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Malaysia’s huge leap forward shows commitment to innovation pays off - Changing Centers of IT Power
By Administrator | Label: MalaysiaThe biggest mover in this year’s index was Malaysia, which went 11 spots up in the overall rankings because of a surge in R&D activity. “It is abundantly clear … that investing in the fundamentals of technology innovation will pay huge dividends over the long term,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman.
According to the newly released IT Industry Competitiveness Index, an international ranking organized by the Business Software Alliance, in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit, Malaysia is positioned 31st in terms of being “capable of supporting a strong IT production sector.”
The last time the ratings were published. (The United States is ranked at the top this year, followed by Finland and Singapore.) The new Index, updated for the fourth time since 2007, benchmarks 66 countries on a series of 26 indicators covering six critical foundation areas for IT implementation and innovation: overall business environment, IT infrastructure, human capital, research and development, legal environment, and public support for industry development.
He had what might be interpreted as a warning for the countries that currently dominate IT services. “We’re seeing the fast-growing economies of the developing world invest heavily in things like research and development and human capital,” Holleyman said. “They are moving away from a more singular focus on providing low-cost products and services. Because of that, we are moving to a world with many centers of IT power.”
IHS to invest US$8m in Penang centre of excellence
By Administrator | Label: Penang/BPO/investmentGEORGE TOWN (Sept 30, 2011): IHS Inc, a US-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company, has picked Penang to set up a centre of excellence for the Asia-Pacific, with an initial investment of US$8 million (RM25.44 million).
The centre, located at Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah here, is expected to be operational by December and will initially have 20 employees.
IHS CEO Jerre L. Stead said the investment will be raised to US$50 million and the workforce to some 1,600 people by 2015.
"The centre of excellence will be the largest IHS centre in the world and will be staffed and led by locals. For us, it's always locals as I believe it is the only way to success," he told a press conference yesterday.
Also present were Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, IHS Asia-Pacific human resource vice-president Paul McAvoy, CFO Richard Walker, and InvestPenang executive committee chairman Datuk Lee Kah Choon and general manager Loo Lee Lian.
Lim said IHS' entry into Penang would help the state achieve its aim of becoming an intelligent and international city.
The company is one of the world's leading sources of information and insight providers and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005.
IHS, which expects to post a revenue of US$1.3 billion for the financial year ending Nov 30, 2011, provides information on industries such as energy and power, oil and gas, design and supply chain, defence, risk and security, environmental, health and safety and sustainability, country and industry forecasting and commodities.
It has been in business since 1959 with its headquarters in Englewood, Colorado, USA and employs more than 5,000 people in more than 30 countries.
Source: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/161459
Google buys land to build three data centers in Asia
By Administrator | Label: Google/Data Centre/APACJohn Ribeiro (IDG News Service)— 28 September, 2011
Google has acquired land in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to build data centers in these three locations, it said Wednesday.
The data centers will be the "first Google proprietary data centers in Asia," and will be fully owned and operated by the company, said Taj Meadows, the company's policy communications manager for Asia Pacific.
More people are coming online every day in Asia than in any other part of the world, so locating data centers there is an important next stage of Google's investment in the region, the company said Local data centers will help the company provide faster and more reliable access to Google's services, it added.
There is a large surge in Internet use in Asia, particularly for consumer applications, said Jun Fwu Chin, research manager for virtualization and data center at IDC Malaysia.
A number of new data centers are coming up in the region as multinational Internet and hosting companies set up data centers to serve local customers, and also to meet governments regulations in some countries that require data to be handled locally, Chin said.
The costs of setting up data centers in Asia also tend to be lower than in the U.S., he added.
Google already has six data centers in the U.S., with one each in Finland and Belgium, according to its website.
It already has 15 offices and thousands of employees across the Asia-Pacific region.
The company has acquired 2.45 hectares of land in Jurong West, Singapore, and another 15 hectares of land in Changhua County, Taiwan, to build the data centers. It has also acquired 2.7 hectares of land in Kowloon, Hong Kong, for a data center there.
Google expects to invest over US$100 million in each of the facilities in Taiwan and Hong Kong, including the cost of land, construction and technical equipment. It did not specify the size of the investment in Singapore.
Google did not specify when construction would begin at these sites, as it is still working with its local partners and governments to finalize plans. Once construction begins, the facilities could be operational within one to two years, barring major delays, it said.
