P@SHA

Pakistan Software Houses Association

P@SHA Tech Talk
for IT & ITES
http://www.pasha.org.pk @PASHAORG facebook.com/pakict
I S S U E 1 A U G U S T 2 0 1 2

INSIDE THIS FEATURE STORY

ISSUE:
MoITT holds National ICT Policy Roundtable
Message from 2
On July 4, 2012 the Ministry of IT & Telecom, A National ICT policy has to be national in its
the Chairman
Pakistan Software Export Board & P@SHA focus and emphasis. While software exports
jointly held a roundtable discourse in have grown at an impressive rate over the
Message from 2 Islamabad on the last decade the
the President draft National ICT domestic
Policy document. technology
The Roundtable consumption
P@SHA Career 3 was chaired by figure is now just
Expo 2012 Mr. Farooq as significant.
Ahmed Awan, More importantly
P@SHA 4 Federal Secretary both contribution
Launches IT & Telecom and figures (exports,
was attended by domestic
Women in IT
ministry officials consumption)
Research and stakeholders have so far
from PSEB, FIA, ignored the
Success Stories 5 National ICT R&D enabling impact
Fund, USF, of technology on
P@SHA, civil other related
P@SHA IT 8
society, media, sectors such as
Salary Survey academia and representatives from the local banking, insurance, government,
and international technology companies. manufacturing, media, education, defense
P@SHA 10 and agriculture. But beyond (contd on pg 9)
Member
Services
P@SHA Social Innovation Fund: Take Two
P@SHA 11 After a brilliant first P@SHA Fund held an
Activity Log round, the P@SHA Idea-storming session at
Fund for Social the event, for the
Innovation is back! entrepreneurial value it
offered people in terms
This year, P@SHA Fund of career development.
saw the P@SHA Career
Expo 2012 as a befitting The session was
platform for starting off preceded by the panel
the next round. The discussion From Idea
Career Expo was organized in Karachi at the to Start-up, which covered the basics of
Marriott Hotel on June 2, 2012, specifically entrepreneurship. (Contd on Pg 9)
for the ICT industry of Pakistan.
2 Message from the Chairman
Its certainly been a very busy and eventful year
so far at P@SHA. The primary highlight of the
year in my view has been the launch of our
P@SHA Central
Executive Committee enhanced Member Services offerings that are
(CEC) now solely focused on providing our members
with a variety of support services that range
Chairman from technical information on relevant
Nadeem Elahi
Country Manager, TRG corporate and local regulations to access to
new business and learning opportunities.
P@SHA has also bolstered its research
Vice Chairman capabilities at the secretariat to provide our
Abbas Khan
Director, Abacus Consulting members with important data on industry
statistics as well as to highlight information on
Treasurer key social and business issues pertinent to our
Hasan A. Rizvi
CEO, Fiver Rivers members. P@SHA has so far produced two
Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd. excellent research studies: the first being a
detailed report on salaries across a variety of
Secretary General professional industry functions and the second
Amin Ansari
COO, CTO 24/7 Pvt Ltd is a report on Women working in the ICT
industry. Both reports have received great
CEC Members reviews from members and non-members.
Afaque Ahmed
Director, Cloud BPO (Pvt.) In addition, P@SHA has taken a highly
Ltd. pro-active stance on several key matters with
regards to the government and the regulatory
Ashraf Kapadia framework. P@SHA played a pivotal role in the
Managing Director, Systems discussion on a National ICT Policy framework
Ltd
and has worked intensively with the Ministry
Naseer Akhtar of IT and other stakeholders to the extent that
CEO, InfoTech (Pvt.) Ltd.
Syed Ahmad
CEO, DPL (Pvt.) Ltd. Message from the President
Talhah Munir Khan The Pakistan IT & ITES sector is an amazing busi-
CTO. Knowledge Platform
Pvt Ltd ness sector to be in. There is never a dull mo-
ment. So much
Zafar Khan innovation, so much activity, immense energy
CEO, Sofizar (Pvt.) Ltd. and, as always, P@SHA has been at the center of
it all.
Policy & Research have been top of the agenda
this year. Cooperation with the Ministry of IT and
other stakeholders on the development of the
National ICT Policy was the key area of focus re-
sulting in a draft that there was consensus on.
I understand that members of the new P@SHA
team have been in touch with you to try and un-
derstand your needs and enhance the level of
services being offered. If you havent met or spo-
ken with Nabeel, Nausheen, Mustafa and Sadaf,
Caption do engage with them.
The P@SHA Career Expo made a strong return to
P@SHA TECH Karachi this year with hundreds of jobs posted,
