Industry News
Alcatel Wins Contracts with Shanxi Mobile in China
Representatives of Alcatel announced Wednesday the signing of two contracts for a total of Euro 24 million (US$29 million) with Shanxi Mobile Communication Company Limited (Shanxi MCC), a subsidiary of China Mobile. One of the contracts is the 11th GSM network expansion with this operator; the other is a GSM/GPRS network spares contract. The contracts were won through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship Chinese company. This further reinforces Alcatel's position as the No.1 supplier of mobile solutions to Shanxi Mobile.
Under the terms of the network expansion contract, Alcatel will provide and install its industry-leading Evolium GSM/EDGE solutions including Base Stations (BTS), Base Station Controllers (BSC), Transcoder (TC), Multi-BSS Fast Packet Server (MFS) supporting the Packet Control Unit (PCU) functions, and Operation & Maintenance Center for Radio (OMC-R), in seven major cities in Shanxi province, namely Yuncheng, Luliang, Linfeng, Jincheng, Changzhi, Xinzhou and Jinzhong. In addition, Alcatel will provide GSM/GPRS network spares for existing network maintenance. Completion of the projects will extend mobile services to an additional 3 million subscribers in Shanxi.
Alcatel is a leader in providing advanced mobile communication solutions in China, a position the company established as early as 1993 when it introduced the country's first GSM system in Zhejiang Province. To date, Alcatel's Evolium® solutions have already been installed in 25 Chinese provinces.
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TI Opens R&D Center
Texas Instruments Inc., the world's largest maker of processors used in cell phones, opened TI Wireless Technology Center in Seoul.
The Ministry of Information and Communication said Texas Instruments was the 12th foreign IT company ever to set up an R&D center in Korea and the second this year.
The new TI R&D center will focus on development of various mobile multimedia platforms, the ministry said. The institute will seek to combine core technologies of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and TI's already commercialized technologies, to develop next-generation wireless communication multimedia platforms.
The ministry said it will invest a total of 23.5 billion won into the project by 2010, while TI earmarked 23.5 billion won in cash and goods.
The TI-KAIST joint effort is widely expected to enhance the competitiveness of Korea's next-generation handheld devices by tapping into core competencies of the two entities.
TI has the world's most advanced technologies and know-how in nonmemory semiconductors, digital signal processing technologies, handset application designs and solution technologies.
KAIST, on the other hand, has edges in software development in mobile communications, protocol and multimedia.
When the joint R&D is deployed in industrial sites, Korea can expect the birth of a homegrown handheld device platform solution based on TI's DSP technologies, which will then be supplied to local handset makers.
So far, those solutions were 100 percent imported from abroad. Domestic handset makers will be more encouraged to develop various handsets with enhanced price competitiveness, the Information Ministry said.
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Northern Territory Government Selects Fujitsu for $150 Million Desktop Contract
Fujitsu Australia was awarded an AU$150 million (US$107) desktop and helpdesk services contract by the Northern Territory Government. The contract, which will run for four years from June 29, 2006, will see Fujitsu, and local business partners including CSG Services, Territory Technology Solutions, Bizcom, NT Technology and Leading Edge Computers, deliver desktop and associated services to, in excess of, 17,000 Northern Territory Government users.
Under the terms of the agreement, Fujitsu has undertaken to provide higher service levels to regional and remote centres and to embark on a significant desktop and infrastructure upgrade during the first 12 months of the contract period. Fujitsu will also implement a number of initiatives over the contract term, designed to maximise local participation in the delivery of desktop and helpdesk outsourced services and to increase IT skills in the Northern Territory.
Fujitsu’s appointment follows a competitive tender in which Fujitsu was selected as the preferred tenderer on 17 February 2006 over incumbent CSC Australia, Hewlett Packard and Unisys Australia.
