Tuesday, January 30, 2007 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

News

BY ALLAN E. LALISAN

Convergys wants home-based call center agents

Ohio-based call center firm Convergys Corp. wants to expand its local employee base to include home-based agents, but must first address issues such as unreliable broadband connections and creating methods to monitor home agents.

In an interview with BusinessWorld, Convergys Corp. business development manager for the Philippines Josemari P. Mercado said current broadband connections in homes generally still did not meet industry standards.

"We have to ensure 100% connectivity. If a customer gets disconnected in the middle of call, he’ll be very dissatisfied. We’re currently studying ways to mitigate the possibility."

At the same time, the company also needs to determine methods to monitor the quality of home-based agents. "Agents working in an office can easily be watched, sometimes without them even knowing they’re being listened to. We’re still trying to come up with a system for home-based agents," Mr. Mercado said.

Other issues, such as a possible modified salary structure for home-based agents, have yet to be determined. Mr. Mercado said there was no time line yet as to when the company would begin employing home-based agents in the Philippines.

He said the company was now testing 300 home-based agents in the U.S., where the broadband infrastructure was more advanced. The company is testing two models for home-based agents: the "full employee" model gives an agent a regular periodic salary, while the "full agent" model gives a salary based on transactions completed.

Mitch Locsin, executive director of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines said the main advantage of having home-based agents is expanding the job’s accessibility.

"It’s really a question of getting good agents. Some of the best call center agents are middle-aged women that are well-educated but have kids at home that they need to take care of."

He noted that there were already home-based agents in the Philippines for outbound calling services like telemarketing. But he said agents for inbound services had different software and logistical requirements that could not yet be handled at home. "I think the Philippines is not yet ready for it. Maybe in one or two years," Mr. Locsin said.

Convergys President and Chief Operating Officer David Dougherty earlier said that a home-based scheme could save the company the capital required to build contact centers.

Convergys is one of the world’s largest call center firms, with over 60,000 employees worldwide, including over 9,500 in the Philippines. Last month, the company said it would open a new call center facility in Cebu City which will house up to 700 new employees. The facility is expected to be operational late in the first quarter of this year.

Convergys serves clients in a broad range of industries, including communications, financial services, technology, and consumer products.

Its operations in the Philippines started in 2003.

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=013007a

Davao businessmen want techno-entrepreneurship

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

News

BY CHRISTIE E. UAYAN, Correspondent

Davao City — Foreseeing an expansion in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector starting 2007, businessmen in this city are moving to ensure that demand for competent workers will be met.

Members of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. are discussing with colleges and universities the possible inclusion of a subject in techno-entrepreneurship.

Andre Fournier, newly elected board member of the Davao chamber, said the group has made a proposal for local schools to include a six-unit elective course on developing students' business interest in the ICT sector.

He also said that this early, two schools have indicated that they are interested in offering the subject next school year.

The Davao chamber has financed the studies of a Davaoeño scholar currently taking up a technology entrepreneurship course in Australia.

The chamber will tap him to help encourage more schools to offer the subject as well as to train individuals who are interested to engage in the sector.

"We must establish long-term foundation for techno-entrepreneurs because we want our people to stay in Davao," said Simeon Marfori II, also a board member of the Davao chamber.

The establishment of the Damosa Information Technology Park along J.P Laurel Avenue, six kilometers from Davao City proper, is seen to further boost this thrust. Developed by the Floirendo Group, the 23-hectare area will house two information technology buildings, a data building, and a commercial and utility building with unlimited power supply.

The information technology park's first phase of development, which aims to support information technology facilities and infrastructure, is estimated to cost at least P20 million.

The company said it will need P150 million more to construct the second phase of the park, which will enjoy incentives such as a four-year income tax holiday, or six years for pioneer businesses; an option to pay a special 5% tax on gross income earned, in lieu of all national and local taxes, except real property taxes; and exemption from payment of import duties and taxes on imported machinery and equipment and raw materials.

