Pakistan's Progress In Information And Technology

[A.Rafay]

Information technology in Pakistan is a growing and rising industry that has a large potential. Matters relating to the IT industry are overseen and regulated by the Ministry of Information Technology of the Government of Pakistan. The IT industry is regarded as a successful sector of Pakistan economically, even in financial crisis.[3] The government of Pakistan has given numerous favors to IT investors in the country since last decade, that resulted in the development of the IT sector. In the years 2003-2005 the country's IT exports saw a rise of about fifty percent and amounted a total of about 48.5 million USD. The World Economic Forum, assessing the development of Information and Communication Technology in the country ranked Pakistan 102nd among 144 countries in the Global Information Technology report of 2012.

As of 2011, Pakistan has over 20 million internet users and is ranked as one of the top countries that have registered a high growth rate in internet penetration. Overall, it has the 15th largest population of internet users in the world. In the fiscal year 2012-2013, the Government of Pakistan aims to spend Rs. 4.6 billion on information technology projects, with emphasis on e-government, human resource and infrastructure development.

"Among the Asians, Pakistanis are the smartest people in the world in Information Technology." - William Henry Bill Gates | Former Chairman and Cheif Software Architect of Microsoft.

TOP 50 WEBSITES OF PAKISTAN
JumpShare, a File Sharing Tool from Pakistan, Launched
JumpShare.com, an online file sharing tool that enables its users to drag and drop filesto share and view 150 types of file formats including photos, videos, documents, presentations, code, and countless other file types, has been launched.

JumpShare, a brainchild of Ghaus Iftikhar – a serial entrepreneur from Islamabad, remained under development for well over year and a half after which it was launched yesterday in Beta version.

JumpShare.com is built around an idea that shared files online should be viewed online, instead of downloading them to your desktop for just viewing them.

Unlike other countless file sharing service providers, with JumpShare users can drag and drop their files to be shared with their friends and co-workers. Who can in return view these files online to ultimately save time and to bypass the hassle of downloading respective software required to open these files types.

With JumpShare, you won’t be required to sign-up or anything. Simply go to the URL and start sharing files. JumpShare (through cookies) will remember the list of files you have shared with friends lately to allow you to re-share them at a later time.

Currently JumpShare allows maximum of 100MB single file to be shared with friends and maximum of 2GB for all the files uploaded by a single user. JumpShare said that they will increase this limit once users’ accounts in near future.

 

[A.Rafay]

Useful Information Resources about Pakistan's IT Sector and Progress
Information Technology In Pakistan
A Nation on the Road to Progress and Advancement
Ministry of Information Technology
Punjab Information Technology Board

Plan9 is Pakistan’s first tech incubator and was formed under the wing of the Punjab Information Technology Board. Plan9 is housed in a state of the art infrastructure located on the 9th floor at the purpose built Arfa Software Technology Park. Our aim is to promote and be the catalyst for a new wave of technological entrepreneurship in Pakistan. We provide new startups with a nurturing ecosystem to thrive and grow and mentoring them using our vast network of partners, such as P@SHA.
Plan9
Where Ideas Take Flight

 

[A.Rafay]

