Category: IT news

Online gaming can rope in massive dividends for Pakistan, experts suggest

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) A conference on the economic scope of the gaming industry in Pakistan  organized by the Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), with support from Tencent, took place in Islamabad today. Conference panelists discussed the viability and potential of gaming and animation contributing to the overall IT and ITeS exports of Pakistan and, thus, facilitating the economic growth of the country. Conversations centered around where Pakistan’s gaming industry stood at the moment and what were the challenges that needed to be addressed in order to move forward towards a substantial growth trajectory in the coming years

Discussing the potential of Pakistan’s gaming sector, Lih Shiun, Tencent’s Senior Director for Public Affairs, added “Pakistan’s IT industry is active in the mobile gaming industry, and is well poised to capture the immense opportunities the global video games industry brings. Apart from direct economic impact through jobs and economic output, video games also generate secondary economic value for Pakistan, such as through eSports and digital games related events like the current PUBGM campus championship. With video game-related technologies increasingly being used in other sectors and areas such as industrial design and cultural heritage promotion and protection, you can see how much potential there is for Pakistan’s video gaming sector”

“Pakistan potentially has access to a $90 billion dollar mobile gaming industry alone” Chairman PASHA, Badar Khushnood articulated. “According to an informal estimate Pakistani consumers have spent $ 260 million on video games through e-commerce. Game makers in Pakistan typically produce mobile games for a global audience. Most of the games are published by international game giants like Electronic Arts (EA) Inc., Ubisoft, Lion Studios and Supersonic Software. If supported with the right policies, the gaming sector can spur economic growth in Pakistan.” he added

Other notable speakers briefed on the need to promote talent development in programing and game designing. The fact that gaming is a promising industry–revenue generation can go upto $400m annually– ease of doing business has to be ensured. The discussion also covered other aspects such as policy interventions, investments required to spur the growth, and technical infrastructure requirement, etc.

The event was attended by stakeholders from the government, gaming studios, game developers, entrepreneurs, freelancers as well as telecom operators.

 

Supernet and Trend Micro Awarded Threat Protection System Project in Pakistan worth PKR 450 Million

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Supernet Limited (“Supernet”) announced today in conjunction with their Japanese technology partner Trend Micro Incorporated (“Trend Micro”) that they have been awarded a new multi-year project for the acclaimed “Tipping Point” Threat Protection System (TPS) by a major Pakistani customer valued at over PKR 450 million.

Trend Micro’s Tipping Point Threat Protection System (TPS) is a powerful network security platform that offers comprehensive threat protection against known and undisclosed vulnerabilities with high accuracy. The TPS uses a combination of technologies, including deep packet inspection, threat reputation, URL reputation, and advanced malware analysis on a flow-by-flow basis to detect and prevent attacks on the network. The TPS enables enterprises to take a proactive approach to security, providing comprehensive contextual awareness and deeper analysis of network traffic providing the visibility and agility necessary to keep pace with today’s dynamic and evolving enterprise and data center networks.

Trend Micro’s and Supernet’s combined solution successfully addressed the customer’s stringent requirements for state-of-the-art throughput and latency parameters, as well as addressed challenging scalability and business continuity criteria. In addition, Trend Micro’s leadership in cybersecurity research through its flagship “Zero Day Initiative” as well as Supernet’s local presence and experience of implementation, integration and post delivery services provide the customer continuous assurance around innovation and access to cutting edge cybersecurity knowledge base.

Ali Akhtar. Supernet’s Head of BU, Telecoms & Defense stated, “We are thrilled to be playing a prominent role in firming up the defenses of Pakistani organizations against network security threats. To this end Supernet and Trend Micro have been working very closely over the past year and this new project is a testament to these joint efforts. With the expanding relationship between our two organizations, we’re charging full steam ahead to address the needs of the Pakistan market.”

