INFOTEK '09

Title : INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE &

EXHIBIT (INFOTEK SHOW) 2009

Organizers : ALBAY ICT ASSOCIATION &

LEGAZPI CITY ICT COUNCIL

Co-Organizers : CITY GOVERNMENT OF LEGAZPI
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE & INDUSTRY

Event Host : EMBARCADERO IT PARK

Date : OCTOBER 28-30, 2009 (IBALONG FESTIVAL)

Venue : CELEBRATION PLAZA, EMBARCADERO

Project Cost : P 316,300.00 (partial)

Budget Source :
AICTA - 25,000.00
LGU-Legazpi City - 100,000.00
Equity/Sponsors - 158,000.00
iCon Registration - 33,300.00
Embarcadero -

GENERAL PROJECT REPORT

Ø This year’s INFOTEK SHOW with the theme: “The World Needs IT, Albay has IT” is divided into four major components namely: IT Exhibit, iCon (Conference), Job Caravan and IT Seminars

Ø Due to overlapping of events at the venue, the Booth Installation was done midnight of October 27, 2009

Ø Ingress was held morning of October 28, 2009

Ø Prior to the Grand Opening, a motorcade was conducted and participated-in by more than 30 vehicles comprised mainly of exhibitors and other industry stakeholders. The route covered the Legazpi Port District and Albay District areas.

Ø The Grand Opening Ceremonies were preceded by the Cutting of the Event Ribbon by the guests and visitors and the Opening of the Jobs Fair.

Ø Hon. Secretary Marianito Roque of the Department of Labor and Employment was the Guest of Honor during the Grand Opening Ceremonies.
Ø Apart from his message, Sec. Roque also launched and signed the Memorandum of Agreement on two major projects of the DOLE for Region V which are the Kabataan ITo project and turned over 10 Nego Karts to 10 ambulant vendors in Legazpi.


Ø Also present during the Opening Ceremonies were: Hon. Noel Rosal, Mayor of Legazpi, George Sorio, CEO of Cybercity in Clark,Pampanga and currently the Chairman of the National ICT Conference of the Philippines, Ms. Laila Fronda of the Jones Lang Lasalle Leechiu, Jonathan de Luzuriaga, Executive Director of BPAP, Regional Director Ernesto Bihis of DOLE-V, Dr. Dominador Peralta, Regional Director of CHED-V, RD Conrado Bares of TESDA-V, Dir. Digs Aguilar of DTI-Albay, Dr. Fay Lauraya, BU President and a dozen of government officials and guests.

Ø INFOTEK 2009 was formally opened to the public at 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon.

EXHIBIT (October 28-30, 2009)

Ø The primary purpose of the exhibit was to promote the latest products and services available in the market and show to the investors that Legazpi City is now IT ready as per the requirement in the Scorecard. Generating sales, leads and customer traffic though, was a good opportunity for the exhibitors but, was considered secondary.

Ø There were 27 companies and institutions who participated in the exhibit representing the four components of the IT Scorecard namely: Talent (manpower), Infrastructure, Business Environment and Cost of Doing Business.

Ø Under the Talent category was represented by the following schools: Aquinas University, Bicol University, Computer Arts and Technological College, Informatics Computer Institute and the Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation (SLTCFI).

Ø For the Infrastructure Sector, the following companies participated: Bayantel, Digitel, Globe, PLDT, Sunwest Group, Embarcadero IT Park and DCTV.

Ø Under the Business Environment were: Embarcadero, Misibis Land, Inc., Hotel St. Ellis, ABS-CBN, LGU-Legazpi, DTI, DOT, SLTCFI-BPO Incubation Center

Ø For Cost of Doing Business: Gakken Phil., Inc., All Electronics Enterprises, Denver’s Computer Shoppe, Philcopy Corp., Intel Phil., Inc, HP Phil., Inc., Pentauno International, Inc.

Ø Daily, the exhibit opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 7:00 p.m.
Ø Due to inclement weather, Egress was done early at 2:00 p.m. on October 30, 2009. The closing Ceremony was canceled due to the impending typhoon.