the original Policy draft
formulated by our team has
been incorporated into the
overall Policy endorsed by
the IT Ministry. Further,
P@SHA on its own accord has
re-drafted the Pakistan Electronic Crimes
Ordinance (PECO) to protect the interests of the
IT Industry and to ensure a fair due-process to
IT companies impacted by the law. We will now
be advocating this draft with the relevant
legislative body to ensure its inclusion in the
new law.
P@SHA has also been proactive in engaging
with members of the press and media on
important industry issues. We have so far held
two Meet the Press sessions to highlight
findings of our industry research and also on
matters related to the PECO law. In both
instances P@SHAs view was prominently
highlighted in both electronic and print media
Finally, I do want to commend the P@SHA team
in all of their efforts so far and wish them the
very best for the rest of the year! I would
request all of our members to regularly engage
with the secretariat and give their feedback so
we can further improve services in the future.
interactive workshops, brain-
storming sessions and on-site
interviews. Next stop: Lahore.
I am happy to report that the
five grantees of the P@SHA
Social Innovation Fund have taken their ideas to a
beta stage and are progressing well thanks to the
hard work of the grantees and their mentors.
More ideas are being sought and we hope to fund
at least another 5 after Eid.
This week we are launching the Call for
submission to the P@SHA ICT Awards 2012.
Watch the website and our Facebook page for
updates. The P@SHA ICT Awards now in their 9th
year will be held in Lahore on October 10, 2012.
Hope to see you there. This year the
winners will be going to APICTA in Brunei in the
first week of December to compete at a
regional level.
 ISSUE1
First in the Series: P@SHA Career Expo 2012
Our most inexhaustible and useful
resource is human capital. Optimal
utilization of this resource holds the ability
to turn any industry into an example of
accelerated growth.
With an aim to plug in the industry to the
best in human resource, the Pakistan
Software Houses Association for IT and
ITES (P@SHA) brought back this year one
of its flagship events, the P@SHA Career
Expo.
The Expo covered more dimensions of
career building than most such events, as
it included entrepreneurship under its
scope to serve its objective of facilitating
the overall growth of the IT sector.
The event, which took place on Saturday,
June 2, 2012 at the Marriott Hotel in
Karachi, was open to all and lasted from
10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
The Crystal ballroom was reserved for the
company booths for the occasion and was
abuzz with activity throughout the day.
Companies had outdone themselves to
attract prospective employees to their
stalls. While TRG offered prizes to the
candidates who could solve their mind
games and puzzles, Access Group held a
lucky draw for the candidates whereby
one lucky person walked off with a brand
new cell phone.
Amongst the companies present were
Systems Ltd, Workforce Software,
ArpaTech , Etlize Pakistan, Ten Pearls
International, Game View Pakistan (Pvt.)
Ltd., TPS, TRG Tech, Primatics Financial,
Goodcore Software, AutoSoft Dynamics,
Mazars Consulting and Avanza Solutions.
While most participating companies had
sent in their senior people to provide
counseling and guidance to young
professionals and students at the
company booth, some had gone a step
further than that.
Companies like Workforce Software, who
were also the Gold Sponsor for the event,
sent in professionals who volunteered
their time entirely for counseling in the
hall adjacent to the main area. They also
interviewed some of the candidates on
the spot to shortlist potential talent to
hire right away. Among the counselors
were Farzal Dojki, Ansar Muhammad,
Afaque Ahmed, Ahmed Ayub, Naveed
Qazi, Naureen Anwar, Khurram Majeed,
Afaq Ali, Meesam Raza, Syed Salman
Ahmed, Saqib Mansoor, Hasan Rizvi,
3
Shoaib Zaidi, Shahjahan Chaudhary and
Imtiaz N. Muhammad.
Meanwhile, workshops were held on
Resume Writing & Interview
Techniques and Careers in ICT. The
first workshop (Resume Writing &
Interview Techniques) was conducted
by Nausheen Ishtiaq. The hour-long
workshop began at 11:30 am and was
highly interactive. Nausheen herself has
had the experience of recruiting
employees which made her a credible
and relevant source of guidance.
Following this, the workshop on
Careers in ICT was conducted by Ansar
Muhammad. The workshop enlightened
participants about the various options
(and their nuances) available to them
within the field of IT as they embark on
building their careers.
Undoubtedly though, the panel