Mr. Chee Hoh Goh, Trend Micro Incorporated’s Managing Director (Malaysia, Pakistan, CLM) stated, “Pakistan as one of the major cybersecurity markets in the region is a special area of focus for Trend Micro. In Pakistan, Trend Micro has extensively expanded the in-country operations in last few years, with focused investments in developing our local partnerships and distribution infrastructure. We have been working closely with our partner Supernet to bring innovative solutions to Pakistan and it is encouraging to see that we are becoming a trusted partner for many key organizations across all market segments in the country.”

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Huawei’s President of Marketing and Solution Sales Dept,  Peng Song and Director of IT Marketing & Solution Sales, Chen Xuejun highlighted opportunities for operators to adopt cloud transformation at Huawei Global Carrier Cloud Transformation Summit followed by the announcement of Huawei’s first suite of global scenario-based cloud solutions.

 Peng Song, spoke about the company’s newest plans for operator cloud transformation. Cloud is becoming a crucial part of industrial digital transformation, and is now considered a key economic factor because of its ability to reshape the economic structure and market landscape of individual industries.

The telecom industry has already entered a critical stage of its own cloud transformation, resulting in many new opportunities and challenges. 15% of operators are expected to develop and fully implement a comprehensive cloud strategy by the end of 2023. To support this expansion and take advantage of the new markets these technologies are creating, operators must prioritize the construction of more efficient and agile ICT infrastructure.

Peng said, to succeed in cloud transformation and provide quality services to customers, it is important for operators to establish strategic partnerships with those who deeply understand the telecom industry and know how to leverage the strengths of telecom. By the end of 2021, Huawei had worked extensively with more than 120 operators globally on cloud services.

Chen Xuejun announced Huawei’s first suite of global scenario-based cloud solutions. These solutions focus on monetizing networks, innovating services, and optimizing operations to help carriers embrace cloud transformation and growth acceleration.

With advances in 5G, cloud computing, big data, and edge computing, cloud transformation has become the future of telecom carriers. According to Gartner, carriers around the world will increase their IT infrastructure investment in cloud transformation at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% in the next five years.

 

 

 

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)  President of Huawei’s Carrier Business Group, and Dr. Philip Song, Huawei’s Carrier BG Chief Marketing Officer, discussed the role of sustainable ICT infrastructure in helping operators systematically build green network to simultaneously address traffic growth and support carbon emission reduction. This took place during the Green Development Solutions Launch, held on the second day of the Huawei Win-Win Innovation Week, followed by the launch of a new solution suite. Green ICT for New Value Ryan Ding stressed the need for operators to prioritize energy efficiency and called for the establishment of a standard, industry-wide indicator system for energy efficiency. He explained, “Every major advancement in history has been accompanied by a significant improvement in the energy efficiency of information transmission. The increase in carbon emissions generated by exploding data traffic will become a global problem that must be tackled in the next five to ten years”. To help operators achieve these goals, Huawei has proposed a three-layer solution: green sites, green networks, and green operations. So far, these green development solutions have been deployed for operators in more than 100 countries. Dr. Philip Song explained how the solution is aimed at helping operators systematically improve network energy efficiency: “As ICT infrastructure continues to evolve from 5G and F5G to 5.5G and F5.5G, green networks, evaluated against the network carbon intensity (NCIe) index, will become a critical part of future target networks. The main objective of our solution launch today is to help operators systematically build green networks that simultaneously address traffic growth and carbon emission reduction.” Song launched Huawei’s green development solution with innovations at these three levels, as well as the new NCIe indicator system which supports this three-layer solution of green sites, green networks, and green operations. The NCIe energy efficiency indicator system proposed by Huawei has been approved by ITU-T SG5 and is now in the process of public consultation.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  Google today announced it has successfully launched Think Games, Pakistan’s first thought leadership and knowledge-sharing event for game developers, which saw over 1,600 attendees. First announced in May 2022, the two–day event aimed to create an environment for Google leaders and local gaming experts to share insights, tools, and best practices to help developers create, grow and scale world-class games. 