SEMINARS & PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS (Daily)

Ø These are short-duration seminars conducted at the exhibit site (Embarcadero) for free.

Ø On October 28, 2009, the first seminar on Animation was conducted. Mr. Rudyard Pesimo, a Senior Faculty member of the Department of Digital Arts and Computer Animation of the Ateneo de Naga University was the speaker. Around 250 participants attended the seminar

Ø On October 29, Seminars on Search Engine Optimization and Web Marketing were conducted by the SEO Specialists from SLTCFI-BPO Incubation Center and Technology Updates by a faculty from Informatics Computer Institute.

JOB CARAVAN (October 28-29, 2009)

Ø The two-day job caravan was participated-in by 25 job placement agencies both for local for overseas employment, local and international companies and government agencies.

Ø Close to 2,000 job seekers lined up the registration counters even prior to the Opening of the fair.

Ø The two-day caravan resulted to 155 applicants hired on the spot and close to 200 applicants for further interview

Ø The activity was coordinated by the PESO-Albay and SLTCFI School-based PESO.

Ø Among the participating companies that made on the spot hiring were: Sutherland, Genpact, Cybercity, Metro Gaisano, LCC, PMS (hotel), Overseas, Metrosphere, Stretch Distribution, Embarcadero and Phil. Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

ICon ’09 (CONFERENCE) – October 29, 2009

Ø Held at the Concourse Convention Center and was attended by more than 150 participants from all over the Bicol Region. As expected more participants came from the academe which totaled 67, Business Sector – 27, National Government Agencies – 28, Local Government Units – 10, IT Companies/Stakeholders – 30.

Ø The Opening Ceremonies were graced by Hon. Glenda Bongao, Senior Board member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Albay representing Governor Joey Salceda and Mr. Ralph Andes, Consultant of Congressman Al Francis Bichara. Mayor Noel Rosal gave the Opening Remarks while Director Digs Aguilar of DTI for the Conference Overview.

Ø This year’s conference centered on Legapi City’s IT capabilities as one of the country’s next wave cities focusing on the Talent or Manpower being the major concern of investors.

Ø No less than the Secretary of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), Hon. Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III was one of the Resource Speakers who discussed the topic: “ Philippine Policy Directions and Programs for ICT Development: A Glimpse of the Countryside”.

Ø In his discussion, Sec. Chua presented the IT Scorecards of the different next wave cities including Legazpi which ranks number 21 with a general weighted average (4 components) of 63.7%. The City scores well at the Cost, Infra and Business Environment while quite low at the Talent component which drags the city’s overall scorecard. According to Sec. Chua, it does not mean that Legazpi City does not have the qualified manpower but there seems to be a problem in data gathering as far as talent supply is concerned. He did encourage local ICT advocates lead by AICTA to do the necessary research in order to get the correct figures to be able to rectify the existing records.

Ø Mr. Jojo Uligan, Executive Director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines discussed the ‘Updates and Challenges in the Call Center Industry in the Domestic and International Arena.

Ø Mr. Jonathan de Luzuriaga, Executive Director of the Business Processing Association of the Phil., ably discussed two topics, namely: Industry Outlook and Emerging Skills Requirement in ICT and Enhancing Academe-Industry Links: Vital in Sustaining the Country’s Momentum in ICT”.

Ø Mr. de Luzuriaga presented the strengths and weaknesses (in a case study) of Legazpi as destination for ICT businesses and projects being a next wave city. Per their industry’s latest data, Legazpi City’s manpower absorption capacity is 6,000 available to prospective locators be it in the voice and non-voice services which remains idle at the moment because the city currently employs only more than a thousand of these people. This only means investors would have no problem hiring people at this point in time should they decide to locate now.

Ø Despite the City’s initiatives and active promotional activities, according to Lzuriaga, there seems to be a problem along the way that might have caused lower investor confidence to locate. For one, Mr. de Luzuriaga even asked on what Legazpi City is really promoting, is it Legazpi City per se or Embarcadero? And therefore he made the following suggestions and recommendations for Legazpi City to move on and gain a much higher ground in the world of ICT:



q Single United Front
q Find your Niche
q Tell them your story
q Talent is Key
q Cost will always be a Factor
q Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
q Leverage your Strengths
q Roadmap

Ø The Infrastructure capabilities and readiness of the city was also presented by the Telecommunications companies such as Bayantel and PLDT while the IT preparedness and readiness of the City was presented by Mr. James Nunez in behalf of Mayor Rosal.

