Cloud Computing in Bangladesh: A Proposed Model

(Cloud Computing is fully a new concept in Bangladesh. A search in Google with the phrase “Cloud Computing in Bangladesh” will not bring any information that we can use in this article. This article has been jointly written by Razib Ahmed and S.M. Mehdi Hassan and the proposed model that has been given towards the end of the article is the brainchild of S.M. Mehdi Hassan.)

It will not be an exaggeration to say that 2011 will be the year of cloud computing at least in USA. Giant technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, HP and IBM are investing a lot for this technology and they all want a piece of the cloud. However, when it comes to Bangladesh, it is still a very new concept. There is no awareness about it in the country. Cloud computing has started to gain some momentum in neighboring India and it is expected that by 2015, the market size of cloud computing in India will pass $1 billion. So, it is time that Bangladesh takes this matter seriously both in the public and private levels. This article is an attempt to focus on the various aspects about cloud computing in Bangladesh and a model has been proposed in this regard.

Before discussing about cloud computing in Bangladesh, it is important to provide a general description of Information Technology Sector of Bangladesh as well as about the Business Sector. It is true that Bangladesh is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. However, the capital Dhaka city has around 10 million people and hundreds of small and medium sized companies. Dhaka has more than around 50 universities (most of them are private), numerous colleges and schools, dozens of clinics and diagnostic centers, advertising and design firms, several hundred branches of different banks etc. All these organizations can become the target clients of any cloud computing venture.

One of the advantages of cloud computing is that a company can outsource a large part of its IT infrastructure (data server, software, web applications etc) to the cloud. The companies will need to have fewer workers to look after the IT operations as well will face fewer problems. As a result, it will save money for the companies.

As for the IT sector of Bangladesh, still, there is no large company where thousands of workers are working. In fact, the largest IT companies are mainly hardware importers who import and sell computer devices in the local market. There is still no big success story in the software industry like neighboring India or even Pakistan. Internet bandwidth is still a bit expensive for the consumers and high speed Internet is out of the reach of the most people.

The first obstacle to implement this model or any model of cloud computing in Bangladesh is that here, still hardly anyone is aware or conscious about the importance of this new technology. Hopefully, the media will come forward and create awareness among the decision makers, business owners and common mass about cloud computing in the next few months.

Rampant piracy is another big obstacle. As long as people can buy a CD of any software under $1, consumers will not realize the matter that cloud computing can decrease the expense for software significantly.

Internet bandwidth is still high and ordinary users cannot imagine of getting Internet connections with speed of 5-10 mbps.

It is time that the decision makers, academicians, IT industry leaders and business leaders start to think about cloud computing in Bangladesh. This technology is going to carry out radical change in the world in the next 5-10 years. Bangladesh cannot afford to stay behind as cloud computing is not just about Information Technology or Computer but it is related to the overall business and economy.

Potential of Cloud Computing for SMEs in Bangladesh and Identify the Sectors that can get most benefited:

Bangladesh is a least developed country and there are not many big industries in the country and the existing industries are not in sound condition. Though the Small and Medium Enterprise sector are not very rich in Bangladesh, it has huge potential and the existing SMEs make a significant contribution in the country’s GDP and create many jobs.

In 2007, SNV Netherlands Development Organization published a report titled, “Promoting Small and Medium Enterprises for Sustainable Development .“ In the report it said that in Bangladesh, 90 percent of all firms outside the agricultural sector are SMEs, microenterprises contribute a significant portion of GDP. In Bangladesh, enterprises of less than 100 employees account for 99 percent of firms and 58 percent of employment.

There are many reasons why SME did not thrive in Bangladesh. Some of the major reasons are lack of good governance, corruption, difficulty in getting loans and other financial assistance and so on. Now a days, many SMEs use computers and it has become an extra expense for them. According to Internet Service Providers’ Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB):

ICT has stamped its authority in the 21st century, making it one of the most essential components for any organization to succeed. It is very much essential that these organizations are equipped with the latest hardware and software. However, there are two huge cost hurdles that an SME faces when wanting to acquire computer resources for minimum office automation. One is the PC hardware which may cost anywhere from Tk20,000 to Tk.50,000 per workstation, and the other is PC Software which again may cost anywhere from from Tk.50,000 to Tk 100,000 per workstation.

However the necessity for acquiring licensed copies of popular software has kept the cost of the PC unreachable to the SME. Using pirated software is not the solution, especially since the Copyright Act of Bangladesh will become law very soon. It is currently on the Parliament floor awaiting legislation. The Copyright Act contains very serious penalties (up to 2 year jail terms and fines) for any one copying or distributing pirated software.