discussion (From Idea to Start up) and
idea-storming session (held in
conjunction with P@SHA Fund for Social
Innovation) were what really made the
Career Expo stand apart and rise above
all similar events.
P@SHA plans to hold the same event in
Lahore this September.
4 P@SHA launches Women in IT Research
(L-R) Nausheen Ishtiaq,
Nadeem Elahi and Jehan
Ara
Visit our website
pasha.org.pk for a
copy of the research.
For more details,
please contact:
Nausheen Ishtiaq,
Research Associate,
Pakistan Software
Houses Association for
IT & ITES (P@SHA)
Email:
nausheen@pasha.org.
pk
Phone:
+92-21-3541-8121
P@SHA TECH TALK
The Pakistan Software Houses Association
(P@SHA) held a press conference in Karachi
on May 14, 2012, to launch Women in IT
an exclusive research report published by
P@SHA on working women in the Pakistan IT
industry.
Present at the event, representing P@SHA,
were Nadeem Elahi (Chairman) Jehan Ara
(President) and Nausheen Ishtiaq (Research
Associate).
Jehan Ara encapsulated the motivation
behind the initiative saying, The
participation of women in the workforce has
been shown to have positive effects on a
nations economy. P@SHA, as the IT industry
representative organization in Pakistan,
undertook this research to understand the
real on-ground realities of women working
in technology here.
The research is based on responses from 50
companies and 125 individuals it targeted
IT companies as well as large IT departments
within non-IT companies.
It was found that women account for 14% of
the IT workforce, of which 37% are at the
mid-career level while 13% are in Senior
Management positions.
The data also pointed towards the presence
of the infamous glass ceiling. Despite years
of experience a large proportion of the
women has been unable to move beyond
mid-level positions.
Another observation was the significantly
low number of women who hold more than
seven years of work experience under their
belt. This stunted retention can be
attributed to the leaky pipeline effect,
whereby life events force womens careers
to often take a back seat.
In the context of HR policies and practices, a
majority of women were satisfied with their
work environment. While paid maternity
leave, flexible hours and emergency leave
were the most commonly offered benefits
there were still some companies who failed
to incorporate paid maternity leave (a basic
HR benefit worldwide) in their package.
The participants complained about long
hours and recommended flexible and shorter
work timings, transportation and day care
facilities.
One gap identified was the lack of training
and mentoring programs. Most of the polled
companies did not extend such opportunities
to female employees, despite their proven
effectiveness in enhancing the abilities of
employees.
Women reported that they did not feel
undervalued in comparison to male
counterparts but wished to see a reduction in
gender stereotyping of IT roles.
Nadeem Elahi talked about the growth of the
Pakistan IT industry in the face of domestic
and international challenges.
The countrys IT industry is generating an
estimated $2.8 billion in revenue (excluding
the retail segment), making up 1.6% of the
GDP. He said that buoyed by improved
policies and support, this figure could easily
be pushed to $10 billion mark.
P@SHA is the sole trade body representing
Pakistans IT industry today with over 400
member companies. The members
themselves govern the body through an
elected body known as the Central Executive
Committee (CEC).
The event was covered by Daily Times,
Business Recorder, Express Tribune, News
Tribe, Pro Pakistani and GEO News.
 ISSUE1
TenPearls Delivers Nexercise on Android
Nexercise delivers motivation to people who
want to lose weight or get in better shape
and is quickly emerging as a leader in mobile
health and fitness. TenPearlsa global
application development outsourcing
company focused on mobile, software and
game development developed this
disruptive mobile app Nexercise for Android.
Nexercise is a free mobile app that gauges
physical activity and rewards users with
virtual medals, discounts on healthy
products, and free merchandise. Nexercise
rewards and influences behaviors, not
outcomes, by making exercise fun and social
while giving users opportunities to win big.
Nexercise has been featured on Mashable,
The Washington Post, Reuters, The
Huffington Post, Washingtonian, Fox5 TV,
The Business Insider, and others.
NetSol Technologies Signs $5 Million Contract With a Leading Global
Bank to Implement Complete NFS(TM) Solution
NetSol Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTWK), a
worldwide provider of global IT and enterprise
application solutions, has signed a contract