Up and coming: Google Pakistan earns $500 million in revenue
KARACHI:
Google earns an estimated $500 million in revenues from its users in Pakistan, about 1.3% of the firm’s global total, according executives at Google Pakistan, who held their first ever public event in the country to highlight the technology giant’s interest in the country.
“Pakistan is Google’s next big market in the region,” Google’s head of Emerging Market Development, Southeast Asia, Jana Levene told a gathering of IT experts, bloggers, businessmen and selected journalists at Pearl Continental hotel in Karachi on Monday.
The gathering comes after Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt visited Pakistan in June to meet with the country’s politicians and businessmen. “It was just a regular visit. He wanted to find out how important the use of technology for the country’s leadership and businessmen is,” said Badar Khushnood, Google’s consultant in Pakistan.
Moreover, Google has intensified its operations by getting involved in a lot of projects – especially with the Punjab government – in the country recently. “Innovation Punjab” is one example where Google has partnered with Punjab Information Technology Board. It has launched a social innovation fund – in collaboration with Pakistan Software Houses association, also their partner for the event – to support young entrepreneurs struggling to get their ideas public.
Google’s increased interest in the country, Schmidt’s visit of Pakistan and now this event sends very strong signals to the country – the giant may consider opening an office in Pakistan. Khusnood denied if Google was opening its first office in the country anytime soon but added it couldn’t be ruled out. Google’s representatives attributed Pakistan’s growing importance to multiple factors.
“To enter a market, the first thing we look at is its demographics – number of internet users in that country,” Jana Levene said, explaining why Google is interested in Pakistan. “Twenty-two million internet users is a huge number. It’s more than Australia’s whole population. That’s why we are here,” she said.
The second thing Google is interested in, Levene said, is the size of the market. “Pakistan is a $400 to $500 million market for Google,” she said. Currently, four of the top 10 most popular websites in Pakistan are Google’s sites.
Regulatory framework is another that area Google considers in the markets of its interest, according to Levene. “The laws regarding internet censorship, the security of our employee etcetera are the things we take into account.”
Levene, in her presentation, went at length to describe the features of the Pakistani market that keeps them interested: aside from the 22 million internet users that include two million broadband users, seven million Facebook users, one million Twitter users and 1.2 million LinkedIn users. Of the total mobile phones sold in Pakistan 6% are smart-phones.
Talking about what Pakistanis search on Google, Levene said Pakistanis search Google to solve social problems, discuss politics, start business, entertain and build communities. For example, a Pakistani businessman partnered with an IT expert to start a business for leather shoes. Pakistanis used Google Earth and Google Map tools to track which areas were affected in 2010 floods. As a result, the government was able to reach 800,000 people. On the lighter side, Ali Gul Pir became a YouTube sensation after his video ‘Wadere Ka Beta’ went viral on internet.
Mark Warburton, from Google’s emerging markets’ sales division, highlighted the power that Google’s search engine placed at the fingertips of Pakistani companies. Google Pakistan got eight million queries on Monday alone, he said. He then broke down those queries by sector: 386,000 were telecom queries, which translates to 15,000 queries every hour. Google makes information like this available through its Adwords tool, which can help businesses gain insights into their customers’ interests.
But the key takeaway from the event was not the information, but the fact that it was addressed by six senior Google executives, a strong indication that the technology giant wants to expand further in the Pakistani market.
“We are calling you to help us bring more Pakistanis online,” Jana Levene said addressing country’s leadership as well as the technology sector. “Tell the world Pakistan is economically viable. It’s a safe place to do business,” Levene said.

 

[A.Rafay]

Microsoft launches cloud-based Office 365 in Pakistan

KARACHI: Microsoft has launched its latest offering of the Office suite, the cloud-based Office 365, targeted primarily towards small and medium businesses with local pricing for Pakistan.

The offering, a complete revamp of the previous Office 2010, is an innovative cloud based version with everything stored in and accessed anywhere from Microsoft’s servers. The cloud solution, the first of its kind in Pakistan, has been made available through the technology giant’s local distribution partners with affordable pricing for Pakistan.

“We are taking a giant leap in software services in Pakistan. Through office 365, Microsoft is providing world-class productivity software to businesses of all sizes, at predictable and affordable costs,” Ihsan Anabtawi, BG Lead for Microsoft NEPA region, told reporters at a press launch at its Karachi office.

Office 365 delivers the desktop suite as a cloud service, making it as feature-rich in the cloud as locally installed versions.

The cloud integration aims to reduce maintenance costs for small and medium enterprises by removing the hassle of setting up server systems and installing product updates.

“Office 365…will surely force certain businesses to say no to pirated Microsoft products,” said Anabtawi.

With special pricing for Pakistan, the services start at $6 a month – the P1 package with web apps access targeted at small businesses – making licensed Microsoft products affordable for local businessmen.

“The new offering by Microsoft will change the face of the local business forever,” said local Microsoft partner Sultan Hamdani, CEO of Maison Consulting. “Most of the local industry partners have shown a lot of enthusiasm towards Office 365 and are convinced of the potential benefits that it brings to businesses.”

 

[Pak47]

Jumpshare

works well.. picture im sharing with website ^^

Jumpshare

 

[EagleEyes]

Jumpshare

works well.. picture im sharing with website ^^

Jumpshare

Too bad you can't embed pictures.

 

[A.Rafay]

Too bad you can't embed pictures.

Yea, they are not providing the actual jpg Link Because the site is still in BETA version, Unlike other sites you can share any file you want like Word, PDF, MP3, Video It can Display 150 Filetypes!!

Heres an article From lifehacker about Jumpshare

 

[A.Rafay]

PTCL Posts Revenue of Rs. 60 Billion with an Impressive Growth for FY 2011-12
PTCL has posted net profit of Rs. 7.24 billion in FY 2011-12 with the strategic growth of 9% in revenue. The annual accounts were announced at the company’s Board of Directors meeting.

Mr. Waleed Irshad said that, “The positive growth of PTCL’s revenue streams points to our dynamic corporate identity and strong customer base. Our dynamic corporate leadership and talented human capital has cascaded into PTCL’s impressive financial strides and rising shareholder value.”

According to the PTCL BoD announcement, PTCL’s group revenue stood at Rs. 110.8 billion during the period under review, showing a growth of 8% over 102.6 billion.

The telecom giant has yet again proved that it is the leader of the telecommunication sector of Pakistan by posting impressive profits despite a sluggish economy.

