ICT NEWS FROM UNIMAS

International Conference on IT July 11

Posted on May 11, 2011, Wednesday

KUCHING: The International Conference on IT in Asia (CITA) is an international forum run by the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

The conference aims to bring together professionals and executives to share and exchange ideas and information pertaining to the roles of ICTs within the prevailing challenges of development faced by the region.

This international forum also aims to investigate how the technology can be adapted to improve local needs as well as to bring technology within reach of the communities.

The theme for the 7th CITA will be ‘Emerging Convergences and Singularity of Forms’.

For this year’s event, CITA ’11 Keynote speakers include Prof Bebo White of Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC), from renowned Stanford University, USA; Prof Dr Leon Sterling, from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; and Prof Dr Yoshiyori Urano from Waseda University,
Japan.

They will be presenting their keynote addresses on ‘Preparing for the Web of Things’, ‘Agent-Oriented Modelling for Converging Devices and Systems’, and ‘Building Lifelong Learning Schemes for Seniors’ respectively.

Additionally, CITA’11 is co-sponsored by IEEE Computer Society and is collocated with the International Workshop on Internalisation of Products and Systems (IWIPS 2011).

CITA’11 participants will also be able to listen to IWIPS 2011 keynote speaker, Dr Patrick Larvie of Google USA, who will be talking on ‘What trade history reveals about the Internet, and how ketchup can teach us to do our jobs better’.

Various workshops covering state of the art topics will be conducted on July 11 at the faculty’s impressive labs by experts.

Topics covered ‘Workshop on Mathematical Modelling’ by Assoc Prof Dr Jane Labadin from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak; ‘The Art of Agent Oriented Modelling for Agent Oriented Software Development’ by Prof Leon Sterling from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; ‘Experiential and Exploratory Stimulation via A Virtual Environment’ by Dr Sylvester Arnab from Serious Games Institute, UK; ‘How to Deploy Technologies (ICT, Solar Power) to Remote and Rural Communities’ from Center of Excellence for Rural Informatics; ‘Multilingual Knowledge Management Workshop’ by Prof Dr Ahmad Zaki bin Abu Bakar from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and ‘Joining the World of Linked Open Data’ by Prof Bebo White.

ICT NEWS FROM UTM

Thursday, April 7

The First 4G Outlet Launched in UTM Johor Bahru

“YES Campus Store”, the first 4G outlet at an institution of higher learning in the country is launched at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The UTM Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang said, the initiative to open the said outlet enables the UTM community to get the 4G mobile internet services at an affordable rate.The package, Education Partner Program Campus Citizen Plan, facilitates the UTM community to use the 4G network which has been customised with a special package.

The Yes 4G mobile phone is also launched today exclusively for the UTM community. The YES Campus Store was launched by Dr. Zaini. Also present was the Executive Director of YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms), Yasmin Mahmood. Although more than 80 percent of the student residential colleges have been provided with internet coverage through the installation of almost 1,000 wireless hot spots, the 4G broad band services will extend the students’ accessibility to the online learning materials and services.

The facilities enable more than 20 thousand students to utilise the advanced communication and information technology as part of their learning process. The initiative is in tandem with UTM teaching and learning policy which emphasizes the use of e-learning while focusing on the development of soft skills among students.

The expansion of the broad band and internet accessibility will give great impact to the students of UTM as it enables them to obtain the information required particularly in research and development speedily and promptly. Such facilities are most appropriate as many of the learning references and materials are made available through the internet. In addition the technopreneur program will get the advantage of the services provided by YTL Comms through high speed internet.

information technology news from UTAR

UTAR joins YTL Communications’ Education Partner Program

Petaling Jaya, 27 July 2010 – Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) joined YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms)’s Education Partner Program (EPP) today and signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to jointly deploy a campus-wide 4G network at the UTAR flagship campus in Kampar, Perak. Subsequently, similar deployments will be carried out at all UTAR campuses at Setapak, Sungai Long, and Petaling Jaya.

UTAR joins YTL Communications’ Education Partner Program

This marks another major milestone in the extensive EPP project spearheaded by YTL Comms to bring 4G converged service, offering data, voice and mobility to all public and main private universities in Malaysia. UTAR is the first private university to join EPP with UTM as the first public institution of higher learning we signed up earlier.

“We believe that being part of EPP will transform the way of life on our campuses. 4G Mobile Internet will provide new levels of interactivity among students and faculty personnel. Also, being a university that delves in extensive research work we are happy with the new innovative functions and capabilities our researchers will have access to with 4G Mobile Internet,” said Ir. Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah Hean Teik, President of UTAR.

