Technology

SLT strengthens long-standing ties with CICL

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the nation's number one integrated communications service provider signed an agreement with the Co-operative Insurance Company Ltd. (CICL) to be their exclusive communication service provider.

The agreement was signed at the CICL premises on March 3, by Ajantha Seneviratne, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, SLT and T.M.S. Nanayakkara, Managing Director, CICL.

CICL has been a long-standing customer of SLT data services, with 29 branches out of 39 branches islandwide having already been connected through SLT Virtual Private Network (VPN).

The recent agreement strengthens the relationship between the two companies by appointing SLT as the exclusive service provider for CICL for both data and voice solutions.

The services provided by SLT includes a total voice and data communication solution comprising a state-of-the-art PABX system, inter-branch voice communication via dedicated high capacity digital E1 connectivity and advanced IP/VPN solution to carry out secure and reliable data communication, which was expanded to all 39 branches, connecting CICL's total branch network with superior wireline connectivity.

This communication solution enables CICL to minimise inter-branch communication costs within their branch network of 39 branches islandwide.

Speaking on the significance of this agreement, T.M.S. Nanayakkara, Managing Director of CICL said, "We hope that this will continue to be a long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationship for both our companies. We selected SLT to be our partner mainly because being the largest telecommunications provider in the country, and also having been in business with them for some time, we feel very confident of their capability to provide us the reliable and premium quality of service that we need, at the most affordable prices, which we appreciate very much.

We also have plans to expand into the Northern and Eastern parts of the country and we feel that Sri Lanka Telecom will be able to facilitate us in achieving our objectives for the future.""Ajantha Seneviratne, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, SLT, said, "The insurance market in Sri Lanka is very competitive and the need to provide the best possible service becomes very essential.

SLT has always been very strong in the financial and insurance sectors, which indicates somewhat our quality and reliability.

We assure CICL of our utmost commitment to provide the highest quality and most reliable services always. Especially when they expand, we assure them that we will be behind them wherever they go."

Aravinda races another year as Havoline brand ambassador

Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC has announced the contract extension with renowned Motor Car racing champion Aravinda Premadasa as Brand Ambassador for Caltex Havoline.

Aravinda has been associated with Caltex since 1997 being a pioneer member of 'Team Caltex' that participated in the Kandy Road Race, the Eliyakanda Hill Climb and the Pannala Gravel Race that year.

"Caltex Havoline is a trusted brand with a proven ability to deliver. The brand stands for commitment towards the highest quality and reliability in technology, innovation and excellence in performance. And these very same qualities are epitomised by Aravinda Premadasa, whose experience in racing has made him among the top racers in Sri Lanka.

We are indeed very proud and privileged to extend our partnership with him as our Brand Ambassador for another consecutive year", said Kishu Gomes, Managing Director/CEO of Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC.Aravinda Premadasa commenced his motor racing career at a very young age, initially winning the Rover Go Kart Championships at the age of 7. Aravinda has since gone on to greater acclaim both locally and internationally.

As a student of the Jim Russells Racing School he was awarded the Most Promising Overseas Driver title in 1995.

"Racing is a sport where every second counts. Speed, focus and skill alone cannot win a race. As a professional, I depend on my engine to sustain through the race. I put my trust in Havoline, because it protects my engine even during the most extreme temperatures. It is a brand I can depend on for guaranteed performance and I am happy to endorse what I believe in", says racing car expert Aravinda, son of veteran race champion Suranjith Premadasa one of the most renowned individuals within the Sri Lankan racing circuit.

The "Havoline" brand has a rich heritage extending back to the early years of the last century.

With this impeccable pedigree, the "Havoline" brand has become widely recognised around the world for its outstanding quality and superior performance.

Havoline is used in more countries than any other brand of motor oil.

Caltex Havoline Branded products signify high quality, reliability and performance.

Formulated with breakthrough fuel efficient technology, the Havoline range of products is guaranteed to provide the highest level of protection and performance in passenger cars operating under all service conditions.

Logiwiz receives ISO 9001:2008 for Quality Management Systems

Logiwiz Limited, the third-party logistics (3PL) arm of the Hayleys Advantis Group, has achieved an important milestone with its quality management systems being certified compliant with ISO 9001:2008.

The certification by DET Norske Veritas (DNV) covers the provision of 3PL services and includes a Quality Policy related to customer needs and the needs of other stakeholders.

Omar Raban, Managing Director of Logiwiz (3rd from left) receives the ISO 9001:2008 Certification from DNV.

The Quality Policy encompasses areas such as the need for customer satisfaction, continual improvement, evaluation of risk and business continuity planning, identifying resources, supply chain processes, and stakeholder management.

