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NCR's commitment to Pakistan is almost 50 years old with a long history of introducing latest technology in Pakistan

From SHAMIM AHMED RIZVI, Islamabad
 Dec 04 - 10, 2000

Thirteen prominent personalities belonging to different fields of information technology (IT) were conferred NCR IT excellence award 2000 for rendering outstanding services in their fields at a colourful and well organised function at the convention centre Islamabad. The event which was followed by dinner and a musical programme was attended by leading dignitaries and prominent personalities from the government, media and the corporate sector.

The Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Atta-ur Rehman who was the Chief Guest on the occasion distributed the award amongst the winners. The awards were distributed for six different categories and the evaluation was based on time spans. The award categories included software development, networking, IT pioneers, IT educationist and IT research and development.

Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman highly appreciated the initiative taken by the NCR and efforts put forward by the organisation to accord recognition to the achiever of the infant IT industry in the country. This public recognition of the achievement of the otherwise quiet researcher would not only encourage them but may also motivate many others to dedicated research and hardwork in this field, observed Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman expressing the hope that such positive trends should continue in the future as well.

The award winners included; Software Development: Talat Mehboob Butt of the Experts Advisory Cell, Ministry of Industries and Production and Bilal Hashmat of the Cure MD.Com.

Networking: Jalil A. Mughal of Millennium Computers and Shaikh Adil Gul of Aga Khan University Hospital. Software Expert Humayun Mazhar of the Cressoft. IT educationists: Masud Ahmed Malik, of Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad Dr. Arshad Ali Shahid M.A Jinnah University Islamabad and Javed Hanif Agha of Pakistan Revenue Automation.

IT pioneers: Masood Ahmad Malik, Quaid-e-Azam, University Islamabad Dr. Altamash Kamal or Eiber.com, Abdul Ghaffar Memon of Kalsoft Pvt. Ltd and Dr. S.M Junaid Zaidi, Comsats Institute of Information Technology.

IT Research and Development Mohammad Sher of International Islamic University.

The NCR IT Excellence Awards 2000 process was verified by A.F. Ferguson & Co.; Chartered Accountants, network firm of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. A panel of judges completed the selection of the winners for the Second BCR IT Excellence Awards. The panel included Mr. S.A.H. Naqvi, Ex Technical Member PTCL & previous IT Excellence award winner, Mr. Ahmed Alauddin, Chairman Computer Society of Pakistan, Dr. Ijaz Khawaja, Director General, Pakistan Computer Bureau, Mr. Mohammad Khalid Javed, Managing Director, Pakistan Software Export Board, Dr. Amir Mateen, Chief Executive, SoftNets, Prof. Dr. Abdul Wahaab, former Director IBA, Dr. M. Afzal Bhatti, Chairman Dept of Computer Sciences QAU, Dr. Ayub Alvi, Directors Fast Institute of Computer Sciences, Mr. Alvi Abdul Rahim, Secretary IT Commission. The nominees were judged and scored on set criteria to ensure that the selected award winners are truly worthy of this prestigious award.

NCR Country General Manager, Syed Vaqar-Ul-Islam, while addressing on the occasion said our aim is to recognize and acknowledge the achievements of IT pioneers of the past and present. The awards being given are associated with a company of world repute and will go a long way towards increasing the motivation of outstanding individuals in the field of Information Technology. We hope to create a much needed talent pool of outstanding individuals, which will further promote the cause of Information Technology in Pakistan.

George Savvides, Director Middle East/Africa, NCR Corporation said "NCR is keenly looking at Pakistan for investment opportunities." George appreciated the steps taken by the government in promoting the cause of information technology in Pakistan and termed them as steps in the right direction. He also announced that NCR will be setting up Data Warehousing Labs, including Primary curriculum and Train the Trainer Program to 6 universities in Pakistan. He further announced making NCR Pakistan a center of Expertise for Data Warehousing for the NCR Middle East & Africa region. This would lead to greater projection of NCR Pakistan and Pakistan will become a resource hub in this high growth sector of Information Technology. He also announced that in first quarter, NCR will launch Teradata Certification in Pakistan.

NCR's commitment to Pakistan is almost 50 years old with a long history of introducing latest technology in Pakistan. This includes the concept of Self Service Banking, bringing open systems and Industry standard concept in Pakistan, introducing Unix Operating system in the country, setting up IT Education Centres etc. NCR has recently introduced Teradata Database in Pakistan, a leading database engine for Data Warehousing. With more than 50% worldwide market share in Data Warehousing, NCR has over 900 successful Teradata installations worldwide.

NCR came into the field of Information Technology in Pakistan in the early 80's. Since then it made major progress in the country and have gained extensive experience in every sphere of IT business in Pakistan. From major MIS projects to Networking to extensive software development and project management, NCR's experience is one of the most diversified in the country". Our growth in the last four years is a testimony to the fact that we have covered major distance in escalating our project success rate. NCR today has the highest market share growth in Pakistan whereby we have grown 16 percentage points in the last four years — a distinct achievement by any standards, claimed Mr. Vaqar-Ul-Islam.

NCR has handled some major projects over the last 10 years, which have involved providing complete solutions to the customers including supply and commissioning of hardware, communication network, software development and project management.