Technology

World Awards from BCS...

by Gamini WARUSHAMANA

Sri Lankan operations of the British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute of IT, has shown steady progress and every year two to three students from Sri Lanka secure World Awards, said the Head of the Higher Education, Qualification Department of the British Computer Society (BCS), Sharon Hurd.

Sri Lanka is the second largest market of the BCS and at this year's convocation held on November 1 in Colombo, 526 students passed out and two Global Award winners were selected from Sri Lanka this year.

Sharon Hurd

There is a steady increase in the student enrolment and we hope this will further increase in the years to come. We facilitate and encourage partner institutions in Jaffna to conduct courses for BCS examinations and there is a huge potential in the Northern Province. BCS qualification is very cost-effective and there are students who get BCS qualifications which is equivalent to UK honours degree, she said.

Commenting on the recent change of the BCS to BCS Chartered Institute of IT, Hurd said that the objective of the change is to give a clear message to the market and the world of IT industry. The Chartered IT professional status (CITP) was announced on September 21 this year following extensive industry wide consultation with leading employers, government and academic community. The Chartered status is a new benchmark of IT excellence, she said. There is a whole transformation and not only the logo. With over 50 long years experience in the profession this new standard gives a new benchmark to the IT profession. World knows the Chartered qualifications and we have MBCS, FBCS qualifications and the Chartered membership is the highest. The ICPT assessment process responds to industry and government demands for deeper expertise and relevance from the IT profession. One of the important features is the validation of competence. Successful applicants will be issued with a Certificate of Current Competence which will be valid for five years where they have to undertake revalidation to acquire a new revalidate.

The approach will ensure the senior practitioners not only possess broad technical knowledge, but also demonstrate business experience, commercial accountability and competence in their individual IT field. Applicants need to have eight to ten years of experience with at least three of the last five years in a complex IT role requiring business insight. Professionals will also need to demonstrate competence in their chosen field and interpersonal skills via an online interview with expert assessors, Hurd said.

BCS will also introduce a wide range of new qualifications, products and services. In the new vision and the strategy of the organisation BCS has highlighted six critical IT issues; the digital divide, information vulnerability, poor information management, IT project failures, IT skills shortage and lack of clear career paths for IT professionals, she said.

Intel: The Knowledge Partner for e-Asia 2009

Intel, the world renowned company which supplies microprocessors including Pentium, now a household name, has been chosen by ICTA as the 'Knowledge Partner' for e-Asia 2009.

In a mutually rare opportunity Vice President of Intel Corporation, Navin Shenoy, will address the e-Asia 2009 conference in which about 1,500 local and international delegates including global visionaries, innovators, practitioners, policy makers and representatives from donor agencies will participate.

e-Asia 2009 culminating in the three-day conference and exhibition from December 2 to 4 at the BMICH Colombo, in which the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) will be the hosting partner, will provide the Sri Lankan ICT industry the opportunity for showcasing its potential. The premier ICT event is an open ICT for development (ICT4D) platform for Asian countries to disseminate and discuss the best practices, opportunities, challenges and for promoting growth in Asia.

Intel Country Manager - Sri Lanka, Indika de Zoysa said that Intel Sri Lanka would continue to carry out its mission of meeting and exceeding the expectations of the Sri Lankan clientele and stakeholders including customers, employees, shareholders and the Government of Sri Lanka.

"We hope to launch our world famous 'Class-mate PC' project at the event as our social responsibility initiative," he added.

Welcoming the decision of Intel to play a leading role in e-Asia 2009, ICTA Chief Operating Officer Reshan Dewapura said: "We welcome Intel as the knowledge partner of e-Asia 2009.

We have confidence that as one of the companies that has contributed to the fostering and the rapid growth of the PC industry in Sri Lanka Intel will fulfill its role as Knowledge Partner of e-Asia 2009 in manner that far exceeds all expectations".

About 45 countries particularly from Asia but including USA and Europe will be represented at top level.

About 100 corporates, more than 1000 international delegates and 800 local visitors are expected to participate in the conference while about 30,000 are scheduled to visit the exhibition.

True to its theme "Opportunities for digital Asia", e-Asia 2009 will be a great opportunity for interacting particularly with the countries of the region.

Indeed a great memorable experience of a lifetime is in store for the local and international participants at e-Asia 2009 both at conference and exhibition.

Railway on the right track with SMS based solution

The operations of the Railway Department have been facilitated, bringing comfort both to the department and commuters, thanks to a new ICT solution initiated by ICTA recently.

This latest ICT facility added to the railway currently in its 144th year - since the first train steamed out of Colombo to Ambepussa on December 27 1864 - is based on the Short Messaging System (SMS).

The new system is working successfully and the core reason for the success lies in the facility to pass on information instantaneously to top railway officials including the Minister, ICTA and railway sources emphasised.Called the Railway Short Message System (RSMS) the new system is used for instantaneous communication of information at times of special incidents including delays, collisions and derailments and opening of new stations.

RSMS is used for instantaneous solutions. RSMS helps a great deal in running the railway transport service efficiently, Railways Operations General Manager G. R. G. Chandratileke pointed out.

Speaking further the General Manager said that RSMS helped a great deal in running the railway transport service efficiently.

Explaining the working of the system Railway sources stated as follows: In this process the Controller (Arrangements) or the Sectional Train Controller (Ex: Train Controller Coastal Line) sends a SMS to the predetermined group of officers (currently 30, with provision for increase in this number) including the Minister through the Mobile Service provider's SMS Network.

For this purpose a Computer Interface is used.

Then, once the SMS is seen, the relevant officers tend to take action.

This has become very successful, a senior Railway official said. The system provides for the selection of the predefined standard message formats and change according to the requirements of the current message.

For example, the Train Controller needs to add only the Train number, station, mileage, cause of the delay etc. on to the relevant spaces of the message.

The system also provides for the viewing of the messages that has been sent to verify whether t he message sent was correct.

ICTA Project Manager Rangana de Silva added that since this solution facilitated systematic communication of railway operation information, several advantages accrued both to the Railway Department as well as the railway commuters.

SLT VisionCom ties up with Abans

SLT VisionCom (Pvt) Ltd tied up with Abans with the aim of expanding its sales and distribution for Sri Lanka Telecom PEO TV.

Now, SLT VisionCom is able to offer PEO TV connections to its customers via the wide branch network and franchising units of Abans and A-Z Electronics in addition to country wide SLT Teleshops and SLT Regional Offices. Thus, the customers are offered much more convenience in obtaining their PEO TV connections, since they can simply walk in to their nearest Abans showroom or any of the franchising units, in addition to the SLT Teleshops and Regional Offices.

Speaking of the partnership between the two establishments, SLT Chairperson, Leisha De Silva Chandrasena said, SLT is already in partnership with Abans on numerous avenues such as bill payments, SLT CDMA as well as SLT prepaid products. The collaboration of PEO TV with Abans Limited will be another addition to the umbrella of services which would add value to our customer services. The CEO of SLT VisionCom, Thusha Weerasooriya said that they will be using this initiative to reach out to a wider clientele across the country.