CW 0808

viewpoint Sin Chung Kai says farewell to CWHK Page 8
bizpeople
Nick Kirkland
CEO of CIO Connect
Page 10
chinawatch
A tech tourists
guide to Beijing
Page 22
electionspecial
IT candidates for LegCo
in September election
Page 20
backpage
Chinas long march to Olympic
glory leaves Robert Clark cold
Page 38
Hong Kongs source of IT insight http://www.cw.com.hk August 10, 2008 Vol XXV No 7 Price HK$40
I s Ho n g Ko n g r e a dy f o r
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Page 14
08_08-cw.indd 1 7/28/08 3:40:54 PM
August 2008 Computerworld Hong Kong 3 www.cw.com.hk
business
4 upfront
The functionality of constituencies
6 biznews
8 viewpoint
Sin Chung Kai reects on ten years of
public service
10 bizpeople
CIO culture change
Nick Kirkland, CEO of CIO Connect, a peer to
peer community of leading CIOs and senior IT
executives
12 analystwatch
Lifting the fog from the cloud
The term cloud computing is heralding an
evolution of business
18 industryprole
Mature legal system,
neutrality earn Hong Kong
encryption hub status
Encryption technologies
Alan Miller, VP of strategic
planning, Bloombase
20 electionspecial
The 2008 LegCo IT Functional
Constituency seat contest: candidates and
their platforms
22 chinawatch
A tech tourists guide to Beijing, and the
capitals new Apple store
technology
28 technews
29 careerwatch
Hong Kong expands IT certication
scheme
30 techguide
Nortel predicts explosive growth for
hyperconnectivity
32 techfeature
Apple gets the iPhone 3G
right for business
34 eventpreview
CIO Executive Summit
2008, and the Hong
Kong Computer and
Communications Festival (HKCCF)
38 backpage
The secret Games
Chinas long march to Olympic glory leaves
correspondent Robert Clark cold
Check: www.cw.com.hk for daily news
and online features.
c o n t e n t s August 2008
Green may be the new disruptive
technology, but are Hong Kong
enterprises ready to measure their
carbon footprints? Page 14
coverstory
Correction note:
Please note that in the July issue of Computerworld
HK, on page 42 and 43, the executive on the furthest
right in the picture above was incorrectly named
in some prictures. The correct attribution should
have been: Marshall Leung, sales director, Strategic
Accounts, EMC Hong Kong. Computerworld Hong
Kong regrets the mistake.
Is Hong Kong ready
for green IT?
24 casestudy
Quamnet turns to Linux in bullrun
Exploding data demand has forced
investment portal Quamnet to create
a faster and better information
platform on Red Hat Linux
08_08-cw.indd 3 7/30/08 12:33:04 PM
4 Computerworld Hong Kong August 2008 www.cw.com.hk
F
riends from overseas often ask me about
Hong Kongs governmental system. I
tend to use business analogies for our
government. Few places have such an efcient
blend of public and private sectors, which is
partly why Hong Kong has such excellent infra-
structure with a tax rate the envy of most devel-
oped countries.
But no society functions well without an ef-
cient civil service and government services.
Laissez-faire private enterprise is a wonderful
thing, but its a model that fails miserably at
some tasks. Those who saw Martin Scorseses
lm Gangs of New York recall the chaos when
rival reghting gangs showed up
in front of a blazing house and be-
gan ghting over who would earn
the right to extinguish it. The
dwelling went up in ames as the
two rms brawled.
This isnt ctionNew York had
no organized reghting service
at the time. Some services (police,
re, central banking authority and
immigration spring to mind) cant
be let out to tender. Even minimal-
ist governments need essential services.
Hong Kong works well in part because its
citizens participate in a society where reason-
ableness and responsibility are expected. The
HKSARs citizenry is better than most at self-gov-
ernment, and self-sufciency. Frivolous lawsuits
and nonsensical laws arent what this govern-
ment is all about.
But public service is world-class. Heres an
example Ill never forget: being in North Points
Metropole Building when it caught re in 2002.
The reghters who pounded on my door didnt
speak impeccable English, but they were de-
termined to get every person out alive. Despite
ghting a major re in a crowded urban area and
organizing the evacuation of hundreds of resi-
dents, they accomplished that task, and thanks
again to those guys.
Fire chiefs and immigration directors arent
elected, but Hong Kongs Legislative Council is.
LegCo has representatives from both geographi-
cal constituencies and functional constituen-
ciesdistricts and industries. The concept of
functional constituencies is an intriguing one,
and given Hong Kongs business focus, an or-
ganic one.
As the editor of an enterprise-class IT magazine
in Hong Kong, I love the idea that a legislative
councillor can represent the sector we cover edi-
torially. When you consider that the HKSAR also
has a government CIO, the conuence of govern-
ment and technology in Hong Kong is unique.
Hong Kongs outgoing legislative councillor for
IT, Sin Chung Kai, has written a regular column
for Computerworld Hong Kong since 2002, and
his nal column in his current capacity as LegCo
member appears on page 8 of this issue. Its been
a pleasure to edit Mr Sins column over the years,
and Ive learned much about the issues govern-
ment faces in dealing with technology through
reading them. Sin is topical, on-message and
never afraid to tackle the issuesif he felt the
government was headed down a wrong path or
could be handling things better, hed say so, and
hed suggest a different course of action or a new
initiative.
But Mr Sin is taking some time
off, so for the rst time since the
ofce was created, well have a
new Hong Kongs LegCo repre-
sentative for the IT sector. As we
go to press, the two candidates
whove declared their intention to
stand for election to this position
are Charles Mok and Samson Tai
Wai-ho. Just as we did in our Sep-
tember 2004 issue, CWHK pres-
ents the candidates platforms, bi-
ographies and website URLs. Youll nd them
on page 20 of this issue.
According to http://www.voterregistration.
gov.hk/eng/statistic20083.html, 5,749 indi-
viduals are currently registered to votein
the 2004 election, 5,747 individuals cast their
vote. This year, the election is scheduled for
September 7.
If youre eligible to vote, we urge you to
check out the candidates positions, read their
websites and/or blogs, consult your peers, and
vote as you see t. The IT sector, as anyone
reading CWHK knows, functions extremely
well in Hong Kong. But as technology becomes
an ever-increasing necessity in modern busi-
ness, its good to know that our government
has an elected ofcial whose job is to stay in-
formed of the latest developments in tech and
represent the sector.
Stefan Hammond
Editor
shammond@questexasia.com
The functionality of constituencies
upfront
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biznews
Track-and-trace system for mail,
packages
China Post Express Mail Service Bureau has expanded
its Teradata system to provide real-time information
management capabilities. This represents a major up-
ward shift in performance to the level of an Active Data
Warehouse, the courier services provider said. With
this technology expansion and upgrade, China Post
now offers a third-generation track-and-trace system for
consumer mail and packages.
C&T clinches Shanghai datacenter deal
Hong Kong-listed Computer And Technologies said
its subsidiary C&T Integration has won a multi-mil-
lion RMB datacenter deal from Bank of Shanghai.
C&T Integration will design and implement a network
infrastructure based on products from Cisco including
7206, 7609 and 2801 Routers for the banks new data
centre. The contract is scheduled for completion in
September 2008.
More ICT spending in Singapore
The Singapore government is expected to shell
out more cash in the coming months to bank-
roll several new initiatives forming part of the
countrys 10-year iN2015 infocomm masterplan
that target both businesses and consumers. One
initiative will be a Grid Market Hub that offers on-
demand computing services to anyone, anytime
and anywhere on a pay-per-use basis. There will
also be initiatives to develop Singapore into a hub
for game developers to deploy their products to
the world market.
China Internet users top 250 million
China reasserted itself as the worlds largest Internet
market with 253 million total users by the end of June,
the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC)
said recently in its semiannual report.However, despite
maintaining its dominance over the US, total Internet
penetration remains below 20 percent, reaching just
19.1 percent of the population, the report said. CNNIC
denes an Internet user as anyone age 6 and above who
used the Internet at least once per month for any pur-
pose, accessing the Internet from a desktop computer,
laptop or mobile phone.
Korean telco streamlines business
processes through ERP
Koreas SK Communications has deployed its ERP
system on the Oracle E-Business Suite, helping
streamline its business processes and improve overall
efciencies, particularly in nance and human resource
operations. Automated business processes allow SK
Communications to achieve timely delivery of personnel
and business data to decision-makers, enabling them
to make informed decisions based on performance and
protability.
newsbites
I
T budgets of medium-to-large sized enter-
prises in Hong Kong are expected to grow
3.5 percent in 2008, the lowest in Asia Pacic,
according to Gartners results of an IT budget
survey.
Ian Bertram, managing vice president, Business
Intelligence Research, Gartner said recently in
Hong Kong that rms in the SAR spend on distinc-
tive projects that are aimed to bring specic busi-
ness benets such as business process improve-
ment and customer retention rather than generic
ones. Companies in Hong Kong are more calculat-
ing in IT spending when compared to their coun-
terparts in the region, said Bertram. They want
higher ROI.
The analyst rm predicted Asia Pacics enter-
prise IT budgets to grow by an average of 7.3 per-
cent in the year, with mainland companies leading
the region at 9.7 percent. Gartner said it interviewed
623 respondents in Asia Pacic markets including
Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, and
Singapore in late 2007 for its IT budget survey.
The survey results also indicated that medium-to-
large sized rms in Hong Kong spend the highest
proportion of revenue on IT, at 4 percent, compared
to the regions average at 2.7 percent. Bertram add-
ed that 14 percent of Hong Kong enterprises per-
ceive themselves as aggressive adopters of technol-
ogy, compared with 44 percent in India; 34 percent
Gartner: Hong Kongs enterprise IT budget to grow 3.5 percent
A
nalyst and consulting rm, Frost & Sulli-
van, said that the economic slump in the
US hasnt had a major impact on the Asia
Pacic contact center applications market in 2007.
However, the rm predicts that if the US nancial
crisis continues, demand for contact center appli-
cations will dive in late 2008 and 2009, especially
from the BFSI (banking, nancial services and
insurance) sector.
Except for the Philippines where some deals
were deferred, almost all other Asia Pacic
countries saw contact centers increasing their
investments on equipment and applications to
improve customer interaction services.
Revenue in the Asia Pacic contact center
applications market rose 12.2 per cent year-on-
year in 2007, and is expected to grow by 14.2 per
cent this year.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacif-
ic Contact Center Applications Market, nds that
the market--covering 14 Asia Pacic countries--
earned revenues of US$665.4 million in 2007 and
estimates this to reach $1.31 billion by end-2014,
at a CAGR of 10.2 percent from 2007 to 2014.
The top three markets by revenue in 2007 were
Japan which accounted for about 24.9% ($165.5
million), followed by India at 17.8% ($118.6 mil-
lion) and Australia at 15.3% ($101.7 million).
Offshoring and outsourcing operations con-
tinue to thrive in the Philippines, India, Malaysia
and China, as more deals were seen from the
US and Europe due to the cost-friendly factors
such as cheaper labor and overheads of Asian
outsourcing hubs, Shukla said, adding that
the credit crunch in the US is expected to drive
more growth in the offshoring business as cost
reduction takes top priority for US businesses.
He said that countries like Malaysia gained
stronger traction from other ASEAN countries,
while China continues to add momentum from
its burgeoning domestic contact center needs,
as well as from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mature
contact center markets such as Australia, New
Zealand, Japan, Singapore and South Korea saw
increasing migration toward IP-based contact
center solutions. In fact, these countries expe-
rienced a higher degree of replacement and
upgrade exercises by existing contact centers,
rather than new center developments.
Compiled by CWHK staff
in Malaysia; 10 percent in China; and 5 percent in
Singapore.
Gartner noted that Hong Kong rms allocate 26
percent of IT budget for hardware and 21 percent
for software, compared with mainland rms 34 per-
cent for hardware and 21 percent for software.
BI applications is the top technology priority
among companies in the region while security
technologies and enterprise apps including ERP,
CRM and others are ranked as the second and
third most important respectively. Asian rms
top business priorities include business process
improvement and attracting and retaining new
customers, said Bertram. Thus, it makes sense
that BI which can help achieve those tops their
tech priorities.
Asias BPO apps revenue to dive if US credit crunch continues
Larger rms in Hong Kong spend 4 percent of
revenue on IT
08_08-cw.indd 6 7/30/08 12:28:59 PM
In 1998, Sin Chung Kai
became the rst legislator
representing the Information
Technology Functional Constit-
uency (ITFC) in Hong Kong.
He began writing a column
for CWHK in 2002. The staff
of Computerworld Hong Kong would like to thank
Mr Sin and wish him every success in his future
endeavors.
viewpoint
Farewell remarks to the IT Community
Having the privilege of serving the IT com-
munity and the people of Hong Kong is an
honor, and an unforgettable memory. Re-
tiring from LegCo and stepping down from
public life hasnt been an easy decision. But
returning to a normal and private life has its
rewards. I look forward to sharing some of my
deeper feelings with friends and peers in the
IT community.
I joked that my reward for serving in Legco
for the last 10 years was a pair of presbyopia
glasses. Its difcult to keep yourself vibrant
and healthy while spending hours and hours in
the LegCo Chamber, along with other public-
service duties.
As a politician and LegCo representative, its
tempting to over-commit. Many demands are
made of all LegCo reps, but restrictions limit what
I can actually achieve. On whatever action I take,
I need to consider the consequences and their
impact on various parties, and always remind my-
self to be impartial among different organizations
and avoid conict of interests from different ICT
stakeholders.
