The company currently has an installed base of over three million of virtual desktops units. It is involved in educational projects across multiple countries such as India, Pakistan, and most recently the Philippines.

As one of the schools included in a project spearheaded by the Department of Education, teachers and grade school students of Nueve De Febrero Elementary School in Mandaluyong City has now installed an e-classroom set-up that has changed the teaching and learning experience.

Using NComputing’s virtualization technology, the school reduced the required number of central processing units (CPU) for a school’s computer laboratory and therefore helped in cutting down hardware cost.

In the lab infrastructure in most of the schools, the devices enable one host system (CPU) to power six user-peripherals (monitor, keyboard and mouse) simultaneously. Instead of having five additional CPUs, only one is being used for every six users.

The NComputing solution takes advantage of today’s PCs that are so powerful that the vast majority of users only need a small fraction of the computing capacity.

The company said it tapped this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by many users. Each user’s monitor, keyboard and mouse are connected to a small NComputing thin-client device, which is then connected to the shared PC.

NComputing’s vSpaceTM desktop virtualization software provides each user with a multimedia computing experience and individual computing sessions.

Organizations typically save at least 50 percent on hardware costs, 75 percent on support costs, and 90 percent of electricity costs by installing NComputing.

PLDT myDSL plan 999 subscribers will have speed upgrades to 1.5mbps from 1mbps that started last February 1. Earlier, the myDSL plan 1995 was upgraded to 3mbps from 2mbps, and plan 3000 was upgraded to 5mbps from 3mbps.

“This set of free DSL speed upgrades is a result of PLDT’s continuous investment in the company’s superior connectivity backbone. We are committed to making our subscribers’ experience more fulfilling and rewarding,” said Ariel Fermin, PLDT Group head for home.

Last year, PLDT also introduced a 10 mbps high-speed service at plan 4000 for homes that require faster Internet connections.

“Our high speed plans are now made even faster to provide the residential demand for fast and reliable connections, making downloading and video streaming seamless. This is our way of making our customer Internet experience more fun and enjoyable at home,” said Dan C. Ibarra, PLDT home marketing head.

“Residential subscribers are now heavy users of Internet with all the new content they can access online. These series of speed upgrades will allow our customers the speed they now require but at the same price,” he added.

Donations from the two Epson subsidiaries in the country were allocated for families in the severely affected barangays of Luinab, Upper Hinaplanon, and San Roque in Iligan City.

The relief goods were coursed through the congressional district office in Pala-o, Iligan.

A total of 1, 109 families in the area were provided with packages containing food and other items.

Earlier, Seiko-Epson, the companies’ global headquarters in Japan provided P1 million to assist Filipino families affected by the typhoon that struck the southern coastal cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

The average mobile connection speed doubled last year and is expected to increase nine-fold by 2016. Mobile connection speeds are a key factor in supporting and accommodating mobile data traffic growth

The expected sharp increase in mobile traffic is due, in part, to a projected surge in the number of mobile Internet-connected devices, which will exceed the number of people on earth.

During 2011−2016, Cisco anticipates that global mobile data traffic will outgrow global fixed data traffic by three times.

The forecast predicts an annual run rate of 130 exabytes of mobile data traffic, equivalent to:

• 33 billion DVDs.
• 4.3 quadrillion MP3 files (music/audio).
• 813 quadrillion short message service (SMS) text messages.

An exabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to 1 quintillion bytes.

The mobile data traffic increase represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 78 percent spanning the forecast period. The incremental amount of traffic being added to the mobile Internet between 2015 and 2016 alone is approximately three times the estimated size of the entire mobile Internet in 2012.

The following trends are driving these significant increases:

1. More streamed content: With the consumer expectations increasingly requiring on-demand or streamed content versus simply downloaded content, mobile cloud traffic will increase, growing 28-fold from 2011 to 2016, a CAGR of 95 percent.

2. More mobile connections: There will be more than 10 billion mobile Internet-connected devices in 2016, including machine-to-machine (M2M) modules — exceeding the world’s projected population at that time of 7.3 billion.

(One M2M application is the use of wireless networks to update digital billboards. This allows advertisers to display different messages based on time of day or day-of-week and allows quick global changes for messages, such as pricing changes for gasoline).