Google today also celebrated the graduation of the Gaming Growth Lab (GGL), an 11-week acceleration program designed to help emerging mobile game studios in Pakistan reach their full potential by addressing their business challenges and expanding their offerings. Participants underwent training workshops and deep-dive consultations where they had access to a wide range of experts from Google and the gaming industry. A total of 54 mobile gaming studios graduated today after completing the program. 

Think Games and GGL marked the latest efforts by Google to help grow Pakistan’s gaming industry and put it on the world map. Gaming continues to be one of the biggest industries worldwide and Pakistan is well-positioned to be a global gaming powerhouse. Globally, the gaming industry is expected to reach $219 billion in 2024. Some of the local game developers such as Hazel Mobile Group,  Game District, and GeniTeam have gained recognition on the international stage. 

Farhan Qureshi, Google Regional Director for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, said, “We’re excited to see the progress of our key initiatives Think Games and Gaming Growth Lab as we strive to support Pakistan to become a top player in the global gaming industry. On top of a vibrant gaming ecosystem that is supported by companies like Google, the country has all the components it needs, among them ​​a rising community of young, diverse, and entrepreneurial gaming developers who have the ambition and hunger to build great games. Our work is ongoing and through our various efforts, we hope to help Pakistani developers build great games for the world.”

Among the GGL graduates is MicZon, a mobile gaming publishing company founded by Nouman Sharif in 2018. The company’s key learnings from the GGL include strategies on user acquisition and games monetization. Since joining the program in March 2022, MicZon has seen a 35% increase in app downloads and revenue, and is forecasting a 20% year-on-year growth in downloads and revenue for 2022. 

Ehtisham Malik, Head of Marketing at MicZon shared, “The GGL program is an important initiative that will take Pakistan’s gaming industry to the next level. All the information we learnt at GGL has been very helpful and relevant to our business. Thank you Google Gaming Growth Lab Pakistan for helping Pakistani developers and publishers!”

To know more about Google’s commitment to Pakistan Gaming, read and sign up on the Google for Games newsletter here.

 

Karachi / London (Nut Desk) NdcTech, Pakistan’s leading IT and consulting company was invited to showcase its offerings as a Silver Sponsor at the Temenos Community Forum 2022, one of the most prestigious banking technology events held recently at the world’s financial city, London, UK. Ammara Masood, CEO and President of NdcTech and Asif Peer, CEO Systems Ltd were present at this international forum, alongside other key management

The event not only brought together banking professionals from across the globe, but also provided a huge opportunity to IT Service providers and Fintechs to showcase their offerings. Various Banks showed interest in the offerings, innovations and product demonstrations of NdcTech, which also proved the capabilities of Pakistan’s IT sector.

The event was a hub for connectivity and innovation for Banks, Fintechs, Service Providers where the recent trends and evolving business models in banking were discussed. Banking as a Service (BaaS), Software as a Service, Banking as a platform, embedded finance, and cloud banking were few of the key themes discussed throughout the event.

Temenos also revealed their star of the show “Temenos CEO Navigator”, an industry-leading customer advisory service backed by data from over 100 banks, that will provide powerful business insights to clients. Temenos unveiled its new brand logo and identity during the conference. Their new vision is to be a Banking platform for everyone while combining the power of technology with a human touch.

Speaking with Fintech Finance, Ammara Masood, CEO, NdcTech highlighted the evolution of global business models in banking, including digital banks, Fintechs working as Electronic Money Institutions, and traditional banks with digital innovative services. She further mentioned that “All these institutions need a partner like NdcTech who can meet their evolving requirements, bring innovations, and provide platform capabilities relevant to their model”

NdcTech is an award-winning partner of Temenos, working with 100+ banks globally and possessing a rich history of 22 years. The company brings innovative offerings to clients seeking to strengthen their banking capabilities. Their services consist of core modernization, digital transformation, managed services and banking on the cloud. NdcTech’s team of hundreds of Temenos certified consultants serve clients and deliver transformational services in over 29 countries globally. The company caters to the unique needs of Retail banks, Digital banks, Islamic Banks, Microfinance banks, Central banks and Investment banks.