Ø After the presentations, the Panel Discussion followed which was facilitated by Mr. Willie Tanagon, IT Consultant of Quezon City.

Ø Among the panelists were:

1. Engr. Martin Valeras, Dean of the Engineering and Computer Studies of Divine Word College of Legazpi
2. Engr. Arnulfo Malinis, Dean of Bicol University-Polangui Campus
3. Dr. Amelia Dorosan, Dean of Bicol University College of Science
4. Mr. Rene Castro, Business Center Manager of Informatics Computer Institute
5. Ms. Rosemarie Q. Rey, President of SLTCFI
6. Engr. Ma. Teresa Bondad, Dean of the Polytechnic Institute of Aquinas University of Legazpi
7. Engr. Elma Naz, Education Supervisor of CHED RO V
8. Engr. Owen Canale, Manager of Matsuoka Projects Phil., Inc.
9. Mr. Jose Maria Lopez, OIC Manager of Content Online Services, Inc.
10. Vijayendra, HR Manager of Sutherland in Camarines Sur

Ø The discussion was so animated with the active participation of the audience during the Open Forum. Among the issues raised were:

1. Dr. Lita Ago raised the issue on the impact to the changing health lifestyles of the call center agents and other IT workers such as becoming chain smokers and the change in work hours especially those in the graveyard shift. What mechanisms or programs the industry are implementing (in the respective companies) in order to control or at least minimize the impact of these emerging unhealthy lifestyles of the workers. The second question raised by Dr. Ago is on the status of the Medical Transcription sub-industry where to her knowledge is declining.

2. A representative from DepEd raised the issue on the problem of poor English by the students. According to him, there seems to be problem in the country’s educational system where primary education is quite weak leading to poor performance (especially in grammar) by the students when they go to higher education.

3. A representative from DOH raised the wage issue. Are there industry standards being followed aside from that being imposed by the government as basic wage? What benefits are given to the industry workers?

Ø The panel discussions primarily revolved on the manpower issues and problems being faced by the industry players. What mechanisms or initiatives the local higher educational institutions, CHED and other stakeholders are doing in order to improve on the province’s performance in the education sector? How does the province respond to the issue on climate change given its impact to the industry especially so that Albay is known for its being in the typhoon belt?

Ø Mr. Tanagon pointed out that Legazpi City or Albay in general should have 200 qualified ready to deploy workers at any given time because this is the primary consideration of investors and locators in considering the area as a favored investment destination.

Ø From the discussions and issues raised, there was an apparent need to review the plans and programs previously prepared by the local ICT advocates as almost all of the said issues especially on manpower were already raised and given appropriate plans and programs.

E-Commerce for Bicol MSMEs

Bicol MSMEs Attend Training on DOING BUSINESS IN THE WEB:
The E-Commerce Challenge Made Easy
for Filipino SMEs









The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the key components in the chain of institutions contributing to national economic growth. Enhancing them is of pivotal importance in maintaining Philippine dynamism in the 21st century. They are the major vehicles in the growth and sustainable development of a globally competitive Philippine economy. Currently, SMEs constitute 99.6% of all business establishments in the country, employ 69.9% of the country’s labor force and contribute to some 32% of value-added (The Philippine National SME Development agenda booklet).

With the significant role the MSMEs play in shaping the country’s economy, the DTI and the OK Bicol Foundation, in partnership with the Albay ICT Association, Inc. have initiated the conduct of the above training as one mechanism to further enhance the competitiveness of the sector both in the domestic and international markets through e-commerce.

The training was conducted last July 16-18, 2009 as one of the major activities during the celebration of the Annual SMED Week in the Province of Albay. It was held at the Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation, Inc, (SLTCFI) Computer Laboratory at Orosite, Legazpi City and was attended by 18 MSMEs from the provinces of Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon.