The company’s market share in the broadband, wireless and specialized telecom solutions segments has increased in the current fiscal year through introduction of state-of-the-art products and unmatched affordable services.

PTCL achieved country’s first One Million Broadband customer’s mark in May 2012. PTCL’s capable workforce continued to bring laurels for the company by winning the prestigious international “ESRI Award” for innovation in GIS technology.

PTCL is continuing its digital revolution, bringing underserved areas into the national telecom loop by launching telecommunications services in Azad Kashmir making it the 18th Telecom region of PTCL.

While reflecting on the extraordinary achievements of PTCL, Mr. Irshad said “PTCL believes in bringing a unique customer experience by offering sophisticated products and improved service delivery.” He further said, “We will continue our role of a socially responsible telecom leader by introducing ever more flexible and innovative telecommunications solutions to the masses.”

 

[A.Rafay]

More than 2,524 COMSATS students awarded degrees

ISLAMABAD - COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) has awarded graduate and post-graduate degrees to more than 2,524 students on Monday.
These students were awarded BS, MS, MBA and PhD degrees in the disciplines of Bachelor of Science in Bioinformatics, Biosciences, Business Administration, Computer Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering, Electronics, Mathematics and Architecture.
While addressing the ceremony as a chief guest, CIIT Rector Dr. S.M. Junaid Zaidi said that CIIT was committed to provide the best opportunities for learning and personal development within a caring and supportive environment.
He said acquiring of knowledge and higher education were transforming virtually every aspect of the modern world. He also said that Information Technology institutions had been trusted to be the center stage of the academia. The “Chancellor Institute” and “Campus” medals were also awarded to position holding students from the different campuses of CIIT. Graduate and post-graduate students bagged the ‘Campus” medals, the “Institute” medals and the “Chancellor” gold medals by obtaining a CGPA of 3.96.
CIIT announced the “Dr. Q.K Ghori” award for the best performer in Mathematics to Sanna Mehmood Noor, while the “Professor Kausar Bashir Ahmed” award was given to Midhatun Nisa for best final project in Architecture. COMSATS Executive Director Dr.Imtinan Elahi Qureshi awarded degrees and medals to successful students.
More than 2,524 COMSATS students awarded degrees | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia

 

[A.Rafay]

Overview Of WiMAX In Pakistan​

Thursday, 7th February 2008 marks the day when WiMax Broadband Internet was officially rolled out in Pakistan. The launch of WiMax wireless internet in Pakistan positioned Pakistan as the first country to roll out WiMax services throughout the whole country in the world.

This milestone was achieved by Wateen Telecom, an Abu Dhabi Group venture that began its operation in Pakistan in 2007.

Soon after WiMax wireless internet connection was rolled out, rumors of the service facing severe setbacks began floating in the air and year 2009 was termed the ‘make or break year for WiMAX’.

It was also then that no further expansion of WiMAX was foreseen by Mobilink Infinity which had limited its services to Karachi only. Whereas, Wateen and wi-tribe maintained a stagnant yet active position in all major cities of Pakistan.

Not only was the expansion of WiMAX services a problem but the easy and inexpensive availability of various kinds of wireless internet connections also gave WiMAX a stiff competition in the market. The paradigm shift from traditional dial up internet connections to broadband internet and further more to high speed WiMAX wireless internet connections was nearly impossible then.

On an organizational level, the competition began to stiffen when Wateen met with competition in the market with wi-tribe and Mobilink Infinity moving towards launching WiMAX services with competitive packages, giving the general population a variety of broadband internet services in Pakistan.

In 2010, the severity of competition peaked when Qubee, a UK based company wholly owned by Augere Group deployed WiMAX in Pakistan with an approximate of $70 million investment. Despite all the intense competition, according to a survey based on quality service conducted by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority earlier this year, Wateen topped in overall standings for all broadband wireless internet providers in the country.

It was in the year 2010 when Pakistan reached its first milestone of over 1 million broadband subscribers in the country. But what came as a surprise was the number of WiMAX subscribers which had reached the 306,665 mark and becoming the second most popular wireless internet connections after DSL.

By 2012, the total number of broadband subscribers in Pakistan topped to 1.7 million out of which 459,790 amounted to the number of WiMAX subscribers.

WiMAX Forum President Declan Byrne said that,

“WiMAX technology has achieved a penetration rate of 50% of all broadband connections in urban centres in Pakistan. This success of the technology is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. I am delighted to come to Pakistan and look forward to returning to continue supporting the success of WiMax operators in the country.”

Undoubtedly, the growth of WiMAX and its stronghold in the market cannot be pared down. It is inevitable that the future lies in wireless broadband internet connections since they can substitute fixed broadband (DSL) through mobile internet and wi-fi hotspots.