Three outstanding issues for the
industry
I have three outstanding issues the new repre-
sentativeto be elected on 7 Septembershould
address:
1) Future ICT industry-workers: In recent years,
Ive spent much time visiting high schools and
educating students on the prospect of joining
this industry. However, young people remain
reluctant to join the ICT business. I hope that
the new LegCo member for IT can join me in
this campaign, encouraging more new talent
to join our sector.
2) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). In the past 10
years, we have improved our legislation and en-
forcement in IPR protection. However, the over-
all support for IPR remains low in Hong Kong.
When I visit universities to speak with engi-
neering and computer science students, from
their words and sharing, I feel that their support
or respect for IPR and IPR protection is limited.
This is shameful for our younger generation. We
must instill the values and importance of IPR in
our curriculum, especially at the university level.
3) Innovation. The sector demands that I help
develop the industry, but at the end of the day, the
most important competitive factor in the software
and ICT industry is innovation. If you do not inno-
vate, no matter how hard I or the government help,
products and services will become obsoletecon-
tinual innovation is critical for this sector.
The new GCIO
I met and chatted with the new GCIO, Jeremy
Godfrey, and shared with him my views on the
priorities of the OGCIO. The GCIO must be re-
minded that while he is constantly lobbied on
many different tasks, among all the voices, he
should always remind himself that he is the CIO
for the HKSAR government, not the private sec-
tor. The core duty of the ofce is to take care of
the governments information system.
Pushing the government to employ and deploy
ICT is the most important task, and by doing so,
the government can set examples for other sec-
tors, and benet the ICT industry indirectly.
Among all tasks, procurement policies and
practices command the utmost attention. The in-
dustry has gathered our views at an open forum,
and the OGCIO should listen to the industrys
concern and improve the ICT procurement poli-
cies and practices.
The industry is especially concerned about the
unlimited liability clause and the burden of out-
of-scope tasks. I hope that Mr Godfrey will soon
address these issues.
Three pieces of advice for my suc-
cessor
In the course of my service, I have some guid-
ing principles that I would like to share with my
successor.
First, although I represent the ICT sector,
I have always upheld the public interest as the
priority. While taking care of our sector, we can
never forget that we have to serve the commu-
nity as a whole. The IT sectors interest must not
override public interest.
It is also important to be fair, open and impar-
tial among various ICT organizations during the
course of your service. When I campaigned in
1998, I advocated the importance of liberalizing
the telecom market. Ten years on, the telecom
market is largely liberalized, and the effect on
costs and services has beneted the ICT sec-
tors.
Finally, integrity is the most important thing
for a politician. There are hidden traps and dan-
gers ahead of any legislative councillor. A LegCo
member must avoid any possible conict of inter-
ests. It is important that my successor does not
harm the sector, and maintains a good life and a
good image.
While taking care of our sector, we can never forget that we
have to serve the community as a wholethe IT sectors
interest must not override public interest
Looking back, and looking forward
Sin Chung Kai
08_08-cw.indd 8 7/28/08 3:41:25 PM
nizes the need to change or there is a change in
leadership.
There are examples of CIOs who have been at
organizations and survived numerous leadership
changes and gone through different transforma-
tions and formed key relationships with the new
CEO or CFO and other executives. These are the
CIOs that are at the top of their game and able to
move with the new leadership. They have sup-
ported growth and shown the IT organization to
be agile and able to respond to change.
CWHK: The typical employment period of
CIOs today seems to be becoming shorter. Is
the window of opportunity for CIOs to make a
difference much smaller than before?
NK: In some countries, CIO turnover is quite
high. The UK for example, where the typical
lifecycle is around 3 years. You have to note the
signicant change in recent times in the CIO
role and that expectations have shifted. Its a
fast-moving role and being agile is a key require-
ment. CIOs must be able to affect change and be
able to communicate to business units on how
that change will happen and be able to drive that
change through the organization.
CIOs also have to be effective for managing the
brand and reputation of IT to some extent. You
CWHK: Looking at the CIO rolewhat would
you identify as the key responsibilities to-
day?
Nick Kirkland (NK): Sustaining growth, man-
aging cost, maintaining and delivering perfor-
mance, balancing process excellence with agil-
ity and driving change.but putting all this in a
business context.
CWHK: Much is said about CIOs having a di-
rect report to the CEO as any C-level executive
expects, but is that a requirement for all CIOs
today?
NK: In my mind, the reporting lines are less im-
portant than the relationships. The relationships
across the executive team, the right language of
exchange and being able to communicate at the
right level across the business are most impor-
tant. A lot of the issues that we see come up are
often around alignment which implies something
is out of sync or that there are communications
issues to be overcome. A CIOs rst challenge
is to ensure that alignment is achieved with the
business.
CWHK: Should CIOs feel responsible for cre-
ating an environment for change and estab-
lishing their own role as a transformation
agent rather than wait for the CEO to initiate
this change?
NK: If you have been in the role for a long time
and operated in a silo-type environment with a
keeping the lights-on type of CIO role, its very
difcult to break out of that and initiate change.
The most probable scenario is the CEO recog-
hear how some organizations are seemingly run-
ning like clockwork, hugely efcient and stream-
line but then ask people inside and they nd its
much more complex and less effective that it ap-
pears. The CIO has to manage that perception to
the users and hide any complexity to the users,
which ensures that IT is seen as reliable and re-
sponsive.
CWHK: Could you give an example of how
CIOs can stay closely tuned to user needs and
be seen to be responsive to those needs?
NK: Ive heard from one CIO of a global profes-
sional services rm that when they turned the
companys analytics tools internally they found
that executives who were given the latest tools
and technology were not utilizing this to log in
activities and actions.
Instead it was the secretaries and assistants to
executives that were performing these duties but
they were using out-of-date technology and be-
ing bogged down with this inefcient process.
IT then decided to give these users the nec-
essary tools where it mattered most and IT was
much better perceived. The staff were pleased
that a problem had effectively been resolved by
IT really analyzing the root cause of the problem
and identifying a user-need rather than simply
bizpeople
Nick Kirkland, CEO of CIO Connect, a peer to peer community of leading CIOs and
senior IT executives in the UK, discusses the emerging key characteristics for CIOs striving
to succeed today and tomorrow. Kirkland has also served as CIO at Sony and Penguin Books
By Chee Sing Chan
CIOs also have to be effective for managing the brand and
reputation of IT
CIO culture change
08_08-cw.indd 10 7/28/08 3:41:25 PM
bizpeople
making assumptions about users needs which is
what often happens.
CWHK: Often at smaller rms, CIOs or man-
agers of IT see the challenges, but they struggle
to reach that next level of CIO development.
Do all these principles of being a dynamic
CIO apply to businesses of all scales and ma-
turity?
NK: The principles do scale. Its not about mas-
sive investments in technology. Theres a false
perception that these goals can only be attained
at large rms. If you boil it down to alignment
then CIOs should simply cut their cloth accord-
ingly. For smaller organizations, you still have to
form the necessary relationships and develop an
understanding of what is really required to sat-
isfy the immediate business need.
You deliver on that and the success is relative.
Its not successful for example to implement a
full blown SAP system at an organization that is
too small to effectively use it.
CWHK: Should IT be taking a lead to iden-
tify problems and collectively formulate ways
with the business to solve them using technol-
ogy where possible? Or simply respond when
the need arises?
NK: It will certainly be more effective if IT is in-
volved right at the very start of this process as
opposed to later when most of the plans and ob-
jectives have been set. IT must look for opportu-
nities to make change.
Most of the exciting stuff in IT today is in busi-
ness process management. The action is in en-
capsulating the processes and then rethinking
how people and technology relate to each other.
Its a new way of bringing resources together
thats the essence of SOA and people have yet
to fully grasp that yet. Most still see it as a new
technology and simply go about doing things as
they have in the past which is a mistake and does
not fully realize the potential benets of SOA.
CWHK: As IT teams shift from managing day
to day systems towards more management of
suppliers and service providers, do you envis-
age future IT teams to reduce in size?
NK: We have seen some of that happen through
the wave of outsourcing but there has been some
recognition for some time that IT in many cases
can move to an IT-light structure. But it wont
happen everywhere. Yes you may see some re-
duction in size especially in the programming
areas but in most cases companies are keeping
hold of key responsibilities and domain knowl-
edge around the business-critical areas. Compli-
ance issues in some industries may also require
certain IT resources to remain in-house.
CWHK: Should CIOs feel responsible for
adapting organizations to Web 2.0 computing
models?
NK: If from a business perspective this makes
sense, then yes, CIOs are in a great position to
help make this happen. But it absolutely has to
be driven by the business which has identied
the need to utilize this model to solve a business
problem.
But its clear that customers and all stakehold-
ers will have an increased say in how products
and services will be created and delivered. En-
gaging the customers in the innovation process
will improve the companies that do this effective-
ly, and the emerging social networking tools are
seen as very effective platforms for this type of
engagement.
CWHK: How tech-savvy do the top CIOs need
to be?
NK: Its not a prerequisite to be deeply tech-sav-
vy. CIOs simply need to know how to effectively
leverage technologies to help companies move
from x to y and be able to drive those changes
and improvements. Its really more important to
fully understand all elements of the business and
be able to focus on solving business problems
and not simply use new technology.
CWHK: If you were hiring a CIO today what
would you look for?
NK: Id look for someone to come in and be part
of a leadership team. In years past we would hear
from headhunters that their briefs for CIOs were
very different from the general leadership execu-
tives. Fundamentally senior business executives
had to have a thorough understanding of how or-
ganizations worked, how people tted together
and be able to help drive business goals across
the organization. Whereas the CIO brief was dif-
ferent to that and have a heavy slant on technol-
ogy.
That is changing today and the CIO brief
should be no different to hiring any other senior
executive leader. Its assumed that the incoming
CIO will have a good technology understanding
much like an incoming CFO is going to have the
basic accounting skills.
Kirkland: A CIOs rst challenge is to ensure that align-
ment is achieved with the business
IT must look for opportunities to make change.
08_08-cw.indd 11 7/28/08 3:41:27 PM
US-based David Mitchell Smith,
research vice president and Gartner
Fellow has been a Gartner analyst
for more than 13 years. Earlier this
month he spoke to the Hong Kong
Computer Society about technologies
beyond Web 2.0.
analystwatch
W
hile the term cloud computing has
been used in many contradictory
ways, its heralding an evolution of
businessno less inuential than the implemen-
tation of e-businessin positive and negative
ways.
Overall, there are quantiable trends toward
cloud platforms and massively scalable process-
ing. Virtualization, service orientation and the
Internet have converged to sponsor a phenom-
enon that enables individuals and businesses
to choose how theyll acquire or deliver IT ser-
vices, with reduced emphasis on the constraints
of traditional software and hardware licensing
models.
How will cloud computing be dened, and how
will it evolve?
Virtualization concentration
During the past 15 years, IT industrialization
has grown in popularity. IT services delivered
via hardware, software and people are becoming
repeatable and usable by a wide range of custom-
ers and service providers. This is due to the com-
moditization and standardization of technologies,
virtualization, the rise of service-oriented soft-
ware architectures and, most importantly, the
dramatic growth in popularity of the Internet.
These factors form the basis of a discontinu-
ity that reshapes the relationship between IT us-
ers and IT providers. This discontinuity implies
that the ability to deliver specialized services in
IT can be paired with the ability to deliver those
services in an industrialized and pervasive way.
The reality of this implication is that users of IT-
related services can focus on what the services
provide , rather than how theyre implemented
or hosted.
Just as utility companies sell electricity and
telephone companies sell voice/data services,
IT services such as network security manage-
ment, datacenter hosting or even departmental
billing can now be delivered as a contractual
service. The buying decision then shifts from
buying products that enable the delivery of
some function (such as billing) to contracting,
with someone else delivering those functions.
Call it the cloud
This isnt new, but it does represent a different
model from the license-based, on-premises mod-
els that still dominate the IT industry. The mod-
el has been called utility computing, SaaS and
ASP (application service provider), but a central
theme for global delivery of IT-related services
has been lacking.
How will cloud computing affect the strategy
and direction of IT? In far-reaching ways. Com-
pute facilities allow users to leverage CPU cycles
without buying hardware. Storage services free
users from continual expansion of storage net-
works and servers. SaaS companies offer CRM
services through their multi-tenant shared fa-
cilities so clients can manage their customers
without buying software. This is just a start for
delivering all kinds of complex capabilities to
businesses and individuals.
The focus has moved from infrastructure to
services that allow access to the capabilities pro-
vided. Although companies argue about how
cloud services are implemented, the ultimate
arbiter of success will be how the services are
consumed and whether that leads to new busi-
ness opportunities. The implementation can af-
fect that outcome, but it represents only part of
the overall value proposition.
Changing the status quo
With any issue as high-prole as cloud comput-
ing, theres potential to change the status quo in
the IT market. For IT vendors, the impact could
be huge, as established vendors have substantial
presence in traditional software markets.
However, as new Web 2.0 and cloud business
models evolve towards enterprise-use, much
could change with vendors at different levels of
maturity. The consumer-focused vendors are the
most mature in delivering what we call a cloud/
Web platform from both technology and com-
munity perspectives: most investment in recent
years has occurred in consumer services.
Business-focused vendors have rich business
services and are often mature at selling busi-
ness services. But these vendors have a narrow
cloud/Web platform or do not currently provide
a cloud/Web platform. And many vendors from
different perspectives (traditional IT vendors,
Web-centric vendors or vendors from other
businesses) arent traditional technology provid-
ers but will play an important role in the overall
cloud/Web platform market.
Companies invest billions of dollars in building
up their core competenciesmuch of which goes
into IT. If companies could lease their core com-
petencies to other companies, then they could
capitalize on both brands. Basically, a core com-
petency would drive revenue in the consumer-
facing market and the business service market.
Will your company be a creator or a consumer of
cloud computing serviceor both?
