Software Park thinks globally | Bangkok Post: tech

Networking collaboration at the regional level and leveraging new channels in cloud computing while creating applications for the mobile App Store marketplace are key strategies to opening new windows of opportunity for Thai software developers in the global business.

Software Park Thailand Director Suwipa Wanasathop.

As software is a global business that has untold value to drive the IT industry and strengthen the nation socially and economically, software developers need to capture the demand in the market and build distribution channels through physical partners and deliver their software as a service through the cloud computing, according to Suwipa Wanasathop, Director of Software Park Thailand.

Locally, Software Park leverages its partnering network through eight software parks, both private and public, around the country and matches Bangkok-based businesses to expand its market in upcountry regions by selecting local resellers and implementers, which creates IT-related jobs.

"Demand in the domestic market is still strong, especially in banking and finance, including business continuity planning services for enterprises," Suwipa said.

In order to reach globally, Software Park has established a partner network at the government and private levels with the Asian Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) through the Association of Thai ICT Industry (ATCI).

To continually leverage the global network, Software Park and the ATCI have joined forces to organise Thailand's first Asian Oceania software promotion event under the theme of "Software: The Untold Value Maker" to underscore the ever-increasing power of software, which is dramatically altering the world's economic, social and political values. The event will be held on Sept 22 at Queen Sirikit Convention Center.

Bunrak Sarakanond, ATCI President, said the association plans to organise this international event over the next three years, which aims to gain regional recognition for Thailand's software industry and create trusted business partners across the region.

"The event will be a meeting place for business-matching, allowing supply to meet demand and signing bilateral agreements as well as collaborating on marketing strategies in third countries which need a long-term relationship. This is why we need to host the international event for three years," Bunrak said.

This a great opportunity to bring delegates from 10 countries in the Asia Pacific region to participate in the event and it is anticipated that at least 50 companies will take part, while Thailand will bring award-wining software houses to showcase their products and services.

The Asia Pacific region shows opportunities in a variety of areas. For example, Japan still outsources quite heavily but mostly looks at China, Vietnam is developing e-logistics, Bangladesh is quite active in investing in ICT, while Singapore is strong in marketing.

One of the highlights is the signing of an agreement between the ATCI and the Chinese Taipei Information Service Industry Association "This is big chance to pave the way to the China market for Thai software through partnering with Taiwan's business network," Bunrak said.

Suwipa added that Software Park currently has a bilateral agreement with Malaysia to match business opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing and other services. Partnering with Malaysia and Brunei will help Thailand pave the way to the halal market in other countries.

"The event will be a stage for the Thai software industry to show its capabilities to the global market, building on the success of previous Software Park annual conferences. And this year, both the minister of Science and Technology and the minister of Information and Communication Technology will be guest speakers," Suwipa said.

Jirawit Maeprasart, Strategic Enablement Manager/Software & Service Group at Intel Microelectronics (Thailand), suggested that Thai developers should consider developing mobile applications and selling them through the Application Center marketplace, which global mobile vendors have created to provide services to mobile users.

Intel also introduced the beta version of the Intel AppUp Center, which is a marketplace for consumers to download applications and it will support new tablet and slate devices and smart phones including Internet TV and embedded devices which use Atom-based software.

Currently, there are 40 million netbooks globally and the figure is expected to reach 140 million units in the next three years, which is a potentially highly lucrative market. With global partners such as Asus and Acer, the AppUp Center supports a multi-hardware and multi-operating system environment.

Thai developers can leverage and learn more the trend by attending the Intel Atom Developer Program as well as learn programming techniques in parallel programming that leverages multi-core CPU and cloud computing.

Prinya Hom-anek, president and founder of ACIS Professional Center, said the mobile phone will be the new PC and it will become a big market for software. Developers need to build secure software as a must and embed it in products.

Secure software, starting from design, testing and evaluation, will help to create quality software while adding value to differentiate competitors.

Moreover, Thailand should consider joining the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) certification, which is a new vendor-neutral application security certification to validate secure software development knowledge and best practices.

Meanwhile, Patama Chantaruck, Managing Director of Microsoft (Thailand), said Thai software developers both in software houses and individually as well as students who are interested in creating their own applications for commercial use or competing in the Imagine Cup, should look at upcoming technology trends.

For example, Microsoft will launch Kinect for Xbox 360 in November and Windows Phone 7 technology will bring a new control-free experience to interactive game users called "Natural User Interface".

The company plans to introduce the product by the holiday season and is showing its game title demonstration at Microsoft Experience Centers and it has authorised resellers to accelerate demand for game titles in the market.

Teerawat Jaishuen Tivoli, software manager at IBM Thailand, said that the company is in discussions with Software Park to implement its Smart Test and Development Cloud in the park and offer a pooling of computing and storage as well as development tools for software houses to deploy or test the product without wasting time for preparing the IT resource and reduce time to market from two to three weeks to 10 minutes.