..

LAB NO.5

SERDANG, 22 Februari – Universiti Putra Malaysia mengorak langkah ke hadapan dalam penyediaan kemudahan teknologi komunikasi dan maklumat (ICT) kepada pelajar apabila melancarkan kedai konsep ICT ‘Black Cube’ UPM di kampus itu. 

Black Cube yang dibuka pada 1 Februari lalu di pintu 5 bersebelahan Padang Ragbi Fakulti Ekologi Manusia merupakan kedai model francais kerjasama pintar antara Koperasi UPM Berhad dan syarikat My Distributor (M) Sdn. Bhd. 

Kedai Black Cube di UPM adalah yang pertama di Malaysia dan akan diikuti oleh kedai konsep yang sama di lima IPTA lain iaitu di Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang dan Sabah. 

Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin berkata Black Cube merupakan kedai konsep francais ICT pertama dibuka di IPTA negara ini dan telah dianugerahkan status Authorized Service Provider.

“ Dengan adanya kedai seperti ini, pelajar UPM tidak perlu lagi keluar hingga ke Kuala Lumpur kerana harga yang ditawarkan di sini setanding dengan harga di luar kampus,” katanya ketika merasmikan pembukaan kedai konsep ICT Black Cube di sini. 

Beliau menghargai usaha UPM membenarkan syarikat swasta bekerjasama dengan universiti membuka kedai di kampus kerana akan memberikan banyak kebaikan kepada pelajar dan staf UPM. 

Ketua Pengarah My Distributor Fadzil Hashim berkata kedai itu menawarkan harga yang berpatutan dengan memberi nilai tambah untuk produk, servis dan perkhidmatan. 

“ Kedai ini bukan saja menjual barang ICT, tapi juga mempunyai kafe yang menjual pelbagai makanan dan minuman dengan harga berpatutan,” katanya yang mensasarkan untuk membuka kedainya di kesemua IPTA di negara ini dalam masa 3 tahun lagi.

(http://www.blackcube.asia/myCMS/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46:blackcubeupm&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50)

UTHM - Pelan Tindakan Pembangunan ICT !

Assalamualaikum..

( LAB NO.5 )

Pelan Tindakan Pembangunan ICT

Pelan tindakan Pembangunan ICT Universiti ini dirangka untuk menjadi asas perancangan ICT yang kukuh dala mencapai halatuju ICT yang akan dilaksanakan dalam dua fasa iaitu; Fasa I : 2001-2005 dan Fasa II : 2006-2011.

Sasaran pembangunan ICT adalah untuk menyediakan prasarana pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang kodusif serta menwujudkan urus tadbir yang berkualiti dan cekap seiring dengan halatuju universiti sebagaimana yang digariskan di dalam Blueprint Universiti. Kepercayaan dan kepuasan pelanggan diambilkira dalam menyediakan pelan tindakan ini serta cabaran-cabaran yang perlu ditangani.

Stategi yang digariskan dalam pelan tindakan adalah seperti e-Pengurusan, e-Pembelejaran, K-Universiti, infrastruktur dan komunikasi dan pembudayaan ICT.

Keseluruhan Pelan TIndakan Pembangunan ICT Universiti yang dirangka akan menjadi panduan dalam memastikan Universiti sentiasa cemerlang dan gemilang.

Matlamat

Menyediakan Sistem Pengurusan Kampus Bersepadu bagi menyokong pembangunan dan pentadbiran Universiti ke arah yang lebih kompetitif dengan memberikan perkhidmatan dan pengurusan ICT yang dinamik dan cemerlang serta memenuhi keperluan pelanggan.

Hala Tuju

Menyediakan prasarana ICT terkini, kondusif dan mencukupi kepada seluruh warga universiti untuk meningkatkan mutu pengajaran dan pembelajaran bagi menghasilkan graduan berkualiti, mempertingkatkan kualiti penyelidikan dan pembangunan(R&D), mempertingkatkan kualiti dan kecekapan pentadbiran serta menjadikan masyarakat UTHM sebagai satu masyarakat yang bermaklumat dan berpengetahuan untuk membolehkan mereka melaksanakan tugas dan tanggungjawab dengan cara yang paling berkesan.