3. Enhanced computing of devices: Mobile devices are becoming more powerful and thus able to consume and generate more data traffic. Tablets are a prime example of this trend generating traffic levels that will grow 62-fold from 2011 to 2016 — the highest growth rate of any device category tracked in the forecast.

The amount of mobile data traffic generated by tablets in 2016 (1 exabyte per month) will be four times the total amount of monthly global mobile data traffic in 2010 (237 petabytes per month).

4. Faster mobile speeds: Mobile network connection speed is a key enabler for mobile data traffic growth. More speed means more consumption, and Cisco projects mobile speeds (including 2G, 3G and 4G networks) to increase nine-fold from 2011 to 2016.

5. More mobile video: Mobile users want the best experiences they can have and that generally means mobile video, which will comprise 71 percent of all mobile data traffic by 2016.

The Cisco study also projects that 71 percent of all smartphones and tablets (1.6 billion) could be capable of connecting to an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) mobile network by 2016.

From a broader perspective, 39 percent of all global mobile devices (more than 4 billion), could be IPv6-capable by 2016.

The awards were for Distributor of the Year, Consumer Sales – Notebooks and UMPC; Distributor of the Year, Consumer Sales – Projectors; Most Outstanding Master Authorized Sales Partner of the Year; Product Manager of the Year – Consumer Notebooks; and Product Manager of the Year – Projectors.

The awards were presented by Manuel Wong, Acer Philippines country general manager, and Agnes Espino, sales and marketing director.

Every year since 2008, Acer Philippines gathers its distributors and channels to witness its ePinnacle Awards, a night of revelation where distributors and channels get to know its achievements vis-à-vis its competitors.

Based on sales performance, marketing strategies and customer support initiatives, this year’s awards were also based on votes gathered from Acer channels.

MSI-ECS has been an authorized distributor and partner of Acer since 2004.

To date, MSI-ECS has been distributing the complete line-up of Acer products ranging from consumer and commercial desktops, consumer and commercial notebooks, monitors, servers, tablets, smartphones, and projectors.

Angara

Sen. Edgardo Angara, in a speech before the Infocomm Technology Association of the Philippines (ITAP), said the DICT is now merely a formality since the only thing left to do in third reading is the voting among the senators.

National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) chair Jocelle Batapa-Sigue said that amendments introduced by other senators will be incorporated in the “revised” bill.

“In a few weeks, the revised bill will be ready for bicameral conference,” Batapa-Sigue in a Facebook post, noting that the House of Representatives has passed its version of the proposed legislation.

“Finally… the ICT think-tank and strategist of the Philippines will find its permanent home in the DICT,” the NICP chair said.

Batapa-Sigue said the DICT may begin operating in 2016, adding that the establishment of the DICT will assure the development of ICT industries in the countryside.

The bill, authored by Angara, calls for the creation of the DICT reorganizing key communications-related agencies under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

On the Senate floor, amendments to Section 2 of the bill (“Declaration of Policy”) were proposed to reflect the role of ICT in disaster risk reduction and management initiatives.

Angara agreed to the proposal, saying “I think that’s a very appropriate and timely addition to the objectives of this bill. In fact, ICT is the enabling instrument in forewarning people of disasters.”

Angara cited the Hyogo Disaster Management Center in the Hyogo Prefecture in Japan which he described as “fully wired and connected to all the disaster centers throughout the world.”

In conclusion, Angara said, “This bill has been in the making for a long time, having been first filed three Congresses ago. The measure will still have to undergo bicameral review before it becomes law, but I am confident that our counterparts in the House see the clear need for a separate government agency dedicated to the development of ICT in the country.”

Romualdo

Camiguin Rep. Pedro Romualdo said he filed House Resolution 2075 to address the complaints of both post-paid and pre-paid subscribers on the upsurge of unsolicited messages containing nuisance information, political gimmickry, promotion of various services and products, spam messages, and even, unsubscribed services which are billed to postpaid subscribers and deducted from the load of prepaid subscribers.

According to Romualdo, there is a need to recommend remedial measures to strengthen the capability of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to monitor and put a stop to the spamming activities.

“There is the possibility that personnel of these telecommunications service providers are in connivance with enterprising individuals to provide and sell them en masse the contact details of their subscribers,” Romualdo said.