Damosa Land's presentation to local media showed the park will be equipped with a high-speed fiber-optic telecommunication backbone and high-speed international gateway facility or wide-area network.

Company official Ed Villaber said the park will "spur economic growth in the city."

Damosa's ICT park is the second in Mindanao after Cagayan de Oro City's Pueblo de Oro Park, which received its accreditation two years ago.

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=121906c

PLDT in outsourcing alliance with Infosys

PLDT in outsourcing alliance with Infosys

THE Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and India’s Infosys Technologies Ltd. have formed an outsourcing alliance to serve Infosys’s clients.
           
Bangalore-headquartered Infosys Technologies is a leading consulting and IT services company and India’s second-biggest software services exporter, with the US as its biggest market.
           
Ventus, the contact-center company of ePLDT, and Infosys BPO Ltd., the business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, will collaborate on offering call-center solutions to Infosys’s clients.
           
Ventus president Rose Montenegro said in a statement Thursday that alliance would provide US companies the best that Asia has to offer. “This is a pioneering partnership between an Indian BPO and a Philippine call- center company,” said Montenegro.
           
Under the agreement, Ventus will host Infosys’s entire call-center activities backed by Ventus’s network operations center. This will involve inbound call-center support and global networking solutions.
           
Infosys BPO Ltd. currently provides BPO solutions for a number of industries that include customer service, finance and accounting, human resource, order management and procurement.
           
Ventus currently has 4,500 seats housed in seven sites. By the end-2006, it expects to increase the number of seats to 5,000. Another 1,000 seats would be added in 2007.
           
“I hope PLDT will end up more than just a lessor of equipment, and that this alliance will lead to both companies setting up joint-venture companies in this field,” said Edgar Bancod, head of research at ATR Kim Eng Securities in Manila. “This alliance will generate more business for PLDT.”
           
PLDT is expanding its call-center business as the growth in mobile-phone services, its main source of revenue, slows. Last month it became the world’s third-largest supplier of transcription services to health-care providers after buying Richmond, Virginia-based CyMed Inc. for $35 million.
           
Bancod said an alliance with PLDT will help Infosys Technologies meet client requirements of diversifying risks by spreading the location of the Indian company’s call centers outside its home country.
           
“This is a very strategic partnership that will enable both companies to reach additional markets and offer expanded services to customers,” said Montenegro.
           
“It’s no longer about which country is better but which country is best suited to provide the specific skill sets that US and British companies require.”
           
PLDT shares rose 3.9 percent to P2,285 at the noon close of trading in Manila. The stock has gained 25 percent this year compared with a 22-percent advance in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index.

Business Mirror
September 22, 2006
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/comp01.php

Opera Integrates BitTorrent in Upcoming Browser

Manila Bulletin

Feb 10, 2006

 

Opera Integrates BitTorrent in Upcoming Browser

 

Opera Software announced that it has teamed with BitTorrent Inc. to include the BitTorrent protocol in the upcoming version of the Opera Web browser. Integrating this popular technology in the Opera browser means faster and more efficient downloads of large files.

Opera and BitTorrent have signed an agreement covering Opera's use of the BitTorrent trademark and access to the BitTorrent search engine from the browser's user interface. A technical preview (TP) of the Opera 9 browser will be made available soon.

BitTorrent's technology will be made available to users of the Opera browser in two ways: first, users can search for torrent files in the Opera browser's integrated search field, and second, when a file has been selected, Opera's Transfer Manager feature will handle the download. As a result of integrating BitTorrent into the Opera browser, users no longer need separate software for the searching and downloading of torrent content.

Opera Software was the first mass-market browser vendor to implement BitTorrent technology. On July 7, 2005, the company launched the first technical preview of the Opera browser (Opera 8.02) which included the BitTorrent protocol. As a result of positive user feedback and further testing, Opera has now decided to maintain BitTorrent in the upcoming Opera 9 Web browser.