SMEs like computer software and information technology, electronics, tourism, retail industry, hotel industry, diagnostic center and clinics, advertising and design firms and NGOs use computers. Cloud Computing would not only help to reduce IT expenses of these companies but would also reduce the use of pirated software.

A model to spread Cloud Computing in Bangladesh:

To spread Cloud Computing in Bangladesh a collaborative effort is necessary where different companies would come together to create cheaper cloud computing based products for the people of Bangladesh. Three types of companies would play crucial role in this effort- a cloud service provider, a computer maker and an ISP. Let’s assume that the cloud service provider is x, the computer maker is y and the Internet service provider is z.

Y would make a certain product which could be a laptop, desktop, netbook or notebook that would come with pre-installed programs provided by cloud service provider X. Internet service provider Z would sell these products through its outlets in the country. Buyers, upon buying the product would sign a two-year contract and within this period they would only subscribe to the ISP that provided them the product.

This subsidy model is widely used by network providers in the U.S., Europe and many other countries. For example, we can talk about smartphones. Smartphones are expensive and it is not possible for everyone to buy smartphone but network carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, sell smartphones at a lower price using the subsidy model. Apple iPhone is currently the most popular smartphone in the U.S. and its original price is $600 which is very high for many people. AT&T, the official carrier of iPhone, sales it for only $200 with a two-year contract during which, the buyer would only use AT&T’s service.

In the end, we would like to say that, IT is very dynamic and it is changing very quickly. Moving towards cloud is the next rational thing for Bangladesh, not a luxury. The rest of the world is moving towards cloud technology. If we cannot adopt this technology, our country would only suffer. We already suffered a lot as we adopted Internet very late when our neighboring countries already got connected to the Information Super Highway and it should not be repeated for cloud computing.

Related articles:

World Business Council For Sustainable Development

SMEs In Bangladesh

CNET

GigaOm

Press Release: Over 300 Attendees Already Registered for the Cloud Computing World Forum Asia

Over 300 senior IT decision makers are already registered to attend the Cloud Computing World Forum Asia, taking place on the 17th and 18th November 2010 at The Mira Hotel, Hong Kong.

The two day conference has seen a huge amount of interest from IT professionals and business decision makers looking to learn about the much hyped technology.

The leading forum and free-to-attend expo will feature the most complete conference agenda around cloud computing and software-as-a-service, with leading suppliers, integrators and end-users all taking part.

Also featured on the conference program will be a number of high-profile case studies presenting how the cloud has worked for them, how it has been integrated and the strengths and weaknesses of strategies adopted.

Delegates will hear from key speakers such as:

-          Steven Yau, CIO, Walmart China

-          Jeremy Godfrey, CIO, Hong Kong Government

-          Richard Achee, Head of APAC Sales, Google

-          Susanna Shen, Head of Information Technology, The Hong Kong & China Gas Company Ltd

-          Keith Lam, Systems Manager, MTR Corporation

-          Simone Brunozzi, Technology Evangelist, Amazon Web Services

-          Donie Lochan, Asia Pacific IT Practice Leader, Bain & Company

-          Franklin Lau, Deputy General Manager of Group IT Services, CITIC Pacific Limited

-          Charles Mok, Chairman, Internet Society Hong Kong

-          Dr. Paul Liu, Manager, Information Technology Division, Chong Hing Bank Ltd

The event includes a free-to-attend exhibition with workshops, demonstrations and invites to the evening drinks reception.

     

To register for the event then please click here or call the team on +44 (0)845 519 1230. An early booking discount is available until 15th October 2010.

For further information on speaking opportunities, sponsorship and exhibition options please contact the Keynote team on +44 (0)845 519 1230 or email info@keynoteworld.com .

Source: http://cloudcomputinglive.com/asia/the-news/press-releases/27-september-2010.html

Press Release: CIO’s Attend the Cloud Computing World Forum Asia Free

This is a press release from Computing World Forum Asia:

The Cloud Computing World Forum Asia will open its doors to CIOs to attend its inaugural event in Asia for free on the 17th and 18th November 2010 at The Mira Hotel, Hong Kong.

The free pass will be available to CIO level participants and senior decision makers from end user organizations attending the 2 day conference and exhibition. The pass will include a full conference pass to give access to all areas of the event and networking opportunities throughout.

All those attending the event will also get access to the conference presentation documentation available immediately after the show.

The conference will provide a full perspective of cloud computing and SaaS from business value through integration and implementation and to the future of cloud computing. Presentations will include discussions about the practical realities of these technologies and feature end users, thought leaders, enterprise, platform and service providers and other senior figures from the IT and Telecoms industry.

