I must admit, when I first heard of the National Broadband Network (NBN), as planned by the national government, I thought of it as a progressive move by this administration. The formulation of this plan, which at first was a seemingly harmless infrastructure project, came in the heels of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s SONA last year. In her speech, the President attempted to impress the I.T. industry with the declaration of her “Philippine Cyber-Corridor” concept. Recognizing I.T. and I.T.-enabled services as the next sunrise industries, the Philippine Cyber-Corridor is envisioned to lead the country’s development efforts.

But, in light of a position paper published recently by two U.P. School of Economics (UPSE) professors, I believe we must step back and seriously consider whether or not there is a real need for this multimillion-dollar undertaking that proposes to establish a third telecommunications backbone. Professors Raul V. Fabella, UPSE dean, and Emmanuel S. de Dios are of the educated opinion that there is no real need for the NBN, much less a fourth backbone. The NBN comes side-by-side with the Cyber-Education Project (CEP), which, if implemented, will be another telecommunications grid. In a nutshell, the NBN is supposed to interconnect government agencies (from national down to barangay level) via the Internet. The CEP, on the other hand, is meant for connecting public schools across the country. •••Read on»

The Technical Working Group (TWG) of the newly-activated ICT Task Force met for the first time yesterday, 13 June 2007. During the first organizational meeting of the Task Force, it was decided that the TWG should meet once a week, in order to meet the 3-month deadline for creating the city’s I.T. industry development plan. The TWG now meets every Wednesday at 2:00 PM, at the office of the Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC).

There will, however, be no meetings for the next two weeks. This is because on 20 June there will be the Techno Kapehan at the same time as the TWG scheduled meeting; and in the following week, a number of the TWG members will be in Cebu for the CEBU ICT 2007 event. •••Read on»

On 3 November 2006, the Davao City mayor’s office issued an executive order constituting an information and communications technology task force. Executive Order No. 16 is an offshoot of the proposal by Councilor Pilar Braga to create the ICT Task Force, which is now mandated to create a road map of the city’s I.T. industry. That is, to provide the local government unit with a much-needed development plan.

With the sudden increase in I.T. investments in Davao, the city government has finally adopted a more serious stance vis-à-vis the I.T. industry. In the past, Davao’s elected officials merely paid lip service to the wonders of information technology — having used the word “wonder” makes it rather clear that the government wasn’t yet all that clued-up, doesn’t it? While EO16 deserves our gratitude, we in the private sector see it as a knee-jerk reaction: not a well-planned strategy to address the burgeoning new industry. Nevertheless, the EO does have its merits, and the task force appears to be ready for action. •••Read on»

At this juncture in the Age of Information, practically everybody is already aware of the benefits of deploying I.T.-based systems, of automating processes. Today’s up-take of technology by businesses is tremendous, even in the Philippines. And if it’s good enough for business, I can’t see any reason why it won’t be good for government as well. And yet, our government seems to be resistant to technological change.

Sure, the national government finally established the Commission on ICT, and we now have more public officials paying lip service to the virtues of high-tech stuff. But take a look at I.T. deployment in government and you’ll see what I mean. Take, for example, the Comelec. In my opinion, its failed computerization project should be an embarrassment to the country’s entire I.T. industry. •••Read on»

I am just like most IT professionals in the Philippines today: I make use of both Open Source and proprietary software. I have Windows XP running on my desktop, and I make use of MS Office applications. At the same time, I deploy Web applications built with PHP onto Apache-run servers. I love the productivity that Microsoft programs afford me; and at the same time I bask in the power of open-source when I delve into PHP and MySQL. The freedom (and responsibility!) that I have when coding for open-source platforms is exhilarating.

But, I categorically do not support the current form of the FOSS bill, otherwise known as the Free / Open Source Software Act.

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Last Saturday, I gave a talk on the Davao Region ICT Cluster to a group of MBA students at the University of Mindanao. The event was a symposium on industry clustering, and government representatives from the Department of Trade & Industry - Region XI gave separate presentations on regional development strategies and creating competitive advantage.

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Happy New Year, everybody!

The past year was, unfortunately, a slow year (in my own opinion) for Davao’s IT industry. Perhaps, yes, some companies thankfully posted year-ender reports that showed financial growth. But for the industry as a whole, I doubt that we were much changed from 2005.

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IT IS ONE thing to be "low-tech" out of a personal choice, and quite another if it’s out of being unaware. It might be hard to imagine that there are still people out there who don’t know that the world is well into the Information Age, but it’s a fact. So what’s the big deal about this anyway? Well, my analysis on this is, with a large part of the population that’s ignorant, the country won’t be headed out of the Third World anytime soon.

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FROM THE ONE wifi hotspot early last year, the city now has no less than seven establishments equipped with "wireless fidelity" Internet access. Wifi refers to the technology that enables people to connect wirelessly to the Internet and local area networks. In Davao, the current hotspots are the following: Basti’s Brew in Victoria Plaza; BluGre Cafe in Landco Corporate Centre; Formula Pete’s Auto Clinic (this is actually a coffee shop) in Wheels n’ More Drive; The Marco Polo Hotel Davao; Grand Regal Hotel; and, Casa Leticia.

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