(http://ptm.uthm.edu.my/mengenai-kami/8-pelan-tindakan-pembangunan-ict.html)

3- Thailand's race to ICT literacy

Assalamualaikum..

(3rd LAB) - ISSUE ON ICT - INTERNATIONAL SOURCES

A decade since Asia’s 10th most populous country launched its first ICT Master Plan, the Ministry of Education has successfully improved the computer-student ratio to 1:20 on average.

“The past five years have been focused on setting up the basic IT infrastructure in schools,” Keartisak Sensai (pictured), Senior Advisor (ICT for Education), MOE, said to FutureGov Asia Pacific. “Some of our schools are already running one-to-one computing programmes.”

These are hopeful statistics for those hoping to meet the goals stated in the nation’s current ICT Master Plan.
Wilailuck Chulewatanakul, Director of Economic and Social Statistical Bureau, National Statistical Office, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT), told FutureGov Asia Pacific: “One of the targets of our current ICT Master Plan is to achieve a 50 per cent ICT literacy rate across the entire population of 66 million.”

Next on the agenda is to provide professional development for teachers where they will learn to align the use of technology with pedagogy.  Sensai said: “It is not so much about basic ICT literacy because 80 to 90 per cent of teachers already own personal computers. We are more concerned with how ICT is used to improve teaching in the classroom.”

The Thai MOE is also nursing a keen interest in tablets like Apple’s iPads, believing that these devices can aid learning. “The growing popularity of tablets like the iPad is an area of interest for us. These devices would be great for learning because they are intuitive and easy to use.”
And if iPad prices were to fall in the next five years, “we could roll out tablets with pre-saved electronic books,” said Sensai.

Currently, the country has an internet penetration of approximately 20 per cent, with 30 per cent of households surveyed having at least one computer, and mobile penetration doubling over the last five years to 57 per cent.

Xinghui Guo

Journalist

Tel: +65 6324 7638
Email: xinghui.guo@alphabet-media.com

(http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2011/jan/18/thailands-race-ict-literacy/)

UniMas - NEWS !

Assalamualaikum..

LAB no. 5

Sarawak can serve as tech lab for IT researchers

KUCHING: Sarawak can serve as a technological lab for IT researchers as it offers an insight into the digital divide between the urban and rural users.


Universiti Malaysia Sarawak vice chancellor Professor Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid said it had carried a 12-year project called the e-Bario in the effort to bring technology into the rural highland comunity for the Orang Ulu tribe. The settlement is also the producer of the famous Bario rice.

"Technology makers only concentrate their products for the urban users, but there are many more that have no access to these modern technologies.

"There is a vast potentials in developing new technologies for the rural folks," said Khairuddin said yesterday at the 7th International Conference of IT in Asia (Cita) which started yesterday.

The conference sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society and is collocated with the International Workshop on Internalisation of Products and Systems (IWIP 2011).
The three-day event saw 100 international participants including Google's User Experience Research Manager Dr Patrick Larvie who will be presenting his paper on Thursday.

Unimas's computer science and information technology dean Professor Dr K Narayanan said there were many challenges in carrying out the project including dealing with the reservation from the Bario community.
"When we first started, there were many objections to it, but once they realise and start looking at the bigger picture, they began to accept that it can help in their daily lives.

"With mobile phones coming into the picture, it is now a challenge to bridge that gap to the people there," said Narayanan. He said Unimas is looking at using the e-Bario program to help the farmers in their harvest especially in data collection.

"With rising demand for Bario rice, we want to help the farmers in bringing technology to them in the near future. This is part of the plan that we have for them," said Narayanan.


(http://www.unimas.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=418:sarawak-can-serve-as-tech-lab-for-it-researchers&catid=49:headlines&Itemid=355)

UniMAP - NEWS !

Assalamualaikum..

