IBM Launches Vietnam Innovation Center to Fuel Technology Growth
HO CHI MINH, May 22 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
New University Collaborations and Developer Resources Foster
Local Technical and Business Skills Development
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today further expanded its reach into growing nations
with the opening of the first IBM Innovation Center in Vietnam. The new
center aims to help local communities build skills and develop new
technologies to support demand for digital infrastructure projects in
banking, telecommunications, energy and government industries.
The center, located in Ho Chi Minh City, will provide entrepreneurs,
business partners, venture capitalists and academics across Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos with access to training workshops, consulting services, a broad
technical infrastructure, and hands-on assistance to help bring new
technologies to market.
As part of IBM's efforts to help build and support the burgeoning
technical community in Vietnam, IBM also announced new collaborations with
leading universities and improved access to no charge developer resources:
- The University of Technology, Vietnam National University (VNU) in Ho
Chi Minh City will join the IBM Academic Initiative and collaborate
with IBM to establish a new university cloud computing center and a
cloud curriculum;
- The College of Technology, Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi
will establish a Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME)
department and jointly develop curriculum with IBM; and,
- IBM will launch the first Vietnamese language version of IBM
developerWorks, the world's largest and most visited global site to
help IT professionals advance their technology skills.
Today's news is in response to accelerated IT growth in Vietnam. As
Internet use in Vietnam continues to rise at a considerable rate, the
country's IT sector has grown more than 20 percent annually. Internet usage,
limited to 200,000 citizens in 2000, doubled between 2005 and 2008 with over
20 million Vietnamese accessing the Internet today, according to the Vietnam
Internet Network Information Center.
Of all developing countries, Vietnam has the highest Internet penetration
rate, and with a goal of becoming a fully industrialized nation by 2020,
wide-spread Internet access across Vietnam will help fuel the creation of new
businesses that drive innovation into maturing industries.
In support of these opportunities, the Vietnam IBM Innovation Center will
provide technical experts and customized hands-on supports to test and
validate users' software technologies before they go to market. The center
will offer training and access to open standards-based and emerging
technologies such as cloud computing, Web 2.0 technologies, service oriented
architecture (SOA), service management, and computing designs with energy and
environment benefits.
"IBM continues to make major investments in emerging markets around the
world, growing business while helping to develop local ecosystems that
advance IT skills and innovation," said Jim Corgel, general manager, IBM ISV
and Developer Relations. "With this IBM Innovation Center and new university
collaborations, we are able to make IBM's technical resources and expertise
more accessible to fuel innovation and help local businesses and academics
compete on a global scale."
The Vietnam center adds to the growing network of 43 IBM Innovation
Centers worldwide, part of the company's $1 billion annual investment into
the success of its 100,000 global business partners.
In 2008, IBM Innovation Centers assisted more than 22,000 business
partners with workshops, seminars and consultations to build their skills and
develop solutions on IBM technologies, leading to over 7,000 technology
enablements.
This year, IBM Innovation Centers will hold no-charge IBM Business
Partner Development Series interactive seminars to provide insight on IBM's
leading technology in areas ranging from dynamic infrastructure to cloud
computing and energy efficiency, as well as details on how partners can
maximize their relationship with IBM by taking advantage of available IBM
resources to help them get to market faster, reduce development cost and
shorten sales cycles.
"As an IBM Business Partner, our company has benefited from no cost
access to deep technical and consulting expertise at the IBM Innovation
Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia," said Alexander Grygoruk, president and CEO
of UNICOM Software in Ho Chi Minh City. "The center has allowed us to
maintain our high performance edge, reduce porting and testing costs and get
our banking software to market more rapidly. The new Vietnam IBM Innovation
Center will provide an excellent local resource to help businesses gain
access to technology and skills needed to drive new businesses and innovation
into the region."
Further strengthening IBM's commitment to the Vietnamese market, the IBM
Innovation Center also will serve as a local technology hub, linking together
local IBM business partners with IBM Vietnam's Cloud Lab, Banking Center of
Excellence and Technical Exploration Center.
"As a growing nation, Vietnam provides vast opportunities for local
companies, start-ups, academics and IT professionals," said Vo Tan Long,
Country General Manager of IBM Vietnam. "Since 2000, IBM has launched more
than a dozen IBM Innovation Centers in emerging nations like Vietnam to drive
growth and innovation around IT skills. This country has a wealth of talent,
and IBM is committed to help develop the local technical community."
New Academic Relationships and Software Developer Resources
Today's announcement includes two separate initiatives between IBM and
The College of Technology, VNU in Hanoi, and The University of Technology,
VNU in Ho Chi Minh City to establish new research and curriculum supporting
the need to develop the technology and business skills to meet future job
opportunities.
The University of Technology, VNU in Ho Chi Minh City and IBM will create
a cloud computing lab that will allow the university to test, evaluate and
extend different advanced cloud computing configurations. This will help the
university engage in world class research activities and enable collaboration
with leading industries in the region.
The joint effort will include research with IBM hardware and software and
the creation of educational programs and curriculum relating to cloud
computing technology. The University also will join the IBM Academic
Initiative, which provides a host of no charge resources to faculty and
students to help create programs that drive 21st century skills.
The College of Technology, VNU in Hanoi and IBM will jointly establish
new curriculum and research, with a focus on SSME which combines computer
science, engineering and business strategy into one discipline. The college
will establish an SSME department, focused on the new academic discipline
designed to produce students with the combined business and technology skills
needed to enter today's workforce ready to contribute immediately to their
countries' economic growth and innovation.
IBM works closely with over 20 of Vietnam's academic institutions to help
build the highly skilled professionals in great demand for the nation's
modernization and innovation efforts.
IBM also today launched Vietnamese language resources on developerWorks,
to provide Vietnamese IT professionals with greater accessibility to software
tools and code, IT standards and best practices, and skills training. These
As the largest and most visited global site to gain technology skills,
developerWorks is used by millions of developers worldwide and has helped
advance open standards and emerging technologies while making sure IT
companies have the tools and skills to support technology investments such as
Java, Linux, XML and cloud computing.
For more information on IBM Innovation Centers, please visit:
For more information on the IBM Innovation Center in Vietnam, please
Nguyen Phuong Linh
IBM Vietnam Media Relations
+84-43-946-2164
linhnp@vn.ibm.com
Lon Levitan
IBM Media Relations
+1-512-286-7216
llevitan@us.ibm.com
SOURCE: IBM
CONTACT: Nguyen Phuong Linh
IBM Vietnam Media Relations
+84-43-946-2164
linhnp@vn.ibm.com; or
Lon Levitan
IBM Media Relations
+1-512-286-7216
llevitan@us.ibm.com
(IBM)
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