Saturday, January 29, 2005

Penang to get MSC Cyber City status today

PENANG: The state will be accorded the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cyber City status today.

This is testimony of Penang's high standard of infrastructure and skilled manpower, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis.

The status will only be accorded to states with sufficient expertise, telecommunication and industrial support, he said.

Previously, he said, in- dividuals and entrepreneurs keen on IT-related fields have to go to the Klang Valley, the country's only MSC.

“Now, those in the northern region need not have to go there,” he told a press con- ference at the Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa) yesterday.

Dr Jamaluddin said Perak and Kedah would benefit from Penang's MSC status.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will open the Penang Cyber City project at Pisa.

A three-day exhibition on the project concept is also being held in conjunction with the even. The exhibition, open from 10am to 9pm, will end tomorrow.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the presence of the electronic factories for over 30 years here had enabled the state to compete with other countries while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs for Penangites and residents of neighbouring states.

“With this new project, an extension of the MSC in Klang Valley, Penang will intensify its efforts towards developing a k-economy,” Dr Koh said.

older news

PM to launch MSC extension
Marina Emmanuel

GEORGE TOWN, Jan 26:
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The Multimedia Super Corridor in Cyberjaya will be extended to Penang on Saturday.

To be named "CyberCity 1", the Penang corridor will cover 364.2 hectares of land.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad will launch the project.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon today said the extension would see parts of the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone on the island linked to the Bayan Baru town centre, the Tunas Muda housing project and the Bayan Bay project near the Penang Bridge.

"The CyberCity rollout will be later extended to Bertam and Batu Kawan on the mainland," Koh said at his office in Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak.

"We expect to set up more cyber cities or cyber-centres in Penang by 2020."

A workforce of 90,000 in 207 factories and a residential population base of 60,000 are to benefit from the CyberCity 1 project, he added.

The Penang Municipal Council has spent RM15 million on upgrading infrastructure in Bayan Baru and Bayan Lepas for the project.

Koh said investments were also being made by Telekom Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Public Works Department and Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd.

This should help ensure the Bayan Lepas FIZ - Malaysia's first free trade zone - would become a quality and high-technology industrial park, with many facilities already conducting world-class research and development.

Saturday's launch by Abdullah, at the Penang International Sports Arena at 11am, will include a seminar for Penang's information and communications technology players on the benefits and incentives of being given MSC status.

On the same day in Kepala Batas, the Prime Minister will also launch an "E-Integration" programme, with the participation of schoolchildren from 28 national schools and national-type Chinese and Tamil schools in Kepala Batas and Bukit Bendera.

A three-day exhibition will be held at PISA beginning Friday from 10am to 9pm, to enable Penangites to better understand the workings of the MSC CyberCity project.

wah sure no hirises :cry:

From Berita Harian

Pulau Pinang dapat status MSC
Oleh Hizral Tazzif Hisham

PULAU Pinang, yang dikenali dengan jolokan Lembah Silikon Malaysia, esok akan menjadi negeri pertama di luar Lembah Klang mendapat pengiktirafan daripada Kerajaan Persekutuan menjadi bandar raya pintar berstatus Koridor Raya Multimedia (MSC) yang membolehkan syarikat dan orang ramai mendapat manfaat daripada inisiatif berkenaan.


Pemberian status MSC kepada Pulau Pinang adalah bukti pengiktirafan kerajaan pusat terhadap sumbangan negeri pulau mutiara itu terhadap perkembangan industri elektronik di Malaysia yang bermula seawal tahun 1970 apabila beberapa syarikat semikonduktor gergasi Amerika memindahkan operasinya di pulau berkenaan.

Majlis pelancaran berkenaan akan dirasmikan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi di Pusat Sukan Antarabangsa Pulau Pinang di Bayan Baru esok.