"The ISO certification will help Logiwiz further enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, build morale and motivation and improve internal working processes," said Omar Raban, Managing Director of Logiwiz, at the occasion of the awarding of the certification to Logiwiz by DNV.

"The majority of our clients are also ISO certified.

The support we have received from them in going for the certification has been valuable."

He added that the certification would also act as a platform to address business priorities and corporate plans in relation to the organisation's value chain and would renew emphasis on quality management while recognizing it as one of the main company goals.

An ISO 9001:2008 certified company is able to offer its clients much more than just service as it centralises all its operations around internationally accepted working practices, Raban explained.

This results in inculcating best practices in quality management into the organizational culture and bridges the gaps between procedures and productivity leading to greater efficiency which will ultimately benefit its clientele.

This would also bring about many benefits such as lower costs and shorter cycle times through effective use of resources; flexibility and speed of responses to changing market or customer needs and expectations; increased revenue and market share obtained through flexible and fast responses to market opportunities and increased effectiveness in the use of the organisation's resources to enhance customer satisfaction, Raban added.

US media raves over Apple iPad

US media outlets are gushing like star-struck lovers over the Apple iPad in early reviews as software makers hustle to ready programs for its much-anticipated sales launch on Saturday.

The few blessed by Apple to receive review copies of the iconic California firm's latest creation were clearly smitten with the notepad-sized gadget.

"This beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop," said the Wall Street Journal, calling it a "game changer."

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs billed the iPad as "revolutionary" when he unveiled the device in San Francisco in late January, saying it will carve out a home between smartphones and laptop computers.The USA Today newspaper agreed, like most other media branches: the "stunning" iPad is "rewriting the rulebook," it said.

"The iPad is not so much about what you can do - browse, do email, play games, read e-books and more - but how you can do it," said tech reporter Edward C. Baig.

"Apple's tablet is fun, simple, stunning to look at and blazingly fast," he added.

New York Time's business columnist David Carr effused so lovingly about iPad in comments fired off on Twitter that Silicon Valley gossip website Valley Wag playfully likened it to romance.

"Killer apps: maps, books (so sexy!), YouTube (freaky pretty), plain old surfing," Carr tweeted at the microblogging service before evidently slipping off for some private time with his iPad.

"Threshold of devices that you can take to the bathroom has been crossed," he said in a subsequent message. "Not a good bath read, but works well with other appliances."

Carr went on to contend that the iPad makes surfing "far less monogamous."

The Valley Wag story about the tweets bore the headline "David Carr is Having Intimate Encounters with his iPad."

"Between the iPad drooling and April Fool's Day nonsense, I am boycotting the Internet for remainder of today," former Wall Street Journalist reporter turned independent journalist Heidi Moore vowed in a tweet Thursday.

AFP

Preferential rates with 'SMART Abacus'

Maintain a balance of over Rs. 200 and enjoy preferential rates with SMART.

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, launched the latest Pre Paid tariff plan 'SMART Abacus' to coincide with the Sinhala and Tamil New Year season.

SMART Abacus offers preferential rates for all SMART Pre-Paid customers who maintain a balance over Rs. 200 in their account.

All rates are subject to Government taxes and levies. Conditions Apply.

'We are very pleased to bring the excitement of two of the best SMART campaigns to our valued customers,' said Suren J. Amarasekera, CEO, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel. 'Having recently extended our SMART Recharge Bonanza draw till December 2010 which gives a car every month and a laptop every week has grabbed the attention of many customers and SMART Abacus will give our customers yet another reason to enjoy preferential rates and enjoy the many benefits that SMART offers' he stated.

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, the National Mobile Service Provider and the Official Sponsor of the National Cricket Team, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom.

In January 2004, the company launched its fully-fledged 2.5G GSM network that is EDGE/GPRS enabled and designed to operate on dual band.

In December 2007, the company launched its 3.5G HSPA network - the first Super 3.5G network in South Asia.

Further, Mobitel successfully demonstrated HSPA + MIMO technology with down link speed up to 28.8 mbps for the first time in the South Asian region. Investments committed to date in the 3.5G/2.5G networks and service offering amounts to over US$300 mn. The company plans to increase its combined number of base stations to 3000 by the end of 2010.

Intel to support Govt in IT education in schools

Intel is ready to support the Government in achieving its goals in IT education, said the country business manager of Intel in Sri Lanka Indika de Zoysa.

We have strongly positioned our business in Sri Lanka and launched all products in Sri Lanka simultaneously with other global markets.

Same time we have been closely working with the Ministry of Education in bringing IT education to schools, he said.

He said that Intel has recognised some issues that are essential (to address) to achieve the Government's targets and gain best results from the investments on ICT infrastructure.

Intel supports the Ministry of Education on teacher training and content development on education.