Will your company be a creator or a consumer of cloud
computing serviceor both?
Lifting the fog from the cloud
David Mitchell Smith
08_08-cw.indd 12 7/28/08 3:41:28 PM
The Coming of the Age of
Internet Access Management
W
ith the help of the internet
sweeping across the globe,
various industries and circles
such as the government, education,
nance, energy and manufacturing,
etc. could gain more information and
opportunities. Information transmission
based on the internet had greatly lower
the cost of operating and communicating
in the organization whose work can
be able to be accomplished with high
efciency.
However, without highly efcient
management of the internet access,
the internet resources in many
enterprises and organizations are
abused, raising a series of problems in
security, efciency and the law.
Loss of efciency is the rst and
foremost problem among them.
Statistics tell us that 37% of the
employees working time in Hong
Kongs companies is spent in surng
on the internet, playing online games,
buying and selling stocks online and
conducting online chatting, etc., which
gravely decrease their efciency in
work. For those companies with the
number of employees of about 1000
as much as 3million RMB cost of labor
value would be lost for the abuse of
the internet within one year.
At the same time, functions of
the internet are going even worse.
Downloading tools like P2P could
take up too much internet bandwidth,
interfering the regular use of the system.
Because of the failure of the method
of blocking them, it has become a
severe challenge to almost all the
organizations if the internet resources
can be reasonably made use of.
In addition, intranet can send out
information without control, easily
giving away condential information
and bringing legal crisis to the
organization. Research results of the
scientic and research departments,
marketing strategy of marketing
departments and national condential
information of government ministries
can easily be given away by those
individuals lacking in sense of keeping
secret on the internet through chatting
tools, e-mails, or BBS, etc., some
unsuitable and illegal sayings made
by employees on the internet during
the working time can also cause the
organization to be engaged in legal
crisis passively.
Unlike the traditional security threats
the usual service such as Web, FTP and
mail, etc., but also conne and control
various P2P like FOXY, QQ, BT, MSN
and Skype, etc. In terms of blocking
IM, SINFOR creatively puts forward
the Deep Content Diagnosis and
Behaviours Diagnosis (BD) to analyze
and judge the features of data package
sent and received by chatting tools.
Besides, AC has provides a set
of humanized time management
strategy, through which the network
manager can distribute reasonable
time for accessing internet to different
departments and individuals in
accordance with concrete conditions
and offer internet access rights in
line with time differences, effectively
upgrading the employees working
efciency in the organizations.
Overall Optimization of Internet
Bandwidth
Through Network Trafc Intelligence
Analysis (NTIA), the network manager
can assign xed bandwidth to
different departments with different
purposes, not only solving the problem
of various P2P which takes up too
much bandwidth, but also improving
management of network resources. At
the same time, AC equipments carry
forward the advanced technologies
of SINFORs other product lines. For
example: by using multi-line load
balance technology, intranet users can
be automatically provided optimized
network port when accessing networks
by different operators; by being
equipped with bandwidth plus strategy,
multiple internet lines can be integrated
into one overall port in order to obtain
better internet access feelings.
Protecting Information Access,
Avoiding Legal Crisis
As a specialized internet access
management product, AC can
comprehensively record and keep all
the information sent by the intranet.
In addition to its usual application
in recording URL, submitting and
downloading FTP and uploading
message in BBS, SINFOR is the rst
supplier in China to supervise and
record the encrypted chatting contents
by Real-time Monitor For Message
(RMM), such as IM whose content can
be encoded.
Apart from that, AC can support
abundant Data Center and supply
various direct and picturized diary
and statements to our customers
admininstrators for the purpose of
learning the use of network bandwidth
as well as the employees accessing the
internet during the working time so as to
better protect our customers assets.
Guo Dongzi, chief inspector of
SINFORs AC product line, said:
As the scale of industrial network
for Hong Kong users is going wider,
more and more users begin taking
into consideration the advancement
of working efciently, optimization of
internet bandwidth, avoiding network
leakage by way of internet access
management products. We will also
constantly hear from our customers
requests and needs to improve their
network productivity by applying
advanced technologies.
If you feel interested in
this solution, please
call 3427 9160
or email to
simon@sinfors.hk
Brought to you by Sinfor
on the internet, the roots of the above-
mentioned problems arise from the
intranet and appear in the application
system, leading the customers to
the risk of application layer. As the
security sense of most customers has
long been conned to the traditional
gateway (rewall), network forefront
(anti-virus, loophole scanning), the
security threats from the intranet
seem to be the most realistic problem
facing the most majority of the
network manager in the days when the
information security becomes more
signicant. Specialized internet access
management solution encountered by
the customers.
To be a forward network equipment
supplier, SINFOR has put forward
AC (stands for Access Control)
series by the end of 2004 in China for
the rst time, focusing on providing
customers with the internet access
control solution excellent even on the
world level, which comprehensively
promotes the value of our customers
bandwidth.
Comprehensively Upgrading
Work Efciency
SINFOR AC (internet access
management) can not only control the
content of the employees accessing
sinfor-fullPage.indd 1 7/28/08 4:48:19 PM
COVER STORY
Bottom Line:
The environmental movement is decades-
old, but only now reaching critical mass
Private and public sectors in Hong Kong
are initiating green policies
But Hong Kong rms need to do more to
rein in energy usage
Green may be the new disruptive
technology, but are Hong Kong
enterprises ready to measure their
carbon footprints?
By Stefan Hammond
Is Hong Kong ready
for green IT?
08_08-cw.indd 14 7/28/08 3:41:36 PM
T
hrow a pebble in a pond and you get
gentle ripples. Drive a speedboat across
that pond and large waves lap against the
shore. The difference is the amount of disrup-
tion.
Techies love to talk about disruptive tech-
nologies but the biggest disruption in tech-
nology today follows the little ripple/big ripple
model. Its the ongoing, multi-pronged effort
to be more environmentally friendly, often re-
ferred to as being green. People also use the
term carbon footprint to describe profiles of
energy-conservationthe concept is that en-
ergy usage and savings can be measured, and
both firms and individuals can offset usage
with savings, thus making their footprints
smaller.
Some of these terms are new, but the con-
cepts are not. The first book to hit the main-
streamRachel Carsons Silent Spring, a
book widely credited with helping launch the
environmental movementwas published in
1962. The movement continued in the 60s,
eventually creating an annual Earth Day
Firms want their datacenters proximate to their main
operations for both infrastructure and stafng purposes, and
datacenter-space is squeezed even tighter than most spaces
in Hong Kong
which began in 1970. Nations already indus-
trialized saw environmental protection as an
issue back then, and UN held the United Na-
tions Conference on the Human Environment
in Stockholm in 1972. But 25 years elapsed be-
fore the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, to which India
and China are signatories, but famously, not
the USA (which symbolically signed the treaty
but hasnt ratified it
However, some US municipalities have ad-
opted the Kyoto Protocol (or a similar proto-
col known as the Climate Protection Agree-
ment) even though the federal government
rejects it. Although the top executive branch,
currently led by Chief Executive George W
Bush, seems alarmingly unconcerned about
environmental action, large cities like Chicago
are using green incentives as part of their bid
for the 2016 Olympics. Little ripples perhaps,
but as the slogan goes: think globally, act lo-
cally.
Big problem?
How serious is green technology? Electric-
continued on page 16
ity powers our servers, datacenters, and desk-
tops. The machines themselves need proper
disposal upon replacement. Vendors are tak-
ing steps to keep toxic materials out of their
products and ensure that disused products are
properly disposed of and recycled when nec-
essary (many large vendors like Apple, Dell,
HP, IBM and Microsoft offer programs that
encourage recycling of e-waste, or electronic
waste).
But are Hong Kong firms taking the green
issue seriously? I believe that Hong Kongs
large enterprises have a high level of aware-
ness and are increasing their focus on green
IT, said Sunny Lee, executive director of IT
for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. This is pri-
marily driven by their quick adoption of inter-
national best practices and recent efforts by IT
vendors and consultants in R&D and promo-
tion.
But, Lee cautioned: I think we (globally)
have just started. As more experience accu-
mulates and technology matures, Hong Kong
enterprises should have some good stories to
tell 3-5 years from now.
Enterprises in the UK and Europe are the
most advanced in terms of green-conscious-
ness. In a speech in Hong Kong last month,
BTs head of global corporate social responsi-
bility (CSR), Janet Blake, said that green ini-
tiatives are a part of her companys competi-
tive bids for tech projects. If we dont address
environmental concerns in our bids, she said,
we probably wont get the contract.
How long will it take Hong Kong to get to
this stage?
IDCs Saxena: HK government should take initiatives
to spur adoption of green technologies
COVER STORY
O
ne positive way to create both large
and small ripples is to reduce en-
ergy usage, reuse packing material
and recycle materials wherever possible.
Many vendors have ramped up their green
strategies by using recycled materials for
packing material, and promising to dispose
of obsolete products.
Apart from the power & cooling, Hong
Kong businesses should pay more attention
on other aspects to protect the earth, said
Lee from Newtech. He added that his rm
has joined the HKSARs recycling program
for used light bulbs, uorescent light tubes
and batteries.
The program is a comprehensive scheme
which covers Hong Kong households and
schools as well as workplaces. Details can
be found on the Hong Kong Waste Reduc-
tion website: https://www.wastereduction.
gov.hk/en/index.htm
Its a great entry point for Hong Kong
SMBs wanting to help contribute to the
green effort.
The government is taking other steps
to reduce the overall waste produced by
Hong Kong homes and businesses, to
the extent of providing an online sec-
ond-hand exchange. The Hong Kong
Second-hand Exchange is a free com-
munity service provided by the Environ-
mental Protection Department. It aims to
facilitate the exchange of unwanted but
still usable items to help reduce, reuse
and recycle waste in Hong Kong, says
the site, which is at https://wasteex-
change.wastereduction.gov.hk/english/
index.php
Any unwanted but reusable items (except
Restricted Items) can be posted on the Sec-
ond-hand Exchange for donation or for sale
at a nominal charge, it says.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
08_08-cw.indd 15 7/28/08 3:41:40 PM
COVER STORY
Datacenter squeeze
Datacenters are the point-of-the-spear in the
green battle. The datacenter situation in Hong
Kong is so critical that serves as entry point to
the green IT space for many users. Why? Be-
cause firms want their datacenters proximate
to their main operations for both infrastructure
and staffing purposes, and datacenter-space
is squeezed even tighter than most spaces in
Hong Kong.
Apparent solutions, like repurposing dis-
used factory/warehouse space in areas like
Kwun Tong and Aberdeen, arent feasible:
floors in older buildings cant take the weight,
for starters. Also, the room height isnt suf-
ficient, and there are limited outdoor areas
for the installation of major E&M equipment
such as Genset/Chiller/LV transformers,
said Charles Lee, managing director at Hong
Kong-headquartered Newtech, which designs
and builds datacenters as well as providing
datacenter facility management services.
It gets worse. A certain set of customers
industries like banks, telcos, big utilities/lo-
gistics, transport & gamingcontinuously
seek more...this takes a majority of the data-
provisioning in Hong Kong and drives the ma-
jority of datacenter sales, said Avneesh Sax-
ena, group VP, computing systems, storage
and software research for research firm IDC
Asia/Pacific. The big problem is as they move
to newer form-factors like blades, the power
need is far more than was provisioned.
Any office is provisioned for a certain en-
velope of power, and if you exceed it, youll
blow the transformer, said Saxena. You can
ask CLP for an extra phaselike an extra
power linebut they cant do it unless they
have extra capacity built in. So just getting the
power, even if youre willing to pay the extra
cost, isnt always possible, especially in older
buildings.
The IDC group VP said that redundant utili-
ties, including electrical suppliers, are in de-
mand from high-end datacenter clients. Some
clients, he said, deploy redundant datacenters
on either side of the harbor, as Kowloon and
Hong Kong Island are served by different pow-
er companiesif one supplier suffers a seri-
ous outage or shortfall, the other datacenter
will be available.
Ceiling height is also an issue. Our datacen-
ter designers want 5-meter heights, said Sam-
son Tai, chief technologist, IBM Innovation
Network. Shorter heights limit their ability
to design the correct air-flow patterns to maxi-
mize chiller use. Tai added that there are mul-
tiple problems in repurposing older buildings
for datacenter use in Hong Kong: Industrial
buildings in Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan and oth-
er places often dont have lifts that can handle
the chiller-units for modern datacenters. They
have to use cranes to get the chillers into the
datacenters.
Many companies do not measure their data
centers power consumption at all, said Fred
Sheu, marketing director, Technology Solu-
tions Group, HP Hong Kong. The datacenter
power is [often] embedded into the overall
building power so the IT operations people
dont get the hit in terms of cost. Sheu added
that properly implemented cooling systems
and other solutions such as virtualization,
consolidation, and storage de-duplication will
[reduce] the amount of hardware needed in
datacenters.
Outsourcing datacenters
With the severe problems associated with
owning a datacenter in Hong Kong, outsourc-
ing becomes more attractive. The larger firms
in Hong Kong offering managed services and
hosting services include iAdvantage, Atos,
CPCNet, PCCW, Hutchison, and Wharf T&T.
One interesting offering is CPCNets datacen-
ter, which is located in Centrals IFC tower but
has redundant capacity in both Quarry Bay
and an additional Central location, as well as a
24-hour Network Operations Center.
Theres room for outsourcers, like PCCW,
to thrive, said Saxena. Medium-sized com-
panies will be interested in renting datacenter
spacethey wont part with their core data,
but will outsource fringe applications like hu-
man resources, procurement, email, and disas-
ter recovery.
The IDC analyst said that hosted datacen-
ters can help drive green incentives. If youre
building a hosting datacenter, you must spec-
ify the power-per-square-foot, he said. Data-
centers used to be measured by area, but now
its power-per-square-foot.
