Barclays Bank chose to install IBM’s system UNIX-server platform in its nationwide branches in Pakistan

Barclays Bank PLC has signed an agreement with IBM Business Partner whereby IBM will provide IBM System and IBM System Storage products. Barclays Bank chose one of the fastest growing IBM’s products that are extensively penetrating in the banking industry particularly in their core banking applications, which will help them with their FlexCube core banking deployment.

To formalize the agreement, a signing ceremony was held at the Barclays Bank PLC, Pakistan Head Office in Karachi. The MoU was signed between Mr. Humayun Bashir, Country General Manager, IBM Pakistan and Mr. Mohsin Nathani, Managing Director and Country Head, Barclays Bank Pakistan. This MoU with IBM will give Barclays Bank a national footprint, enabling the company to provide state-of-the-art services to a wider customer base.

Barclays Bank Pakistan chose IBM’s System UNIX-server platform to meet their needs of a scalable database server which is designed to meet the rigors of its Core Banking application. IBM’s offering will provide Barclays Bank with the most cost effective and efficient solution which will incorporate security features designed for system protection. Barclays Bank have also chosen IBM’s SAN Volume Controller (SVC) and Tape Library which shall help combine storage capacity from multiple vendors for centralized management, maintain backups and also increase storage utilization by providing more flexible access to storage assets. IBM will also provide direct support and 24 hours services to Barclays Bank.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Mohsin Nathani, Managing Director and Country Head, Barclays Bank Pakistan said: “Data is the backbone of any organization and with the rapidly emerging needs of secured storage, it is imperative for organizations to add layers of data protection. We are committed to providing our customers with data centre services of global standards and this strategic tie-up with IBM reinforces our vision to provide top class solutions to our customers across the country”.

Mr. Humayun Bashir, Country General Manager, IBM Pakistan commented that, “IBM believes the coming decade will be defined by a rampant growth in new energy which will be enabled by the application of new business models. We are positive of this partnership with Barclays where we can bring the best of innovation and highly secured data centre solutions”.

About Barclays Bank
Barclays Bank is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services, with an extensive international presence in Europe, the USA, Africa and Asia. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs 143,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for over 38 million customers and clients worldwide.

About IBM
IBM established its operation in Pakistan in 1952. With a history of over 55 years, IBM has a long-standing business, technological and social heritage in Pakistan. We are dedicated to helping our customers pursue new market opportunities and become more productive through the end-to-end transformation of their business models and the innovative application of e-business technology and solutions.
 

Secure Byte Audit Software earned 5 star rating in SC Magazine assessment

Secure Auditor extolled by reviewers as ‘intuitive and offering a great amount of flexibility and auditing capabilities for a broad range of different assets and good value for the money.’ Secure Bytes Inc., a Chicago based startup and vendor of Integrated security solutions for Auditing, Vulnerability Assessment, Penetration Testing and Unified Digital Risk Assessment, announced today that its flagship software suite Secure Auditor earns highest 5 star rating possible, in overall rating category of a Comparative Review published in SC Magazine’s August 2008 edition.

Secure Auditor received 5 out of 5 stars in Features, Performance, and Documentation, categories evaluation. It has received assessors praise in the product’s published review as “A suite comprised of several different pieces designed to audit vulnerabilities across a broad range of systems. Because of this thorough analysis of a range of systems, administrators can be sure that all the various components across the networks are secure and up to date.” The review continues, highlighting other areas in which the Secure Auditor excels: Flexibility & Performance: “This product can scan many different platforms, and we found this flexibility to add greatly to the performance value of the product” Intuitive to Use: “We found this product to be quite intuitive to install and use. Installation takes just a few minutes and is guided by an easy-to-follow setup wizard.” Management & User Interface: “Management is done through a well organized user interface, which is also quite intuitive to navigate.”

Reviewers concluded the Secure Auditor assessment with the Verdict as “Versatile tool.” Summing it up as a tool that “offers a great amount of flexibility and auditing capabilities for a broad range of different assets. We find this offering to be a good value for the money.” Secure Bytes appreciates SC Magazine’s product review team for considering Secure Auditor in their recent group test for vulnerability assessment. It is a great recognition for Secure Auditor within a few months of its launch, from a trusted industry leader like SC Magazine to validate Secure Auditor’s performance and features.
 
