biz-tech

GSMA ‘mWomen’ global initiative:

Mobitel empowers Sri Lankan women

The GSMA Development Fund created the ‘mWomen’ program after identifying a sizeable gender gap in mobile phone ownership in middle and lower income countries in a comprehensive study produced in partnership with Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.

The research indicated that mobile operators and the development community were interested in closing the gender gap to generate both new commercial opportunity and social development.

The official launch of the mWomen program took place in Washington DC, USA on October 7 where Secretary Hilary Clinton graced the occasion.

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel joined the GSMA mWomen global initiative for an afternoon of discussions in the quest for achieving the economic and social empowerment of women globally.

In pursuit of ushering the Nation towards an ‘infocom and knowledge rich society”, and building on the framework developed by the GSMA, Mobitel embarked on its own initiative to support the global mWomen program, styled under the theme ‘SHE’ to enhance the lives of Sri Lankan women through the infusion of mobile ICT among them.

Mobitel strives to achieve this by introducing a suite of tailored services for the Sri Lankan woman, which includes preferential tariff plans for voice and broadband, priority service counter for ladies at main branches, as well as, an interactive voice based lifestyle portal named Liya Waruna, that can be accessed by simply dialing 222, on any Mobitel phone.

Mobitel intends to encourage entrepreneurship among the Women Headed Households and women at BOP (Base of the Pyramid) through vocational training facilitated via ‘mLearning’, a purpose-built globally accessible content delivery and learning platform owned by Mobitel.

The interactive voice based Lifestyle Portal includes modern technology ideas, talent sharing space, health and nutrition tips, inspirational stories on women, cookery recipes, fashion and beauty tips as well as celebrity news.

Priority Service counters offering expedited services to female customers are also set up at its Flagship store and branches at Kandy City Centre, Ratnapura and Hyde Park with other branches also expected to follow suite in the near future.

A special and exclusive broadband offer complete with an array of designer skins for her M3 dongle to further compliment her femininity is also available now at all Mobitel branches.

‘The GSMA is pleased to see Mobitel’s plans close the mobile gender gap by both engaging and empowering women through the use of mobile technology,’ said Chris Locke, Managing Director GSMA Development Fund.

‘We know that mobile has proven to be a major driver for good in society, and in particular we know the ubiquity of mobile phones is bringing life changing benefits to those most in need in the developing world.”

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel CEO, Suren J Amarasekera stated, “It is a privilege for Mobitel to work with The GSMA Development Fund, a global giant renowned for representing the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry.

We share a common passion to infuse the nation with mobile ICT and we believe that empowering Sri Lankan women and propelling them towards this new sphere of communication will play a pivotal role in leading our country towards an ‘infocom and knowledge rich society.

Fujitsu appoints SALA as distributor

Fujitsu appointed Sala Enterprises a leader in introducing innovative technology to Sri Lanka as a new distributor for Sri Lanka. With the new appointment they also launched two new models AH 530 and LH 530 to the local market.

Combining the advantages of Windows 7 with the latest trends in mobility, Fujitsu expanded its line of notebooks laptops in Sri Lanka, launching new ultra-thin notebooks, multi-touch convertible tablets and desktop alternatives designed for business travellers and consumers.

In the inside of the Fujitsu AH530 one can opt for an Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor and the memory RAM can go up to 8GB, while making it more powerful than before.

Designed to the high standards of Fujitsu (a leader in quality and reliability) the Fujitsu AH530 Lifebook notebook provides an easy way to cut costs without cutting performance or reliability.

A smart choice for home and office, the Intel Core i3 processor, with Intel HD Graphics, delivers a revolutionary new architecture for an unparalleled computing experience.

This processor comes equipped with Intel HD Graphics, an advanced video engine that delivers smooth, high quality HD video playback, and advanced 3D capabilities, providing an ideal graphics solution for everyday computing.

The Fujitsu AH530 Lifebook, comes with a Dual-Layer, Multi-format DVD writer optical drive. The Dual-layer DVD-R or RW technology lets you record up to 8.5 GB of data on a single disc.

This nearly doubles the standard DVD capacity of 4.7 GB. The gesture enabled touchpad adds a whole new dimension in going through documents. Scrolling, zooming and sorting documents and images is actually fun. With Intel HD graphics you will be treated to excellent performance, sharp photos, high-definition video playback.

The HDMI port allows to play DVDs on compatible flat screen televisions - bigger is always better cases gaminig much faster and easier.

ICTA initiates career guidance at INFOTEL

The ICTA-initiated an IT-BPO career guidance workshop held on the Students’ Day at INFOTEL 2010.

More than 6,000 students from grade 9 upwards from the Colombo and Gampaha districts participated in the one-day IT-BPO career guidance counselling and seminar workshop held on October 4 at the BMICH, Colombo. All evinced keen interest in attending one of the eight sessions each consisting of a one hour seminar followed by personalized counselling on careers in IT-BPO, while students from grade 12 and 13 showed marked enthusiasm.

The sessions were held in Sinhala, Tamil and English with the seminars addressed by IT BPO Industry experts followed by tailor-made IT-BPO career guidance by about 100 ICTA trained industry volunteers and Ministry of Education counsellors.

The IT-BPO industry has a target of achieving USD one billion in export revenue by 2015. The industry requires to double the workforce to achieve this target.

The accomplishment of these numbers are highly dependent on the awareness created among the youth in Sri Lanka on the opportunities being created in this lucrative industry.

In meeting this requirement the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) in partnership with the Education Ministry and the ICT Industry has been organising IT-BPO Career Guidance Fairs islandwide.

WSO2 dominates NBQSA Awards

WSO2’s flag flew high at the annual National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA) ceremony held at the Galadari Hotel Colombo last week.

The open source technology company was honoured with four awards including overall gold for its Enterprise Service Bus, the WSO2 ESB.

The NBQSA competition recognizes outstanding local achievements in ICT. Now in its twelfth year, the Sri Lankan arm of the British Computer Society conducts the competition with a distinguished judging panel comprising of industry experts and senior lecturers of leading Sri Lankan universities. Each submission is evaluated by the quality of the product demonstration and presentation.

“The competition serves to showcase Sri Lankan ICT products, which is a much needed requirement in the current globalized economical environment and NBQSA has been the only National event of its type, to honour significant technological advancements in the country, since 1998,” NBQSA 2010 Organizing Committee Chairman Vajeendra S Kandegamage said.

“The key to our achievement is the great team work of every member in the WSO2 family. We identify a goal and work towards attaining it together, one step at a time. Without this team effort, this level of achievement would never have been possible,” WSO2 ESB team Software Engineer Miyuru Wanninayake said.

WSO2 walked away with an award for each of their three submissions along with the overall Gold Award.

Their awards included: WSO2 Data Services Server: Bronze Award under Infrastructure and Tools Category, WSO2 Gadget Server: Silver Award under Research and Development Category, WSO2 Enterprise Service Bus: Gold Award under Infrastructure and Tools Category and Overall Gold Award.