The Edge Net Value: Making
a success of themselves
It is heartening to note that despite the depressing economic
conditions in the local information and communications technology
(ICT) sector, there are still start-ups and die-hard companies
that are working hard at making a success of themselves.
The fourth MSC-APICTA unearthed several of these gems. Heading
the list is Multimedia Glory Sdn Bhd, which won the Best of
the Best award for its killer application, the Karsof Total
Airport Security system (see story above).
A new category - Best of Research and Development - was included
to recognise, spur and encourage more local companies to focus
on R&D as part of their core business. Integrated circuit
design company Sires Labs Sdn Bhd, which specialises in developing
state-of-the-art high optical communications and networking
Ics, was the first recipient of this award.
The chief executive officer of Sires Labs, Vyasa Kandasamy,
who did not think of competing until prodded by the MDC, says
that now that he has won, he hopes the company will get more
local recognition.
R&D, he says, accounts for 60 to 70 per cent of Sires
Labs' work. "We create our products from scratch, so
R&D is an ongoing effort for us but the problem is getting
skilled staff," he explains. For now, Sires' main aim
is to strengthen its marketing and promotional efforts and
become profitable by the end of this year. Vyasa also hopes
to recruit the right talent when he goes to Australia and
compete regionally.
Best of Student Projects - Tertiary Institution
Where before the topics were generic, this time around,
the areas of focus in this category were narrowed to two:
software application and creative multimedia.
Nuha Norhamimudin, who grabbed the top prize in the Software
Application category, knew nothing about medicine but utilising
her knowledge in artificial intelligence (AI) at Universiti
Tenaga Nasional, she decided to create an expert system
for early detection of dengue fever.
Nuha sought out dengue experts and trawled the Internet
for everything about dengue to create an online data bank
centred on diagnosing dengue early. Doctors, however, do
not see the benefits of automating this aspect despite the
cost savings, laments Nuha. Every platelet test to diagnose
dengue costs RM60 but her automated early detection process
reduces this.
She hopes that competing regionally via APICTA will give
her system "a platform to be heard and recognised".
For now, she says, the plan is to have the system evaluated
and benchmarked. She does not reckon on making a business
of this, believing that it is enough that it should meet
a social need.
Kim Ong, an undergraduate of Limkokwing University College
of Creative Technology, may not be a philanthropist like
Nuha but her creative, entertaining interactive video won
the hearts of the judges, bagging her the Creative Multimedia
award. The video depicts people making music using ordinary
utensils found in local mamak stalls. Hence the name "Jom
Mamak! An Interactive Symphony of the Popular Local Hangout".
Ong got her idea from watching the movie Chicago, where
the actors were making music using kitchen utensils. Friends
helped with the music arrangement and videography while
she wrote the storyboard and directed the video. A lecturer
submitted her video for APICTA 2003 although Ong has no
plans to commercialise the video.
Best of Health Applications and Best of Industrial
Applications and Manufacturing Design
First-timer MMM Technology Sdn Bhd has won two awards. One
is for its Hospital Tagging System, which uses radio frequencies
and infrared tracking technology to monitor the movements
of patients in the hospital and the other is for its Asset
Tracking System.
Its chief executive officer Ang Chu Suan says the Hospital
Tagging System is needed to contain the spread of contagious
diseases and keep tabs on hospital staff, assets and equipment
while its Asset Tracking System allows for the tracking
of office assets remotely and speedily. The company obtained
a RM4.8 million MSC research and development grant in 2000
to develop this system, and it is hoping that the double
win will help boost its efforts at commercialising the two
products.
Best Start-up and Best Content Development
Another double winner, Unreal Mind, which develops mobile
games and content development for the local wireless market,
sees the APICTA win as the company's springboard to the
international arena. Founder Tan Swee Yeong wanted to win
in order to get to Cairns, Australia, as the company is
ramping up its promotional and advertising efforts for Chabomzie,
a series of role-playing games via short message service.
"We made over RM1 million in profit over the last 12
months and we hope to release a multimedia message service
and Java version of Chabomzie by the end of the year,"
he says.