"Implementing BitTorrent is a natural choice, considering its efficient use of bandwidth and worldwide popularity. For users this means that they can browse and download content in an application they're familiar with," says Christen Krogh, VP of Engineering, Opera Software.

Opera already supports other file transfer protocols such as FTP and HTTP. BitTorrent is the logical next step in the company's strategy to increase productivity and improve the overall Internet experience for end users.

"By integrating the BitTorrent protocol, licensing the company's globally recognized trademark and collaborating with BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen, Opera is demonstrating leadership among Web browsers and consideration for the open source software ecosystem," says Ashwin Navin, President, BitTorrent. "With BitTorrent Search, Opera will be offering its users a seamless experience for discovering and downloading large files from the thousands of BitTorrent publishers around the world."

BitTorrent is an open source, peer-to-peer protocol for distributing files. It makes use of the upstream bandwidth of every downloader to increase the speed and effectiveness of the distribution as a whole. On average, the faster you upload to your peers, the faster you will be able to download. Because BitTorrent greatly reduces the load on a single server, the technology also benefits organizations with intense download traffic, such as Opera. BitTorrent's agreement with Opera is the first under a soon-to-be announced conformance program for the use of the BitTorrent trademark.

75,000 New Blogs Created Each Day

Manila Bulletin

Feb 10, 2006

 

75,000 New Blogs Created Each Day

 

"The blogosphere is over 60 times bigger than it was only 3 years ago" said Dave Sifry, at Technorati.

In his "State of the Blogosphere," report, Sifry said that over 75,000 new weblogs are created every day, which means that on average, a new weblog is created every second of every day - and 13.7 million bloggers are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created.

Other highlights of the report:

-  Technorati now tracks over 27.2 Million blogs.
-  The blogosphere is doubling in size every 5 and a half months.
-  It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago.
-  On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day.
-  13.7 million bloggers are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created.
-  Spings (Spam Pings) can sometimes account for as much as 60% of the total daily pings Technorati receives.
-  Sophisticated spam management tools eliminate the spings and find that about 9% of new blogs are spam or machine generated.
-  Technorati tracks about 1.2 million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour.
-  Over 81 million posts with tags since January 2005, increasing by 400,000 per day.
-  Blog Finder has over 850,000 blogs, and over 2,500 popular categories have attracted a critical mass of topical bloggers.

Source: http://www.technorati.com/

PLDT myDSL Plan 999 brings broadband to the youth

Manila Bulletin

Feb 10, 2006

 

PLDT myDSL Plan 999 brings broadband to the youth

 

High-velocity PLDT myDSL makes quality broadband Internet more accessible and affordable for today’s Filipino youth through Plan 999. For only P999, subscribers can have ultra-fast uninterrupted access to the Internet at up to 384kbps, making surfing, chatting, downloading software, and online gaming a breeze.

Instead of spending hours scouring for answers in books, PLDT myDSL Plan 999’s reliable high-speed Internet access cuts research time in minutes by making a virtual smorgasbord of information available at the click of a mouse button.  This makes it convenient and economical for young subscribers to do their homework, get in touch with friends and loved ones, and even study on the Internet through online course offerings from various colleges and universities.

“PLDT myDSL Plan 999 is an opportunity for us to bring a world of knowledge to more Filipino students by making broadband Internet access easier and more affordable for them.  We hope this can serve as an effective educational tool that will enrich their minds and encourage them to grow up and become better citizens,” said Carlos Concio, Senior Product Manager, Retail Data Services.

Research has shown that the Internet can contribute positive effects to the youth, especially in their academic pursuits.  A study by published in the July 2005 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine concludes that having a home computer with Internet access is more beneficial to students.

"Consistently, those with a bedroom television but no home computer access had, on average, the lowest scores and those with home computer access but no bedroom television had the highest scores," wrote study author Dina Borzekowski of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Another study released by the US National School Boards Foundation (NSBF) in 2000 affirms Borzekowski's findings. It concluded that most parents and children who participated in the study view the Internet as a positive new force in children's lives.