Key speakers at the show include:

-          Steven Yau, CIO, Walmart China

-          Jeremy Godfrey, CIO, Hong Kong Government

-          Richard Achee, Head of APAC Sales, Google

-          Susanna Shen, Head of Information Technology, The Hong Kong & China Gas Company Ltd

-          Keith Lam, Systems Manager, MTR Corporation

-          Simone Brunozzi, Technology Evangelist, Amazon Web Services

-          Donie Lochan, Asia Pacific IT Practice Leader, Bain & Company

-          Franklin Lau, Deputy General Manager of Group IT Services, CITIC Pacific Limited

-          Charles Mok, Chairman, Internet Society Hong Kong

-          Dr. Paul Liu, Manager, Information Technology Division, Chong Hing Bank Ltd

To register for your free pass click here register for the free exhibition pass and enter ‘CIO Pass’ in further requirements. Alternatively, please send your full details to cio@keynoteworld.com  , or call the team on +44 (0)845 519 1230.

For further information on speaking opportunities, sponsorship and exhibition options please contact the Keynote team on +44 (0)845 519 1230 or email info@keynoteworld.com  .

South Asia Blog becomes a Media Partner of 3rd Cloud Computing World Forum Asia

We at South Asia Blog are excited to announce to all of our readers that we have become a media partner of the 3rd Cloud Computing World Forum – Asia event that is going to take place in Hong Kong 17 and 18 November.

We believe that South Asian countries should embrace cloud computing as soon as possible and from our strong belief, we have decided to give a lot of coverage to the 3rd Cloud Computing World Forum – Asia event in the next few weeks. We have been doing a lot of research lately about cloud computing in different South Asian countries and from next week you will definitely see a lot of entries about this field.

Some of the media partners for the event includes, Seeking Alpha (one of the top websites about Finance), Harvard Business Review Chinese Edition, Mashable, eWeek Europe etc. I do not need to remind you is that it is an impressive list and we are proud that South Asia Blog is in that list of media partners.

http://cloudcomputinglive.com/asia/ is the home page of the event and we strongly recommend you to visit the event if you are in any way related to cloud computing.

3rd Cloud Computing World Forum Asia: Some Information

Cloud Computing is the next big trend in Asia and many Asian countries are showing interest about cloud computing. In order to raise awareness among Asian countries about cloud computing, Cloud Computing World Forum is going to organize a two day conference titled 3rd Cloud Computing World Forum - Asia on 17^th and 18^th November at the Mira Hotel, Hong Kong.

In two days, the conference would cover various aspects of cloud computing. Experts from different disciplines will talk about cloud computing. This is the third Cloud Computing World Forum in Asia. The Forum mainly focuses on the software aspects of cloud computing. Many of the Asian countries are not very developed and in many regions the penetration of Internet and computer is very low but it is growing. Cloud Computer would help the people these countries to give access to computer and Internet at a cheaper price and reap the benefit of computer and Internet and would also help to create new businesses. Hence, cloud computing has immense potential for Asian countries.

About the conference:

The two-day conference and exhibition would talk about various aspects of cloud computing and SaaS. Officials from various top companies in Asia would talk about how they integrated Cloud Computing in their businesses and what benefits they are enjoying. In addition, many representatives of cloud service providers would attend the conference. There will be pre-show online meeting, attendees would also receive free Amazon web services credit and networking parties.

Some of the officials who would present keynotes are- Steven Yau, CIO, Walmart China; Jeremy Godfrey, CIO, Hong Kong Government; Pack Ling, CIO, GE China; Richard Achee, Head of Apac Sales, Google; Simone Brunozzi, Technology Evangelist, Amazon Web Services; Mark Beaumont, Director, Verizon Business; Sunny Lee, CIO, Hong Kong Jockey Club; Keith Lam, Systems Manager, MTR Corporation; Lui Sieh, Area Head of IT, British American Tobacco; Ron Baillie, Head of Strategy, Planning and Infrastructure, Cathay Pacific; Sue Bartlett, CIO, Asia Pacific, DHL; Susanna Shen, Head of Information Technology, The Hong Kong and China Gas Company; Simon Tsui, IT Director, Time Warner; Terry Ho, Head of Common Services, IT, BNP Paribas; Dr Paul Liu, Manager, Information Technology Division, Chong Hong Bank.

Issues that will be covered in the seminar:

Each day there will be four sessions covering different aspects of cloud computing. There will be various case studies related to cloud computing. “Cloudscape – An overview of the current market place” will study the current market of cloud computing especially in the APAC region.