Startups participating in the program are receiving hands-on, practical training in preparation for their pitches to DHL, Etisalat, EY, Koç Holding, and PwC.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The second edition of Microsoft for Startups’ GrowthX Accelerator program is halfway through completion, with the cohort of 21 startups gaining invaluable knowledge aimed at helping them grow and scale their businesses.

Part of a strategic partnership between the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Microsoft for Startups, the GrowthX Accelerator is a 12-week program designed to bridge the gap between corporates and B2B tech startups across the Middle East and Africa by enabling them to work together and solve unique challenges.

“Startups offer creative, innovative solutions to challenges faced in businesses and communities everywhere,” said Eng. Abdulla Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, Acting Director General of ADIO. “Programs such as the GrowthX Accelerator offer them hands-on, practical training that will help them grow and scale their businesses in the shorter-term, and drive further impact in the long-term. It has been truly rewarding to receive positive feedback from the second cohort of startups. Through such programs, Abu Dhabi will continue to foster an enabling business environment and support startups with the access they need to grow.”

Since commencing in March 2022, the second edition of the program has empowered 21 B2B tech startups with hands-on training and mentorship from the Microsoft for Startups team, as well as the program’s Corporate Engagement Partners which include DHL, Etisalat, EY, Koç Holding, and PwC. Corporate partners are holding bi-weekly mentorship sessions with founders, giving them an opportunity to enhance their business models, modify their tech solutions and discover new customer acquisition techniques.

A notable highlight for founders has been the ‘Pitch Deck Clinics,” where they are guided on best practices to enhance their investment and sales decks. Startups have also participated in weekly sessions on topics such as Go to Market Strategy, where they explored best practices for early-stage customer acquisition, sales processes and communicating company values. Another standout session was on Growth Hacking, which offered vital information to help startups clearly structure a growth plan and always maintain a growth mindset.

In addition to these valuable teachings that founders can leverage to scale their businesses once the program has concluded, the sessions also prepare participating startups for the corporate sessions they will attend later in the program, where they will pitch their innovative business idea to the program’s participating corporates.

“Over the past few weeks, I have been excited to see how the startups have leveraged the program to engage with our knowledge partners and mentors to enhance areas of their business” said Andrew Macadam, Global Founder Success Director, Microsoft for Startups. “Our partner Stripe delivered an in-depth session on pricing and monetization which gave the cohort insights into how to test pricing, understand the competition as well as how to understand customer personas. Additionally, the startups were able to have access to interesting B2B marketing techniques through a session led by LinkedIn, which they can apply to their own marketing strategies and teams to optimise overall reach and supercharge their growth in the region.”

The GrowthX Accelerator runs until June 2022. For more information on the Microsoft for Startups, click here.

Lahore (Nut Desk)

Huawei kicked off its 19th annual Global Analyst Summit today in Shenzhen. A hybrid event, the summit gathers industry analysts, financial analysts, key opinion leaders, and media representatives from around the world to learn more about future industry trends and Huawei’s development strategy.

At the event, Ken Hu, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman, gave a keynote on Huawei’s approach to innovation and building a greener intelligent world. “We will strengthen our approach to innovation, equip all industries to go digital and intelligent, and help build a low-carbon world,” said Hu. “These are key to our future growth as a company.”

The following is a summary of these three initiatives:

Innovating nonstop and advancing the industry:

In terms of connectivity, Huawei continues to drive the industry forward. The company announced its vision to enable 10 Gbps connections everywhere with 5.5G and F5.5G, the next evolutions in wireless and fixed networks. Together, these will support a broader range of niche network requirements, including a more immersive experience in homes as well as the low latency and high reliability needed for industrial control scenarios.