According to the research, once the children start using the Internet, many of them spend less time watching television and devoted more time reading newspapers, magazines and books. They also increased time for other activities like playing outdoors and doing arts and crafts.

“These studies give us more reason to make quality Internet broadband more affordable for Filipino families so that their children can reap the many benefits of the Internet.  PLDT myDSL Plan 999 is a positive step towards that direction,” said Concio.

PLDT MyDSL is the country's leading high velocity broadband Internet service providing dedicated, unlimited and uninterrupted access to the web. It dominates the DSL market with an estimated 84,000 myDSL subscribers nationwide, commanding a 70% stronghold on small and medium business clients. PLDT myDSL also commands a huge share of the Internet café and network gaming market with its advanced Internet infrastructure and integrated networking facilities.

PLDT myDSL is a part of the Retail Business Group (RBG), a dynamic, vibrant and vital component of PLDT, the country’s largest and most respected telecommunications company. RBG consists of PLDT’s voice usage and acquisitions, data and value-added services. Among PLDT’s voice products are postpaid/billed Landline, NDD, IDD and prepaid services like Teletipid, Budget Card, TouchCard and Fonkard. Core data products include PLDT myDSL and PLDT Vibe.

To know more PLDT myDSL, log on to www.mypad.net, call 171 or visit your nearest PLDT Business Office for details.  For more information on PLDT products and services, visit www.pldt.com.ph.

Sony Ericsson ready for 3G with three models in local market

Manila Bulletin

Feb 10, 2006

 

Sony Ericsson ready for 3G with three models in local market

 

Sony Ericsson, the Swedish-Japanese joint venture has been offering two phone models with 3G functionality early on in the country. A third Sony Ericsson model just released is the company’s first 3G Walkman™ music phone, the Sony Ericsson W900i.

Z800i

 

Sony Ericsson GM Dennis Manzano said that sales of 3G handsets were expected to rise once the technology becomes more prevalent and publicly accepted.  “It's similar to the experience with 1G (analog) and on to 2G (digital), so we are confident that 3G technology will further enhance our lives. It goes hand in hand with the aggressive roll out and marketing of 3G infrastructure,” he said.

3G holds several attractions for mobile phone users.  Not only will 3G phones support real-time video calls and faster video MMS, but video and audio streaming and fast file downloads.  Mobiles games, music files, new applications, images and email attachments can be downloaded in high-speed file transfers and downloads.

These 3G handsets are now available at all authorized Sony Ericsson dealers nationwide.

Sony Ericsson W900i

W900i

 

 

The Sony Ericsson W900i is a fully specified music player, phone and imaging device. 

It features a 470MB user free memory that provides space for between 120 and 240 songs.  The storage capacity is easily increased however by inserting a Memory Stick PRO Duo, currently available in retail outlets at up to 2GB, giving space for up to 1,000 tracks. Music files can be stored in all the key formats: MP3, AAC or AAC+, MIDI, WAV and XMF.

The phone swivels open automatically with a press of a button, revealing a large keypad.  Virtually all functions can be performed with the phone closed, and users can read messages or search through their music library without opening the phone.

As a 3G phone, the W900i offers broadband-fast download speeds and responsive browse capabilities.  It also has a 2-megapixel, autofocus camera with LED flash- or picture-light operated with both hands in a horizontal position for maximum stability.  The camera also shoots video at up to 30fps (frames per second), double the speed of most conventional imaging phones and the playback quality threshold for television.

K600i

 

Sony Ericsson K600i

The K600i is capable of high quality video telephony in a 3G environment and has a 1.3-megapixel camera with an active lens cover for swift activation and extra protection.  Video calls on this handset are done in just a few clicks with the use of the direct video telephony button.  The K600i features an FM radio and a large 1.8-inch, 262,000 color TFD screen.  The K600i also offers a suite of business applications that handle personal information management and PC-synchronization via USB. 