with a leading global bank valued at
approximately $5 million, whereby the
company will implement its entire NetSol
Financial Suite (NFS) solution, including the
Wholesale and Retail platform. The new
project ranks as one of NetSol's largest NFS
implementations to date in terms of value, and
includes product licenses, business process
consultancy and on-site implementation
services. NetSol anticipates that the
implementation will be completed by the end
of calendar 2012.
"New contract wins like this further support
our optimistic outlook for the current fiscal
year, and our increased enthusiasm for growth
in fiscal 2013," said Najeeb Ghauri, chairman
and CEO of NetSol. "I applaud the entire team
5
With Nexercise, We are proud to have developed the
users discover a Android version of Nexercise, said
new and exciting Imran Aftab, President of TenPearls.
way to get Nexercise, an emerging leader in
motivated, lose mobile health and fitness, is a
weight, and stay in wonderful mobile app that is helping
shape. Users can people stay healthy in a fun and social
play with friends, way.
earn rewards, defeat
challenges, and track their progress on the With the launch of Nexercise on
largest fitness mobile interactive game of Android, users may compete and
its kind. motivate with each other regardless of
whether they use an iPhone or
We are thrilled to launch Nexercise on Android. The cross-platform
Android and meet the public demand, said compatibility of Nexercise across iOS
Ben Young, co-founder and CEO of and Android is expected to rapidly
Nexercise. TenPearls was a great partner accelerate the growth in Nexercise
that showed flexibility and creativity to users. Nexercise for the Android can
ensure that the Nexercise experience on be downloaded from Google Play.
Android is enjoyable for our users.
for their efforts in securing this important new
business."
Have
a
Story
Naeem Ghauri, president of NetSol
Technologies Americas and Europe, added:
"Over the years we have developed the most
robust, feature rich, end-to-end asset finance
that needs
telling?
and leasing software solution in the industry,
and we thank the bank for their trust in
NetSol. With our industry expertise, track
record of on time implementations, and
dedicated team who deliver localized support,
we are in a good position to extend our
dominant position in the Asia Pacific region to
Let us promote you through
other regions throughout the globe." our newsletters and digital
media. Send in your
NetSol's NFS currently supports the asset companys success story at
finance and leasing industry across Asia Pacific, sadaf@pasha.org.pk
North and South America, and Europe, helping (For P@SHA members only)
to manage a combined client portfolio of more
than $100 billion in total value.
6
C Square Consulting signs with Orascom Group in Lebanon
One of Pakistans leading IT Solution Provider signs
Contact Center Project with ORASCOM Group in
Lebanon.
C Square Consulting Private Limited with its partner
Computer Information System (CIS) s.a.l has signed a
deal for the upgrade of their existing call center
based on Genesys Software Solutions.
Alfa Mobile A company managed by ORASCOM
Group in Lebanon has awarded a call center upgrade
project to C Square Consulting. This includes Genesys
Contact Center software upgrade to latest version.
The first phase consists of the upgrade for Inbound,
Outbound and Voice Self Service whereas the second
phase will consist of Workforce Management and
Proactive Notification deployment. With this
successful implementation, C Square Consulting will
become the first company in Pakistan to implement
maximum number of Genesys based contact centers
with latest releases.
C Square Consulting is our extended arm and 60% of
our implementation is being done by them. We trust the
team and their technical abilities for the successful
delivery of any project. Says Muhammad Afifi, Director
Middle East, Genesys Telecommunication.
CIS is one of the leading HP and Genesys partner in
Middle East Africa having C Square Consulting as their
solution delivery partner for contact centers. With head
office in Lebanon and presence in 12 African Countries
CIS is now increasing its reach to Afghanistan and Iraq.
We were recommended to outsource the
implementation to C3, initially we were worried, but the
way they have done the implementation is outstanding.
The attitude, in-depth knowledge and experience they
have is exceptional. We are planning to award two more
projects to Contact Center Consulting and continue to
leverage this partnership in future. They are creative,
cost-effective, flexible and
capable of doing the right
things in the right way.