Google is however facing tough competition from local players in a number of local markets in Asia. In China, for example, it trails Baidu, the largest player, in Internet search.
In Taiwan, Yahoo and Facebook are ahead of Google as the top sites in the country, according to web traffic monitoring service Alexa. The rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and page views over the past month. In Hong Kong, Yahoo and Facebook are again ahead of Google, while it leads in Singapore.
Source: http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/402349/google_buys_land_build_three_data_centers_asia/
Malaysia's data centres on expansion mode
By Administrator | Label: EPP3/Data Centre/MalaysiaSeptember 27, 2011 - (Malaysian Business (Malaysia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The government realises that there will come a time when most businesses will need data centres and Malaysia has the geographical stability to meet this need. And today, home grown data centres are slowly but surely making their presence felt regionally and globally.
Demand for data centre services and facilities are expected to remain robust in Southeast Asia, and there will be increased competition between Singapore and Malaysia in particular as critical locations.
According to BroadGroup Consulting's study, competition at regional level is intensifying, which presents location insensitive enterprises with a choice most often influenced by the most critical factors.
The study shows that data centre decisions present significant challenges, as user transaction demand is accelerating, storage requirements intensify and the need for bandwidth and connectivity increases.
Added to all this, global pressures to reduce carbon emissions, curtail energy requirements, introduce green technologies and comply with a range of legislative and regulatory mandates have collectively provided a new dynamic to enterprise IT decisions.
`On that note, Malaysia could well see data centre space more than double over the next four to five years,' says Steve Wallage, managing director of BroadGroup Consulting.
He points out that Malaysia would be an ideal location for IT- based centres due to its stable geographical environment with no major disasters like earthquakes and with growing opportunities in cloud-related services in the country. At home, the Malaysian government believes data centres can play a vital role in the country's economic growth.
In fact, it expects this space to contribute about RM2.4 billion of gross national income and create some 13,290 jobs by end-2020.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last year announced a national master plan comprising public-private sector economic activities to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation. Dubbed the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) and facilitated by its government arm, Pemandu, the scheme seeks to double the country's per-capita income to US$15,000 by 2020.
It encompasses 131 entry-point projects (EPP), which the government says will outline actions required to grow the local economy. One of these involves the upgrading and development of three data centre providers - MyTelehaus, CSF Group and Teliti Datacentre - for approximately RM400 million, aimed at turning Malaysia into a data centre hub.
As part of this, the Prime Minister outlined his government's aspiration "to grow the data centre space from 0.5 million to 5 million sq ft by 2020 and establish Malaysia as the preferred destination for regional data centre investors".
Teliti is currently building a fully-integrated, carrier neutral, `green' data centre which, at 120,000 sq ft of net lettable area, will be one of the largest in Asia. Located in the Bandar Enstek technology park in Negeri Sembilan, the facility is scheduled to open in the first half of 2012.
OTHER PLAYERS Other home grown data centre operators are also stamping their marks in this space by offering better and new services and solutions that appeal not only to local customers but also to companies at regional and global level.
For example, AIMS Group, a data centre operator that owns and manages network neutral data centres, is set to further invest RM80 million to expand its existing data centre and build a new centre.
Chief executive officer Chiew Kok Hin says the company, already considered as one of South-East Asia's leading carrier-neutral data centre operators, wanted to add two more floors at its current data centre in KL.
`As of now, we have six floors here in KL and we are working to add two more floors to offer better services,' he explains.
In addition, the company is also in the midst of two more data centres in Johor Baru and Cyberjaya respectively.
Chiew reveals that the group is already running at full capacity at its existing data centre and the new centre would help increase its capacity.
`The centres in Cyberjaya and Johor Baru are expected to commence operation in the first quarter and fourth quarter of 2012 respectively,' he adds.
Chiew hopes with the new capacity in place, the company will also be able to increase its ARPU (average revenue per user).The ARPU varies from few hundreds to few thousands.
Today, AIMS is the only Internet data centre that offers a carrier- neutral environment to international carriers to establish a point of presence in Malaysia.
The data centre is also the home to the Malaysian Internet Exchange, providing solutions for Internet peering and exchange of Internet traffic. It has also expanded its customer base to include the financial services industry, known for their stringent information security standards.