Responding to the Northern Territory Government’s request for improved service delivery to rural and remote areas of the Territory, Fujitsu will provide a unique level of service and support by using aeroplanes to service remote sites. This will be facilitated through the introduction of monthly or bimonthly scheduled site visits to remote regions and a fly-in response to meet incident resolution service level agreements. Fujitsu aims to also improve the effectiveness of the Northern Territory Government desktop environment for users and reduce downtime through the use of zero touch provisioning and a centralised redundant file and print server solution that is aimed to significantly reduce downtime.
In addition, Fujitsu will implement a number of industry development programs to sustain and slightly increase current employment levels while boosting the Territory’s information and communication technologies skills base. These include: the creation of a Business Improvement Centre to improve government agency efficiency and processes; the establishment of a Web Solutions Centre (a physical extension of Fujitsu’s Web Solutions Centre successfully established in Perth two years ago) to deliver web solution and hosting services to Fujitsu clients in Darwin, Australia and South East Asia; the establishment of a refurbishment centre for the purpose of refurbishing desktops that will either be donated within the Northern Territory or exported; and three initiatives aimed at enhancing ICT education from pre-school to graduate levels.
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KYOBO Life Insurance Signs a 10-Year Outsourcing Contract With IBM
In the largest deal of its kind for the financial services industry in Korea, KYOBO Life Insurance (KYOBO) has contracted IBM to operate and manage its IT infrastructure.
Under the terms of the 10-year agreement which has a total contract value of approximately 340 million US dollars, IBM will provide IT strategy consulting services to help develop and advance KYOBO's IT vision and strategy. IBM will also manage the company's servers, storage systems, network and desktop computers and operate its data and disaster recovery centers. Additionally, IBM will provide IT skills development and IT management training services, called 'IT University,' for KYOBO's employees.
This outsourcing agreement will provide a reliable and flexible IT infrastructure and a skilled workforce to support KYOBO's long-term vision of being the leading insurance company in Korea and its goal of expanding into north east Asian markets.
KYOBO will be charged fees based on actual computer usage, under IBM's on demand pricing model, providing the company with an IT system which is responsive, flexible and cost-efficient. By converting its IT spending from fixed cost to variable cost, this outsourcing decision will potentially result in significant IT management cost savings, while improving quality of IT services.
KYOBO Life selected IBM Korea from five local and international competitors.
Chang-Jae Shin, Chief Executive Officer of KYOBO Life Insurance, said, "This contract with IBM will allow KYOBO to achieve global IT capabilities, capitalizing on IBM's extensive experiences with global financial companies. I also expect that KYOBO will be more able to focus on high-value development work for our customers, while saving on overall IT costs."
Hwi-Sung Lee, Country General Manager of IBM Korea, said, "IBM is dedicated to working with KYOBO Life Insurance to provide technology and business consulting services which deliver real business value. We aim to support KYOBO's vision of becoming a leading global insurance company by ensuring that it has robust IT and management systems which are able to quickly scale up or down in response to changing market conditions."
The KYOBO Life announcement is the second such deal for IBM Korea in the local Financial Services industry following a deal signed with Allianz Life Insurance Korea last year. IBM Korea was awarded the contract to manage Allianz Life Insurance Korea's IT infrastructure.
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Ken Quaglio to Lead EDS Global Alliances Organization
Representatives of EDS said the company has appointed Ken Quaglio to lead EDS’ Global Alliances organization, including the EDS Agility Alliance, effective immediately. Quaglio will also retain his current role as vice president of EDS Client Experience Management.
Quaglio will report to Michael Boustridge, vice president, Global Sales & Marketing.
The EDS Agility Alliance celebrated its first anniversary in November 2005 by reaching milestones including EDS Agility Alliance partners contributing to more than 178 EDS wins, including 51 new client wins and more than $7 billion in partner-influenced contract signings.
Quaglio has more than 25 years experience in a variety of management consulting and industry positions with corporate clients in information services, technology, government, communications/media, consumer products and manufacturing. Before his role as vice president of EDS Client Experience Management, Quaglio worked for EDS’ Technology Strategy and Architecture team. Quaglio began his career with A.T. Kearney, where he was a vice president and part of the Technology Solutions practice. Quaglio served 13 years in the U.S. Army as a helicopter medical evacuation pilot.