Ketua Eksekutif Multimedia Development Corp Sdn Bhd (MDC), Datuk Dr Mohamed Arif Nun, berkata pemberian status MSC kepada Pulau Pinang adalah hasil mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Pelaksanaan MSC yang bersetuju menganugerahkan status bandar raya pintar kepada Zon Perindustrian Bebas Bayan Lepas seperti yang dicadangkan kerajaan Pulau Pinang.

?Pelaksanaan bandar raya pintar MSC di Pulau Pinang akan dilakukan secara berperingkat membabitkan empat fasa, iaitu bermula dengan Zon Perindustrian Bebas Bayan Lepas. Ia akan diuruskan kerajaan negeri menerusi penubuhan agensi sehenti dikenali sebagai Invest-in-Penang (Invest Penang).

?Invest Penang akan menguruskan segala hal berkaitan syarikat yang memohon untuk mendapatkan status MSC, termasuk menyelaras segala aktiviti membabitkan pelbagai agensi kerajaan sama ada negeri atau persekutuan seperti Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang, Penang Development Corp (PDC) syarikat telekomunikasi dan syarikat tenaga seperti mana yang tercatat dalam jaminan 10 perkara MSC (Bill of Guarantees),? katanya di Cyberjaya, baru-baru ini.

Beliau berkata demikian pada satu pertemuan di pejabatnya.

Fasa pertama pelaksanaan bandar raya pintar MSC Pulau Pinang yang dikenali sebagai Penang Cybercity 1 membabitkan Zon Perindustrian Bebas Bayan Lepas (zon tiga), Technoplex dan Pusat Bandar Bayan Baru. Bagi fasa kedua ia membabitkan Zon Perindustrian Bebas Bayan Lepas Zon satu dan dua, fasa ketiga Taman Perindustrian Bayan Lepas dan keempat ialah Zon Pantai Sungai Nibong.

Beliau berkata, syarikat yang sudah mendapat status MSC kini boleh memindahkan operasi mereka ke dalam zon yang sudah ditetapkan sebagai kawasan bandar raya pintar atau pusat siber seperti Mayang Mall, kompleks PDC dan kompleks PISA.

?Kawasan berkenaan kini dilengkapi dengan perkhidmatan jalur lebar yang membolehkan komunikasi berjalan dengan lancar dan mematuhi 10 perkara yang menjadi jaminan dalam Bill of Guarantees,? katanya.

wah sure no hirises :cry:

huh?? why not???:?:?

Tuesday February 8, 2005

MSC comes to Penang First step in the project's new phase

BY RASLAN SHARIF

DATUK Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, was not satisfied.

He was in the midst of a dry run with other participants a day before a grand ceremony to declare Penang a part of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), when he ordered a halt to the proceedings.

Something was not quite right.

Jamaluddin was unhappy with a signing ceremony that was to be one of the highlights on the event's agenda, a symbol of Penang's entry into the ranks of Malaysia's cybercities.

“We're not signing an agreement,” he told the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) officials around him. “We are conferring 'MSC-status' on Penang.”

He suggested changes, as the ceremony should be more like, he explained, “a coronation.”

And indeed it was. The inauguration of Penang Cybercity 1 late last month signalled both a new phase for the MSC, and a return to the roots of Malaysia's burgeoning ICT (information and communications technology) sector.

The expansion of the MSC to Penang is a milestone in the seven-year second phase of the MSC's development which kicked off last year.

“To serve the national IT agenda further, the MSC will no longer be confined to the original zone ... (but) will expand its borders to the rest of the country,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declared at the launch of Penang Cybercity 1 on Jan 29.

That agenda has the MSC at its heart. When former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched it in 1996, the MSC was positioned as a testbed of innovation for ICT companies, local and foreign.

These MSC-status companies would undertake research, and develop new products and technologies for the world market, creating a high-tech environment whose impact would be felt far beyond the MSC's confines in the Klang Valley.

The companies were given a choice of locations to operate from, including Cyberjaya.

These designated “cybercities” are dispersed within a 15 x 50km area anchored by Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the south, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya in the west, and Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) in the north.