About SC Magazine
SC Magazine is one of the most prestigious information security magazines globally. It provides timely, comprehensive and in depth analyses of latest security updates. SC magazine provides a most extensive collection of product reviews with consolidated and unbiased views of industry thought leaders. It facilitates IT buyer’s decision making process to adopt the right technology for security measures in their organizations. SC Magazine Awards, SC Directory, SC Magazine Newswire and SC Magazine IT Security Executives Forums are different brands of the group.

About Secure Bytes
Secure Bytes prime concern is to provide comprehensive, integrated, productive and result oriented security solutions to its clientele and minimize their security risk. We identify security risks, prioritize them according to their severity and suggest methods of mitigation. Our human asset is our biggest strength. We are team players because we believe that TEAM means “together everyone achieves more”. Secure Bytes is committed to quality, productivity and technology.
 

P@SHA’s Career Expo 2008: Inspiring Innovation!

P@SHA has been organizing its annual Career Expo for last the three years to provide students with the latest information towards better and more sustainable careers. BearingPoint Management & Technology Consultants was the lead sponsor of the entire programme, while PixSense, Microsoft and Intel were the bronze sponsors of this expo.

This year, the event received a huge response from the students from almost every university. The place was crowded with attendees and the exhibitors, which showed how successful this event, but you shouldn’t make the judgment on quantity, rather make it on the quality of the interaction. The exhibition section contained a large number of IT and HR exhibitors, providing the students with an easy platform, which led right into the proper jobs. Moreover, the career counselors dealt with hundreds of students solved their complications and guided them to their required and deserved careers.

More than 20 companies participated in the Career Expo, which focused on job offerings to students of the related sectors and the delegates briefed attendees about their companies, job trends and future prospects. Among the exhibitors were P@SHA, PixSense, IBM, Avanza Solutions, LAALS, Online Corporation, TLS, TPS, Server4Sale, Alchemy, TRG, MIXIT and several others. Additionally, workshops and panel discussions on Interview Techniques, Presentation Skills, Choosing a Career with an MNC, a local company or even how to set up one’s own company. There were also sessions providing guidance tips on handling different types of bosses.

Ms. Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA and Mr. Jawwad Farid of Alchemy spoke to a large number of students and enlightened their visions by sorting out different strategies of careers, jobs, employment as well as managing a business plan. There were several other topics that were discussed and this entire event was very helpful for youngsters.

Many described this event a critical platform that fills the empty spaces between youth and the professional industries. After noticing the positive effects of the career counseling, the fact was highlighted once again that every college and university of Pakistan needs a career-counseling department. This Career Expo series will repeat in Lahore and Islamabad, which will definitely be beneficial for the Pakistan’s future.

About P@SHA
Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES (P@SHA) was initiated by a number of software houses in an attempt to create a functional chamber of commerce for the IT industry in Pakistan. Aiming to protect the rights of its members; P@SHA lobbies with the government to initiate policies and create an environment that would attract more firms to join the industry. P@SHA has gained international recognition by having won several awards in the Asia Pacific ICT awards.


 

NetSol won multi-million dollar contract for its leasing solutions in North America

NetSol Technologies Limited has won a multi-million dollar contract for its leasing solutions from the North American captive finance division of a major Asian-based automobile manufacturer. The agreement provides for product licensing, software customization, system implementation and ongoing maintenance and support services for the NetSol Financial Suite.

About the contract, NetSol Chairman and CEO Mr. Salim Ghauri said that this latest North American customer win extended NetSol's position as a leader in providing world-class lease management software to the global automotive manufacturing sector.

"NetSol's NFS provides a comprehensive platform, allowing the customer to expand their addressable markets, rapidly deploy new systems and processes, increase owner loyalty and improve customer service, all while delivering a flexible yet cost effective solution," he said. "The deal also reflects the successful execution of our North America division in further penetrating this key region under the guidance of our newly expanded NetSol Technologies North America senior management team."

Mr. Ghauri added that the NFS was a leading solution among North American banks, leasing companies and financial institutions, accounting for over $150 billion in net assets world-wide. NFS's functional depth and scalability set the standard for the industry. "The NFS lease and loan portfolio management technology is unmatched in its built-in leasing expertise, offering clients the flexibility they need to streamline their operations across the lease lifecycle," he remarked.