The WiMAX technology is definitely a serious competitor in the future for broadband in Pakistan since it has the ability to roll out broadband very quickly so operators can speedily expand their footprints if things work out with telcos. Not to ignore the fact that the highest penetration of WiMAX globally is witnessed in Pakistan, with WiMAX being nearly one in every three wireless connections.

Looking into the future prospects, if the need for wireless broadband is established, there is a huge market for WiMAX subscriptions in each of the 27 million households in Pakistan. In Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi alone, the penetration possibility hovers over 7 million households.

WiMAX can reach to its peak potential if the need of wireless and mobile broadband internet becomes prevalent in the economy. Just like how dial up internet has become an old school adage, no sooner than a couple of years will DSL also come in line with it. It’s just a matter of the need of mobile connectivity to take its’ peak in Pakistan.

 

[Bukhari.syed]

Nice and hope that Pakistan will get better in future

 

[A.Rafay]

LinkedIn to set up offices in Pakistan

KARACHI: LinkedIn, an international professional networking platform, is planning to establish its offices in Pakistan, Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Saleem H Mandviwalla revealed here on Monday.
Mandviwalla said that the move would help LinkedIn promote Pakistan on its widely-used website. He said he hoped that LinkedIn’s offices would be operational in Pakistan either by the end of this year, or by the beginning of next year. This will lead to the setting up of LinkedIn’s proper operations in Pakistan, he said.
The BOI chief believed that the initial investment by the company would be to the tune of $10 million, and that LinkedIn is focusing on Pakistan as one of its important markets. “This is of great interest to us,” Mandviwalla added.
He said he had been informed that around 1.2 million Pakistanis connect to LinkedIn’s website, which includes overseas Pakistanis, besides those living in this country. Mandviwalla said the concept of the website is to connect professionals and businessmen with each other. “In my view, this is a very serious network,” he noted; adding that finding job for subscribers is one of the website’s major activities.
“The BOI would like to use LinkedIn as an effective tool and important platform,” he said. Mandviwalla said he had had a detailed discussion with LinkedIn Director Fredrick Berscl regarding the move.

 

[Malik Usman]

Welcome to PakSofts

 

[A.Rafay]

PM Ashraf for reducing rural-urban digital gap
ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has directed the Universal Service Fund to further accelerate the pace of providing digital services in the un-served and under-served areas of the country to reduce the gap in digital services in rural and urban areas, Radio Pakistan reported on Thursday.

Presiding over the 29th Board of Director’s meeting of USF in Islamabad on Thursday ‚ Ashraf said that the Rural Telecom Broadband and Optic Fibre Connectivity Programmes launched by USF were playing an important role in spreading these technologies in the lesser developed areas of the country. He said these programmes will promote entrepreneurship and create jobs and new vistas at Tehsil and union council levels.

The Prime Minister was apprised that under the Rural Telecom Programme‚ almost 3643 previously unserved villages have been provided telecom services throughout the country. Under the Broadband Programme‚ 260 previously unserved towns now have about 412073 USF funded broadband connections.

In Optic Fibre Connectivity Programme‚ more than 4217 kms of optical fibre cable have been laid connecting 102 unserved tehsils in the country.

The Prime Minister was also informed that after the completion of USF Pilot Project‚ tele-medicine centers will be set up around large cities like Karachi‚ Rawalpindi and Multan. Nishtar Medical College Multan and Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi have been connected with 12 remote sites to set up three tele-medicines networks

 

[A.Rafay]

Govt to spend Rs4.6b on IT projects
ISLAMABAD: The government plans to spend Rs4.6 billion on information technology (IT) projects during the fiscal year 2012-13 with emphasis on strengthening e-government, human resource and infrastructure development. There are 43 projects which are being executed in the sector with a total cost of Rs22.9 billion, an official at the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications said on Wednesday.

The official said that in order to achieve strategic objectives and enhance economic growth, policy reforms are envisaged which include maximum internet penetration – at least up to tehsil level – so that students, businesses, research institutions and commerce can benefit from IT.

Private entities are being encouraged to put information online with the guidance of provincial governments, the official said adding that all data obtained by remote sensing satellite of Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and surveys carried out by the Agriculture Departments and Crop Reporting Services (CRS) is being integrated into one central agricultural productivity website. He said that this will help develop fair food policies for rice, sugar, cotton, wheat for next season.

The individual local markets (mandis) selling agricultural produce will be linked through the website in order to apprise the traders and government of current prices of various products and help deal with situations of surpluses and deficiencies. The government policies of agriculture ministry and Trade Commission of Pakistan will also be based on feedback from this website.

Moreover, for enhanced software exports and to safeguard the interest of smaller software developer, the government will move them into viable clusters in software parks where these small development companies can manage larger IT development projects mutually. The software houses should operate as small industrial cities on the same lines as textile or garments cities, where uninterrupted electricity and broadband internet may be provided by government. He said that computerisation of revenue records is being implemented in all districts of Punjab.