Not only does this metric help drive firms to
consider green issues, but the cost-factor helps
drive virtualization of both servers and stor-
continued from page 15
agea feature vendors have long touted but
havent been able to get across to most users,
until now. You can build more capacity, but if
customers want their own proprietary server,
thats a barrier for virtualization, noted Sax-
ena. The idea is to charge for data-density, and
make sure that users save costs by agreeing to
house their data in a virtualized environment.
If they charge users a lot more to have their
own personal server, then its an incentive for
users to agree to a virtualized setup, said the
IDC VP.
Targeting SMBs is challenging but worth-
while. Hong Kong SMBs are generally not
moving [towards green strategies] yet, said
Sunny Lee, mainly due to lack of IT resources
and priorities.
Vendors cleave to green
IT vendors like IBM and HP are responding
to increasing enterprise concerns over data-
center energy consumption, according to Gra-
ham Titterington, principal analyst at global
consulting firm Ovum.
IBM announced enterprise additions to its
Project Big Green, a week after HP announced
its Sustainability Laboratory, Titterington
said. The HP announcement included long-
term data center issues while IBM concen-
trated on new product releases to address
this area. Titterington noted large areas of
agreement and overlap in their green phi-
losophies.
Both HP and IBM recognize that energy
use has become a high-level concern for enter-
prises, he said. Both also see an immediate
opportunity for savings in energy use with a
strong financial investment case through mon-
IBMs Tai: Some industrial buildings in Hong Kong
must use cranes to move chiller-units into their data-
centers
Datacenters are the
point-of-the-spear in the
green battle
08_08-cw.indd 16 7/28/08 3:41:45 PM
the second to measure how efficiently the gear
operates in a real-world deployment.
Can the government help?
If the Hong Kong government mandated
green IT, Hong Kong firms would find it easier
to do carbon-trading, said Saxena. Theres no
precedent for government subsidies. But lets
say they created a special zone with big pipes,
as opposed to these islands of bandwidth in the
private sector. Create a zone with relatively in-
expensive land to attract new companies, and
keep companies who are already here because
of proximity to China.
The IDC expert said that rms would rather
stay here due to infrastructurethe pain is
[due to] property prices and provisioning of
property. Saxena had other suggestions for
the HKSAR government: I think the govern-
ment has to do more to attract datacenter-host-
ing companies, and promote multimedia com-
panies like gaming. Compare Hong Kong with
Dalian in China, where theres a whole street
of gaming companies. Whats stopping Hong
Kong from chasing the gaming/multimedia
biz?
Another government initiative Saxena sug-
gested is vetting the efficiency-level of data-
centers. They could consider taxing low-ef-
ficiency datacenters, he said. How about a
certification body that would vet datacenters
over 5,000 square feet for efficiency? Pass the
test or pay higher tax.
Saxena also suggested the government look
at their own processes, in terms of efficiency
rather than price alone. These are some of the
things the government could do, that would
help them compete with Singapore. Initiatives
like these would help Hong Kong leverage the
IT worker-pool here and in southern China.
No easy solutions
Its easy to say that you have a green poli-
cy in place, and its not difficult to implement
measures that help. Theres a lot of interest
from customersnobody wants to be last on
the green bandwagon, said Saxena. If youre
selling services, you want to be seen as world-
class. Youre not allowed to slack on the data-
center.
But steep increases in data demand create
additional pressures. With the rapid increase
in demand for computing power, said Lee
from the Jockey Club, I doubt if all the green
IT that we are doing will be enough to offset
the additional environmental damaged caused
by our increased computing demand.
We will be having a hard time just playing
catch-up.
itoring and intelligent control systems.
According to Titterington, IBM expects in-
vestments in this area to be recouped in less
than two years, based on case studies. How-
ever, he said that the environmental payback
period may be longer where hardware replace-
ment is concerned.
IBM committed to spending US$1 billion an-
nually to improve IT energy efficiency with its
Project Big Green announced just over a year
ago. As part of that initiative, IBM recently an-
nounced a new Enterprise Modular Data Cen-
ter, essentially a datacenter in a box in sizes
from 5,000-20,000 square feet.
The data center pod includes power and
cooling systems, remote monitoring, and pro-
tection from fire, smoke, humidity, condensa-
tion and temperature changes. According to
Tai, the system doesnt even require raised-
flooring.
Exponential data growth
Enterprise demands on information process-
ing systems are growing at an exponential rate.
For example, replacing photos with richer pre-
sentation media like videos has raised the bar
for effective data management.
IBM expects server usage to grow six-fold
and the volume of stored data to grow 70-
fold over the next decade, Titterington said.
These figures are consistent with Ovums
research. He added that with technology de-
livering linear efficiency improvements, data
center energy consumption is still rising rap-
idly.
Titterington stressed that enterprises need
to question the current tendency to hold all
data as far as technology permits. We need
systems that can store a single copy of a docu-
ment and not replicate it multiple times across
the organization, without placing complexity
on users.
The Ovum analyst said that the replacement
of copper by fiber optic cable carrying laser
signals will enable major energy savings in
data center communications, and eventually in
the processor chip.
Meanwhile, HP claims it has achieved a
40 percent energy saving at a new data cen-
Power-provisioning problem is an acute problem in Hong
Kong, especially in larger datacenters
Avneesh Saxena, IDC
COVER STORY
ter recently built in Indias Bangalore city by
deploying its smart cooling technology, said
Titterington. In 2007, HP Labs began build-
ing a 70,000square-foot data center in Ban-
galore, combining the computing power of 14
existing facilities under one roof, said HPs
Sheu, adding that the facility reduces energy
and costs by adjusting cooling to the needs
of the servers, using 7,500 sensors that moni-
tor equipment environment temperatures and
adjust the air-con. We anticipate that the new
center will save 7,500 MWh annually, equal to
7,500 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emis-
sions.
Carbon metrics
Metrics to determine how green equipment
is usually are vendor-driven and measuring
energy efficiency can be a chore for network
architects.
There is currently no widely agreed upon
definition in the industry for green, said Scott
Scherer, an analyst with In-Stat and co-author
of a report, Green Networking Equipment:
Who Leads And Who Lags. Individual ven-
dors create their own meaning of greenness
in measuring how well their equipment stacks
up, said Scherer. Some vendors use green
interchangeably with the energy efficiency of
their products, while others use more holistic
definitions that include corporate social re-
sponsibility, manufacturing processes, materi-
als and recycling programs, he said.
But this range of options leads to a range
of units of measurement that network ex-
ecutives can sift through when assessing the
environmental friendliness of their network
components, as well as individual products
they consider as they refresh and expand their
infrastructure.
One way to deconstruct vendor-assessments
is to measure those metrics against a more-neu-
tral model, such as that offered by The Green
Grid, a consortium focused on datacenter en-
ergy efficiency (http://www.thegreengrid.
org/home). Green Grid splits measurements
between power-performance and power-usage
effectiveness and says that both are important,
the first for determining what gear to buy and
08_08-cw.indd 17 7/28/08 3:41:47 PM
CWHK: It seems to me local rms prefer secu-
rity products from overseas vendors. Is this a
challenge for you as a home-grown vendor?
AM: Consumers, corporations, and govern-
ments all have different preferences. Consum-
ers prefer overseas products because they are
perceived as of higher quality. Corporations
use a mix of products.
Governments deploy locally developed securi-
ty tools because they dont trust foreign security
standards. This is why countries have different
encryption technologies.
CWHK: Bloombase has ofces in Hong Kong,
Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi,and Shenzhen. Do
you have plans to open ofces in other markets
too?
AM: We are talking to partners about this and
will make announcements in the near future. Our
goal is to grow steadily, rather than jumping into
every market within a short period of time.
CWHK: What is your future product road-
map?
AM: We will base our product development
on the needs of customers such as those from
governments, financial sectors, and global 500
firms. Each of these sectors makes up one-
third of our customer base. Their demand of
security products will be driven by privacy
laws and compliance.
We also have the smaller rms and individual
users in mind. Smaller players such as those in
the legal eld or design industry have volumes of
condential data while individuals need protection
against identity theft and business documents on
their laptops which they bring home for more work
after ofce or when they are on-the-go.
CWHK: Do you aim to be acquired or listed?
AM: M&A isnt the way to go. We are in a
specialist area. Our customersespecially
banks and governmentswill be in doubt if
we merge or get acquired because we might
lose our neutrality after.
Were thinking about an IPO in three to four
years time, but its too early to say where we
would list.
CWHK: How many people are there in your
team?
AM: We have six people in Hong Kong. We
arent sure about the number of people work-
ing for us in China because many of them are
part-time or contract staffers.
CWHK: There arent many tech rms in Hong
Kong that focus on security? Why did you pick
this area?
AM: Back in 2004, there was a number of
data-loss incidents among large corporations
and banks. A fortress mentality developed.
Enterprises started to prevent such incidents
from happening. In addition, data theft was
perceived as something committed by outsid-
ers.
But 80 percent of the cases were by insiders.
There must be technologies to protect data from
internal stealing. Bloombase was founded to ad-
dress these needs.
CWHK: What challenges are facing you in the
security eld?
AM: Education. Many firms still have this
it wont happen to me mentality. However,
especially recently, there have been a series
of high-profile data loss cases in Hong Kong.
Large companies might face higher risk be-
cause they have a mix of old and new systems.
Old systems such as AS/400 or those based
on COBOL are hard to secure.
Resistance is also an issue. Its human nature
to resist changes. So we minimize changes to
peoples workow when we come up with new
products.
CWHK: Why Hong Kong?
Alan Miller: Were based in Hong Kong be-
cause its location and unique political situation
make it an encryption hub.
Different countries have their own encryption
technologies which the governments dont want
to export. But Hong Kong is a politically neutral
place where China and many other countries
are willing to export their home-developed algo-
rithms for inter-operability with tech products.
What we do is to license their encryption stan-
dards and make them work with Bloombases
security products.
Besides, the Common Law system in Hong
Kong is so developed that intellectual property
right is well protected here compared to many
other Asian locations.
CWHK: When did Bloombase start opera-
tion?
AM: We started in 2004. We have a sales and
marketing office, an inter-operability lab in
Hong Kong. In China, we also have a develop-
ment team.
Miller from Bloombase: Many rms still have this it
wont happen to me mentality
Hong Kong is a place that different countries trust to export their encryption
technologies, says Alan Miller, VP of strategic planning, Bloombase
By Teresa Leung
Mature legal system, neutrality earn
Hong Kong encryption hub status
Large companies might face higher risk because they have a
mix of old and new systems
industryprole
08_08-cw.indd 18 7/28/08 3:41:54 PM
election special
Election 2008
Charles Mok
Independent Candidate
BIO:
Chairman, Internet Society Hong Kong
Ex-ofcio Member and immediate past president,
Hong Kong Information Technology Federation
Chairman, Health IT Special Interest Division, Hong
Kong Computer Society
Convener, Working Group on Creative Industries,
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
Vice Chairman, The Professional Commons
Councilor, Engineers Without Borders (Hong Kong)
Director, Computancy Limited
C
harles Mok is an inuential gure in the ICT sector and Internet
community in Hong Kong. He is well known as a pioneer who has
advocated open development, evolution and wider application of
the Internet and ICT for the benet of Hong Kong society since the mid-
1990s.
Mok is the Founding Chairman of Internet Society Hong Kong (ISOC
HK), a regional chapter of the worlds largest Internet advocacy group,
The Internet Society. He is also the Ex-ofcio Member and immediate past
president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF)
and Chairman of Health IT Special Interest Division (HITSID) of the Hong
Kong Computer Society (HKCS).
Mok was also a past chairman and a co-founder of the Hong Kong Inter-
net Service Providers Association (HKISPA); and a Director of Hong Kong
Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC) from 2002 to 2004.
He is currently a member of many key Hong Kong government bodies
and committees, including the Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee,
Hospital Authority, Transport Advisory Committee and Election Commit-
tees (IT Subsector). Mok strongly advocates information freedom, data and
privacy protection, information infrastructure advancement, promotion of
ICT and creative industries, and wider adoption of ICT in public services
such as Health IT and Intelligent Transportation Systems. He also promotes
fair competition and liberalization of the local and external telecommunica-
tions and communications market.
Mok graduated from Purdue University in the USA with a BS in Computer
and Electrical Engineering, and an MS in Electrical Engineering. Charles is
a PhD student at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. After
working in IT in the USA, he returned to Hong Kong in 1994.
Charles has advocated human rights, rule of law, democracy, and freedom
of information for years. He is a founding member of Hong Kong Human
Rights Monitor, and a Director of Hong Kong Democratic Foundation.
Charles has also written extensively on technology, management and
public policy. His rst book, Hong Kong 2.0, was published in January
2008.
PLATFORM AND VISION:
O
n 17 July, I announced my candidacy for the 2008 Leg-
islative Council election for the Information Technology
Functional Constituency. My Nomination Form, with more
than 60 subscribers and over 100 supporters (as of today) who
come from different sub-sectors of the ICT sector.
Today, I am stepping out for ICT, for Hong Kong. Hong Kong
needs to change, and ICT is that catalyst of change, and our
industry will need a capable, independent, professional repre-
sentative with integrity in the Legislative Council to help lead this
change, together with you.
Today, the image of our ICT professionals is low. Young pro-
grammers and engineers tell me that they cannot see the future
of Hong Kongs ICT industry, or what is in their own future. There
is a lack of will from Government and society as a whole to value
sustainable development, to invest in new technology and en-
trepreneurship, to develop new competitive advantages for our
economy, to counter trends of polarizations in society.