In addition to Cyberjaya, MSC-status companies also operate out of the Phase 1 sector in Technology Park Malaysia, the Universiti Putra Malaysia-Malaysia Technology Development Corporation Incubation Centre, and Tower Two of the Petronas Twin Towers at KLCC.

While there are now nearly 1,200 MSC-status companies, Penang's designation as the MSC's newest cybercity has little to do with space constraints in accommodating them. In total, the existing cybercities provide more than 3,000ha of space, with Cyberjaya offering the bulk.

But despite being the nation's premier ICT hub, Cyberjaya has still some ways to go before it can completely shed its “backwater” image. Although it now has more buildings than when Dr Mahathir officially opened it in 1999, visitors to Cyberjaya are still greeted by the sight of plentiful open space.

Some MSC-status companies have been reluctant to move there, arguing that “vibrant” Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas like Petaling Jaya provided a better environment.

Others have said that confining the MSC to the existing cybercities was a “disincentive” to ICT companies, especially foreign ones, that might prefer other locations in Malaysia.

In private, MDC officials say that while the current initiative addresses those concerns, they are not the reason behind the rollout.

The goal behind extending the MSC to Penang and rolling it out to the rest of the country has more to do with turning Malaysia into one giant MSC, they argue.

The rollout takes the form of new cybercities, like Penang, and smaller cybercentres that will serve as the nuclei in the various states to facilitate the growth of ICT and knowledge-based industries, and to help bridge the digital divide, they say.

“It is a significant step in the transformation of Malaysia into a knowledge-driven society and economy,” said MDC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali.

ICT companies outside of the existing cybercities would be able to take advantage of the benefits and incentives of having MSC status, he added.

MDC’s definition of a cybercity is “a self-contained intelligent city with a world-class business and living environment, offering the full suite of the MSC Bill of Guarantees.”

The MSC's much touted 10-point Bill of Guarantees has not only been a primary attraction for ICT companies seeking MSC status, it has also been an oft-used justification behind the requirement for MSC-status companies to be located in the cybercities.

Point No 1 is for the MSC to “provide a world-class physical and information infrastructure.”

Service providers in the cybercities such as Tenaga Nasional are bound by performance agreements, which call for penalties when they fail to meet the conditions of their service contracts.

“We have to ensure that we live up to our word,” said an MDC official.

Living up to such promises is also why the island of Penang was a natural choice as the first cybercity outside of the Klang Valley.

The island has a strong semiconductor manufacturing industry, which requires topnotch quality of service when it comes to things like power and water supply.

“Being well-developed, we were compliant with most of the criteria (to become a cybercity) before we even started,” Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon said in his speech at the launch.

Out of the 149-point qualifying criteria, Penang Cybercity 1 was already fully-compliant with 109 of them, and partially-compliant with 32, he added.

Penang's high level of preparedness also points to another fact: Long before the MSC, it was already known as “Silicon Island” thanks to the presence of semiconductor heavyweights like Intel, which first set foot there more than 30 years ago.

Playing on the name “Balik Pulau,” which refers to Penang's more rural areas but could also be taken to mean “back to the island” in English, MDC chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohamed Arif Nun likened the MSC's extension to Penang as a homecoming for the ICT sector.

As it stands, there are already about 40 Penang-based MSC-status companies, 30 of which are in Cyberjaya and 10 in Penang, according to an MDC official.

With the launch of Penang Cybercity 1, “we expect many of them to build up their presence in Penang,” he said, adding that a number have already taken up office space in the area.

He did not rule out the possibility of some Penang-based MSC-status companies in Cyberjaya deciding to “balik pulau” altogether.

MDC is targeting 40 new MSC-status companies to set up in Penang by the end of the year, some of which might come from the multinational corporations (MNCs) already operating out of Penang.

The official said MDC was currently in talks with several MNCs, including Intel and Agilent, which have expressed an interest in getting MSC-status for some of their operations.