Romualdo said allegations that third parties might have sourced the data from a different database might be true but it would only be of a limited nature compared to capturing a good database of post-paid and pre-paid subscribers from these telecommunications service providers that they can utilize to launch and promote various products and services and also create propaganda or misinformation campaign against certain personalities whether in the government or private sector.

“These telecommunication service providers have certain legal responsibilities to their clients to protect by not divulging to any third party without a court order their contact and subscription details and provide their loyal clients with the necessary legal and technical interventions to enjoy their services without these unwanted intrusions to their privacy,” Romualdo said.

Romualdo said the House through the Committee on ICT, chaired by Taguig City Rep. Sigfrido Tinga, should investigate on the complaints and gather inputs from the NTC and telecommunication industry to craft remedial measures to protect the consumers.

Sen. Edgardo Angara making the keynote speech at the ITAP event

The new set of ITAP officers is led by Dondi Mapa, a former commissioner of the CICT who is now the national technology officer of Microsoft Philippines.

At the event, Angara said, “You really are the crucial, critical sector of our economy. I am convinced our nation will be able to grow and prop itself up on account of ICT.”

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology continued, “Now, thanks to ICT, we are directly employing 600,000 young people in the IT-BPO sector and one and a half million in indirect jobs. We’re generating almost $12 billion in foreign exchange and in four years’ time, we see that both employment and revenues could more than double.

“Imagine if our farmers are able to do remote sensing now and be able to tell whether their soil is good, whether crops are going to be bountiful, or whether they’re going to face drought,” the lawmaker said.

Students, accompanied by their research advisers, attended the lectures on basics of eHealth in preparation for the upcoming PUReHealth Awards, the first national undergraduate research competition on eHealth.

The student orientation, spearheaded by the UP Manila National Telehealth Center (NTHC), was held to help students in developing their research entry to the contest.

eHealth experts of NTHC gave lectures on how technology could aid in solving health problems of the country.

Dr. Gene Nisperos, NTHC research associate, discussed the building blocks of health systems, ending with Nora Aunor’s “Walang himala” tagline which emphasized every individual’s role on solving the health care problem of the Philippines.

The orientation also showcased NTHC’ experience in eMedicine, eRecords, eLearning, and Interactive Media for Health.

Dr. Alvin Marcelo, former NTHC director and current PhilHealth Chief Information Officer, also graced the event as speaker on possible careers on eHealth.

During the open forum, most of the students asked about the legal and ethical concerns in dealing with confidentiality of patient information when using eHealth technologies.

Questions on the readiness of the Philippines in adopting health information technology were also raised.

The panelists challenged the students to be creative in developing their entries, especially in thinking of research topics and dealing with the problems that come alongside the research process.

On March 3, NTHC will gather students for a Web-based seminar (webinar) session, as part of efforts to further their learning on eHealth. This will also help them develop their research ideas and clarify existing eHealth innovations with NTHC eHealth experts.

Dr. Ada Lyn Yao, coordinator for capacity building initiatives of NTHC said that the webinar will also be recorded and will be available to registered participants who will miss the session.

Aside from this activity, a series of topic queries and consultations will also be held in coordination with NTHC experts to guide students as they develop their study.

Students and faculty from Lyceum of the Philippines Batangas, Mapua Institute of Technology, Adamson University, Manila Central University, St. Paul University-Manila, De La Salle University-Manila, Ateneo de Manila University, UP Diliman and UP Manila participated in the activity.

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Under Sun Broadband Anti-Bill-Shock Plan 350, for a monthly subscription fee of P350, the plan comes with 35 hours of Internet use. Anything in excess of the consumable Internet usage, subscribers need not buy prepaid load as they will be billed at a cost of P10 per hour on top of the monthly subscription fee.

The advantage of the plan, unlike any other product in the market, lies in the “anti-bill-shock cap” feature which protects Sun subscribers from unexpected charges by putting a maximum limit to the number of billable hours of Internet usage, which is 90 hours.

If a subscriber consumes 90 hours of Internet use or a maximum equivalent of P900 monthly bill, the anti-bill-shock cap immediately takes effect giving the subscriber unlimited hours of online surfing at no extra charge.