Let this generation of ICT professionals take Hong Kong into the
digital agebetter opportunities when they graduate, a brighter
future that they deserve. Let them be the ones that will change the
world: young people that are more creative and innovative in think-
ing, government that is more open to engaging citizens, industry
that is more competitive, a world that is more green, more equal
and more caringall through ICT.
I am running on a platform of built on professional visions and
values. The visions held by professionals are long-term, rational,
scientic, and pro-development. The professionals values are to
apply their specialized knowledge with integrity to serve society
and push for equitable development.
I entered the ICT profession in 1988, and I saw what ICT can
create for an economy, for a country, and for its people, from my
experience in Silicon Valley and Boston. I asked myself then, why
cant we do that in Hong Kong and in China? Since I returned to
Hong Kong in 1994, I have devoted my time to serving the ICT
sector and Hong Kongghting unfair competition in telecom, in-
troducing a code of practice for spam control, promoting software
quality, outsourcing services, ICT in healthcare, and so on.
What we need now is not speech but action, not what but how.
It must be about everyone in ICT, everyone in Hong Kong, it must
be about what we can do together as a group of professionals,
changing the way society looks at ICT.
For ICT, for Hong Kongthis is the message of my campaign.
Hong Kong needs ICT now. Let us, you and I, step out together
for ICT, for Hong Kongbecause we know, really, we can change
the world.
Website: http://www.charlesmok.hk/
Two candidates vie for
LegCo IT Functional Constituency seat
08_08-cw.indd 20 7/28/08 3:41:56 PM
election special
Samson Tam Wai-ho
Independent Candidate for LegCo IT
Functional Constituency
BIO:
S
amson Tam is a home-grown IT man with
an international orientation, with a bach-
elor degree from CUHK and a doctorate
from Hong Kong Polytechnic. He was bitten
early by the business bug. In 1989, at age 24,
he successfully launched his digital dictionary
Instant-Dict. By 1993, Tams company Group
Sense (International) Ltd, with him as Chairman,
was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
It now counts iconic multinationals among its
blue-chip clients. It won the governments 1997
Hong Kong Award for Industry: Technological
Advancement. while Tam himself was named
one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons.
Tam takes his civic duties seriously, serving
bodies both within and without the IT industry.
He is currently Deputy Chairman of the HKPC.
Previously, he also sat on the governments Com-
mission on Strategic Development. He represent-
ed the Information Technology Sub-sector in the
2006 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election Com-
mittee. He is a member of VTCs Information
Technology Training and Development Commit-
tee, the Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee
and the Small and Medium Enterprises Commit-
tee.
He knows that creativity is the essence of the
IT industry. Nurturing creative entrepreneurship
keeps the industry growing. He has been willing
to participate in angel investments to help out lo-
cal budding IT entrepreneurs.
Tam does not hesitate to challenge the govern-
ment when the interest of the IT industry is at
stake. Last year, he led a protest outside Legco
when Technology was dropped from the name
of a government bureau. Tam is a passionate ad-
vocate for the vital role that he feels rightfully be-
longs to the IT industry.
In June 2008, in recognition of his service and
leadership in technology and the community,
Tam was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by
HKUST, the leading technological university in
Asia.
PLATFORM AND VISION:Let IT Lead
S
adly, IT has not been allowed to be an engine of growth and creativ-
ity in Hong Kong. Our creative industries are either idle or rusty. We
have lost many valuable opportunities, largely because our govern-
ment lacks a long-term IT strategy, and the IT industry lacks an effective
voice in Legco.
The government lacks a long-term strategy and fails to see that IT holds
the key to our future prosperity. My mission is to help unleash the potential
of IT by making it an industry for business creation, product creation and
job creation. Its time to let IT lead.
IT holds the key to our brighter economic future in three ways:
1. IT as a pillar industry: The government sees Hong Kong as a nancial and logistics hub, but
what about IT? Multinationals want to do business in the mainland. With our freedom of infor-
mation, protection of intellectual property rights, rule of law, and communication infrastructure,
Hong Kongs CEPA-privileged access offers a unique platform for multinationals to go into
China, with their products secure and corporate rights fully protected. But rst, we must treat
IT as a pillar industrynot a support serviceto fully exploit our advantages.
Our government is led by administrators who are non-specialists and rotate every 2-3 years
through different departments. We lack an informed long-term IT strategy. The word technol-
ogy was even deleted last year from the name of a government bureau. I propose a Technolo-
gy Development Council similar to the successful Trade Development Council to overhaul and
integrate overlapping yet uncoordinated departments and agencies. Its singular focus would be
promoting technology and creativity with long-term strategies for sustainable development.
2. IT as a job-creation industry: If IT remains a mere support service for Hong Kongs domestic
market, it has little room to grow, with few prospects for our IT professionals. If we turn Hong
Kong into an IT hub for the region, more multinationals will set up research and operational
bases in our city. We can become the center for various business sectors from the mainland
and Asia-Pacic. But now, the career path for IT professionals is narrow and job opportunities
are few. We face a skills-gap caused by a sharp drop in students enrolling in IT courses, while
employers beg for IT professionals. If we regionalize our IT industry, the jobs will roll in. It is a
powerful way to upgrade the status of our frustrated IT professionals.
3. IT as a business-creation industry: Unlike the stock and property markets, IT offers limitless
opportunities for wealth-creation for the young and ambitious, even if they are nancially disad-
vantaged. Hong Kong people do not lack creativity or entrepreneurial drive: look at the highly
exportable Octopus card and our world-class Jockey Club online betting system. IT is Hong
Kongs answer to the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. The existing Hong
Kong economy is over-reliant on nance and property and lacks diversity. By encouraging our
young people to be inquisitive and creative, by nurturing creative talent through investment,
and by upgrading the IT literacy of our people, we can turn Hong Kong into a high-performing
digital society.
It is high time to break free from the polarization between the pro-government camp and op-
position forces. Without political baggage, or having to cater to the agenda of any political party,
I am free to work with all LegCo members for the sake of our industry and in the larger interest of
our society. While defending Hong Kongs core values of freedom, fairness and justice, I will do
so in a rational and inclusive manner, so that we can enjoy a better life with greater measures of
these values. To create a new chapter for our economy, we must let IT lead.
Website: http://www.samsontam.com/en/
The Hong Kong SAR will hold elections for both Geographical Constituencies
and Functional Constituencies on September 7th, 2008. To help our readers
better understand the candidates for the LegCo IT Functional Constituency
seat, we present their biographical information and electoral platforms.
Election 2008
NOTE:
Updates on the election can be found at: http://www.elections.gov.hk/legco2008/eng/
The views expressed by the candidates are their own and do not necessarily reect the views of
Computerworld Hong Kong.
08_08-cw.indd 21 7/28/08 3:53:01 PM
chinawatch
T
echnologically, Beijing is a city at
a crossroads. It is the capital of the
worlds largest mobile phone and In-
ternet user markets, and its universities, es-
pecially Tsinghua University, produce some
of the worlds top technology minds.
But Beijing cant compare to Asian neigh-
bors Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong for In-
ternet and telecom services, such as 3G. Its
Internet access is censored and far slower
than in those cities: China Netcoms fast-
est consumer ADSL (Asynchronous Digital
Subscriber Line) is sold at 2Mbps, but often
clocks in below 1Mbps. While China wins
gold for the size of its technology markets,
it is in many cases an also-ran in terms of the
quality of technology implemented.
Mobile phones
Chinas current mobile phone technology
is 2G GSM. Most dual-, tri-and quad-band
handsets will be able to connect here, if you
have the ability to roam overseas with your
service provider, and your service provider
has a roaming deal with either China Mobile
or China Unicom.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or
2.5G service is commercially available in
China through China Mobile, but only on
post-paid accounts, for which only Chinese
citizens can register. It is possible for your
companys Beijing office, or even a Chinese
friend, to arrange such an account for you.
3G is not yet commercially available in
China, and 3G phones from other countries
will only receive 2G support, as Chinas TD-
SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code
Division Multiple Access) is not compatible
with other 3G standards.
GSM users with unlocked phones may save
on roaming charges by buying a prepaid SIM
card. Prepaid SIM cards can be purchased
locally and are easy to find and inexpensive
to buy. Any China Mobile office or China
Unicom office can sell you a prepaid SIM for
as little as 30 yuan (US$4.40), as can most
permanent newsstands, found on sidewalks
throughout Beijing. Recharge cards come in
50 yuan and 100 yuan denominations, and the
recharge menus are available in both English
and Chinese.
For visitors who prefer using landlines,
Skype and other VoIP services may be used
without difficulty. IP (Internet Protocol tele-
phony) cards are available in denominations
of 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100 yuan.
Internet access
Despite promises of Internet openness
throughout the games, it is likely that many
sites will still be blocked this summer. For
example, while the English version of Wiki-
pedia is currently accessible, its simplified
Chinese version is not. Many blogging sites,
including Typepad, are also blocked.
Accessing blocked sites requires going
through either a VPN or a foreign proxy site.
This list offers numerous choices for proxy
sites that anonymize browsing and allow us-
ers to reach blocked sites. At the time of writ-
ing, Proxy4Web, Aniscartujo and Proxyforall
were all functioning. Spysurfing and Avoidr
Although negotiations between Apple and China Mobile
have happened, no deal has been announced
A tech
tourists guide
to Beijing
By Steven Schwankert,
IDG News Service, Beijing
08_08-cw.indd 22 7/28/08 3:42:00 PM
chinawatch
EMCs Storage Credenza debuted in China before the rest of the world
were themselves already blocked.
Commercial and free VPN software is wide-
ly available. OpenVPN works for both Linux
and Windows, although the Linux version is
easier to configure. StrongVPN offers VPN
service for $15 per month, although there are
less expensive VPN solutions available. Note
that most proxy and VPN software may slow
Internet access in Beijing considerably.
WiFi hotspots and
Wireless Beijing
One area where Beijing outpaces many
rival citiesincluding in the USis in the
wide availability of free WiFi hotspots. Many
Starbucks Coffee locations, along with cafes
and restaurants including The Bookworm,
Sequoia Cafe and outlets of Pacific Coffee, a
Hong Kong-based chain, offer WiFi.
Operated by Chinacomm, Wireless Bei-
jing is designed to offer free connectivity to
visitors during the Olympic Games, later be-
coming a fee-based mobile Internet service.
Coverage areas during the Olympics include
Beijings Central Business District (CBD,
one of the Beijing municipal governments
favorite acronyms), the Financial Street area
of western Beijing, and Zhongguancun, the
citys hi-tech area. Excluded is the Olympic
ParkWireless Beijing wasnt given access
to the parks light poles to hang transmitters
and repeaters due to security concerns.
Test results for Wireless Beijing have been
mixed. Staff from Azalea Networks, which is
providing most of the hardware for the proj-
ect, said that the signal would be most eas-
ily detected in Zhongguancun and Financial
Street.
However, in Beijings Chaoyang District in
the CBD, IDG News Service only succeeded
in accessing the service once in seven dif-
ferent spots, using a 2G Apple iPhone. Us-
ers must first register via the login page, al-
though reading this from a mobile device is
difficult. Efforts to access the site, to create
an account before going mobile, from fixed
line connections both in Beijing and outside
the city failed.
Tech shopping
While Beijing isnt Tokyo, it can offer good
prices, especially on parts. So many technol-
ogy products are made in China that theyre
sold within the country cheaply and reliably.
The mecca for this kind of shopping is
Zhongguancun. Near Beijings universities
in Haidian District, its an hour taxi ride from
the CBD. The area became the capitals tech-
nology hub first by employing and serving
college students; now some of those college
students have companies listed on overseas
stock exchanges, and work from buildings
in their old neighborhood named after their
companies. The Zhi Chun Lu station on Line
13 puts you close by.
Closer to the CBD is Bai Nao Hui, a tech-
nology market about 400 meters east of the
Chaoyangmen intersection and subway sta-
tion. Although less extensive than Zhong-
guancuns markets, the selection is still
worthwhile for portable hard drives, accesso-
ries like headsets, blank DVDs and CDs, and
mobile phones. Most vendors speak enough
English to bargain, and if push comes to
shove, use the calculators they provide to
display your offer price. Depending on the
item, you should be able to get a 20 percent
discount, sometimes more.
Apple shows off rst China
store, divulges retail plans
A
pple allowed a sneak peek at its agship store in Beijing in mid-July, along with a
glimpse of its China strategy. The two-level storeApples rst in China and its 219th
worldwideopened July 19 in Beijings Sanlitun entertainment district.
This is the rst of many stores we will open in China, said Ron Johnson, Apples senior
vice president of retail, in remarks at the store. He later added that Apple will open stores
in Beijing, in Shanghai and beyond, and conrmed that another store will open in Beijings
Qianmen area, a shopping street south of Tiananmen Square.
The store will offer Genius Bar services in Chinese and English, said John Ford, the stores
manager, with support in some other languages available.
What iPhone?
Absent from the stores opening: the iPhone. Although negotiations between Apple and
China Mobilethe worlds and Chinas largest mobile service providerhave taken place
over the last 12 months, no deal has been announced. Apple representatives conrmed that
the iPhone will be available in China but gave no date, and declined to comment on any talks
with Chinese mobile operators.
The 3G iPhone faces a particular challenge in China. The country does not have commercial
3G service yet, and when it does, it is expected to use TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchro-
nous Code Division Multiple Access), a domestic standard current incompatible with other 3G
formats.
According to research rm In-Stat, an estimated 400,000 to 1 million of rst-generation
iPhones are in use in China despite never being ofcially launched here.
What Chinese users can get: Apples complete line of computers and iPods, including the
iPod Touch. The Touch will be available with up to 32GB of memory, retailing for 4,488 Chi-
nese yuan (US$647.33). The same item sells for $499 on Apples US online store.