About NetSol Technologies
NetSol Technologies is a multinational provider of global business services and enterprise solutions to the financial services industry. By utilizing its worldwide IT design, development, quality assurance (QA), Best Shoring(TM) practices, and project management resources, NetSol delivers high-quality, cost-effective portfolio management solutions for equipment and vehicle finance, as well as global business services ranging from consulting and application development to systems integration and development outsourcing.
 

FBR automated its Correspondence Management & Files Tracking System with Buraq Integrated Solutions

Buraq Integrated Solutions has completed the implementation of Correspondence Management System & Files Tracking System at FBR. This includes complete automation of their offices for files management and digitization of their record by using CMS & eDoX.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) launched eDoX — electronic correspondence management system — as part of reforms of the tax administration. eDoX is a web-based computer application, which is being used to keep track of all inbound and outbound mail and files of the office.

eDoX provides the users an electronic (paperless) environment in the FBR and its field offices for processing of documents and files. This also enables the users to quickly communicate with the internal as well as external customers using latest IT tools. While using the electronic management system, users expressed the confidence that it would further enhance the image of FBR as a thoroughly reformed and fully automated public sector organization, capable of facing the challenges of the modern age of information technology. With the help of this new system, FBR’s correspondence and file system would be improved considerably and will become more efficient and transparent.

FBR has become the pioneer among the public sector organizations by introducing and implementing the said electronic documents (files) processing solution (eDoX) with a bare minimum cost, in collaboration with Buraq Integrated Solutions.

New application is fully compliant with the secretariat instructions, government Rules of Business 1973 updated from time to time. The system is providing an efficient and speedy disposal of office work enabling the top management to monitor and track all such transactions.

About Buraq Integrated Solutions
Buraq Integrated Solutions (BIS) has been actively involved in Consultancy, Software Development, Networking and Manpower Training since 1990. BIS is growing at an accelerated rate, primarily because of the company’s forward-looking vision and exceptional leadership. BIS also offers mega solutions to enterprise level in the form of DMS, Office Automation, GIS Development etc.




ROZEE.PK launched online campus portals for the leading universities of Pakistan

ROZEE.PK launched Online Campus Portals for the leading universities of Pakistan, such as NUST Business School, FAST-NU, LUMS, UCP, IBA, COMSATS, AIR University and GIFT University. These portals aim to link graduates and alumni to leading Industry jobs in the most effective way. Funded by the Government of Pakistan through the National ICT R&D Fund, these portals promise to integrate the graduating students, faculty and alumni of 85 Pakistani universities onto the ROZEE.PK platform. Under this project, all three will be able to build their resumes online, view job postings by over 15,000 employers, apply and network with their peers.

The event was to be inaugurated by Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira – Federal Minister for IT who was unable to attend due to last minute schedule changes. However in a statement issued by the ministry he applauded the project, commenting that "We support this much needed linkage between the Industry and our Academia through a Pakistani-owned website and we have provided this support though financial contribution through the ICT R&D Fund."

Attendees included the Vice Chancellors and Rectors of partnering universities as well as prominent HR personalities like Mr. Q.M. Shahed – Head of HR, Pakistan Tobacco Company; Mr. Leon Menezes - GM HR, Shell Pakistan and Mr. Haroon Bhatti-Director Peoples Excellence, Telenor who highlighted the importance of these portals for their respective industries. Invitations were extended to all leading business entrepreneurs including Mr. Zohair Khaliq- CEO, Mobilink, Mr. Nayab Baig – VP, HR Telenor, Mr. Shahid Khakan – MD Airblue and Mr. Zafar Aziz Usmani - SEVP, Habib Bank Limited, who could not make it due to busy schedules.

Lauding the importance of such initiatives, Mr. Adeel Anwar, GM Academic & Corporate Linkages at NUST, said, the portal will "define the future scope of the relationship between the research areas and the industry and provide opportunities for job placements."

CEO and Chairman, ROZEE.PK, Mr. Monis Rahman said the Campus Career Portal "enables Industry to finally get a chance to communicate one-to-one with academia and fill a much needed productivity gap."

About ROZEE.PK
ROZEE.PK, a service of Naseeb Networks, Inc. is Pakistan’s largest job site that connects talent with opportunity. Rozee is provided as a free service to job seekers as well as employers to help facilitate hiring and job searching.