According to Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah, this partnership will empower 12,000 students in the UTAR Kampar campus, and another estimated 7,000 students in all of the UTAR campuses around the Klang Valley, with enhanced accessibility to both Intranet and Internet facilities throughout the campus grounds.

Under the EPP, all UTAR students will enjoy high-speed, wireless broadband access at anytime and from anywhere within the campuses. Every student will get converged data and voice services totalling 300 Megabytes per user, per month for a period of 3 years.

“As we bring our 4G network capabilities to all Malaysians, it is crucial that we give special consideration to our university students, the pillar of our future. Therefore we are very pleased that UTAR has joined our EPP. We will be working closely together to foster a new generation of progressive, tech savvy and innovative students that are able to create a positive impact to the development of the nation,” said Wing K Lee, CEO of YTL Comms. “Malaysian students are among the first, if not the first in the world to have such pervasive use of the most advanced Internet technology today”.

“Students are constantly moving, always communicating on-the-go, and have this endless need for information to supplement their studies, course-works, and daily lives. Wherever the student sits or ride is a potential seat for learning and development. While on campus, they can open their laptops and immediately connect to the world – anywhere, anytime,” Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah explained.

Once the infrastructure is up and running, UTAR will be working closely with YTL Comms to nurture the development of Internet applications in the university’s technology degree courses.

“We plan to make YTL Comms’ 4G Mobile Internet the foundation in our center of excellence for the 4G network applications and devices our students are developing. On the Kampar campus alone, we have an immediate sample size of 12,000 users to carry out our research on the 4G network in our efforts to further advance the telecommunications engineering courses”, elaborated Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah.

Present to witness the signing ceremony was Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, Chairman of the UTAR Council, members of the UTAR council, Professor Dr. Lee Sze Wei, Vice President (R & D and Commercialisation), UTAR, Jacob Yeoh, Executive Director of YTL Comms, and the senior management of YTL Comms.

information technology news from universiti teknologi malaysia

Creating Malaysia's First 4G Campus-wide Network

Skudai, 1 July 2010 – YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms) today entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in a joint collaboration to provide 4G campus-wide network in UTM Skudai. This effort is in support of the National Broadband Initiative (NBI) aim to reach 50% broadband penetration rate by end-2010.

Creating Malaysia's First 4G Campus-wide Network

This landmark initiative will be the first of an extensive program spearheaded by YTL Comms to bring 4G converged service, offering data, voice and mobility into all public universities in Malaysia.

As a result, YTL Comms will make available that high-speed wireless broadband connectivity to more than 400,000 students by year-end and correspondingly increase broadband penetration rate throughout the country.

“The signing of our agreement with UTM today marks an important milestone to build a new generation of immersive and progressive students that are able to access information and knowledge instantly at their finger tips. The YTL Comms Education Partner Program (EPP) provides the ability for these students to access the IntraNET and Internet anytime, anywhere within the campus. The EPP allows our students to do things differently and bring about a wave of positive changes in a YTL Comms 4G enabled education environment that will eventually contribute to the larger future success of the nation. ” said Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr) Francis Yeoh, Executive Chairman of YTL Communications.

Under this arrangement, YTL Comms will at its own cost undertake the following:

• Design, build, operate and manage a 4G campus-wide network (for the provision of data and voice services within the university’s Skudai campus).
• To complement and enhance UTM’s existing ICT infrastructure.
• Provides free broadband access to every student, allowing data and voice services of 300 megabytes per user per month within the campus.
• Provides the program for a period of 3 years from launch.

The 4G campus-wide network is a high performance, high-capacity wireless network, which is optimized for dense mobile broadband access with voice services. It will support UTM’s commitment to develop a highly advanced learning environment for all their students and help the University, to enhance its position as a cradle of technology excellence in the nation and the world. Thus, this will make UTM to be more competitive in attracting top-class student applicants and faculty staff.

“We’re on the cutting edge of new technology, the first university in Malaysia to gain exposure to high-speed 4G broadband wireless connectivity,” said Prof. Dato’ Dr. Ir Zaini Ujang, Vice Chancellor of UTM.

“Having 4G campus-wide network makes UTM unique, it provides a competitive edge to demonstrate to prospective students that we are progressive in developing new technologies and also provide current students with immersive learning”, added Dato’ Dr. Zaini.