AIMS has been registering double-digit growth in terms of number of carriers it hosts (as with Maxis Bhd, DiGi Bhd and Celcom Axiata Bhd) over the past few years. The group currently has about 200 carriers and service providers from various industries.
Moving forward, Chiew discloses that the group also plans to move up the value chain by offering more value added services. He adds cloud computing would be the foundation on which to provide such value-added services.
CLOUD OFFERINGS Speaking of cloud solutions, another home grown data centre operator, iPerintis Sdn Bhd, recently opened its private-cloud services to other enterprises, especially those in the oil-and-gas industry.
The company, the ICT (information and communications technology) arm for Petronas, is working with virtualisation-software vendor VMware to provide services that include software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and infrastructure-as-a-service.
Its chief executive officer, John Miller, says the company is positioning itself as a major provider of storage-on-demand, as well as compute-on-demand, for the oil-and-gas sector.
Over the years, iPerintis has expanded its services portfolio to include consultancy, ICT project management, business solutions and solutions integration, as well as the cloud computing solutions.
`We have to be innovative in order to provide our clients with solutions that will drive both business improvement and reduce cost. Our private cloud computing model is a great example of this.' `With private cloud, our customers can expect not only improved business efficiency across the board but also a reduction on its total cost of ICT ownership,' Miller says, adding that it is primarily eyeing the growing Indo China market.
HeiTech Managed Services (HMS), another local data centre operator, is also keen on offering cloud solutions.
Early this year, the company launched Padu M.O.B.S (Managed Online Backup Services), claimed to be the first such hosted backup service in Malaysia, designed especially for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs).
Based on Avamar technology from EMC Computer Systems (Malaysia), Padu M.O.B.S. remotely stores data backed up from an organisation's servers, desktop and notebook PCs, as well as mobile smart phones onto servers at HeiTech Padu's Tier IV secure data centre in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam.
Its chief executive officer Abdul Halim Md Lassim says this solution enhances the company's competency in providing cloud services in the area of business continuity management, disaster recovery and data protection services.
However, he admits that cloud-related services are still relatively new but its potential is growing, and it had swiftly moved from mere industry hype to a top IT initiative.
GREEN INITIATIVE Another company, Basis Bay, which launched two of its newest data centres - Basis Bay Data Centre (BDC) Cyberjaya and BDC Glenmarie last year, is approaching the market with its green initiative.
Before it launched these two green data centres, Basis Bay already had two data centres in the Temashya Industrial park in Shah Alam and the Kulim Hi Tech Park in Kedah.
Datuk Praba Thiagarajah, Basis Bay Group chief executive officer, realises that more businesses are looking for outsource partners who not only provide IT outsourcing infrastructure services but which can also help them reduce their carbon footprint, without the need for high capital outlay and time lag necessary to build a data centre of that standard from scratch.
He estimates that these green initiatives can save between 20% and 30% of costs, depending on the servers and other equipment hosted within. These data centre's centralised monitoring system monitors the temperature around different devices and adjust the cooling in the vicinity accordingly. Today, Basis Bay has a regional presence in Singapore, Indonesia and India. While leveraging the strength of countries like Malaysia and Singapore that Praba sees as strategic partners, he wants to take this green IT approach to the West.
He shares recently that Basis Bay is looking to expand to Europe and had established an office in the Netherlands, employing local staff. Basis Bay already has a rep office in Switzerland.
Outsourcing Malaysia Introduces Excellence Awards
By Administrator | Label: Excellence Awards/BERNAMA/Outsourcing MalaysiaKUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 (Bernama) -- Outsourcing Malaysia (OM), an initiative of the Malaysian Outsourcing Industry, is introducing Excellence Awards aimed at recognising and rewarding top performing outsourcing service providers and companies.
The inaugural 2011 Outsourcing Malaysia Excellence Awards are aimed at the two segments who have individually and collectively pursued global best practices in crafting sustainable value by leveraging on outsourcing models, OM said in a statement.
A total of 15 awards across nine categories will be presented.
Of these, seven awards are for service providers (known as vendors) and the remaining eight for buyers/end-users.
OM Chairman David Wong said outsourcing is gaining importance as a business service, especially now with Malaysia, aiming to be high-income nation by 2020.
"The awards are timely and will help further the cause of outsourcing as a key driver for value as Malaysia strives to become a world-class location for outsourcing services," he added.