KalSoft, recently re-branded, shined with its banking product at DAWN Asia Finance Conference

KalSoft presented a new shine when it launched its corporate image at the Dawn Media Group for the Asia Finance Conference 2008 at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi. The event focused on showcasing the portfolios of Pakistan’s foremost financial technology service providers.

The event was inaugurated by the Minister of IT Sindh Mr. Raza Haroon, Chief Guest of the ceremony. The conference was held in Pearl Continental Ball Room where speakers were given a platform to present their ideas for the application of IT by Financial Institutions to develop and enhance their business functions. The aim of the exhibition was to portray all relevant service providers within a single frame providing an opportunity for business networking and knowledge sharing.

KalSoft presented Vortex- a product that helps banks to re-orient their strategies by adding a customer – centric slant to compliment their product-centric strategies. This application is a system that meets the changing needs and enables target revenue growth in addition to cutting operating cost definitely giving the bank an edge over its competitors.

About KalSoft
Established in 1999, KalSoft has evolved within a short span of time to bring dramatic change in the market arena through its specialized range of products and services. KalSoft has the dexterity to provide the best IT solutions that allow businesses to gain automation and control of their work processes by the use of their numerous solutions and products.


 

HBFC launched Contact Center to strengthen its customer base using ZRG’s CTI Technology

House Building Finance Corporation Limited (HBFC Ltd), the oldest housing finance institute of Pakistan has acquired an advanced contact center solution from ZRG, nation’s market leader in contact technology. HBFC Ltd has launched its customer services contact center on a toll free number (080042325) to facilitate its current and potential customers. The contact center will be a major contributor in supporting the recent Ghar Aasan and Shandar Ghar Schemes of HBFC Ltd.

HBFC Ltd selected ZRG solution because the offer and features was unmatched by any other market player and was backed by a team of professionals that have delivered success to over 35 mission critical centers in the country and the international market. ZRG seamlessly integrated HBFC’s customer database with its Contact Center and CRM solution. The solution enables the agent for registering and tracking of all complaints and capturing leads for proper sales management. ZRG provided an integrated complaint management system, an IVR with easy to follow instructions, CTI for providing personalized services to the customers and Call Recording system for transaction verification and problem resolution.

According to the HBFC Ltd Management “ZRG has done an excellent job by delivering us a highly flexible and advanced platform that will help us achieve greater customer satisfaction”

About ZRG International
ZRG has been providing end-to-end international contact center technologies from Intel Corporation, USA since 1994. Due to the reliability, advanced features and cost-effective approach, Intel Contact Center technology has become the most preferred choice among the leading brands.

About HBFC
HBFC, the oldest housing finance institute of Pakistan, was established as a statutory federal body in 1952 with the objective of providing financial assistance for the construction of houses. Ensuingly HBFC’s scope also branched out into diverse dominions like purchase, repair and renovation of houses. Later on HBFC’s mission was evermore reformed to specifically target the needs of the low and middle income strata of the country by providing Small and Medium Housing (SMH) Solutions, hence successfully providing skilled and user friendly service at affordable costs.
 

Inbox unveiled its Digital Pen and Paper Platform solutions

Inbox Business Technologies formally launched its Business Process Optimization Solution at an event dubbed Simplifying Business Processes: Creating Competitive Advantage using digital pen and paper technology. The event was attended by selected audience of CIOs, Information System experts, Business unit heads, IT enthusiasts and Industry aficionados. The launch was marked by deployment of Form Automation Solution at United Bank Limited by Inbox Business Technologies.

Mr. David Tan Jee Boon, Chief Executive Officer of BIG’ant – a Malaysian-based form automation specialist firm, elaborated how the digital pen and paper platform enables business transformation without ever changing the end-user experience. “Digital Pen and Paper Technology offers simplicity, usability and complete mobility. As compared to PDAs or other tablet PC solutions, DPP solutions have a lower total cost of ownership and are easier to deploy”, he said. He also shared success stories of digital pen and paper implementations across the world.

Mr. Mir Nasir, Director Strategic Business Group, Inbox Business Technologies spoke about value offerings by Inbox and highlighted the benefits of digital pen and paper platform in imperfect conditions. “Enterprises require constant process improvement in achieving and accelerating their set targets. In the local context, given the level of literacy, unreliability and immobility of systems, power outages, and connectivity issues; digital pen and paper technology is quite apt. DPP enables companies to empower their technology-shy workers without investing in training and maintenance of handheld devices and systems,” he said.