In the much anticipated survey released in May 2012, physicians ranked CureMD as the Number

CureMD ranked 1 EMR vendor in the U.S. healthcare industry when compared to other leading vendors. The
survey received aggressive industry coverage as it highlighted key customer focus areas that
differentiated leading vendors from each other;
as the number Response time

1 EMR vendor
Support
Quality
Moneys worth

in the US CureMD received positive reviews from its clientele for its ease of use, passionate support
culture and overall product quality. This accolade comes after CureMD experienced yet another
record year in sales a twofold increase in new customers.

Similarly, this is not the first occasion that CureMD has been honored for customer satisfaction.
The company ranked as a top EMR vendor by brown Wilson group (Black book rankings), back in
2011.

P@SHA TECH TALK

 ISSUE1
7

Maison Consulting & Solutions wins Country Partner of the Year

Maison Consulting & Solutions is one of Pakistans successful IT companies
specializing in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) and Security.

The company has shown consistent improvement in performance and has

secured the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award 2011-12 (Gold
Enterprise Resource Planning, Gold Customer Relationship Management,
Silver Midmarket Solution Provider) for the second year in running.

Previously, Maison Consulting had attained the same award in Enterprise

Resource Planning (Gold), Customer Relationship Management (Silver) and
Midmarket Solution Provider (Silver).

Elixir Announces SBC Solutions for Healthcare

Elixir Technologies Corporation recently
announced the launch of its Summary of
Benefits and Coverage (SBC) application
to help health plan providers meet the
September 2012 mandate for creation of
a uniform summary of benefits and
coverage. This application is one of
several solutions offered in the Tango
Communication Management System for
Healthcare.
Elixir is providing the Tango based
turnkey application to assist health plans
in their ability to meet the September
23rd deadline. The SBC application is
delivered as a SaaS or on-premise
solution. Tangos flexible data and logic
tools provide the ability for any health
plan to map their benefit data without
alteration to the pre-defined SBC
templates. Elixir also provides services to
assist plans with the integration/
migration. Tango provides an automated
model for SBC generation to keep health
plans compliant and reduce reliance on IT
and administrative systems.
Elixir is a recognized provider for
solutions to the healthcare industry. In
independent research firm Forrester
Research Inc.s September 2011 report:
The Forrester Wave: Document Output
For Customer Communications
Management, Q3 2011, Elixirs Tango
solution achieves Strong Performer status
and is top ranked in the SaaS category.
The report goes on to say that Elixirs
focus is 100% on SaaS-based interactive
applications like correspondence
management and in particular, outside the
firewall mobile applications such as
management of membership cards for
health insurance. Tango supports batch
and on-demand production of SBCs and
can provide delivery via print and
electronic including email, and web
presentment.
Many health plans looking for a solution
to support the SBC requirement already
have other Elixir software in place in
various departments says Feroz Zaidi,
President. Elixir has been a leading
software developer since 1985 and a
large number of health plan providers
already use other Elixir products to
support document composition for
high-volume print production. Our
expansion to support line-of-business
correspondence such as the SBC has
been welcome news to our existing
customers and also proves Elixir as a
seasoned and reliable long-term provider
for highly regulated industries.
Tango provides an automated model for
SBC generation to keep health plans
compliant and reduce reliance on IT and
administrative systems.
8
P@SHA IT Salary Survey
The IT Industry in Pakistan has
For P@SHA members, had a very fast paced period of
the cost of purchasing growth for the last few years. Ten
this report is PKR 5,000. IT companies made the list of
For non members, the Harvards 25 fastest growing
cost of the report is companies in Pakistan. Pakistani
PKR 15,000. IT companies have won both
national and international
To purchase this report recognition and acclaim.
please contact The driving force behind the IT
P@SHA at industry, like any other industry,
nabeel@pasha.org.pk is talent working in the sector.
Companies desire the best talent,
The Survey is being
both to hire and to retain. Fair
made available free of
compensation and benefits rank
cost to all participating
very highly for any employee who
companies.
wishes to work for, and continue
to grow, in any company. Further,
the rate of compensation,
promotions and job requirements
change very rapidly in the IT
Industry, making a regular IT
Salary Survey a significant
tool for companies wishing to
hire and retain the best
talent in the industry
This P@SHA IT Salary Survey
is the second survey
conducted by P@SHA for the
IT Industry, following the
earlier survey conducted in
2008. This survey aims to
benchmark salaries, benefits
and promotion and
increment timelines for
employees working in the IT
Industry in Pakistan.
The 2012 edition of the
P@SHA Salary Survey is the
most comprehensive
research that P@SHA has
conducted to date in this field.
This report includes two types
of employee roles: core-IT roles
such as Programmers, QA
Managers, Team Leads etc., as
well as non-IT roles for
employees in IT companies such
as Finance Managers, HR
Managers as well as senior IT
Management. We hope that
this comprehensive approach
will enable companies to
benchmark the salaries and
growth timelines for a majority
of their employee roles
effectively.
As of this year, P@SHA will be
publishing an Annual Salary
Survey.

