Major benchmark in IT achieved

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

Major benchmark in IT achieved

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has achieved the target of 100 ISO-certified IT companies and 4 CMMI-rated companies, achieving a major benchmark, to attract more IT business from developed economies.

According to a Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) press release the milestone was reached under the PSEB programme, “Standardisation of Pakistani IT Industry”, which was launched in 2003 with a budget of over Rs200 million.

The main aim of the programme was to assist 100 companies in achieving ISO certification, 20 companies in achieving CMMI level 2 or above ratings, and 5 call centres in achieving COPC certification. It may be mentioned that India with a very large and mature IT industry has currently 138 companies that are ISO certified.

CMMI is the framework for process maturity developed by Carnegie Melon University. It is divided into 5 levels with 5 being the highest while COPC caters for the process maturity in Call Centres. This practice has greatly improved the quality of products being developed by these companies in general, and the capacity of individuals implementing SDLC-related processes with greater maturity in particular.

The programme has also helped create about 350 new mid-management-level job opportunities within the IT industry. For further improvement in standards the programme is currently training 10 individuals from the academia and various consultancy companies as SCAMPI Appraisers / CMMI auditors.

Two Pakistanis have managed to reach the third level of the training so far, the highest level; with one topping his batch at the second level in the USA, and the other topping his batch in Germany, and also breaking the world SEI record for the second level. The cost of achieving any level of CMMI for Pakistani companies is also expected to reduce to 20 per cent of the original cost after the training of these individuals is completed.

Yousaf Hasan, Managing Director PSEB commenting on these developments said “These (developments) give us hope that Pakistan will emerge as a destination of choice for global IT outsourcing due to the credibility of these companies, resulting in a greater influx of business, and the creation of new job opportunities for young IT graduates in Pakistan.”

long way to go, I think we need to get more and more CMM to level 4 and above to make some significant mark. step in right direction. well done to Paksitan IT.

2

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

Pretty encouraging stuff mashaAllah. However, maintaining the same standard or even striving for better after getting certified, is important. My guess is next elections are very important from economic point of view. Investors in IT or other fields expect political stability; lets hope for the best.

3

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

Finally...I thought India had taken the rabbits lead on us but here we come!

4

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

^^ they are still on lead with others like south africa, china and eastern european follwing on IT out sourcing.

Pakistan had a slump cause of 9/11, it has kick started again and path of recovery.

One thing I want to mention, our IT again targetting only US markets, they havent exploited EU yet.

5

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

Excellent news. :k:

6

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

Why the comparison with India? Why not be satisfied in your own victories? This comparison is hardly worth mentioning. Indian software export market is several hundred times larger than Pakistan's. There is little chance that Pakistan will catch up, let alone surpass.

mi tht badd
7

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

Oh please... India and Pakistan have a similar climate, location, language, culture etc etc. Heck we were even the same country once. Wiht two things that similar, and one suceeding, its only natural to compare it to the lagger. If our neighbour is good at something, we want to copy their example and be as good as them one day :D

I dont know why Indians mind it so much when pakistanis draw comparisons, even though I clearly admitted I thought India was ahead of us, so its like praise them, isnult them or do nothing, Indians will always have a problem with Pakistanis.

Let me tell you a story. Japan was a small Island nation, isolated from the rest of the world, ridden with earthquakes and tsunamis and very cold weather, it has almost no natural resources and it is the only country to ever be nuked, with not one but two nukes. Whod a given this country a chance to become the second largest industrial empire in the world eh? Certainly not the Indians ;)

Hope, hard work and dedication will keep us moving forward, and if Indians think they should be at ease since Pakistan will never surpass them, they need a reality check.

8

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

I, for one, have nothing but praise for Pakistan's clear effort in this. I hope Pakistan can continue on this. Economic interest is what brings peace to a region.
Having said that, lets not get carried way. Pakistan and India have nothing in common, barring the border regions. The economic engine of India is not in Punjab or UP, it is in the South. South India has nothing in common with Pakistan. Not language, food, customs, culture, and certainly not education levels. The centre in India is no longer in the North, and given that it's best we just consider each other as different as Nepal and Japan.
As for the Japanese economy, ask the Chinese how the Japanese got what they needed to build.

9

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

The reason India is ahead, and Pakistan lags behind right now, is because the British built industries, and education institutes in modern day India, but Pakistan did not have any industries or education facilities following partition.

Pakistan will catch India up. It is silly to think otherwise.

10

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

I disagree. Britain used the Indian subcontinent as a market for its products, not as a production centre.

The subcontinent was used for raw resources for British Industry. India had little or no more industry per capita … and certain, as in pakista, what industry India has was squandered by incompetent politicians until the 1980s.

India and Pakistan were very similar in almost all per capita measures until the late 1980s, when Indian governments began very slowly changing to economic growth policies.

11

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

so as suspected its gone into comparison with India again.

well ^^^ I agree with maddy here. until mid 80's there was no difference and before that even per capita income and poverty situation was better than India, its just good policies in india and worst in Pak taken its toll to create difference in 90's.

Pakistan may not match indian economic size wise, but surely it will catch up according to its own size comaratively.

12

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

Two more IT parks this month

The city is set to get two more technology parks, which are likely to be operational by the end of July 2006, officials said on Friday. A senior official said the two new projects were part of the government plans to set up technology parks under public-private partnership and with the fresh initiative the number of such places would touch three. “The two parks would offer total 150,000 square feet to the companies,” Nasir Afridi, Director Infrastructure Pakistan Software Export Board told The News. “It took almost two months to finalise things and the projects are ready and most probably it would be operational by the end of July.” He, however, denied disclosing locations of the new parks saying the projects would be formally announced by the top notch within next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, a source close to the board said the PSEB struck deal with an auto company to hire space in its building near Korangi Industrial Area. Similarly, he said, the second park was being established in one of the business centres at Tariq Road. “The two parks would have all basic infrastructure required for software houses, call centres or any other IT company,” said Afridi. “The two parks would offer dedicated bandwidth, 24-hour power supply and uninterrupted telephone lines.” The latest addition of two more technology parks would lift the total number of such parks to eight across the country mainly in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The metropolis has, however, currently a single such park situated along Shahra-e-Faisal. The PSEB says it plans more in near future in the mega city and is in talks for the projects both in partnership with private sector and government institutions, with an aim to boost software export and explore new markets. “For this, we are in talks with NIPs (National Industrial Parks) and EPZ (Export Processing Zone) in Karachi,” said Afridi.

He said currently six parks - operating in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad - were fully occupied by the software houses, call centres and other firms offering IT-enabled services mainly offshore clients. “So there is a need and demand to establish more such parks,” he added. “Soon we would be launching more projects in line with the local industry demands.” The country’s software exports crossed $70 million during 2005-06 first time ever registering a 50 per cent growth, as western firms started turning more and more to Pakistan for IT-enabled services to cut costs and raise profits. The country exported $72 million software during the first 11 months of 2005-06 as operators believe Pakistan is catching up very fast in software development and at such rate, the country global IT revenue should reach almost $9 billion by the end of 2009-10. However, the industry players question the PSEB design in the way, which it acquires spaces on rent from private parties and declare that technology park. “There is a difference between space for few firms and a dedicated technology park,” said Jehan Ara, President, Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA).

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=13435

13

Re: Major benchmark in IT achieved

There will always be competition with Bharat. We may be lagging behind some point of time, but we will catch up. It’s not necessary to surpass Bharat in every field.

Pakistan is not stopping Bharat in its own economic progress. So why complaining, dear friend? If you want Pakistan to mind its own business then why do you poke your nose in Pakistani forums in the first place?