The awards are open to companies and government agencies/public sector organisation registered in and conducting business in Malaysia. -- BERNAMA
SC releases revised outsourcing rules
By Administrator | Label: Bursa Malaysia /BernamaTuesday, August 9, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has released its revised Guidelines on Outsourcing for Capital Market Intermediaries.
The new guidelines will replace the Guidelines on Performance of Supervisory Functions at Group Level for Capital Market Intermediaries and Guiding Principles for Outsourcing of Back Office Functions for Capital Market Intermediaries.
In a statement Tuesday, , Aug 9 the SC said the revision was made to strengthen investor protection measures and enable intermediaries to focus on their core strengths of intermediation by outsourcing their back office functions to service providers.
"In appointing a service provider, intermediaries are required to exercise due care and diligence in the selection process, premised on the service provider's ability to undertake the functions efficiently without jeopardising clients' interest.
"Intermediaries must also demonstrate the controls used to continuously monitor and assess the service provider's quality of service and conduct," the SC said, adding, such assessment should be verified periodically by an internal or external auditor.
The outsourcing of functions deemed as material, such as the internal audit, risk management, compliance, fund accounting and maintenance of unit holders' register will still be subject to the SC or Bursa Malaysia's approval.
Other functions such as human resource and finance no longer require approval from the SC or Bursa Malaysia.
The SC said in creating a more business friendly and efficient environment for intermediation activities, the guidelines would also allow intermediaries to outsource to foreign service providers.
To ensure that such outsourcing arrangements do not impede the SC's supervisory efforts, full access to books and records kept offshore must be made available to it, upon request. - Bernama
NTT Com to Launch New Data Center in Malaysia
By Administrator | Label: NTT MSC, Data Center, Malaysia, EPP3July 4,2011, TOKYO, JAPAN and CYBERJAYA, MALAYSIA NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) and its wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary, NTT MSC Sdn. Bhd. (NTT MSC), announced today that NTT MSC will begin construction of the new Cyberjaya 3 Data Center in July, aiming to launch commercial operation of this Tier III-ready facility by June 2012.
Located within Cyberjaya, the Cyberjaya 3 Data Center will join NTT Com's Cyberjaya 1 and Cyberjaya 2 data centers in meeting the expanding needs of Southeast Asian customers. It will offer high-quality, low-cost services based on the NTT Com Group's strict global standards aligned with those of global organizations such as the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), The Uptime Institute, Inc. (TUI) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE).
"By leveraging on the key strengths of Malaysia, we will offer customers a Tier-III -ready data center at a low total-cost-of-ownership." said Fumitoshi Imaizumi, President and CEO of NTT MSC. "Malaysia offers cost advantages, well-developed infrastructure, a large talent pool and good governmental support for infrastructure development. Such strengths have propelled Malaysia into the position of one of the world's top-three outsourcing destinations."
The facility will feature redundant systems for commercial power supply, cooling, uninterruptible power supply, power generator and power distribution, plus robust systems for fire and flood prevention. It is expected to be certified under the Green Building Index (GBI), Malaysia's green rating index for buildings, as an environmentally friendly data center that employs renewable-energy technologies, including solar panels, double-walled structures for improved insulation and recycled rain water.
Built with modular architecture for flexible expansion, the facility will offer convenient on-site office space, a rarity among local facilities, as part of its total disaster recovery solution. Full-time professional support will be provided by NTT MSC's multilingual team for the total management of customer networks and servers.
NTT Com has been offering data center services since 2002 through NTT MSC based in Cyberjaya, the hub of the MSC Malaysia (formerly Multimedia Super Corridor) initiative. Malaysia's relatively low incidence of earthquakes, tsunami and other natural disasters, as well as low electricity rates, make this an ideal location for disaster recovery and offshore relocation.
Customers of the new Cyberjaya 3 Data Center will receive the added benefit of extra-low-latency, extra-reliable services when the Asia Submarine-cable Express connecting Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore starts up in 2012. Customers in Malaysia will enjoy high-speed, large-capacity Internet access via NTT Com's global IP backbone and Arcstar Global IP-VPN. Service will be supported with abundant POP available at the Cyberjaya 3 Data Center, enabling customers to directly connect to the backbone without access lines or worries about network costs. For further details about the Asia Submarine-cable Express, please visit www.ntt.com/aboutus_e/news/data/20110131.html.
About NTT MSC Sdn. Bhd.