Bsolutions conducts research on

Facebook users in Pakistan
Facebook is one of the most visited websites in Pakistan
and currently has over 6.5 million registered users in the
country. The network is continuing to grow at a
phenomenal rate.
Bsolutions recently conducted a research on the Pakistani
Facebook population. The research predicts more than 10
million Facebook users in Pakistan by 2013!
You can access the infographic at http://tinyurl.com/
clygrpo

P@SHA TECH TALK

ISSUE1
MoITT holds National ICT Policy Roundtable (contd)
(contd from pg 1) technology, ICT
play a significant role in national
development and GDP growth.
Hence the need to create a national
orientation within the ICT Policy
making process. The objective is to
not drive the process by a sense of
patriotism or philanthropy but
recognition of the economic
opportunity unsolved problems
represent in the domestic market in
9
addition to producing products and July 20.
services for the international market.
The success of this public-private
The interactive discussion and partnership proves how effectively the
exchange of ideas was very useful. The private sector and civil society can
Ministry of IT took note of some of the
engage with government to enable policy
additions that were suggested so that
they could be added to the Policy that is in the best interest of all
document. In addition the document was stakeholders.
posted the next day on the Ministry of IT
website, on the PSEB website and the
P@SHA website for further feedback until

P@SHA Social Innovation Fund: Take Two (contd)

(Contd from Pg 1) The Panel consisted of notables from the
industry, Shahjahan Chaudhary CEO, Teamants, Zaid
Inam , Afaque Ahmed Founding Owner, Could BPO and
Farzal Dojki CEO, Next Generation Innovations. The
discussion started at 2:00 pm and was moderated by
P@SHA President, Jehan Ara.
The panelists also served as the jury for the Idea-storming
session.
The session took off with rapid round of 60-second
elevator pitches. The shortlisted participants were assigned
mentors on the spot and broke for a 15 minute mentoring
session to prepare their idea for a 3-minute pitch.
The session was only a preliminary exercise and only one of a
series of such; there is still a long road of constant fine-tuning
and hard work for those shortlisted, and the competition will
only get thicker and more exciting as more entries come in.
We thank Google for their dedicated support to the initiative;
it surely would not have been possible without them.
 P This
A G year
E 1 Pakistan
0 Software Houses Association for IT & ITES has introduced a range of new services for its
10 member companies and improved some of the existing ones. These services can be broadly classified into seven
areas, the first five areas focus on the immediate benefits for P@SHA members while Policy Advocacy and
Capacity Building initiatives aim at long term benefits creating a sustainable IT & ITES Industry in Pakistan.

