Intel lays out plans for South East Asian market

Intel’s talked about its plans for the South East Asian market for the next
five years at a conference held in Singapore recently. Intel’s major focus
would be to work with the local industry and governments of various countries in
the region to increase PC usage and ICT literacy.

On one side, it would organize PC campaigns and PC parties like expos,
tradeshows, etc for the consumers and on the other it would work with the
governments on various education programs. According to Intel, the activities
would be different for different countries. The recent computerization and Wi-Fi
enabling of a carriage of one of the Shatabadi Express trains is a classic
example of this. There are also plans to spread awareness about application of
PCs by taking the successful experiences that Intel has to smaller towns and
villages to make them understand what PCs can really do.

It also plans to work with the local industry leaders like HCL, Infosys, Tata,
etc to provide modernization solutions and best practices. The idea of this
program is to learn from others in various verticals, including govt, education,
healthcare, life sciences, retail, mobility, etc and speed up the deployment of
IT.

Intel’s education program for instance is one wherein Intel will work with
the ministers of education for various countries and work out programs to train
teachers on how they can use PCs and the Internet to teach better. It’ s not
just meant to teach them about using PCs, but to tell them how they can teach
their students better using PCs.

Intel feels that the major growth drivers for the world economy have always
been new technologies and new markets. Drivers for the new economy therefore are
going to be ICT/Biotech, and the emerging markets.

Anil Chopra

Singapore (CyberMedia News)