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An interview with Arshad Khalil, CEO KTF Education Master Franchise of Aptech Arena Multimedia.

BY FARAZ SIDDIQUI
 Aug 07 - 13, 2000

Information Technology (IT) may be adopted on priority basis and everyone has to do his level best to develop Pakistan as an IT nation, said Arshad Khalil, CEO KTF Education Master Franchise of Aptech Arena Multimedia.

Talking to PAGE, Arshad Khalil said, Arena will continue to play its role to train and produce highly skilled multimedia professionals to cater the needs of professionals in the country. Arena started its operations in Pakistan in 1998, since then Arena has been working for the advanced computer studies in multimedia and web engineering, he added.

Khalil further said, Arena is an Apple Computer Preferred Training Partners which is worldwide leader in multimedia design and development. ISO 9001 quality certification is our competitive edge. We not only claim to deliver quality services but we mean it. Our exclusive edge is to be a franchise of Aptech which is working in more than 32 countries with its 1500 training centres. Arena offers training in the multimedia technologies using state-of-the-art hardware and software.

What is mulitmedia

He defined multimedia, as an application that bring together multiple types of media like text, illustration, sound, animation and video coupled with interactivity, that makes multimedia content come alive in dynamic ways. He referred multimedia the most applicable technology in the future because there is all possibility to have an e-commerce revolution for which every individual will have to have an effective presentation for its promotion. Besides this it has so many other applications but presentations is currently the single largest use. He further said that multimedia professionals would have countless opportunities in every field and their demand will keep on rising in near future.

Khalil said, Arena has three operation centres in Karachi but in near future we are intended to start our operations in other cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi. He is delighted with the response from the public towards multimedia and web engineering studies despite having lack of knowledge and awareness.

Khalil pointed out the CD revolution in near future when everything would be available on CD so it is imperative to produce highly skilled professionals at large in order to meet the future challenges. Presently Pakistan is needed more than 80000 skilled IT professionals but presently we are producing only 6000-6500 out of which mostly prefer to work abroad. So this trend shows a worst probable shortage which is expected to turn into crisis of IT professionals in future.

He emphasized the importance to adopt e-commerce education in order to share the trillions volume of world's e-market. So far Pakistan is still lagging far behind in the progressive development of e-commerce. Although we have a competitive advantage to be a nation who can speak, understand and deal in English language which can easily bring a revolution in e-commerce unlike Philippines, Burma etc where it is not medium of exchange. There is always ample opportunities but need to avail and exploit for IT advancement in the country.

Talking about the standard of IT education in Pakistan, Khalil said, standard is definitely improving but not in an organized way. It is said there is a boom in IT but in my view an actual boom is still to come, he added. So in order to get the lucrative benefit from IT revolution we need more professionals, more institutions, more awareness and foremost more working hard.

He said, IT education is definitely beneficial in any case. One should remember that it is not exclusively associated with computer professionals but professionals of all fields should also equip themselves with computer skills. The most important thing is to get close with the IT education and awareness no matter to what extent. Having a keen eye on IT issues is the demand of the day.

Government has certainly taken positive steps to bring IT revolution in the country. We are very optimistic about the future of IT in Pakistan and specially IT action plan will be helpful in this regard. He referred multimedia facilities and web engineering as a first priority.

Employment

Khalil said, we can experience unemployment in every field but IT is the only field which provides certain employment opportunities. So IT has multiedge benefits for the countries like technology revolution, employment, e-commerce etc.

Keeping in view IT significance, Arena is committed to produce highly skilled web engineers and multimedia experts in the country. Arena's placement wing constantly seeks career opportunities for young students and professionals. It provides complete platform to get advanced level practical training of multimedia and web engineering.