LAB No.5

29 July, 2011, MEDAN: Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) has spreads its wing to Northern Sumatra and Acheh by establishing collaboration with Koordinasi Perguruan Tinggi Swasta (Kopertis) Wilayah 1 here. This collaboration involved UniMAP student exchange programmes as well as research matters with institutions of higher learning under the patronage of region 1.
UniMAP’s Vice Chansellor, Brig. Jen Dato’ Prof Dr. Kamarudin Hussin said, in order to strengthen the collaboration in the field of internationalization, UniMAP will form the secretariat to monitor and coordinate events that are held together by both universities.  This collaboration is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed on Friday between UniMAP which was represented by Prof Dr Kamarudin and Kopertis Wilayah 1 which was represented by its coordinator, Prof Dr Moehammed Nawawiy Loebis.

       A total of 350 institutions of higher learning in Northern Sumatra and Acheh were under the patronage of Kopertis Wilayah 1. Prof Dr Kamarudin stated that the collaboration will create opportunities to students in Northern Sumatra and Acheh to further their studies in UniMAP. He said, “Unimap which currently has 7000 students will continue to spread its wings especially now that it has become an institute of higher learning that is competitive in the international level.  Prof Dr. Kamarudin further added that Unimap is now actively marketing its expertise and products, which includes sophisticated ICT system, green house and teaching factory.

        A total of 16 institutes of higher learning under the patronship of Kopertis Wilayah 1 have also signed the MoU with Unimap to established cooperation especially involving student exchange programmes. The institutes are Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara, Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi, Universitas Dharmawangsa, Universitas Quality, Universitas Sisigamangaraja XII Tapanuli, Universitas Setia Budi Mandiri, Universitas Amir Hamzah and Universitas Medan Area.

        Also signing the memorandum were Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi Harapan, Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Immanuel, Sekolah Tinggi Teknik Harapan, Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen Informatika dan Komputer Potensi Utama, Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen Informatika dan Komputer Ubudiyah, Politeknik Unggul LP3M, Akademi Perawat Imelda and Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesihatan Mutiara Indonesia.

           Moehammed Nawawiy commented that he is confident that this collaboration will bring benefits to both parties. He stated that “The education industry in this region will be able to expand rapidly through these kinds of cooperation.”  

           In conjunction with the event, UniMAP also held a briefing about the various opportunities that are generated by the university for its international students. The briefing was delivered by the Dean of Graduate Studies Centre, Prof Dr. Mohd Yusof Mashor. Also providing briefings were the Dean of the School of Microelectronic Engineering of UniMAP, Assoc Prof Dr Johari Adnan, the Dean of the School of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship, Assoc Prof Dr Hazry Desa and the Director of Information and Communication Technology Centre, Mr Nasrudin Abd. Shukor.

(http://www.unimap.edu.my/eng/template01.asp?tt=news&newsID=177)

UPNM - NEWS !

Assalamualaikum..

(LAB NO 5)

Kejayaan Cemerlang UPNM di Pameran Invention, Innovation And Technology Exhibition (ITEX) 2011

Author :Pusat Pengurusan Penyelidikan & Inovasi Wednesday, 01 Jun 2011

Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) telah menyertai Invention, Innovation And Technology Exhibition (ITEX) 2011 anjuran The Malaysian Invention and Design Society (MINDS) yang telah diadakan pada 20 - 22 Mei 2011 bertempat di Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur. ITEX 2011 adalah merupakan pameran yang terulung di Asia yang mempamerkan hasil reka cipta, teknologi dan produk yang baru di mana ia adalah sebagai platform bagi menggalakkan idea dan reka cipta. Pameran ITEX turut mempamerkan dan memperkenalkan rekaan dan inovasi yang terkini dari universiti, institusi penyelidikan, pereka individu dan sektor korporat dari negara-negara Asia dan Eropah.



Sebanyak 13 penyertaan dari 10 orang penyelidik UPNM telah menyertai pameran tersebut di mana UPNM telah berjaya mencatat sejarah kejayaan yang cemerlang dengan merangkul 3 pingat emas, 6 pingat perak dan 3 pingat gangsa. Yang lebih membanggakan UPNM juga telah menerima Anugerah Khas iaitu “Special Award For Best Invention In ICT” yang telah dianugerahkan kepada Kapt. Syed Nasir Alsagoff bin Syed Zakaria (B) menerusi projek beliau iaitu “G-NUR – Geo Fence National Urgent Response Alert System”.