Sony Ericsson Z800i

The Z800i can be used as a broadband modem for a laptop, enabling access to corporate e-mail, Internet and intranet, and also Internet browsing and e-mail access on the phone.

Using Bluetooth™, Infrared or a USB cable, Z800i users can synchronize calendar, contacts and other data with their PC. The phone comes with a 64MB Memory Stick Pro Duo and supports up to 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo.

It has a 1.3-megapixel Motion Eye™ rotating camera, which also has 4x digital zoom, and can be started with just one press of the dedicated camera button.

The Z800i also functions as a music player with a dedicated media player button. It comes with stereo handsfree and Mega Bass™ feature and supports MP3/AAC/M4A file formats.

 

Google, Microsoft to fund new Internet lab

Google, Microsoft to fund new Internet lab

 

Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are setting aside their bitter animosity to back a new Internet research laboratory aimed at helping entrepreneurs introduce more groundbreaking ideas to a mass audience.

 

Sun Microsystems Inc. also is joining the $7.5 million US project at the University of California, Berkeley. The Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed Systems, or RAD, lab was scheduled to open Thursday and will dole out $1.5 million US annually over five years, with each company contributing equally.

 

Staffed initially by six UC Berkeley faculty members and 10 computer science graduates, the lab plans to develop an array of Web-based software services that will be given away to anyone who wants it.

 

Conceivably, the lab's services could help launch another revolutionary company like online auctioneer eBay Inc. or even Google, which has emerged as one of the world's most valuable companies just seven years after its inception in a Silicon Valley garage.

 

"It's interesting to have Google as one of the founding investors because one of the big questions (the RAD lab is trying to address) is, 'How do you get the next Google out there?'" said Greg Papadopoulos, Sun's chief technology officer.

 

The lab already has created something highly unusual -- a bond between Google, the maker of the Internet's most popular search engine, and Microsoft, the world's largest software maker.

 

The two are fierce rivals in search, and their behind-the-scenes rancor has been publicly aired in a recent Washington state court battle triggered by Google's recent raids on Microsoft's work force.

 

David Patterson, a UC Berkeley professor who will be the lab's director, said he was initially was worried about the friction, but "everybody was pretty mature about it."

 

Microsoft senior researcher James Larus said the collaboration on RAD shouldn't be seen as a truce.

 

"We are not going into this with the idea that we are going to be collaborating with Google or that they will be collaborating with us," said Larus, who will be Microsoft's primary liaison with the RAD lab.

 

In a statement, Google said it's excited to be involved in the lab and looks "forward to the exciting ideas and technology that will be developed there."

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems also has had a prickly relationship with Microsoft, although they have been getting along better since Microsoft last year paid Sun $1.6 billion to settle antitrust and patent infringement lawsuits.

 

Sun and Google are highly collegial. In October, they formed a partnership to develop more software tools that might pose a threat to Microsoft's dominant Office suite of word processing and spreadsheet applications.

 

UC Berkeley and other universities increasingly are turning to the private sector to help offset declines in spending by the federal government. Earlier this year, UC Berkeley stuck a deal with Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. to open a research laboratory devoted to online search.

 

High-tech companies have a huge incentive to help make up for lost government funding, said Larus, who got his doctorate from UC Berkeley.

 

"We realize if research isn't being done in university laboratories," he said, "then the pipeline of ideas and computer science graduates coming into our companies eventually is going to dry up."

 

About the Author: Canada.com

 

PLDT to scale down rollout plans

i.t. matters
Wednesday March 22, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

PLDT to scale down rollout plans
BY KERLYN G. BAUTISTA, Reporter

The country’s largest telco the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) will scale down a proposed nationwide expansion after it "inadvertently" included areas that are already covered by its co-members in a large telecom group.