Apple versus Adidas
Located in Beijings Sanlitun entertainment district, about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) north-
east of Tiananmen Square, the Apple Store is overshadowed by another agship retail outlet
that has given the Village in Sanlitun complex its informal name: the Adidas mall. While the
sporting goods giants emporium faces Workers Stadium North Roadone of Beijings busi-
est streetsthe Apple Store dominates the inner courtyard, with the storefront and a facing
video screen playing the dancing iPod video.
Apples presence in China has grown considerably since the introduction of the iPod ve
years ago. Before then, the company was almost invisible here, except for expatriates who
brought their own from home, and designers, artists and Apple fetishists who brought them
from the few specialty stores that sold their products.
One major factor was applications, and specically the lack of pirated Apple software. Com-
puter users running Windows could easily access piratedand therefore inexpensivesoft-
ware, which could be loaded into cheap homemade PCs. Apple products were more expen-
sive, both the software, which required the purchase of genuine editions that often had to be
imported from overseas, and the hardware.
By Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service, Beijing
08_08-cw.indd 23 7/28/08 3:42:01 PM
casestudy
rapid response time, said Philip Choi, head of tech-
nology for Quam Limited, and our infrastructure
was not able to handle the large user base that we
had acquired.
The nancial information portal also has to pro-
cess direct connections to the Hong Kong Stock Ex-
change for stock announcements on listed compa-
nies as well as wire news services, including Xinhua
and Infocast Financial news for news of Hong Kong
and Asia.
We have a very large number of active members,
many of whom are involved in online trading, said
Choi. We needed to provide them with market in-
formation, including nancial news, reports, analy-
sis and real-time stock quotes. In addition, the -
nancial information portal needed a redesign of its
front-end, the Content Management System, and
back-end, the Customer Relations Management
System, in order to enable Quam to know and serve
its members better.
Another problem with the old website was the
inexible infrastructure, which made updating web
content a tedious business. Our nancial informa-
tion has to be altered frequently, so we needed a
fast, simple way of updating the site, said Choi.
Site overhaul
Quam Ltd has since decided to completely re-
build its website, www.quamnet.com, as a high-per-
formance information portal in three languages, us-
ing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Advanced Platform,
incorporating the JBoss Enterprise Application Plat-
form suite. The nancial information portal, which
was completed within time and cost budgets, now
serves several million users.
When Philip Choi joined Quam in May 2007,
he was asked to completely rebuild the website.
We were asked to totally revamp and restructure
Q
uamnet is a leading nancial informa-
tion portal in Hong Kong serving institu-
tional and retail investors with real-time
market updates and nancial analysis. The portal
started operating in 1998 and is part of the Quam
Ltd nancial services group founded in 1986
and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in
1997.
The portal today serves information to over a
million users in Hong Kong and overseas and dur-
ing the spring of 2007, it was clear that the existing
website needed a serious overhaul to cope with the
ongoing expansion of services and rapid business
growth.
Challenges facing Quam
Quams rapid business growth and the expansion
of its service portfolio made it necessary to replace
the existing website with an efcient nancial infor-
mation portal that would provide a much stronger
link between the rms nancial services and its
hundreds of thousands of members.
Slow access time was becoming a problem with
the old website. In our business, users expect very
Challenge:
Growing portfolio of
applications and rampant
growth creating site
performance issues and poor
response
Product:
New website built with
virtual servers running on
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Advanced incorporating the
JBoss Enterprise Application
Platform suite
Benets:
A multi-language portal with
improved response times,
PTWYV]LKWSH[MVYTL_PIPSP[`
and scalability with 50-70%
project cost savings
Quamnet turns to Linux in bullrun
Exploding data demand has forced
investment portal Quamnet to create
a faster and better information
platform on Red Hat Linux
By Ross Milburn
The NYSE alone has many hundreds of servers leveraging Red
Hat Enterprise Linux and the Red Hat Network
Philip Choi, Quam Ltd
continued on page 26
08_08-cw.indd 24 7/28/08 3:42:08 PM
casestudy
the website, so we basically did everything from
scratch, said Choi.
The main operating systems used in the existing
website were Windows and UNIX. For the nancial
services industry, Windows may have some securi-
ty issues, said Choi. UNIX is more costly, in terms
of license fees and related hardware. I also had to
consider the availability of skilled support labor.
In his previous position, back in 2002, Choi had
used Red Hat Linux successfully, and given the on-
going improvements of the operating system, he
decided to consider this as a potential solution for
the new Quamnet site. One advantage is that Red
Hat Enterprise Linux can run on powerful and in-
expensive servers, with a wide choice of hardware
vendors, said Choi, so users are not locked into
any proprietary technology.
Backed by Wall Street
Another factor in Quams decision was the wide
acceptance of Red Hat Linux as the leading platform
within the nancial services sector. This is exempli-
ed by the running of Linux by New York Stock
Exchange Euronext that operates a family of stock
exchanges in six countries of Europe and the USA.
The NYSE alone has many hundreds of servers
leveraging Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the Red
Hat Network to support trading operations with
performance and security requirements among the
most demanding in the world.
Commenting on the contribution made by Red
Hat, Steve Rubinow, CIO at NYSE Euronext, noted
that, Red Hat is extremely strategic and without it,
most of our computers wouldnt be running.
Quamnet has the same demands for performance,
availability and security as other major nancial in-
stitutions, said Choi. Like other players in the -
nancial services market, we seek alliance with the
leading vendors to optimize the performance and
security of our operations.
Quams IT Department started the study project
on the new nancial information portal in May 2007,
and the staff talked to several vendors. We decided
to go with Red Hat Linux in July, said Choi, and
closed the deal by the end of that month.
Implementing the new OS
Red Hat provided consultancy and close support
to the Quam IT team, right from the planning stage.
Once our server hardware was installed, Red Hat
staff certied the platforms as stable and scalable
and carried out all the software installation work,
providing a guarantee to remedy any platform fail-
ures, said Choi.
Throughout the installation process, Red Hat
helped Quam with the sizing and planning of how
to congure the resources. We gave them gures,
such as the number of portal visitors and page views
per day that we needed to support, said Choi. This
helped us determine how many servers, how many
CPUs and how much memory we needed. We have
a requirement of so many transactions per second,
and we need to guarantee the response time pro-
vided to end-users.
Quams infrastructure includes server farms to
support front-end users access and back-end ser-
vice delivery. Intel servers are used, all rack mount-
ed blades.
The sizing work on planning the nancial infor-
mation portal, server utilization, and connections
to the database and application layers was mostly
handled by Red Hat.
The nancial information portal build was car-
ried out at high speed, aided substantially by Red
Hat consultants, and was mostly complete by Oc-
tober. My in-house programmers had to write a
number of new applications from scratch, mostly
using Java J2EE, said Choi. It was then subject-
ed to extensive testing, after which we went live
in mid-January 2008.
To support the large number of applications on
their nancial information portal, Quam selected
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, a popular
platform for highly scalable Java applications.
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform offers a
combination of the most popular clustered Java
J2EE application server built on open standards
with next generation application frameworks.
Multi-language edge
Quam has also invested in multi-lingual market
communications. Our nancial information portal
provides both traditional and simplied Chinese
language versions, plus English, said Choi. Our
competitors have traditional Chinese only, some
with English. I am proud of the fact that we were
able to do an amazing job within six months, in
three languages.
In addition to the real-time stock quotations and
articles, we have charting engines for delivering in-
formation to members, continued Choi. We also
provide services to mobile phones over 3G and
WiFi networks.
The use of JBoss middleware enabled Quam to
speed up the creation of applications. Our system is
very stable, and that enables our IT team to concen-
trate on the programming operation, said Choi.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform pro-
vides integrated server and storage virtualization
technologies. The virtualization provided is easy-to-
deploy, simple to manage, exible. Virtualization
has enabled us to reduce the numbers of servers we
need, said Choi, and that in turn has reduced the
space, cooling and power consumption.
For users, the new information portal provides a
much faster response to queries, even at peak times
during the stock exchange trading hours. Its also
much easier to update information on the new nan-
cial information portal. Red Hat JBoss middleware
suite provides a programming framework which fa-
cilitates changes to business logic using minimum
programming effort.
In the nancial services industry, most people
believe in relying on the big names to obtain the
very high levels of availability, performance and se-
curity that are essential in our business, said Choi.
We are using Red Hat because of our condence
in the product. But we are not locked in to any ven-
dor. The beauty of Linux is that it enables freedom
of choice.
Red Hat service team not only supported the -
nancial information portal build, but also provided
much information on best practices. This was vital
in helping Quam to achieve an outstanding time-to-
market for the project. I estimate that the use of
Red Hat and JBoss software and services has en-
abled us to save approximately 50-70% overall on the
whole project costs, said Choi.
Virtualization aids server provisioning
In the Red Hat Linux Advanced Platform, vir-
tualization is more powerful than ever. Features
such as distributed lock management, global le
system, logical volume management, can now
operate over multiple physical systems and guest
operating environments. Quam uses the Red Hat
Network Virtual Manager GUI to manage virtual-
ization. The beauty is we can reassign memory
and CPUs on-the-y and whatever applications
need more resources, we can provide them imme-
diately, said Choi.
The success of the project conrms the value of
open source solutions as a long-term strategy. Our
next project will be a nancial information portal
specically for the Mainland China market and we
will need to deploy servers on a larger scale, added
Choi. We are committed to open source rather
than proprietary software, and we denitely plan to
keep using Red Hat in future.
We are not locked in to any vendor, the beauty of Linux is that
it enables freedom of choice
Philip Choi, Quam Ltd
continued from page 24
08_08-cw.indd 26 7/28/08 3:42:08 PM
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Samsung: TD-SCDMA an Olympic run-out
Samsung will conduct TD-SCDMA (Time Division Syn-
chronous Code Division Multiple Access) trials during
Beijing Olympics. The home-grown 3G standard-based
mobile network is expected to serve more than 18,000
Olympic staff members and journalists. China Mobile
will be the 3G service provider. The service will be
available in all of the Olympic cities except Hong Kong,
including Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang during
the games.
IBM sets up Tivoli center in India
IBM has set up a center in Pune, India, that aims to give
its customers the opportunity to understand and test
service management concepts and technology built into
its Tivoli software. The center will focus and build skills
in areas such as telecommunications, security, automa-
tion and asset management, IBM said recently.
Japanese browser maker taking on IE,
Firefox
A Japanese software company is stepping up inter-
national promotion of its Web browser in the hope of
carving out a 5 percent share over the next few years of
a market dominated by Internet Explorer and Firefox. The
Sleipnir browser is well-known among Japanese geeks,
many of whom value the high level of customization that
the browser allows. At the center of this customization
is the ability to select either the Trident or Gecko layout
engines for each Web site visited. Trident was developed
by Microsoft and is used in Internet Explorer while Gecko
is used in Mozillas Firefox.
Sun: Flash storage on every server
Sun will release a 32GB ash storage drive this year and
make ash storage an option for nearly every server it
produces. While ash storage is far more expensive than
disk on a per-gigabyte basis, Sun said ash is cheaper
for high-performance applications that rely on fast IOPS
speeds and also consumes less power.
MessageLabs secures e-mail backup
MessageLabs recently introduced a managed e-mail
backup service dubbed MessageLabs Email Continuity.
Offered as an SaaS, the new offering is integrated with
other offerings such as encryption or content policy
enforcement services, MessageLabs said.
Full-disk encryption for Mac OS
Check Point has launched Check Point Full Disk
Encryption for Mac OS X, the industrys rst full-disk
encryption with pre-boot authentication to support the
Mac OS. The product now supports all major laptop
and desktop operating systems, including Mac OS X
version 10.4.5 Tiger through Mac OS X version 10.5
Leopard, and laptop and mobile end-user platforms
such as Windows, Linux, Symbian, Windows Mobile,
Palm and PocketPC.
newsbytes
M
alware has risen by a staggering 278
percent in the rst half of 2008, thanks
in part to the large number of web-
sites comprised last month, said a new study by
ScanSafe.
The ScanSafe Global Threat report is a study of
more than 60 billion web requests that ScanSafe
has scanned, as well as 600 million web threats it
has blocked from January through June 2008 on
behalf of corporate customers worldwide.
The report found that web-based malware in-
creased 278 percent during this period. This was
in part due to large websites such as Wal-Mart,
Business Week, Ralph Lauren Home, and Race
for Life, being compromised in June by SQL in-
jection attacks.
Less than a year ago, web surfers were more
at risk from social engineering scams and rogue
third-party advertisers, with the outright compro-
mise of legitimate websites being relatively rare,
and when they did happen, they were fairly obvi-
ous cases such as website defacements.
But now it seems that instead of attacks on
the website itself, the target nowadays is the site
visitor. ScanSafe said that unlike defacement, the
signs of compromise are not readily apparent as
the attacks are deliberately crafted to avoid ca-
sual observation.
Study nds huge rise in malware this year
AMD takes on Intel with its own low-power chip
A
MD is developing a low-power processor
for mobile devices and sub-notebooks,
the company conrmed recently, quash-
ing months of speculation that it had abandoned
the project.
The chip will compete with Intels Atom proces-
sor and potentially supplant AMDs low-power
Geode x86 system-on-chip, which is included in
One Laptop Per Childs XO laptop. Based on the
x86 system-on-chip design acquired from Nation-
al Semiconductor in 2003, Geode is also offered
in thin clients and embedded equipment.
AMD declined to comment on release dates for
the chip.
Plans to develop a low-power chip, code-named
Bobcat, were rst revealed by AMD last year.
At the time, AMD ofcials described the chip as
designed for maximum energy efciency and
performance-per-watt for next-generation mobile
devices, scaling as low as 1 watt.