In terms of computing, Huawei is redefining system architectures for individual nodes, foundational software, and data centers in an effort to significantly increase system performance and energy efficiency.
In cloud services, Huawei is building MetaStudio, a cloud-based, end-to-end digital content pipeline that will greatly expedite digital content production.

In terms of devices, Huawei aims to provide consumers with a user-centric intelligent experience in all aspects of their lives – what the company calls a Seamless AI Life experience – effectively accelerating the convergence of the physical and digital worlds.

Diving into digital transformation to create new value for customers:

Huawei is adapting its products and product portfolios to different industrial scenarios. At the same time, it will start pre-integrating and pre-verifying products, doing all the complex work beforehand to make digital transformation easier for its customers and partners. With Huawei Cloud as the foundation, Huawei aims to provide “Everything as a Service”, turning infrastructure, technology, and expertise into cloud-based services, and making cloud migration easier for customers in different industries.

Huawei is also building integrated teams that focus on specific industries, bringing a specialized group of experts closer to customers’ business challenges and more tightly incorporating horizontal resources, i.e., products and capabilities from partners. The goal is to provide targeted digital transformation solutions for each industry and respond more rapidly to customer needs.

Optimizing power supply and consumption with digital technology to enable low-carbon development:

Huawei is redefining the PV sector with AI, cloud, and other capabilities to boost the generation of renewable energy.

Huawei is also developing system-level low-carbon solutions for green ICT infrastructure, focusing on wireless base stations and data centers.

Moving forward, Huawei is taking active steps to boost its business resilience and ensure steady development. “We have to keep the ball rolling through nonstop innovation, creating value for customers and society,” said Ken Hu. “We look forward to working more closely with our customers and partners to build a greener intelligent world.”

In addition to its innovation strategy, Huawei also shared its far-reaching vision for the future and some of the exploration it’s doing to get there. In his keynote speech, Dr. Zhou Hong, President of Huawei’s Institute of Strategic Research, said that “everything we imagine today is very likely to be too conservative – too little – for tomorrow. We have to meet the future with bold hypotheses and a bold vision, and throw caution to the wind as we push to break through bottlenecks in theory and technology. This is the only way forward.”

In his speech, Dr. Zhou outlined ten challenges that Huawei hopes to address moving forward.

Two scientific questions:

How do machines perceive the world, and can we build models that teach machines how to understand the world?

How can we better understand the physiological mechanisms of the human body, including how the eight systems of the body work, as well as human intent and intelligence?

Eight tech challenges:

New sensing and control capabilities, e.g., brain-computer interfaces, muscle-computer interfaces, 3D displays, virtual touch, virtual smell, and virtual taste

Real-time, unobtrusive blood pressure, blood sugar, and heart monitoring, and strong AI-assisted discoveries in chemical pharmaceuticals, bio pharmaceuticals, and vaccines Application-centric, efficient, automated, and intelligent software for greater value and better experience Reaching and circumventing Shannon’s limit to enable efficient, high-performance connectivity both regionally and globallyAdaptive and efficient computing models, non-Von Neumann architectures, unconventional components, and explainable and debuggable AI Inventing new molecules, catalysts, and components with intelligent computing Developing new processes that surpass CMOS, cost less, and are more efficient
Safe, efficient energy conversion and storage, as well as on-demand services

The Huawei Global Analyst Summit was first held in 2004 and has continued annually for 19 years. This year’s event is being held from April 26 to 27, and it includes a broad range of breakout sessions on different aspects of Huawei’s business.

CNS partnered with Huawei to develop ICT solutions for corporate and commercial market of Pakistan

Lahore (Nut Desk) As a commitment to shared success and better profitability with partners, Huawei Pakistan’s CEO Mr. Mark Meng signed an MoU with CNS CEO Najam H. Mian.Being one of the Pakistan’s top system integrators, CNS believes in their readiness for the ever-changing technology world and to drive the digital transformation using trending technologies.