Please visit www.my.ntt.com
SOURCE NTT Communications Corporation, NTT MSC Sdn. Bhd.
AirAsia X extends contract with Lufthansa Technik Philippines
By Administrator | Label: MRO, News from Philippines, Lufthansa Technik, Air Asia XAirAsia X extends contract with Lufthansa Technik Philippines
Entrusts its Airbus fleet once more
In a show of its continued trust in Lufthansa Technik Philippines, AirAsia X, the world’s first successful long-haul, low-cost airline, renewed its contract with the Manila-based maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company.
Anaz Ahmad Tajuddin, AirAsia X’s Head of Engineering said: “The expansion of the agreement between AirAsia X and Lufthansa Technik Philippines is our commitment towards providing continuous quality services to our passengers. The teamwork and partnership we receive from Lufthansa Technik Philippines has ensured proven reliability of our aircraft thus far. We look forward to further breed this partnership in ensuring we are the world’s best.”
The signing of the supplemental contract comes a year after the signing of the three-year base maintenance agreement between the two companies that covers base maintenance services to AirAsia X’s Airbus fleet of nine A330s and two A340s.
The recently signed supplemental contract covers C-checks to be done this year for AirAsia X’s Airbus fleet.
During the first year of the agreement, LTP provided MRO services including C-checks, a heavy maintenance check, several cabin retrofit and aircraft painting.
“The expansion of our agreement with AirAsia X is a true manifestation of the success of our partnership with one of the world’s fastest growing airlines today. We intend to make this partnership evolve further by staying committed in delivering results in terms of quality, short and reliable turnaround times, and cost predictability,” said Dino Santos, LTP sales manager.
AirAsia X is the long-haul low fare affiliate of AirAsia, Asia’s leading and largest low-cost airline. It was introduced in January 2007 under the concept of providing long-haul flights at affordable rates. AirAsia X’s network of destinations includes Australia, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan France, India, New Zealand, Tehran and the UK.
Source: Lufthansa Technik Philippines
Site- Reference: http://www.ltp.com.ph/Pages/News.aspx?cid=135
Date Released: 14-Apr-11
Concerns about outsourced airline repairs underscored by inspections of Philippine facility
By Administrator | Label: Washington Post, MRO, Lufthansa Technik, News from PhilippinesWASHINGTON — A repair station in the Philippines that services planes for nearly 50 airlines around the world has shown a pattern of stubborn problems that safety experts say underscore concerns about the airline industry’s outsourcing of maintenance to facilities in developing countries.
The Federal Aviation Administration inspections of Lufthansa Technik Philippines in Manila said the facility had repeated difficulties in following U.S. regulations on matters ranging from record-keeping to calibrating tools used to make repairs. The records, which cover inspections from 2008 through last month, also cite recurring problems with training workers to FAA standards and unfamiliarity by in-house inspectors at Lufthansa Technik, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Airlines, with U.S. regulations.
Weigh InCorrections?
.Lufthansa Technik’s “quality assurance department demonstrated an inability to effectively audit the repair station for compliance with all aspects of (U.S. regulations), specifically, appropriate facilities, tools/equipment, personnel and training requirements,” according to an inspection in May.
A 2009 inspection noted that two in-house inspectors were unfamiliar with FAA aircraft maintenance regulations. The inspectors had recently received four hours of training in the regulations, but weren’t tested for their knowledge afterward, it said.
The same inspection noted that “throughout the repair station numerous personnel are not aware of which airline they are providing maintenance for” and which country’s regulations applied.
The reports show problems scattered throughout the facility rather than in one department, which indicates the problems are systemic, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and an expert on aircraft maintenance. The result, he said, is an erosion of the margin of safety.
“As they expand into Third World countries to take advantage of the labor rates and lower costs these problems keep coming back because you just don’t have the people infrastructure,” Goglia said. “How many trained people do you think there are the Philippines, in Malaysia and in Indonesia? They are expanding a big operation with a relatively thin technical workforce.”
The Manila facility employs 2,800 aircraft mechanics and other employees. It’s certified by the FAA and aviation authorities from 20 nations to perform maintenance work ranging from routine repairs to major overhauls, according to Lufthansa Technik. The company recently began construction of a new hangar so that Airbus A380s — the world’s largest airliner capable of seating up to 853 passengers — can be serviced at the facility.