The company has been quiet about plans for
Bobcat ever since, leading to speculation among
industry observers that it had abandoned the
project as it tries to recover from consecutive
quarterly losses and restructuring.
Further details about the new mobile chip are
expected to be revealed in November at the com-
panys analyst conference, said AMDs new CEO
Dirk Meyer, during a conference call on Thurs-
day to discuss the companys nancial results.
Clearly, when you talk about smaller form-fac-
tor notebooks and inexpensive notebooks that is
a market segment we are interested in, Meyer
said.
AMD could be a late entrant to the market of
low-power chips for mobile devices rife with com-
petition. Intel released Atom processors earlier
this year, building the x86 architecture into low-
power chips that are now being used in low-cost
sub-notebooks and mobile Internet devices. Via
also introduced the Isaiah processor for mobile
devices and sub-notebooks. In June, Nvidia an-
nounced the Tegra system-on-chip for cell phones
with an integrated graphics processor.
Apple is also taking a stab at the mobile chip
market, using the recent acquisition of PA Semi
to develop system-on-chips for the iPhone.
Intel is already working an Atom successor
code-named Moorestown, due for release in 2009.
The platform includes a system-on-chip code-
named Lincroft, which is based on a 45-nanome-
ter Silverthorne core, and puts a graphics, video
and memory controller on a single chip.
Compiled by CWHK staff
Today, compromises of legitimate websites
are occurring en masse and in nearly all cases
there are no readily visible signs of the attacks,
the security expert warns.
Large number of these SQL Injection Attacks
was detected back in March this year. Then in
April, attacks on legitimate web domains, in-
cluding some belonging to the United Nations,
expanded dramatically. In June, ScanSafe found
that SQL injection attacks accounted for 76 per-
cent of all compromised sites.
Indeed, Microsoft and HP launched in June
free tools to help web developers and site ad-
ministrators defend against the rapidly growing
number of SQL injection attacks.
ScanSafe said the increasing numbers of these
attacks on legitimate websites can be blamed
on automated attack tools, which became freely
available in the last months of 2007.
The mass compromise of websites poses a
particular challenge to corporate users, said
Mary Landesman, senior security researcher,
ScanSafe. The impacted websites are typically
known, legitimate, and trusted sites with a busi-
ness purpose. These are sites that users visit fre-
quently and the attacks are so stealthy and unob-
trusive, that most visitors dont know that theyve
been infected.
technews
08_08-cw.indd 28 7/28/08 3:42:09 PM
T
he Hong Kong Institute for IT Profes-
sional Certication has added three new
certications to its Certied Professional
(CPTI)-accredited programs introduced last
year.
The HKITPC is the first non-profit profes-
sional IT certification organization in Hong
Kong, backed by the Hong Kong Computer
Society (HKCS).
According to the HKITPC, the new profes-
sional certications are: associate project man-
ager, business analyst, and information security
ofcer. Last year, it launched certications for
project director, systems architect, and quality
assurance manager, which attracted more than
100 candidates. A total of 48 IT execs achieved
certications, said Stephen Lau, chairman of the
Board of Governance at the HKITPC.
Sunny Lee, president of the Hong Kong Com-
puter Society, said that the certications are the
rst IT-related ones recognized by the qualica-
tion framework of Hong Kong SAR Governments
Education Bureau. According to the bureau, the
quality framework is a hierarchy that orders and
supports qualications of academic, vocational
and continuing education.
To strengthen the industries leading role
in the development of vocational training so
as to enhance the effectiveness of the latter,
specification of competency standards are for-
mulated by the respective industries, said the
bureau on its website.
Unique certs
The cert program has also been endorsed by
over 30 corporations including Cathay Pacific,
CLP Power, and Hong Kong Jockey Club, Lee
added. These companies recognize the certi-
fications when hiring, he said.
Despite the availability of various interna-
tional IT certifications, Lau said the local ones
mean to complement them. Whats unique
about these certifications is the incorporation
of local elements such as local laws and busi-
ness practices, Lau noted.
CK Wong, chairperson of the Emerging
Technology Special Interest Division, Hong
Kong Computer Society, said that the HKIT-
PC are now designing and formulating the
pre-requisites and exam formats for the new
certifications. Probably candidates must have
university degrees or equivalent and at least
five years of relevant work experience, Wong
noted. Exam papers are likely to include both
multiple choice and open-end questions.
The new certications will be available at the
beginning of 2009, said Lau. HKITPC expects to
award the new certications to 400 IT execs each
year.
Wong added that HKITPC is in talks with educa-
tional institutes such as HKU Space and member in-
stitutions of the Vocational Training Council for cre-
ating short courses for those interested to achieve
the certications. We will continue to work on
rolling out more certications, he said. We might
introduce three to four new certs next year.
HKITPC is also in discussion with Chinas
new Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology (MIIT) for mutual recognition for
all its certifications, said Lau.
IT pros in Hong Kong has three more achievable certifications, as the
Hong Kong Institute for IT Professional Certification adds new titles to
the cert scheme it launched last year By Teresa Leung
Hong Kong expands
IT certication scheme
Whats unique about these
certs is the incorporation of
local elements such as local
laws and business practices
Jackson Wu
Jackson Wu becomes
Nortels greater China
leader
Nortel has appointed
Jackson Wu as leader of
greater China. Based in Beijing, Wu will
further develop the focus he has built in
the regionencompassing the China,
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Kazutada Kobayashi
Kazutada Kobayashi heads
Canon Hongkong
Canon Hongkong has
announced that Kazutada
Kobayashi has become
its new President and CEO. Based in
Hong Kong for this new position, he
is responsible for overseeing all the
companys operations in Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Macau and Mongolia.
John Stefanac
John Stefanac appointed VP
and president Qualcomm
Southeast Asia/Pacific
Qualcomm has named
John Stefanac as vice president and
president of Qualcomm Southeast Asia/
Pacific. In this role, he will oversee
the execution of Qualcomms market
strategies and manage the firms business
operations throughout the region.
Appointment news
careerwatch
The cert program has also been endorsed by over 30 corporations, said officials from HKITPC and HKCS
during the launch
08_08-cw.indd 29 7/28/08 3:42:19 PM
stores online for Second Life users. These are
virtualized real worlds where interaction can
be made.
Apps like IM, click-to-call allows instant cus-
tomer services, Leffler said. Consider todays
emerging Gen Y customers aged between 10-
29. They spend much time online and wont
make phone calls when they need help from
customer service, he noted.
Apples iTunes is a case in point, said Philip
Goldie, director, product marketing Asia at
Nortel. Its one of the most successful online
businesses, but customers dont get support
from phone calls, he added.
To minimize risks, companies should spec-
ify what are allowed to do in Web 2.0 environ-
ments and they should be able to reap benefits
like productivity and enhanced customer ser-
vice, Goldie noted.
IDC also advised corporations to modify
their personnel policies and business prac-
tices to support increased connectivity. The
business, not the IT department, must make
the rules about personal versus business use
and incentives for adoption, said IDC in its
study. The two must work together to manage
the changing boundaries in a hyerconnected
world, the research firm added.
we see them as tools allowing collaboration,
he added.
From an IT perspective, devices proliferation
and hyperconnectivity means unpredictability,
according to Bandrowczak. People can view
anything at anytime. And the number of people
doing it vary at anytime too, he said.
Instead of stopping people from being con-
nected, IT must be prepared to react to chang-
es, Bandrowczak noted. He added that ITs
job is not to predict what happen next, but to
make sure policies and procedures in place
are followed through. For instance, a device
must be authenticated before its connected to
a companys network, he said. We make sure
this is done rather than predicting what will
happen after an employee is connected to our
network. He added that half of the problems
are caused by policies and procedures not be-
ing followed.
Web 2.0 apps
The IDC survey results indicated that a fourth
of the hyperconnected respondents use Web 2.0
applications such as blogs and wikis to commu-
nicate with customers and other outsiders.
Hyperconnectivity plus Web 2.0 means a
new customer experience, said Darren Leffler,
product and solutions marketing at Nortel.
He added that some companies have already
stayed ahead of their competition, having built
techguide
Nortel predicts explosive growth
for hyperconnectivity
Nortels Bandrowczak: Half of the problems are
caused by policies not being followed
We arent here to predict, but to make sure policies and
procedures are followed
Steve Bandrowczak, Nortel
S
ome enterprises tightly control the appli-
cations and devices their employees use
at work. But not so at Nortel, which sees
hyperconnectivity as something that employers
should accommodate.
According to a March 2008 IDC study spon-
sored by Nortel, enterprises face an exploding
culture of connectivity as information work-
ers use more and more devices and applica-
tions. IDC surveyed 2,367 men and women
across 17 countries in various industries, dif-
ferent company sizes and age segments.
IDC found a large number of hyperconnect-
ed users whom the analyst company defines
as those using at least seven devices and nine
applications. The hyperconnected accounted
for 16 percent of the respondents in the study.
Gadgets range from phones, laptops, PDAs
and GPS navigation systems. Apps used on
these devices include blogs, Second Life, wi-
kis, IM, text messaging, Web conferencing,
and VoIP.
There are also 36 per cent of respondents that
IDC defines as increasingly connectedthose
using four devices and as many as six apps.
Anything that can be connected and would
benefit from being connected will be con-
nected, said Steve Bandrowczak, Global CIO
at Nortel said. At Nortel, we dont block em-
ployee access to Web 2.0 apps.
We use things like IM and Second Life as
The proliferation of devices and apps might be a challenge to corporations,
but they also present business opportunities
By Teresa Leung in Sydney
08_08-cw.indd 30 7/28/08 3:42:20 PM
M
uch of the iPhone 3G and the new
iPhone 2.0 software remains an
enigma to professionals and enter-
prises, users set apart by, among other things,
their tendency to use punctuation in their e-
mail. These users demand more from a hand-
set than a cellular browser and YouTube.
The iPhone 3G must be weighed against
well-established QWERTY devices from HTC,
Motorola, Nokia, Palm and RIMs. I judged the
original 2007 iPhone far short of professional
standardsit was too expensive to be missing
so much.
This time around, there are two new prod-
ucts. One is the iPhone 3G, Apples pair of new
8GB and 16GB phone models that deliver Ac-
tiveSync, Assisted GPS (A-GPS), and 3G cel-
lular data. The other product is the iPhone 2.0
software, Apples new iPhone firmware and
related apps.
I refer to first-gen iPhone and the iPhone 3G
running iPhone 2.0 software as the iPhone,
which now identifies a consistently implement-
ed platform in the same manner that Mac cov-
ers all Apple client computers. When I refer to
the iPhone 3G, Im making specific reference
to Apples new handset.
Second times the charm
Apple has turned the iPhone into a mobile
platform I can recommend to professional and
enterprise users. But I will continue to test the
iPhone 3G against Apples claims. Its my opin-
ion that final judgment about the worthiness of
a mobile device cant be rendered until youve
trusted your digital identity to it.
So far, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2.0
software meet the expectations set by Apple,
and Apples design and engineering produced
a mobile device and platform that hold their
own against the likes of Nokia E-Series, RIM
BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile 6. In areas
ease of use, fast access, and readability. The
use of spinning slot-machine-like dials to set
the time of an appointment is more intuitive
than arrows, and its quicker than typing. Ap-
pointments can be separated out by category
(for example, personal and office) or pulled
together into a single view, in which case the
category is reflected in the color of the entry.
Apple makes great use of the tall display and
Mac OS Xs crisp text rendering. All of the
calendar views use the largest type that will
fit while packing as much information onto a
single page as possible.
Contacts are listed in a massive bold font. A
new search field at the top of the list displays
only matching entries, and for rapid scrolling
through a large list, there is an alphabetical
index tab down the right edge of the screen.
Each contact can be assigned its own ring tone
and avatar, and you can add custom fields to
each entry.
If youre linked to Exchange Server, new
calendar appointments are sent to you via Ac-
tiveSync push, and you can accept or reject
an invitation. But you cant send one from the
iPhone. Thats a major flaw.
where Apple chose to focus its innovation, the
iPhone 3G exceeds the capabilities of other de-
vices by a margin that makes it hard to imag-
ine competitors closing the gap.
I judge the iPhone 3G to be among the
QWERTY class of messaging/PDA devices be-
cause these are professional- and enterprise-
targeted handsets, and because whenever in-
put is required, the iPhone pops up as close to
a full GUI keyboard as will fit on the display.
Zero squint-factor
For professionals, the PDA features of a
handset may be the decider. The iPhones cal-
endar and address book are absolute tops for
Apple gets the iPhone 3G right for business
Apple has turned the iPhone into a mobile platform I can
recommend to professional and enterprise users
By Tom Yager, InfoWorld (US)
techfeature
08_08-cw.indd 32 7/28/08 3:42:22 PM
techfeature
In the plus category: a new rich attachment
viewer that displays Office, iWork 08 (Apples
productivity suite), PDFs, and many flavors of
still images inside the Mail app. Using pinch
(shrink), spread (zoom), and flick (scroll) ges-
tures, documents that are too large to fit on
the display are easier to navigate than on most
other devices, and the iPhone is surprisingly
quick with document conversion.
Theres no way to create rich documents on
the iPhone, no equivalent to the mobile office
suites on Nokia E-series and Windows Mobile
devices. But I expect third-party document edi-
tors appearing on App StoreApples custom
online iPhone software catalogsoon.
Over-the-air sync
The iPhone is a wireless deviceits USB
cord is for charging, backups, firmware up-
dates, and iPod content. For professionals and
enterprises, wires will just get in the way.
The Contacts and Calendar apps can sync
over the air to several servers including Ex-
change Server, Apples MobileMe, Google,
and Yahoo. The iPhone will sync, through
iTunes, to Mac and Windows desktops (Out-
look or Outlook Express for Windows, iCal for
Mac), but tethered sync efforts tend to create
false conflicts that must be sorted manually.