CNS joins hands with Huawei to deliver ICT technology solutions to corporate and commercial market of Pakistan, enabling both large enterprises and SMB to avail latest technology products and solutions on a fast track digital transformation journey.

Mr. Najam H Mian, CEO of CNS stated on the occasion that:“ This is a partnership to new levels of cooperation. We are pleased to announce the signing of growth incentive program with Huawei which will further enhance the engagement between the two companies and will act as catalyst to motivate sales team for revenue enhancement. We do believe CNS and Huawei can better serving Pakistan market and provide a more safety and reliable network and service for our customers.”

Huawei shows its commitment to grow together with local partners, extending its products and services to commercial sector.

Mr. Mark Meng, CEO of Huawei Pakistan, also stated on the occasion, “In the era of intelligence, the key to a mutually beneficial ecosystem is to enable everyone to use their own strengths to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.Huawei will continue to evolve its ecosystem policies to expand the partner ecosystem, help partners achieve their goals, and provide better support for partners. We will dedicate our efforts to the development, cultivation, support, incentives, and compliance of our partners. Ultimately, we will streamline partner management to build an open, cooperative, and mutually beneficial ecosystem, and strive to become the preferred supplier for digital transformation.”

Huawei is the chief IT and Telecom equipment supplier in Pakistan. Huawei has established secure end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices, and cloud computing.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  As a commitment to shared success and better profitability with partners, Huawei signed MoU’s with Pakistan’s top system integrators including Wateen Solutions, New Horizon Computer, Computer Marketing Company and IBL-Unisys, during the Huawei Middle East IT Day in Dubai.

Top ICT system integrators in Pakistan join hands with Huawei to deliver ICT technology solutions to corporate and commercial market of Pakistan, enabling both large enterprises and SMB to avail latest technology products and solutions on a fast track digital transformation journey.

Huawei shows it’s commitment to grow together with local partners, extending its products and services to commercial sector.While the world is facing huge global supply chain challenges, Huawei continues to serve enterprise customers with standard delivery time of 8 weeks or even as fast as 1 week with its unique advantages of Huawei’s own chipset, automated manufacturing Centers, and global supply Centers.

Wateen Solutions Pvt Ltd CEO, Mr. Adil Rasheed stated at the signing, “As Pakistan’s leading ICT company, Wateen offers an array of services especially catering to the SME sector. We believe Wateen will offer a great value by delivering Huawei E2E stable products and solutions to this particular sector of the market.”

New Horizon COO, Mr. Qaiser Sarwar stated, “Huawei used to focus a lot on named accounts and big size clients. It is a very strategic move for Huawei to go into the commercial sector with a very collaborative approach. New Horizon used to have largest sales force in the country to fulfill the market of commercial sector customers. Now with Huawei’s new strategy, we are very excited again to avail the strength of both Huawei and New Horizon for better serving this market segment and build a more safety and reliablenetwork for our customers.”

Mr. Mark Meng, CEO of Huawei Pakistan, stated on the occasion, “In the era of intelligence, the key to a mutually beneficial ecosystem is to enable everyone to use their own strengths to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Huawei will continue to evolve its ecosystem policies to expand the partner ecosystem, help partners achieve their goals, and provide better support for partners. We will dedicate our efforts to the development, cultivation, support, incentives, and compliance of our partners. Ultimately, we will streamline partner management to build an open, cooperative, and mutually beneficial ecosystem, and strive to become the preferred supplier for digital transformation.

To survive, a company must be able to compete in the market. To thrive, however, cooperation is also needed, which is perfectly encapsulated by the old adage: if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.

Huawei is the chief IT and Telecom equipment supplier in Pakistan. Huawei has established secure end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices, and cloud computing.