Inbox as an end-to-end solution provider is focused towards medium and large enterprise, education, government and armed forces. Business Process Optimization Solutions by Inbox capitalizes on Digital Pen and Paper Technology by making accurate information available from front-end to the back-end within a matter of seconds. The DPP technology has various applications across verticals; from banking, insurance and finance to manufacturing, retail and distribution.

About Inbox
Inbox Business Technologies is one of the leading end-to-end Technology Solutions Company in Pakistan offering technical Technology Infrastructure, Systems Integration and Outsourcing Solutions with focus on the financial sector, medium and large enterprise, education, government & armed forces. It is a 300 people company with a nationwide sales and support network.
 

Soneri Bank contracted TPS for symantec's enterprise-wide high availability solutions

Soneri Bank, one of the most promising and forward looking banks, has contracted TPS to provide high availability solutions ranging from centralized backup solutions to global clusters that will proactively monitor the status of applications and resources to enable the bank to reduce services downtime. This indeed is a milestone for TPS and Soneri Bank as clustering of such critical servers will be done for the first time in Pakistan! TPS, being the Silver Partner of Symantec, has the technical and sales expertise needed to analyze, design, implement and support Symantec solutions.

TPS will execute clustering for bank’s critical applications through industry's leading cross-platform clustering solution, Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation. Monitoring the status, health & performance of the services and swiftly switching the services on another server in the event of a fault will greatly minimize application downtime, be it planned or unplanned. This will ensure high availability of Soneri Bank’s mission critical applications and systems, particularly ATM switch and Core Banking Host, with ideally zero data loss; thus avoiding complete failure and uninterrupted services to bank’s customer over the branch counter as well as on all the delivery channels including ATMs. This robust and reliable solution will assure data consistency and integrity at primary as well as disaster recovery site.

In addition, TPS will also implement symantec data protection, archival, recovery management solution and NetBackup 6.5 to provide LAN based Backup for Soneri Bank’s mission critical systems inclusive of its Switching Middleware, Core Banking Server and Back office Systems (Email MS Exchange Server, Insight Server, Active Directory, IVR / Call Centre etc) that needs to be done as per banks policies in an automated, streamlined, and centralized manner. To ensure end-to data protection, DLO (Desktop/ Laptop option) will also be implemented for true enterprise wide backup of all critical laptops and desktops. Beside the implementation of the entire system, TPS will also provide complete end-to-end consultancy to the bank.

About TPS
TPS is a leading provider of switching and payment solutions and services to financial institutions worldwide. TPS serves around 105+ financial institutions & telecoms in 25 countries across South-Asia, Middle East/Gulf, Europe and Asia. It is also the technology behind Pakistan’s first & largest online shared financial services network called 1LINK. TPS is committed to compliance with international standards and quality management system and is committed to satisfy its clients with excellence of work and competence.

About Soneri Bank Limited
Incorporated in 1991 the first Branch of Soneri Bank Limited formally opened doors for operations in Lahore in 1992 followed by Karachi Branch inaugurated the same year. The bank now operates with 90 branches spread all over Pakistan including the Northern Areas of the country where no other private bank has ventured so far.

Business Beam (Pvt.) Ltd to provide ISO 9001:2000 QMS consultancy services to Wateen Telecom and Cyber Customer Services

Business Beam (Pvt.) Limited signed agreements with Wateen Telecom and Cyber Customer Services ( a subsidiary of Cyber Internet Services) to provide ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System (QMS) Consultancy Services. ISO 9000 is an international standard that provides a framework and systematic approach to managing business processes to produce a product/service that conforms to customer expectations. With the help of Business Beam Pvt. Limited, Wateen Telecom and Cyber Customer Services would be able to implement ISO9001:2000 based Quality Management System and achieve ISO9001:2000 certification effectively.

About Business Beam
Business Beam is one of the leading consultancy and training organizations in Pakistan. Business Beam facilitates enterprise-wide deployment of process improvement, quality management, information security, and business continuity initiatives to knowledge organizations using various models / techniques including Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), Business Continuity Management, ISO 9000 Quality Management System (QMS), ISO 27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS), ISO 20000 IT Service Management System (ITSMS), Customer Operations Performance Center (COPC) and Six Sigma.