Providing IT education for over four million students is the key objective of the Government program. Already the Government has invested to provide the infrastructure facilities. In content development Intel provides lessons and learning materials including three dimension lab activities.

The subject areas covered are mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry and lessons are available for grade 6-11 students in the www.skoool.lk web site that is run by the Ministry of Education and the University of Moratuwa.

Intel provides the educational contents globally in the English medium and the Ministry of Education filters the content to match with the school curricular.

These learning materials are now available in the English medium and are now being translating into Sinhala and Tamil.

In the education sector Intel has already supported the Government's programs by training 9,000 teachers and providing low cost PCs to schools. Intel has donated low cost classmate PCs to schools to bring technology into the classroom.

The low cost Atom Chip introduced by Intel slashed the PC prices and helps to narrow the digital divide.

Promotion of IT education is a huge task and it needs a lot of resources.

Teacher training is an important area and at present 90,000 teachers have received a training or some form of exposure to IT.

De Zoysa said that educating teachers as well as the parents is important to reap optimal benefits from the investment in IT education. People should know how to make use of IT.

Even in buying a PC the people should have an understanding of the evolving technologies where you may not buy outdated computers at a higher price.

Intel is closely working with ICTA in its initiatives to promote ICT. Intel sponsored E-Asia the biggest ICT exhibition held in Sri Lanka. (GW)

Etisalat fosters CSR through OLPC project

Etisalat fosters Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative for children through OLPC Project

Etisalat Lanka (Pvt.) Limited, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, recently contributed towards providing laptop computers to selected schools in rural areas.

The objective of the project, titled the OLPC Project (One Laptop per Child), aims to enhance computer literacy among students in rural schools.

Sanjeeva Samarasinghe (Chief Sales Officer - Etisalat Lanka ) and The Principal of Kukulkatuwa Vidyalaya, Nochchiyagama at the unveiling.

Other corporations that joined hands for this worthy cause are Hatton National Bank and the Charter Foundation of Sri Lanka. Etisalat Lanka is at the forefront in contributing towards improving the literacy and IT skills of children by providing opportunities and resources for the accessibility of knowledge through its CSR initiatives.

In keeping with Etisalat's socially responsible policy, the project aims to provide means through which the academic performance of children will be enhanced by IT knowledge and skills, a vital platform which prepares today's youth for the competitive and demanding work environment. Also, since the entire syllabus is uploaded onto the computers, the students have all the information they need at their fingertips.All students up to Grade 5 have received laptops which have been uploaded with their current syllabus.

Thus far, fifty five students at Kukulkatuwa Vidyalaya, Nochchiyagama, have been fortunate recipients of laptops, made available to them since the beginning of this month.

Commenting on this worthy endeavour, Etisalat Lanka CEO Dumindra Ratnayaka expressed pride at being involved in a project of this nature.

'Children are the foundation for a brighter future, and we are honoured to supply their needs by building a solid academic base for these children to enhance their life opportunities, arming them with the gift of knowledge and skills necessary to further their dreams and aspirations.'

NIIT - MMBL Cyberskills to develop human capital in Sri Lanka

MMBL Cyberskills is the Licensee for NIIT of India in Sri Lanka, and it is a Joint venture between Mercantile Merchant Bank and the Capital Maharaja Organisation.

NIIT, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia's largest IT Trainer, has formed strategic alliances with technology leaders Cisco and Microsoft to develop human capital in Sri Lanka.

As a part of the 'Skill Up - Sri Lanka' campaign, NIIT/MMBL announced the launch of latest technology programs which are mapped to International Certification from these two global technology leaders, namely - CCENT and CCNA programs in Networking in partnership with Cisco and the Professional Series of Certification programs from Microsoft - MCITP (Server Administration).

Cisco and Microsoft Certification mapped programs offered as a part of this campaign will help students chart a career in the global IT industry.

Through these programs NIIT aims to educate students and build awareness about latest tools and technologies, careers in IT and the need to Skill Up. These programs will be delivered using NIIT methodology.

NIIT has become a household name in quality IT education in Sri Lanka since its inception and has been instrumental in developing ICT skills in the country for over a decade.

It offers the latest IT programs mapped to the industry requirement and international vendor certifications.

Ajai Lal, Senior Vice President, International Education Business (IT), NIIT Ltd., said, 'It has been our constant endeavour at NIIT, to introduce programs which prepare students to take on global assignments in IT.

Together with our Technology partners Cisco and Microsoft we are committed to address the rising global talent shortage in this space.'

NIIT offers short and long term IT training programs on latest and emerging technologies, across its four education centres in Sri Lanka since 2000 through MMBL, its only partner in Sri Lanka. NIIT-MMBL has successfully trained more than 10000 students since both joined hands way back in the year 2000. NIIT Sri Lanka has successfully executed three sessions for Open University, UK.