Best in Education and Training
See Wan Chee, founder of Intelligence Systems Sdn Bhd and
former Computer Science lecturer at Universiti Malaya, never
quite left the educational field when he quit in 1987. Drawing
on his 20 years of experience as an educator, he developed
SmartScan, a system for examination assessments relying
on artificial intelligence. See concentrated on the niche
area of online assessments because current online assessment
methods are flawed and expensive. "You wouldn't know
if the assessor had changed your answers, for one thing,
and the optical mark reader [OMR] which is in use currently
costs RM100,000 each. It also requires that each student
has a PC." His system uses an internal OMR which runs
on a computer and costs only RM10,000. To entice schools
into adopting his system, See is offering them a 50 per
cent discount.
But why online assessment? "It's simple yet the technology
is complicated and very few want to develop it," See
explains. He says he has achieved three breakthroughs with
his system - it completes assessments at one-tenth the time
a traditional OMR takes; it is 100 per cent accurate; and
it accepts a variety of paper types. The traditional OMR
requires a special form that costs 20 sen per sheet. Four
private colleges and 60 private schools have been testing
his system over the past three months. He's targeting the
Singapore market next and if he secures the deal, he thinks
it will be his launch pad to the world.
Best of Valued Added Communication Applications
It will not be wrong to say Paracorp Technology had a lightning
bolt of inspiration when it developed its award-winning
product, the Remote Meter Management System. The system,
which enables the remote monitoring of meters, is a boon
for Tenaga Nasional meter readers who are always in danger
of being hit by lightning during thunder storms while checking
meters for repair and billing purposes. Paracorp won last
year, too, for Best Software Application at the Pikom award
but its chief executive officer Chin Hon Thatt sees this
win and the regional APICTA as a chance to gain more visibility.
"We took two years to develop the system and it has
been deployed for the last three years by Tenaga Nasional
in Bangi and Putrajaya besides being deployed in Tianjin,
China, through a tie-up with a local business partner,"
Chin says.
Best in Software Applications
Silverlake Component Technology and Solutions Sdn Bhd, a
subsidiary of Silverlake System Sdn Bhd, developed a system
called Intelligent Crew Management System to assist an airline's
flight crew with their planning and decision-making. Avy
Lim, its president, says it took 18 months to develop this
winning application and by 1999, it was ready to roll out.
Currently, the system is being deployed by Malaysia Airlines,
which has driven down the airline's operating costs significantly,
says Lim. She declines to specify by how much but reveals
that the company is currently in talks with Air Garuda and
Thai Airways. "Next month, we are exploring the China
aviation market," she adds. This is Silverlake's first
ICT win, says Lim. She hopes that the recognition from winning
the award will help them compete with US and UK vendors,
who currently dominate the market for airline IT systems.
Best of E-Government Applications and Services
IRIS Corp Sdn Bhd extended its winning streak by sweeping
this award for the third consecutive year with its e-passport,
which was launched last year. The e-passport encompasses
biometric capabilities, specifically facial recognition
and thumbprint encoding, in the smart chip and so far, around
four million e-passports have been issued. The process,
from concept to implementation, took five years, Michael
Choong, senior manager of sales and marketing, says. He
adds that IRIS filed for a US patent in 2000 for its chip-based
passport and it recently secured a deal with the Nigerian
government worth US$65 million to create 5.5 million chip-enabled
passports for the country's citizens over the next two years.
Best of E-Commerce Applications
HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd, while not in the ICT business per
se, was the surprise winner in this category. Its win clearly
demonstrates that its strategy of being technologically
innovative despite being in the traditional field of banking
can pay off handsomely in terms of recognition and in the
race to attract customers. Chu Hong Keong, its chief information
officer, says the differentiating factor about HSBC's V-Banking:
Automate@hsbc application is that it is customer-centric.
He ensures that the application covers a gamut of financial
activities for the time-strapped customer. The bank spends
about RM60 million a year on IT and it plans to introduce
V-Banking to other countries in the region, he adds. It
is currently deployed in varying stages in Brunei, India
and the Middle East.
Best of Student Projects - Primary or Secondary
School
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Padang Tembak, Kuala Lumpur,
won the merit award for its Wira4ce3 Online, which is a
web portal aimed at assisting students in studying for their
Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination. Student Norhaswira
Buyung Gadang says the team took about six months to develop
the website in between studying and preparing for their
exams. The team submitted the website for APICTA 2003 at
the urging of their teacher, but they didn't think they
would win.
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