“They’re looking to enhance their R&D presence here,” he said, adding that these could be in the form of chip design and development. Manufacturing does not qualify as an MSC activity.

A survey of 43 companies conducted by the State Government recently found that a considerable number were interested in applying for MSC status, said Koh.

Besides design and development, potential MSC-related activities these companies are looking at include software development and callcentre operations.

With interest in Penang Cybercity 1 expected to grow, the State Government has made sure that there would be ample space to accommodate MSC-status companies that want to operate there.

Not all of Penang has been designated an MSC cybercity. Penang Cybercity 1 is located in the greater Bayan Lepas area on the southeast part of the island.

The development of the area into a full-fledged MSC cybercity will be done in phases that would stretch to December, 2006.

“We’ve been planning all of this for the past 18 months,” said Koh.

Phase One has been completed, and comprises Bayan Lepas Industrial Park (BLIP) Free Industrial Zone (FIZ) 3, the Technoplex, and the Bayan Baru town centre. It is the largest of the cybercity parcels at about 402ha in size.

Phase Two, to be completed in June, is taken up by about 80ha of BLIP-FIZ 1 and 2. Phase Three is 337ha, and comprises BLIP 4 and the premises of the Fisheries Research Institute. The area is scheduled to be brought up to cybercity standards by the end of the year.

A 105ha plot has also been designated as an administration, residential and commercial sector, and is scheduled for completion by December, 2006.

Two existing technology incubators located nearby in Bayan Lepas and at Universiti Sains Malaysia will complement the cybercity.

To promote Penang Cybercity 1, the State Government set up a new entity, investPenang, last year. Much of the agency’s work related to the cybercity will involve coordination with various government agencies at the state and federal level, as well as the private sector on matters concerning utilities, land and office space.

“We will work with MDC to implement policies and directions that ensure the cybercity remains conducive and competitive,” said Wan Zailena Noordin, CEO of investPenang.

The agency will also submit quarterly reports on the cybercity’s progress to MDC, and assist in monitoring and audit functions, she added.

The Penang State Government also plans to establish two more cybercities by 2008; the first in Bertam, which is located in the north of mainland Penang, and the other in Batu Kawan in the south, said Koh.

“We are starting to build the future,” he said. If they don’t, the high value-added activities that Penang’s cybercities hope to attract will go elsewhere, he added.

At the launch, the Prime Minister expressed his hope for “an ICT renaissance of sorts in Penang,” which would generate “a new growth trajectory of value-added ICT-driven business ... (to) complement Penang’s traditional electronics and semiconductor industries.”

With much excitement surrounding the launch of Penang Cybercity 1, MDC officials were quick to point out that there was still a long way to go in rolling out the MSC to the rest of the country.

“We must be a generator of technology, if not we will become mere ‘carriers of water’ and ‘hewers of wood,” said its CEO Arif.

Like the existing cybercities, Penang Cybercity 1 will have an impact far beyond its borders, claimed Koh. “It will have a ripple effect on neighbouring states,” he said.

Next up is Kulim High-Tech Park, located in the neighbouring state of Kedah. MDC officials said that Kulim and possibly one more cybercity would be launched before the end of the year.

There has been no shortage of interest among State Governments in setting up MSC cybercities in their states, but there is a need for more work before some of the areas that have been suggested are up to speed on MDC’s cybercity criteria, officials said.

MDC has held discussions with several State Governments on the matter, one official said, although he declined to name them.

There is undoubtedly prestige associated with having a “cybercity,” but the aim of the MSC rollout goes beyond such considerations.

“The success of the MSC needs to be enhanced,” Abdullah said.

He added that “more knowledge-based jobs, more technology companies and more ICT-driven export earnings can be created if the MSC continues to improve itself, not just geographically but also operationally.”

If the MSC can achieve that, “we will be able to grow Malaysia’s ICT sector on a truly global scale.”

That would truly be a crowning achievement.