Its better to take new events, contacts, and
messages as they are postedthe servers that
dispatch them are more reliable sources than
your desktop.
Apples MobileMe is billed as Exchange
Server for the rest of us. Thats a bit rich, but
it does keep multiple iPhone, iPod, and Mac
clients in sync, and the AJAX front-ends to the
Mail, Calendar, and Address Book are slick.
MobileMe syncs Safari browser bookmarks
as well. (I havent tested MobileMes sync fea-
tures against Windows.) I wouldnt make Mo-
bileMe my sole e-mail server for business use,
but I think that the service, which costs $99
per year, is a necessity for iPhone users.
Apple equipped the iPhone to tap into a pro-
prietary infrastructure, not unlike the one RIM
uses for BlackBerry, that pushes mail and PDA
updates to the iPhone over the air. Push is a
relative term thats entirely dependent on your
software.
As a consumer device, the iPhone will typi-
cally be used with low-end mail and scheduling
clients that hit the server at timed intervals,
or over a hotel or conference center wireless
LAN. It takes as long as 15 minutes for iTunes
to pull an update or message from Outlook or
Entourage to Apples cloud, at which point it
finds you within a few seconds. But in an enter-
prise using Exchange Server and the iPhone,
push can be taken for granted. Pushing desk-
top-sized messages is best handled with the
iPhone 3G.
Most of what the iPhone can do over the cel-
lular network, it can do over WiFi. You can run
both networks simultaneously on an iPhone.
The iPhone 3G is world-compatible, support-
ing four varieties of GSM and three flavors of
UMTS. If you have a contract with a carrier
that supports roaming, you can now hop on a
plane and expect your iPhone 3G to connect
for you when you land.
One drawback with the iPhones Exchange
Server support is that each device only sup-
ports one user profile. Multiple users wouldnt
be sharing one iPhone, but one user might set
up different profiles for the various projects
he or she is working on. It is possible to add
multiple non-Exchange profiles pointing to
POP or IMAP servers; I used that technique to
work around the single profile issue by creat-
ing a secondary IMAP profile for my Exchange
Server.
iPhone 3G additions
Cellular data suffers from la-
tencyI measured 3G network
latency at between 270 and an
astonishing 1,100 milliseconds.
Youll notice that some pages
render faster than others, and
that Web sites with lots of little
AJAX image buttons load slowly
the first time.
The iPhone 3G adds GPS,
and the result is a three-radio
location scheme: Apple pulls in
WiFi and cell tower signatures,
overlaps GPS data, and decides
which of these sources is most
trustworthy before passing
your location to Google Maps,
your browser, or a custom ap-
plication. Its brilliant.
Not of one cloth
In most regards, comparing the iPhone to
QWERTY devices built for professionals is not
an overlapping-feature-set affair. For example,
BlackBerry is the crown prince of push mes-
saging, working just like a pager. The iPhone
cant live up to BlackBerrys definition of
push, measured in milliseconds, but Black-
Berry is lousy at dealing with big messages
and rich attachments.
Another excellent give-and-take example is
found in the browser: Apple wins hands down
for readability and controls, but the iPhone
lacks, and likely will always lack, Java and
Flash. On the other hand, no mobile device
can touch the iPhone for AJAX content. The
iPhone was made for AJAX, and the Safari
browser evolves faster than others.
Who comes out on top? It likely depends on
whether youre dependent on existing Java
MIDP software. If you have the option of fresh
development, the iPhone SDK might have an
answer, or it might not. I cant say, because
the iPhone SDK is under complete non-disclo-
sure. I was quoted in the public portion of the
Worldwide Developer Conference keynote,
so Ill stretch my neck out and tell you that
there isnt a better mobile development plat-
form, toolset, or documentation set than the
iPhones. Its foolish of Apple to keep people
from writing about it.
Stay tuned
For now, Ill say that the iPhone 3G is prob-
ably the best US$199 smartphone on the mar-
ket. It shines in rich documents, over-the-air
sync, direct connectivity with Exchange Serv-
er, and AJAX applications. The iPhones trump
card is usability. You can drop an iPhone on
the desk of a person whos
never seen one before, and
theyll be working it within
the hour. The typing takes
getting used to, but it is
leagues better in iPhone 2.0
than on the original iPhone.
Best of all, you can actu-
ally read the thing. Text and
graphics are as clear as on
any desktop, and Apple al-
ways fills the screen.
An iPhone is also an iPod,
and podcasts, video clips,
and PowerPoint decks are
within easy reach. But I
wouldnt advise download-
ing such files over the air
unless youre on an unlim-
ited-data plan.
If you have existing mobile
applications that rely on Java, Flash, or .Net,
or if you have server-side applications that use
BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the iPhones
not for you. Theres no way to get from any of
these to the iPhone. Whatever custom mobile
solution you have now would have to be re-
worked as AJAX or iPhone-native software, or
as a client/server solution with an AJAX front
end.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the
iPhone 3G clears the bar for professional and
enterprise use, and in some ways, sets a higher
one.
08_08-cw.indd 33 7/28/08 3:42:23 PM
T
he CIO Executive Summit 2008 will be held at the Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre on September 2&3, 2008.The
theme for this event: The CIO Evolution: Driving and Thriving
Within Change.
industryevents
The conference is an invitation-only
summit where CIOs, CEOs and oth-
er senior business executives from
large and influential organizations
in Asia share wisdom and expertise
on fostering innovation, launching new initiatives and exploring best
practices.
CIOs today must manage more with less, and are measured against
performance standards of direct business benefit. Possessing an agile
and highly responsive IT infrastructure is thus imperative in this rap-
idly evolving global market.
The Agenda for the two-day summit will include:
Creating an IT Strategy to Drive Innovation and Business Growth
Leading and Managing Business Transformation
Driving Value in the Changing CIO Landscape
Business/Technology Synergy in the 4th Wave
Outsourcing Strategies: Leveraging Trends Across the Spectrum of
Opportunities
Security Innovation: The global business
CIOs converge at high-powered summit
By Computerworld Hong Kong Staff
Sponsors include Hitachi Data Systems, Juniper Networks, CPCNet
and Research In Motion (RIM). Also sponsoring the event are Fortinet,
CheckPoint, Arcsight and SingTel.
Speakers scheduled to appear include: Sunny Lee (executive director
of IT for the Hong Kong Jockey Club), Sim Choo (VP & regional CIO
Asia Pacic) Sony Pictures Entertainment, Patrick Slesinger (director &
CIO, Wallem Group), Michael Ma (corporate VP of IT, AIA), Peter Smith
(director of IT, Hong Kong CSL), Thomas Parenty, (managing director,
Parenty Consulting), .Albert Tang, (general manager of IT, Crown Ma-
cau), and Peter Chan, director and regional head of IT, Invesco HK.
S
ince 2004, the Hong Kong Computer
and Communications Festival (HKC-
CF)organized by The Chamber of
Hong Kong Computer Industry and co-orga-
nized by the Sham Shui Po District Coun-
cilhas enjoyed strong support. Meanwhile,
the organizer endeavors to set the main
theme as well as events in the HKCCF every
year, in order to attract more and more visi-
tors and generate profits for the exhibitors
as well.
Based on past success, HKCCF 2008
will continue to follow global IT trends
with special focus on the High Definition
Digital Home. The festival aims at pro-
moting advanced technology and innova-
tion to satisfy the evolving needs of the
community, and reflect technological ad-
vancements.
Another obj ecti ve of thi s theme i s to
retai n more spare ti me f or l i f e enj oyment
vi a user- f ri endl y i nnovati ve el ectroni c
products. Wi th cooperati on among many
wel l - known IT brand names, HKCCF
2008 wi l l bri ng vi si tors ref reshi ng ex-
peri ences i n appl yi ng technol ogy to our
dai l y l i ves.
There are four large-scale events in HKCCF
2008, which will serve as a distinctive focus
for the festival.
Os light photo competition
To celebrate and show support for Beijings
hosting of the Olympic Games this year,
HKCCF 2008 will showcase Os light photo
competitionorganized by CHKCI and co-
organized by the SSP Home Affairs Depart-
ment. Timothy Fok, president of the Sports
Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong
Kong, is the honorable president of this con-
test. The competition enjoys the full support
of Fok, the chairmen of 15 District Councils
and other well-known figures.
IT Image Girl 2008
The IT Image Girl is an annual event at
the HKCCF. It has been widely reported by
local and mainland media.
The contest is divided into 2 parts, includ-
ing preliminary and final contests. All partici-
pants must display their talents on the stage
while facing challenges from the host and
panel judges in the contest. These challenges
include language skills, a catwalk competi-
tion, singing, etc. For the pursuit of the ul-
timate goal in the contestthe Champion of
IT Image Girlall participants can expect to
encounter drastic competition.
IT Quiz
In order to promote IT knowledge among
schools, the IT Quiz has been held since
2004. As organized by CHKCI and co-or-
ganized by e-zone this year, IT Quiz tar-
gets all students of primary and secondary
schools in Hong Kong so that it can facili-
tate the popularity of IT technology as well.
This years quiz will focus on global tech-
nology trends, e.g: high-definition, intel-
lectual property rights, WiFi questions and
so on.
IT Auction
To satisfy the needs of the cheapest elec-
tronic products for visitors, there will be an
IT Auction during HKCCF 2008. The auc-
tion is organized by CHKCI and co-organized
by PC Market.
All products will be sold at cheaper prices
as compared with the market. The organiz-
ers will collect the most popular electronic
products and set HK$1 as the reserve price.
The auction is always one of the more popular
events at the festival.
IT Festival focused on emerging trends
By Computerworld Hong Kong Staff
08_08-cw.indd 34 7/30/08 12:30:06 PM
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UDS Data Systems Ltd www.udshk.com 35
Wing On Engineering Co www.wingoneng.com.hk 35
ADVERTISERS INDEX
For enquiries, please call Connie Yip at 9407 5454. E-mail: cyip@questexasia.com
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backpage
humorless official obsession with
what is, for all the spectacle, mere-
ly a sporting event.
It is no wonder the IOC told
games organizers to lighten up
and, if at all possible, just smile.
Yet beyond all of those the main
reason the Olympics lost my in-
terest months ago is more profes-
sional.
Id like to be writing this pre-
Games column about the com-
munications and IT underlying
the event. Whatever the athletes
might think, the modern Olym-
pics is a gigantic media occasion,
held together by 1s and 0s.
Id love to be able to tell you I
know more about the Beijing Data
Center than that it looks like both
a barcode and a computer chip
(though I do believe its been
working better since it stopped
handling online ticket sales, three
hours after sales began last Octo-
ber).
Soft target
Id also like to say Ive talked
to some of the leaders of the
IT program about the challeng-
es theyve overcome and what
theyve done differently from the
last Games.
I also wish I could impart some-
thing about the telecom deployments, in par-
ticular the mobile and WiFi networks. Why it
is that China Mobile and not the host broad-
band carrier China Netcom is the main WiFi
provider I just cant tell you. And neither can
Netcom, although it did promise to explain
how the Olympics will change
China Netcom.
And all of that, if you havent al-
ready guessed, is because of the
willful inability of anyone associ-
ated with the Games to share any
meaningful information about
ICT design and deployments.
Sure, vendors such as Leno-
vo and Altos have explained to
press how their gear fits into the
scheme of things, but theyre
just the support cast. And sure,
datacenters and telecom net-
works are sensitive at the best of
times.
But theres plenty that can be
said without turning the entire
infrastructure into a soft target
for Muslim separatists, as we are
supposed to believe.
Most of all, youd think offi-
cials would be lining up to tell
all because, as weve heard a
million times, the whole purpose
of this grand coming out party
is to show off the country to the
world.
That it hasnt is a terrible
shame and an indictment on the
competence of BOCOG and the
prevailing culture of paranoia
and secrecy.
China has some of the worlds
smartest engineers and software
writers who have doubtless contributed in
ingenious fashion. None of them will receive
their due recognition.
Robert Clark is a Beijing-based technology jour-
nalist. rclark@electricspeech.com
T
he Olympics arent here yet, but Im al-
ready over them.
Judging by the many empty hotel
rooms in Beijing, it seems Im not the only one
unenthused.
Sure, I hope they go swimmingly (tracking-
ly?), but Im past the point of caring.
Why the apathy?
Yes, it could be the incessant Olympics pro-
pagandawidely evident here in Hong Kong,
inescapable in the capital.
Yes, it might be the slogan One World, One
Dream, which has gone from merely implau-
sible to laughable.
It could be the endless torch relay, or the
bad-tempered demonstrations by Chinese na-
tionals it sparked off.
It could be the lame effort at the green
Olympics, which has meant standing down
millions of workers to keep the air clean, and
deploying battalions of soldiers to clear algae
from the sailing course. Not to mention the
erection of boondoggles like the Birds Nest,
whose use of steel mesh uses vastly more en-
ergy than a conventional structure.
Or it could be that officials have demonstrat-
ed the Olympics spirit by detaining even more
activists and government critics.
Or it could be the ever-expanding constraints
on daily life and constant hectoring of citizens.
From the subway baggage inspections and the
vehicle checkpoints to the hustling away of mi-
grant workers and the banning of flights dur-
ing the opening ceremony, its the unfettered,
Chinas long march to Olympic glory leaves
correspondent Robert Clark cold
By Robert Clark
The secret Games
From the
subway baggage
inspections and the
vehicle checkpoints
to the hustling away
of migrant workers
and the banning of
ights during the
opening ceremony,
its the unfettered,
humorless ofcial
obsession with
what is, for all the
spectacle, merely a
sporting event
08_08-cw.indd 38 7/28/08 3:42:27 PM
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