(http://www.upnm.edu.my/en/index.php?req=47&id=89)

UUM - NEWS !

Assalamualaikum..

(LAB NO 5).

The ITU-UUM ASP CoE started its operation on 2 January 2007. The Centre serves as the focal point for all rural ICT development initiatives across Asia Pacific region. Our core businesses and activities are to provide executive training programs, knowledge repository, R&D and consultancy services. Our theme of ICT development includes the following:

• Applications and Services – This includes e-government, e-entertainment, e-democracy, Digital Literacy
  
• Policies and Regulations – it covers developing the National Plans and Policies, Intellectual Properties, genders issues
  
• Technology – the technologies include wired and wireless, broadband, network management and operation

The creation of Centres of Excellence (CoE) is an ITU undertaking by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the benefits of developing countries. The formulation of CoE arose as an extension of the concept underlying the Global Telecommunication University/Global Telecommunication Training Institute (GTU/GTII), which entails the use of existing resources in public, private or semi-public institutions concerned by the telecommunication and ICT sector, for the purpose of assisting developing countries.

The primary function of the CoE is to train policy-makers, administrators and regulators, and to establish priorities and regulations in the national sector, as well as to

train corporate directors in the management of telecommunication networks and services.

In the first stakeholders meeting of the International Telecommunications Union Asian-Pacific Region Center of Excellence (ITU ASP CoE) in Bangkok, Thailand on the 19th to 20th October 2006 recently, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) was selected and given the mandate to become the CoE node in the Asia Pacific Region for Rural Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Development.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) responsible for telecommunications and the development of the global information and communication technologies (ICT), especially the telecommunication sector. ITU, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, was established in Paris in 1885 and has been mandated as the UN special agency since 15 October 1947.

The main objective of the ITU is to harmonize the international relations for socio-economic development through efficient use of telecommunication services, which would enable international cooperation in channeling technical assistances to the developing world, in the effort to promote the development of telecommunication network and services in those countries (ITU, 2004).

The management and daily operations of the ITU are handled by a management team formed from among the ITU member states. As part of the UN structure, a country can apply to be a member of the ITU, thus known as the ITU Member State.

Other organizations and corporate sectors can apply to be Sector or Associate Members of the ITU. Malaysia is one of the ITU member states and serves a very active role as a member of the ITU Council. Further information on the ITU can be obtained from http://www.itu.int.

The Global ITU Centre of Excellence (CoE) Projects

The Center of Excellence (CoE) concept was established by the ITU with the aims to develop and strengthen the effort to produce experts in the fields of advanced policy, regulation, management and advanced policy related to telecommunication networks and services.

The CoE initiative is coherent with the increased usage of latest technologies, efforts towards corporatization and global competition as well as clear separation of the regulatory functions from operation services in the ICT industry, especially in telecommunication industry in many developing nations including Malaysia (ITU, 2006). Hence, a CoE is needed to meet the demand for human resource expertise in helping the transition towards the latest information and communication technologies and services.

There are six CoEs established by the ITU around the globe (see Table 1). Since 2003, more than 13,000 telecommunication/ICT professionals and executives have received technical training under CoE programs around the world, as depicted in Figure 1 (ITU-CoE, 2006). In Asia Pacific region, the establishment of the Asia Pacific Center of Excellence (ASP CoE) is inline with Doha’s World Telecommunication Development Conference 2006 resolutions (WTDC, 2006) which among others emphasize the need for human capacity building initiatives especially in the developing nations.

Table 1: The Global Network of ITU CoEs

CoE	Region
ARB	Arab Speaking Country
AFF	Africa (French)
AFE	Africa (French)
AMS	Latin America
EUR/CIS	Eastern Europe/Former USSR States
ASP	Asia Pacific Region

(http://itu.uum.edu.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69:introduction&catid=13:general)