Recent IT launches defy economic stagnancy theory<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta<\/p>\n
zatni@cbn.net.id<\/p>\n
Our economy may still be sluggish, corruption still rampant, our
\nimage on the international stage still tainted by the continued
\nbarrage of thoughtless and self-serving remarks from our own
\ngovernment officials, and we are beginning to admit the sickness
\nof our society, but technological advancements do not stop and
\nwait for us to put our house in order.<\/p>\n
A lot of launch events have taken place in Jakarta in the last
\nfew months, and they basically demonstrate that there is still
\nstrong confidence in the Indonesian IT market.<\/p>\n
Alcatel, for example, has included Indonesia as one of the
\ncountries where it plans to aggressively market its cellphones.
\nToday this French company is back, introducing the cool looking
\nOne Touch 331 and 535 models on the Indonesian market.<\/p>\n
I was lucky enough (and extremely happy) to win a OT535 as a
\ndoor prize during its launch, and I will review it for you. It is
\na great product, I should say.<\/p>\n
Alcatel's launch of these two models came after Siemens
\nintroduced its A60 and C62 worldwide and Nokia officially
\nlaunched its N3100 model in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Clearly, cellphone aficionados who like to change handsets
\nevery month will not run out of options as long as they have the
\nextra cash. And, believe me, plenty of them do.<\/p>\n
Helping SMEs<\/p>\n
It has been a long time since we last visited our friends at
\nHP-Compaq. It is not because they have been quiet. Not at all.
\nThere have been product launches, new technology initiatives,
\netc. going on at HP-Compaq.<\/p>\n
I just did not have the chance to write my report for you.
\nHowever, what the company showcased at Jakarta's Shangri-La hotel
\nlast month were a series of solutions -- not only products --
\nthat would be useful to our small and medium enterprises (SMEs).<\/p>\n
By now small businesses must understand that using the right
\nIT means increasing their productivity. However, small as they
\nare, they cannot afford to hire IT support personnel like the big
\nenterprises do. What they need is pre-packaged solutions and
\nproducts that they can buy and use without too much hassle.<\/p>\n
This was clearly the main theme of HP's event last month. The
\nrange of products and solutions were so broad that we will need
\nto discuss what was interesting in an upcoming article.<\/p>\n
As reported by my colleague Sari P. Setiogi in last Saturday's
\nissue of The Jakarta Post, an Indonesian Wi-Fi Consortium has
\njust been established, involving one Internet Service Provider
\n(ISP), one publisher, one software vendor, three hardware vendors
\nand one Wi-Fi system integrator.<\/p>\n
These are major IT companies, including Acer, Cisco Systems,
\nIntel and Microsoft, and their objectives are to accelerate the
\nacceptance of hotspots in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
CBN, the ISP, has actually been running two hotspots on a
\ntrial basis at Plaza Senayan and Cilandak Town Square. I happened
\nto have a Centrino-based ThinkPad T40 with me during the
\nannouncement of the consortium, and the hotspot gave me more than
\n200 Kbps access speed.<\/p>\n
It was great, although I had needed the help of two masters --
\none from Intel and another from CBN -- to set up the connection.<\/p>\n
Arya Sanjaya, Intel's Business Development Manager, even
\nshowed me that he was able to access his office using the highly
\nsecured virtual private network (VPN). As you know, a VPN is like
\na protected tunnel inside the Internet ocean that allows a user
\nto connect directly to a system.<\/p>\n
"With this capability, an employee can continue his work here
\nwithout fear their data is being snooped on by other Internet
\nusers," Arya said.<\/p>\n
Surely we hope that CBN as well as other ISPs will soon build
\nmore hotspots around the city, especially on campuses.
\nEventually, users will be able to use credit cards or buy pre-
\npaid vouchers to use the hotspot facilities to stay connected-and
\nexcited.<\/p>\n
Sun on the Enterprise and Desktop<\/p>\n
Like the sun in Jakarta lately, it has not been the brightest
\nof Sun Microsystems' recent days due to the various warnings it
\nhas received from analysts, including Merrill Lynch's Steve
\nMilunovich.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the Santa Clara-based company is still making
\ntechnology strides. Sun Microsystems Indonesia launched its Java
\nEnterprise System and Java Desktop System last week. Both, as you
\ncan expect, promise lower costs per user and interoperability
\nwith other platforms.<\/p>\n
Unavoidably, Windows and MS Office came up during the Q&A
\nafter the presentation, especially when it comes to the
\ndiscussion on prices.<\/p>\n
How low? For US$138 per user per year, an enterprise will be
\nable to equip each of its employees with server-based Web
\nservices and the desktop tools that they need to be productive.<\/p>\n
The latter includes StarOffice productivity suite that has
\nbeen gaining a lot of momentum lately, especially after the full
\nenforcement of Indonesia's Intellectual Property Law back in late
\nJuly.<\/p>\n
For Internet browsing, Sun includes Mozilla. There are
\ncalendaring, instant messaging and other utilities as well. Sun
\nsays that a number of hardware vendors, including HP, have
\nexpressed their commitment to providing the products in their
\ndesktop systems.<\/p>\n
The Linux-based Sun Java Desktop System can run on any x86
\nsystem or Sun's own Sun Ray product lines.<\/p>\n
Clearly, convincing potential customers of the price advantage
\nand integration with the servers, which is Sun's traditional
\nstrength, will be the task of its marketing people. In the
\nmeantime, let us put StarOffice 7.0 on the list of products to
\nreview in the near future, for it is unlikely that Sun will
\nindeed set forever tomorrow.<\/p>",
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