Fernando M. Sobierra III, PLDT counsel, said the company will no longer include in its rollout plan six municipalities in Camarines Sur, eight in La Union, two in Batangas, three in Aklan, 13 in Antique, and one in Negros Occidental.

The municipalities are already served by LM United Telephone Co., Inc. and Iriga Telephone Co., Inc. for Camarines Sur; Northern Telephone Co., Inc. for La Union; Western Batangas Telephone System, Inc. for Batangas; Panay Telephone Co., Inc. for Aklan and Antique; and Victoria Telephone System, Inc. for Negros Occidental.

PLDT is a member of the Philippine Association of Telephone Companies, an organization of private telecom companies that also counts as members telcos that operate in provinces where PLDT will withhold its rollout plans.

"Inadvertently included in the aforesaid list [expansion plan] of municipalities, chartered cities, and provinces are some of the areas currently being served by telephone companies who, with the applicant [PLDT] are also members of the [telco association]," Mr. Sobierra said in a filing with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

"Due to this inadvertence, applicant respectfully manifest that it is deleting from the areas being applied for in the instant case the areas mentioned," he added.

In September, PLDT petitioned the NTC to allow the company to "establish, install, operate and maintain telecommunications services, particularly integrated local telephone service including information and communications technology in certain areas nationwide not yet covered but its CPCNs [certificate of public convenience and necessity] or authorizations."

It proposed to complete the roll-out program within five years in Kalinga, Apayao, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Viscaya; Quirino, Batangas, Cavite, Marinduque, Occindental Mindoro, Palawan, Quezon, Albay, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, Sorsogon, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Nothern Samar, Southern Leyte and Western Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotobato, Maguindanao, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte and Sur, Davao Oriental, Sarangani and North Cotobato.

The industry group’s president, Eric delos Reyes, said the group did not ask PLDT to delete in its expansion plans the areas that are already covered by its members.

Mr. Reyes said there are no new partnerships between the group’s members and PLDT.

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=032206c

 

The rumors were true: eBay to buy Skype for $2.6B

The rumors were true: eBay to buy Skype for $2.6B

 

The rumors were apparently true. At 7:15am this morning, eBay's PR counsel distributed a press release announcing that eBay is indeed buying Skype for $2.6 billion.

To me, the move is reminiscent of Symantec buying Veritas. If you look real hard, you can probably make a connection between the two lines of business. But in the end, Skype will probably be more important to eBay as a stand alone revenue generator than it will be as an integral communications tool to the company's existing auction/commerce platform.

More importantly, the move finally puts eBay into direct competition with Microsoft on at least one front now that Microsoft is acquiring potential Skype-killer Teleo.

 

In some ways, the move thrusts eBay into the same spotlight that's been dominated by the battle between Microsoft and Google (my question where's Amazon?). According to eBay's press release:

 

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY; www.ebay.com) has agreed to acquire Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA, the global Internet communications company, for approximately $2.6 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock, plus potential performance-based consideration.

The acquisition will strengthen eBay’s global marketplace and payments platform, while opening several new lines of business and creating significant new monetization opportunities for the company.

The deal also represents a major opportunity for Skype to advance its leadership in Internet voice communications and offer people worldwide new ways to communicate in a global online era.

Skype, eBay and PayPal will create an unparalleled ecommerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world.

 

The release also quotes eBay president and CEO with an explanation of the business potential that lies in the potential integration of Skype's VoIP platform with eBay's commerce platform

 

"Communications is at the heart of ecommerce and community," said Meg Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay. "By combining the two leading ecommerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the Net."

 

One fact that will probably escape everyone is how quickly Skype's founders turned their company into a fortune. For any two people in this case Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis to turn a start-up like Skype into a $2.6 billion acquisition within three years of founding the company is utterly mind boggling.

[Update: if Skype meets its financial targets, the deal can be worth as much as $4.1 billion to the founders]. Is there any other company in the hi-tech industry's history that has mustered that sort of a buyout on such short order? Nothing comes to the top of my mind..

 

About the Author: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1833