“Business models and Adapting to Cloud Adoption” talks how cloud computing is disrupting the current business practices and the best practices business models and IT strategy and techniques to successfully adopt cloud computing.

“Cloud Security” talks about the security issues. One of the biggest concerns of cloud computing is security. How to deal with security problems in cloud computing.

“Virtualization” would cover basic and advanced virtualization topics.

“Deployment Strategies and Infrastructure” would cover how to establish and deploy a strategy around cloud computing. The session would look at various case studies to show how cloud computing can be successfully integrated into any organization.

In “The Cloud Computing Roadmap” will deal with issues such as tailoring cloud computing to the unique needs of business and ensuring the return. Building a long-term road map of cloud computing. Mitigating and managing the risk of transformation towards cloud computing, evolving business organization to adopt cloud.

“Applications from within the cloud” talks about traditional software integration versus cloud computing.

“Future of Business computing” would look at the future of cloud computing what would be the condition of the cloud computing market in short, medium and long term especially in the Asian context. How cloud computing would empower Asian economies, mobile cloud computing etc.

For more information you can visit the official website of Cloud Computing World Forum Asia. Early booking would end on October 15, 2010.

Because of the importance of the event, we will try to write more entries in the coming weeks about the 3rd Cloud Computing World Forum – Asia.

Cloud Computing in South Asia: Still Miles to Go before We Get It

I have been trying to write about cloud computing in another blog of mine for the last one week. I hope to do so for the entire month. What I realized is that it is a new technology and still limited mainly in USA and some other rich countries. It will take quite some time that South Asian people will get real taste of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing is the future technology and realizing its potential, big companies are investing on it. Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, HP- all are in this race to be the market leader. All these countries have strong presence in India and it is natural that Indian consumers will get cloud computing services first in the region. In fact, Google Apps have started to become popular in India mainly because of free emails attached to domain names of the companies. Anyway, cloud computing is yet to flourish in India in a decent level. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer a few months ago predicted that India would become a leader in cloud computing. I am going to write a long entry about cloud computing in India after a week or two.

As for my own country Bangladesh, cloud computing is yet to make any impact among the business community. Well, Microsoft opened an office in Bangladesh in 2004. I could not find any information about cloud computing related services in the website of Microsoft Bangladesh. Right now, it is Eid vacations in Bangladesh. I hope to contact to them next week. One of the major challenges for Bangladesh in adopting cloud computing is the lack of high speed Internet facility.  

After India, Pakistan has good potential for cloud computing because broadband Internet expanded in the country in a decent level compared to the rest of South Asia. As for Sri Lanka, some people are interested about cloud computing and Microsoft has been promoting it there. I will try to contact Microsoft Sri Lanka in this regard. I just hope that they provide adequate response and information to me.

I could not find any information about cloud computing in Maldives.

When it comes to Nepal, " Computer Association of Nepal organized live video conference with CAN-USA in San Francisco on 11th April, 2009. The video conference was done for Transfer of Knowledge “TofK” on Cloud Computing."

(Source: http://www.can.org.np/index.php?listId=49&Live-Video-Conferencing-with-CAN-USA-in-San-Francisco )

I feel that there are some common problems in the region in adopting cloud computing. The first problem is that high speed Internet is not available to most people living in South Asia. Well, South Asia is one of the poorest regions on earth PC penetration is still thin. May be mobile phone based cloud computing has very bright future considering the size of the user base in countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Then again, smart phone usage is insigficant.

Despite all these, certain factors are for India and the future of cloud computing looks to be very bright in India. I will talk about these things in my entry about Cloud Computing in India within the next 5-10 days hopefully.

Another problem for South Asia is that there are not that many big companies and many business owners do not have any idea about the benefits of cloud computing. It is often said that cloud computing can bring a lot of benefits for SMEs (Small and medium enterprises). However, many SME entrepreneurs of South Asia are not either enough computer and Internet literate or they do not use computer and Internet much in their business activities.

On the other hand, the cloud computing vendors or service providing companies have to learn the market realities of South Asia and customize their offers according to the needs of South Asian companies.

South Asian bureaucrats and decision makers are still largely unaware about the potentials of cloud computing in government activities. Of course, they will be worried about the security and privacy of government data.

In the end, I am not frustrated about the future of cloud computing in South Asia. My prediction is that within 10 years there will be a sizeable market of cloud computing in South Asia. I am also predicting that governments of at least 5 of the 8 countries will shift a large portion of their IT activities to cloud computing. While there are miles to go before we get it, still I am hopeful.