Market Access: At P@SHA we value the Business Guidance: P@SHA provides Procedural

1 4
business growth of our members and
A
P@SH
provide them market access through
facilitating their representation at various
National and International forums,
exhibitions and trade delegations. Donor
er
Memb Agency Procurement Notices from around
Guidance to companies who want to start new
businesses or keep abreast of changing laws &
regulation to run their existing businesses efficiently. A
comprehensive list of documents and relevant URLs
exist on our website for your facilitation. We maintain
contacts with supporting entities such as insurance

ces
the world are posted in a members-only companies, audit, accounting & legal firms, travel
Servi section of the website and business leads agents, embassies and consulates.
generated through the website are sent to P@SHA Knowledge Center: Truly by the members -

member companies.
Visibility & Networking Opportunities: P@SHA realizes
the importance of visibility; hence, we offer you P@SHAs
digital clout, a combination of our official Facebook page,
5
for the members, it is a key forum of all industry
discussions, experiences, best practices and tips
shared by the members to promote a culture of
progressive and mutual learning.

2
Twitter stream and website. Share your story with us so
that we can share it with the world.
All our members profiles are available in an Online
Directory on our website complete with location and
nature-of-business filters that can be accessed with ease.
Videos of CEOs & company brochures can also be uploaded
Some of the Other Benefits that you get from P@SHA
include special rates for various services; subsidized
costs at various P@SHA paid events & partner events
and a chance to be a part of our mailing list for regular
information updates.
Policy Advocacy: We aim to bridge the gap between

in this section.
The P@SHA Speaker Series provides you the opportunity to
discuss issues with key individuals from business,
government and academia.
For related queries email at services@pasha.org.pk
6
the legislative wing, society and the industry to foster
a sustainable and developing environment for IT
companies. We are the sole voice of the entire IT and
ITES Sector. Initiatives such as drafting the private-

Also, the P@SHA Newsletter which is circulated within and
outside the IT industry is a useful medium for you to relay
news of unique achievements, successful contract bids &
product launches to a much wider audience both locally
and internationally.
Market Information: P@SHA also facilitates its members
sector IT Policy recommendations, amendments to
existing laws (e.g. Copyrights ordinance, patent
legislation) & advocacy on promulgation of new laws
such as Data Protection, Confidentiality and Privacy
and Cyber Crime legislations, etc all fall under within
our advocacy agenda.

7
by providing them Market Information on the latest Capacity Building: We are actively inclined towards

3
industry developments. Our Event Calendar is a
comprehensive collection of all important industry events
happening within and outside Pakistan. All our members
have access to exclusive P@SHA publications and research
studies.
P@SHA portals provide a comprehensive knowledge-base
to tap into for the latest news (relevant SROs, incentives,
etc.), industry insights, national and international event
dates, market research and industry analyses.
Human Resource development and capacity building.
Workshops, seminars and training sessions are
regularly held under the aegis of P@SHA. We also
strive to connect you with the employable pool of
human resource through various forums and events
such as the P@SHA Career Expo, University Speaker
Series & other initiatives.

P@SHA website now has a secure Members Area where members can access the features mentioned above. All
active members have been provided with their unique login information to access this area. Members meet-ups
were conducted to introduce these services in Karachi on April 13th at P@SHA Secretariat; Lahore June 28th at
InfoTech Pvt. Ltd; Islamabad on July 12th at Knowledge Platform.
P@SHA TECH TALK
ISSUE1
P@SHA Activity Log
11
KHI Feb 22 | P@SHA visits 2012
NED University;
Jawwad Farid enlightens J LHR, Feb 28 | P@SHA
students on National ICT Speaker Series with Adil
Policy and the art of Najam
pitching
F
ISB, Apr 2 | P@SHA
KHI, Apr 21 | P@SHA Speaker Series on National
Policy DiscourseNational ICT R&D Fund Initiatives
ICT Policy and the Opportunities for
M
the Pakistani Technology
Apr 23 | P@SHA Partners Sector
with wi-tribe Bazaar for
Pakistan Developers' A KHI, Apr 13 | P@SHA
Challenge 2012 Launches New Member
Services
KHI, May 5 | P@SHA
Speaker Series with Shuja LHR, May 2 | P@SHA
M Speaker Series with Shuja
Keen on Product
Development: 5 Hacks for Keen on Product
Success Development: 5 Hacks for
Success
J
KHI, May 14 | P@SHA
Launches Women in IT KHI, Jun 2 | P@SHA
Survey Career Expo 2012

