Fujitsu's 3rd Datawarehouse Center Sets Up In Philippines
By next month, the Philippines will have its first end-to-end data warehouse factory, thanks to IT (information technology) vendor Fujitsu.
WeServ Systems International, Inc., a wholly-owned software development services subsidiary of Fujitsu Philippines (FPI), has been tasked with building the data warehouse factory that will be Fujitsu's third worldwide.
These three data warehouse factories are intended to support Fujitsu/ICL's global data warehouse business. Located in different time zones, the three factories seek to provide so-called "follow- the-sun" coverage, providing 24x7 global support and services to Fujitsu's data warehouse customers worldwide.
Fujitsu's other two data warehouse facilities are located in Santa Clara, Calif., which primarily supports the North American market, and in Manchester, England, which currently supports the European market.
WeServ will host Fujitsu's third data warehouse factory in cooperation with International Computers Ltd. (ICL), the British-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd.
The factory will be located at the WeServ office in Makati. It will initially employ 30 WeServ software professionals especially trained in data warehousing methodologies and tools. They will support development and customization services for data warehouse projects coming from both the international and local markets of Fujitsu/ICL.
Wendy Sebastian, an executive at the Applications Solutions Group at WeServ, said, "Some of the work from Europe and North America will actually be brought back here, for offshore software development. The concept is a proven one, as we already do various traditional software development and customization projects for international customers. While the concept is not new, the application of the concept for the specific data warehousing technology niche is very new."
She said that WeServ initially sent seven of its top software engineers to the Manchester data warehouse factory, to learn the specific methodologies for developing data warehouses. This core group spent six months training on specific data warehouse components (including the specialized hardware platforms and high- volume database management systems), and familiarizing with the different operational and business analysis tools available in the market.
"We expect them to be proficient in the processes and tools for business consulting, development and the actual operation of a data warehouse," added Sebastian. "These people are very much experienced in programming with Visual Basic, C, and C++. They really are software developers at heart. But in data warehousing, they need more than just software development skills. They should also know how to understand the customer's data warehousing requirements, and how they can help the customer in identifying what information he needs to drive his business forward."
Aside from the human resources, WeServ is also preparing the physical facilities for the data warehouse factory. There is a major investment in terms of the office space, telecommunications, hardware, software and the network infrastructure that will link the Philippine data warehouse factory to Santa Clara and Manchester.
While WeServ looks forward to generating substantial export earnings from the data warehousing factory, there is another benefit to the whole project. FPI has decided to tap the same skills to provide end-to-end data warehousing "solutions" for large Philippine enterprises. FPI integrates high-end hardware platforms with WeServ's services, to provide turnkey " best-of-breed" DWH solutions for large corporations.
Through FPI, WeServ hopes to be the top data warehouse "solutions" provider in the Philippines. Sebastian says that WeServ provides an end-to-end data warehousing "solution."
Established in July, 1993, as the software subsidiary of FPI, WeServ Systems International is already among the top software services companies in the Philippine software industry, with over 500 permanent employees in its workforce, supplemented by over 100 subcontractors.