The low latency, high bandwidth 4G technology supports fast data rates, is highly spectrally efficient, and is developing a robust device ecosystem. As an all-IP technology, it is optimized for web services. Members of UTM Skudai community will soon be using and evaluating new learning approaches enabled by high speed wireless broadband. In particular, they are focusing on immersive learning environments harnessing advanced multimedia techniques.

The event commemorates the launching of YTL Communications EPP and the signing of the MoA with UTM, the first university under this program by YB Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais bin Yatim, Minister of Information, Communications and Culture.

information technology news from Universiti Putra Malaysia

UPM and UM Enhance Learning Facilities and Empower Student Lives with 4G Mobile Internet.

Kuala Lumpur, 13 September 2010 – Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) today joined the Education Partner Program (EPP) spearheaded by YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms). Under the program, both universities will apply the power of 4G Mobile Internet campus-wide to give their students cutting-edge learning facilities and further enhance the quality of life on campus for both students and academic staff.

UM plans to utilise YTL's 4G Campus-wide Network to boost research activities and be among the top 100 universities in the world

UPM and UM are the third and fourth local university respectively to join the EPP program in the last two months after UTM and UTAR. All twenty of Malaysia’s public universities and selected private universities are expected to join the program by the end of the year.

“We want the students to access our enterprise, learning and research services from anywhere and at anytime and therefore we are pleased to partner with YTL Comms to give our students the freedom and the convenience of 4G Mobile Internet,” said Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Nik Mustapha R. Abdullah, Vice Chancellor of UPM.

“We champion the model of Ubiquitous Learning at UPM. This means learning whatever, whenever, wherever. We call it www-learning, which is, incidentally, the way the real Internet should be, too”, said Associate Professor Dr. Suhaimi Napis, CTO and Director, InfoComm Development Centre (iDEC), UPM.

The Ubiquitous Learning Environment (ULE) at UPM, the brainchild of Dr. Suhaimi, relies on the Malaysian Research and Education Network (MYREN), a high-capacity broadband network that connects universities, colleges, research organisations and scientific laboratories. UPM was one of the founding proposers of this dedicated network that provides a platform for creating research communities and encourages them to exchange ideas and collaborate with international partners.

YTL's 4G Campus-wide Network is set to take UPM's model of Ubiquitous Learning Environment (ULE) even further

While UPM’s ubiquitous learning model relies on MYREN as the foundation, the university also has a number of cloud services that can support blended learning – a mixture of remote and on-premise education. For example, the video collaboration services, 1VideoBridge, make live virtual classes possible, with up to 160 laptops, desktops and other compatible devices connected at one time, where students can interact with the lecturer and each other. We also have uCast, modelled after a popular video-sharing portal to facilitate video-on-demand.

“All this innovation that supports the ubiquitous learning model can’t be fully harnessed by the students without high speed Internet access that is available everywhere and from any device,” said Dr. Suhaimi. “The power of 4G Mobile Internet will create new ways for education to be delivered and we are already working with YTL Comms to enable interoperability between our learning and research cloud services and all platforms, including new Android-based devices, which we are eager to explore.” He added.

Under the EPP partnership, each student will receive FREE converged data and voice services of 300 megabytes per user, on a monthly basis over a period of 3 years at anytime and from anywhere throughout the campus grounds. On top of that, the students will be able to top up their accounts at special student rates.

“UM is currently rated the top ranking university in Malaysia, but it is our mission to see UM among the top 100 universities in the world in the next five years. Our partnership with YTL Comms and participation in the EPP program is a major milestone towards realising this vision,” said Datuk Dr. Ghauth Jasmon, Vice Chancellor of UM.

UM sees 4G Mobile Internet as a perfect tool to enhance students’ lives on campus, too. “The combination of 4G Broadband & Voice service under one account is a great value proposition to our students. When every ringgit needs to be stretched, it helps that our students can use their 300 megabytes of free broadband to make free phone calls, too. Considering that the majority of their calls are made to friends and colleagues on campus, the savings they will be able to realize are substantial,” elaborated Dr. David Asirvatham, Director, Center for Information Technology, UM.

UM is Malaysia’s first public university and a Research University, as designated by the Government. As such, UM actively spearheads a number of research-intensive projects in ICT and Computational Sciences, Biotechnology and Bioproducts, and Health and Translational Medicine in which it applies the power of Grid Computing. However, due to the current bandwidth limitations, the Grid Computing can only extend to the servers at the time being.

“With the superior performance of 4G, that delivers connectivity in megabits instead of the kilobits we currently get with 3G, the power of grid computing can easily extend all the way to desktops and devices, too, significantly improving our research process,” added Dr. David.

