Thais scoop the pool in IBM contest

Win shows Thailand can be technology hub - organiser

Three young competitors from Thailand have been judged winners in all three categories of IBM's Asean-wide software contest called The Search for XML Superstars in Asean.

Their win, in a contest involving more than 5,000 entrants from six Asean countries, has lifted Thailand's reputation in the burgeoning software-development industry.

Ponchai Phanwised, 27, won the contest's video mania category; Nitipum Silawanna, 22, won the query challenge category; and Wachira Sawangkaew, 22, beat all comers in the programming contest.

The contest was arranged and hosted by IBM Asean's Software Group in collaboration with the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), Software Park Thailand and the International DB2 Users Group.

It was the first time that IBM had conducted an application development contest in the Asean region. It aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills of current and future software developers in XML (extensible markup language) and database technologies.

The three winners first had to beat about 2,000 competitors in a local contest before gaining the right to compete against more than 5,000 entrants from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Ponchai Phanwised, who won the video mania category, is currently working as a lecturer in the Computer Science Department of Huachiewchalermprakiet University's Faculty of Science and Technology.

He makes it his business to maintain a personal interest in new technologies and to keep himself up-to-date via the Internet.

"I will use the valuable experience gained from this contest to blend it into training and transfer the knowledge to my students. My goal is to encourage more and more students to engage in this kind of contest in the future," Ponchai said.

Nitipum Silawanna, 22, a graduate from Chulalongkorn University's Commerce and Accountancy Faculty, won the competition's query challenge category. He has been working for SCG Paper's Technology Knowledge Management Department for just two months.

He said that despite his studies being in commerce and accountancy, his major was in management information systems, and he was very interested in new technologies - especially technologies with a potential to become industry standards, such as XML and Web 2.0.

"I am a technology lover and have always kept in touch with technologies and trends. I found this contest on the Internet, thanks to my personal Internet addiction. I applied immediately because I thought this was a chance for me to get my hands on real technology. It was so exciting," Nitipum said.

Wachira Sawangkaew, 22, won the programming contest. He recently graduated from Huachiewchalermprakiet University's Science and Technology Faculty and began his working life just two months ago at Metrosystems, a large local systems integrator, as an RPG programmer for IBM iSeries (AS/400).

He is not new to the contest stage, having taken part in several earlier technology contests. Last year Wachira was first runner up in IBM's AIX Contest and visited IBM's data centre in Singapore.

Wachira enjoys programming and does it well. It was no surprise when his programming development called Public Relations Channel - his graduate project - beat all other competitors from Asean countries in the Search for XML Superstars contest.

The country manager of IBM Thailand's Software Group, Jedsada Kraisingkorn, said the contest arose from IBM's desire to build a greater awareness in the younger generation of software developers of technologies being demanded by the industry. This was aimed at helping to guide them on to the correct technology tracks because they were still young and had just entered the real technology environment after graduating.

"We chose XML technology because there is a wide awareness of it and it is the right technology for today and tomorrow. We also added industrial database technology - IBM DB2 - to give them a chance of real experience with one of the most recognised technologies in the market. The aim was to lead young people on to the right technology track and to bridge the gap in technology skills found between university and the requirements of real business," Jedsada said.

She said the triple victory for Thai contestants would encourage IBM Asean's plans to establish a so-called "Innovation Centre" in Thailand in the future. Details of the centre are still to be decided.

"This year we engaged more than 2,000 people [in Thailand] to participate in the contest and to gain certificates. It is possible that if Thailand can gain double-certificated young generations in next year's contest, we might see collaboration like setting up IBM's Innovation Centre in Thailand," Jedsada said.

The programme director of IBM Asean's Software Group, Charles R Manuel, said the contest's results showed that Thailand had a lot of capacity to become one of the technology hubs in Asean and Asia.

"Thailand has a lot of young people who are interested in technology. For just this contest, Thailand had more participants than the other countries.

"IBM's goal is to engage the technology communities in Thailand by offering them the industry's standard technologies, such as IBM technologies, through many models. This contest was just one such model. We will see more initiatives from IBM in collaboration with Thailand's government agencies Sipa and Software Park Thailand," Manuel said.  

The Search for XML Superstars in Asean contest was also part of IBM's academic initiative programme, which offers more than 100 technologies that can be used by teaching staff to build course curricula. Under this programme, IBM works with universities that support open standards and also seek to use open-source and IBM technologies for teaching purposes - both directly and via the Internet.