IBM Thailand announces "The Search for the XML Superstar" Software Contest

Known as "The Search for the XML Superstar," the activity will be open to university students, faculty and professional developers all over the country as a means to enhance the knowledge and skills of local software developers in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and database technologies. 

Twenty-five years ago, relational database technology was invented by IBM Research, delivering the first commercially available database software program in the early 1980s.  IBM has continued to invest in database technology, and recently incorporated some of the most significant enhancements to data server software such as XML to provide a seamless flow of information of both XML and relational data, regardless of format, platform or location.

"Currently the shortage of skilled professionals in Thailand's software industry has become eminent. This has posed a threat to the country's growth and development" said Jadesada Kraisingkorn, country manager, Software Group, IBM Thailand. "As part of the Thai software community and being the leading IT vendor, IBM Thailand has been an active supporter of various efforts to build and expand the home grown software talents. With this objective in mind, we are proud to launch this contest as a platform to enable computing students and professionals to showcase their capabilities and enhance their skills. Ultimately we hope that this activity will help the country build the next generation of skilled software professionals." added Jadesada.

"Under our National Flagship Program, SIPA has made our best effort to promote local innovation and draw foreign investment on ICT. And in order to achieve our objectives, we need to expand the community and enhance the skills of our software professionals especially on XML so that it would improve the quality of our software development as well as support our software job market." said Rungruang Limchoopatipa, president, Software Industry Promotion Agency (Public Organization) or SIPA. "We are pleased to support IBM on this contest as we believe that this would help stimulate the interest on XML among the local software developer community as well as enhance our national IT competitiveness in the future as well" added Rungruang.

"As part of our Software Park 2.0 strategic mission, one of our priorities is to enable the home grown talents to reap the full potential from the growing popularity of social network technology" said Suwipa Wanasathop, director of Software Park Thailand. "At the moment, the shortage of skilled professionals is an important issue in Thailand. Therefore, we need to put efforts to enhance the level of our local expertise in XML which is the basic skill needed for future software application development. As a result, we are delighted to partner with IBM to support this contest as we hope that it would help encourage our software developers to enhance their XML skills to be able to fully embrace web 3.0 technology in the future" added Suwipa.

Access to this contest will be open to those with or without prior knowledge of or experience with XML and database management. The competition will provide participants an opportunity to learn about these technologies as well as improve their software knowledge and skills. In addition, the contest consists of 3 parts namely Video Mania, Query Challenge and Programming Contest and participants can choose to enter the competition either on a country, regional level or both. Regarding the contest period, "The Search for the XML Superstar" lasts from now until February 28, 2009. Prizes for winners include Ipod Nano, Nintendo Wii as well as an opportunity to visit IBM lab in designated Asia Pacific country totally worth more than Bht 1 million.

Also in order to provide basic information about XML, database management as well as answer inquiries about this contest, IBM Thailand will organize free technical briefing sessions for the general public on October 30 and 31, 2008 at 9:00 and 13:00 respectively (total 4 sessions - the content will be the same for all sessions) at Rangsit University's Sathorn Thani Education Center (near BTS Chongnonsi station). 

For contest registration and more information about this contest, please visit http://asean.xmlsuperstar.com