The records were obtained from the FAA through a Freedom of Information Act request by a labor union, Unite Here, which represents employees of Lufthansa’s catering subsidiary in North America, SkyChef. The union and the airline are in contract negotiations.
“None of the mentioned FAA audit findings had significant impact on safety and reliability of aircraft and components,” Lufthansa Technik said in a statement.
“Each finding has been treated as an opportunity to enhance the existing system, as it is an industry standard to deal with findings from internal and external audits,” the statement said. “Corrective actions have always been implemented and accepted by the FAA.”
However, the report on last month’s inspection said numerous problems cited in an August 2010 inspection still had not been corrected. “An acceptable corrective plan has been submitted, but due to recent failures, an on-site follow-up inspection ... is required,” it said.
.Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, an industry-supported group that promotes aviation safety worldwide, said the inspections indicate Lufthansa Technik Philippines has a problem with quality control, but he cautioned against making more general judgments about offshore aircraft repair stations.
“It’s a huge leap to suggest this is representative of all foreign repair stations,” Voss said. “I’m not sure offshore equals bad.”
The FAA said in a statement that it holds foreign repair facilities to the same standards as U.S. facilities. Repair facilities that don’t meet those standards can lose their certification. The FAA has certified Lufthansa Technik Philippines for repairs since 2000.
The Transportation Department Office of Inspector General announced in December it has launched an investigation of the FAA’s oversight of maintenance performed for U.S. passenger airlines by outside contractors, including oversight of overseas repair stations.
A 2008 report by the inspector general said nine big U.S. airlines farm out aircraft maintenance at twice the rate of four years earlier and hire outside contractors for more than 70 percent of major work. While most of the outsourced work is still done in the U.S., often at nonunion repair shops, more than one-quarter of the repairs are done overseas, it said.
A bill backed by House Democrats that would have required the FAA to step up inspections of foreign repair stations from once a year to twice a year died last year. It was opposed by the European Union, which threatened to cut back on planes its airlines send to repair facilities in the U.S.
Lufthansa, one of the world’s largest airlines, owns 51 percent of Lufthansa Technik Philippines, while the Philippine MacroAsia Corp. owns 49 percent.
The only U.S. carrier that sends planes to Lufthansa Technik Philippines for major maintenance work is Hawaiian Airlines, which flies to destinations in the Western United States, the Pacific and Asia. Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Qantas, LAN, Philippine Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Vietnam Airlines, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Jet Airways are among some of the other airlines that use the facility for major work.
Source: Washington Post
Site: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/concerns-about-outsourced-airline-repairs-underscored-by-inspections-of-philippine-facility/2011/06/21/AGp7hqeH_story.html
New department to oversee implementation of Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010
By Administrator | Label: Data Protection Act 2010, BERNAMA, EPP3KUALA LUMPUR: A new department is being established under the Information Communication and Culture Ministry to oversee the implementation of the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010, scheduled to be enforced early next year.
Deputy Minister Datuk Joseph Salang said the new department was targeted to be operational by next year or earlier.
“As you know, to establish the department, we need to do everything right and this will take time,” he told a press conference after the launch of the Information Security Summit 2011, here, yesterday.
He said there was an urgent need for the government to establish personal data protection laws as there were a total of 17 million Internet users in the country.
“More than 58 per cent household broadband penetration is also a factor for drawing up the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010.
“Prior to the implementation of this Act, personal data is only bound by contractual agreement or common law.” Salang said the implementation of the Act would significantly alter the way personal
data is collected, processed, stored and transmitted between individuals and commercial organisations in Malaysia.
“The givers will be able to dictate how their data is being used by a third party, as well as have clearly defined rights to access and correct their personal data.
“I admit that our digital infrastructure is still in its infancy and years behind the more mature infrastructure of digital goliaths such as the United States.
“But our digital infrastructure has a sound foundation through the establishment of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and is reinforced by the commitment of the government to continually improve and upgrade our system through cooperation and smart partnership with the private sector,” he added.
About 140 participants from the government and private sector, government-linked companies and embassies are attending the two-day Information Security Summit from today.
It addresses the key issues and challenges in information security faced by organisations across the industry, namely to integrate security into an effective IT risk management framework, build a security strategy to manage network security, data protection and leakage, and understanding the implications and guidelines to comply with the Privacy Data Protection Act 2010.
Source: Bernama