J
LHR, Jun 28 | P@SHA LHR, Jul 5 | P@SHA
Launches New Member supports Marketing
Services Conference 2012: Inspire &
Ignite Marketing
ISB, Jul 4 | P@SHA A Excellence
participates in MoITTs
National ICT Policy
KHI, Jul 5 | P@SHA
Roundtable
S Releases IT Salary Survey
2012
KHI, Jul 16-17 | P@SHA
supports Nokia App
Summit 2012 ISB, Jul 12 | P@SHA
O
Launches New Member
Services
LHR, Sep | P@SHA
Career Expo 2012 N
LHR, Oct 10 | P@SHA ICT
Awards
Nov | P@SHA Fund for
Social Innovation D

Brunei, Dec 2 | Asia Pacific

ICT Awards (APICTA)
12

P@SHA
Pakistan Software Houses Association
for IT & ITES
@PASHAORG

Room 310
3/F Business Center Facebook.com/pakict
Block 6 PECHS
Shahrah-e-Faisal
Karachi www.pasha.org.pk
Phone: 021 - 3541- 8121
E-mail: secretariat@pasha.org.pk

CubeXS Weatherly and Microsoft Pakistan Launch Enterprise Cloud Services

Cube XS Weatherly (Private) Limited, first
ever Tier-IV compliant Data Center in
Pakistan, has launched Enterprise Cloud
Services in collaboration with Microsoft
Pakistan at a ceremony held in Karachi on
28th June 2012.
Pay-As-You-Go model would deliver a
customized service with a flexible structure,
no startup cost and no minimum term of
commitment. This model would enable
corporate as well as individuals to access
state-of-the-art technology without upfront
investment in infrastructure, software and
technical support. Mr. Farooq Sikander,
COO CubeXS revealed that pricing is very
competitive even for the international
market and payment options include online
payment through Credit Card or cheque/
cash deposit at CubeXS office.
CubeXS Cloud is the first self-service
Public Cloud in Pakistan, positioned as a
business-enabling platform that offers
comprehensive selection of IaaS
(Infrastructure-as-a-Service) and SaaS
(Software-as-a-Service) environments to
best fit the specific needs of business
applications, storage and growth. In-house
technical team and CubeXS data center
facility engineered 99.995% service
availability to support the CubeXS
Enterprise Cloud Services, said Mr. Aly
G. Ramzan, CEO, CubeXS Weatherly.
CubeXS being the Microsoft SPLA
partner also announced the launch of its
MS Exchange 2010 Hosted Solution, the
latest version of its hosted email service
for Exchange customers. Hosted MS
Exchange service is backed by CubeXS
Online Technical Support to help ensure
a fast and seamless customer
experience. Another noteworthy
service is the CubeXS Cloud Storage,
which allows secure data storage on
Public Cloud and enables retrieval of
data from anywhere with Internet
connectivity. This also provides an ideal
environment of Disaster Recovery and
Data Replication.
Speaking at the event, Salman Siddiqui,
Channel Lead, Microsoft Pakistan said,
Today, IT is experiencing a shift from
the traditional client/server to the cloud.
Going forward, businesses and other
organizations will look to consume and
deliver IT as a service. Cloud promises to
make IT not just cheaper, but also faster,
easier, more flexible, and more effective.
Farooq H Sikander, COO CubeXS, said,
CubeXS Cloud services would help
businesses nationwide to focus on core
business activities rather than spending
time to manage their IT infrastructure,
support issues and expansion plans. The
services would be available to both
national and international clients.