“We are very impressed with UPM’s and UM’s vision to create superior academic environments and we are extremely pleased to be their partner in realising this vision,” said Yasmin Mahmood, Executive Director, YTL Communications. “We are building a better Internet for everyone, a 4G Mobile Internet network that truly empowers all people, and we want our students, the leaders of a better tomorrow, to be the first to experience this most advanced Internet technology available today.”

information technology news from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)

USM ASSISTANCE FOR RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AT PENANG MATRICULATION

PENANG, 30 DEC.: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) will assist Penang Matriculation College (KMPP) in carrying out research especially in the area of teaching and learning based on information technology. This is to ensure that KMPP leads the way in this field among the other colleges in this country.

KMPP was the first matriculation college in this country to carry out research activities.

Prof. Lim Koon Ong, Deputy Vice-Chancellor USM said that these efforts are in line with the KMPP mission to explore research potential and opportunities and not focus only on teaching.

"We will focus on fields related to ICT-based teaching, student and staff development and astronomy.

"At the same time, the university will also make KMPP the centre for research in developing students’ interest in science and mathematics, which has seen an overall decline," he said while chairing a media conference after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between USM and KMPP today.

At the same event, Haji Khairi Jalun, Director of Penang Matriculation College said that KMPP is now undergoing a process of transformation and is considering the possibility of being fully involved in research.

"However, KMPP does not have the expertise in conducting research. We hope that these initial efforts can be enhanced through collaboration with USM which is well-established and has carried out world class research," he said.

Also present at the event were Prof. Dato' Omar Osman, USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Development), Assoc. Prof. Nasirun Mohd Salleh, Director of USM Islamic Centre and Dr. Nurulain Abdullah Bayanuddin, Director of USM Wellness Centre.

IT NEWS FROM UNIVERSITI TUANKU ABDUL RAHMAN

Opening Ceremony of the Symposium on Progress in Information and Communication Technology (SPICT'09)

December 7, 2009

UTAR brings together researchers, industry practitioners
and students in the fields of ICT

Researchers, industry practitioners and students in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) gathered at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur to witness the opening ceremony of the Symposium on Progress in Information and Communication Technology (SPICT'09) organised by Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) on 7 December 2009.

The symposium which attracted the participation of individuals from all over the world brought together researchers, industry practitioners and students to exchange the latest advances and trends, and to identify and share emerging research topics in the field of ICT. A total of 64 paper submissions from over 31 different institutions in 12 different countries were received for the symposium, of which 31 submissions were accepted after paper review process.

SPICT'09 consisted of 7 sessions offering presentations in diverse areas of ICT such as business IT systems, network infrastructure, algorithm development, vision and image processing, knowledge management, multimedia and e-learning. Two ICT events were held simultaneously over two days in conjunction with SPICT'09. The events were the Workshop on Advances in Intelligent Computing 2009 (WAIC 2009) which was held on the same day as the opening ceremony of SPICT'09 and the Multimedia Development Corporation of Malaysia (MDeC) R&D Exchange Forum which will be held on 8 December 2009.

UTAR President Ir. Professor Dato' Dr. Chuah Hean Teik who was present for the SPICT'09 opening ceremony expressed, "The R&D landscape in Malaysia has transformed greatly in the past few years, where a lot of resources have been channeled in Malaysia to cultivate a vibrant environment for scientific and technological discoveries." He added that UTAR in tandem with the national development, is gaining greater momentum in the University's research intensification effort to transform into a research-intensive university.

"Our faculty members in UTAR are constantly seeking new opportunities, exploring innovative ideas and building new links. We have embraced this culture wholeheartedly and have maintained close collaboration with colleagues from various disciplines locally and worldwide through our Global Research Network and various research initiatives," he said.

He expressed his hopes for the SPICT'09 to present a platform to discuss, explore and allow ideas to cross fertilize to spark new research collaborations amongst the various participating academics and ICT companies.

Malaysian Deputy Minister of Higher Education Dr. Hou Kok Chung who declared opened the symposium said, "It is undeniable that technological advancement is an important tool in developing a nation. Hence, the Government of Malaysia has long recognised that ICT development would serve as an important strategic driver for positioning Malaysia as a competitive knowledge-based economy, and global ICT and multimedia hub."

He congratulated organisers and the sponsors, on their coming together to make the event a success and conveyed his belief that the efforts made by the them in making the event a success would play an important role in fostering the growth of the ICT industry to drive Malaysia's future economic growth.