Acting as resource persons were Ms. Rosalie Buenaagua, a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist of the SLTCFI-BPO Incubation Center, Mr. Jay-R Redita, a Web Developer of the same company and Mr. Gabriel Libacao also an SEO Specialist and IT Consultant from Manila. They alternately discussed the program’s four major modules, namely:

Module 1: E-Commerce and the Filipino SMEs. – This module aims to stimulate
SMEs to venture into using ICT in their businesses. Thus, this module
is consists of Fundamental e-commerce, the Philippines’ e-Commerce
Law, relevant internet statistics and presentation of websites.

Module 2: Putting “E” to Business Processes – This module aims to elevate SMEs
knowledge on how ICT can improve their businesses. It consists of
the following: Showcasing to the online world, business processes
and e-marketplaces. Success stories are included to inspire SMEs in
their journey in the online environment.

Module 3: Online Payment. This module aims to update SMEs about the possible
payment methods that they can choose from as supply chain player, as
customer or as supplier.

Module 4: Technical and Marketing Aspects. This module aims to provide SME
Decision makers the basics in setting up and management of website
As an e-commerce technique.

At the end of the three-day training, the participants were appreciative of their learning and started creating their own simple websites availing the services of free web hosting companies provided by the trainers. As an additional incentive to the participants, the management of SLTCFI offered the facilities of its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)Incubation Center at the Embarcadero for a very minimal rate to incubate their websites using the services of the center’s search engine optimizers and web marketing specialists.

Legazpi City Creates New ICT Council

LEGAZPI CITY CREATES ICT COUNCIL

The City Government of Legazpi, cognizant of the potentials of the Information and Communications Technology Industry for the development of the city, has created the Legazpi City Information and Communications Technology Council (LCICTC) through Executive Order No. 28 series of 2008 signed by Mayor Noel Rosal last December 2, 2008.

The Council primarily aims to serve as the catalytic link between the industry and the government and other stakeholders in the implementation of programs and projects for the sustainable development of the industry. Prior to the creation of the Council, the City Government of Legazpi has already recognized the significant role of the industry in the development of the city, thus making it the City’s One Town One Product (OTOP).

The officers and members are the following:

Honorary Chairman : Legazpi City Mayor
Chairman : AICTA President
Vice-Chairman : CHED
Secretariat : DTI-Albay, LGU Legazpi, SLTCFI
Members : Telco : All Telco Companies
Utilties : ALECO
Academe : BU, AUL, APTVIA
Government : TESDA-Albay
DepEd-Albay
DOLE-Albay
DOST
NEDA
NGO : Albay Bankers Ass’n.
ACCI
Real Estate : Embarcadero
IT Vendors : All Electronics Ent.

The induction ceremony of the officers and members was done during the 2nd Albay ICT Conference last December 10, 2008 with Hon. Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) as inducting officer.

Albay Holds 2nd ICT Conference

ALBAY HOLDS 2ND ICT CONFRENCE

The last couple of years have seen a dramatic surge in the development of IT industry specifically in the Offshoring & Outsourcing sub-industry. In Albay province, specifically in the City of Legazpi, several IT related companies such as those engaged in data conversion/processing (Business Process Outsourcing), Call Centers and Medical Transcription Companies were established. These companies at present employ more than a thousand workers coming not only from the province of Albay but the entire Bicol Region. More recently, a local investor has applied with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for the development of a private IT Park located in the reclamation area of Legazpi

The developments in the local ICT sector were a result of the local industry stakeholders’ continuous advocacy efforts in promoting Legazpi as a good location for ICT-related investments and projects. Likewise, these efforts have resulted to the recognition of Legazpi City as one of the country’s “Next Wave Cities” or ICT Hubs and the Albay ICT Association, Inc. (AICTA) as the only recognized ICT group from the Bicol Region by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). Through this recognition, Legazpi City has been put in the ICT Map of the country making it in the priority areas for consideration by investors and locators.

Despite these positive developments, the province is still beset by a number of problems particularly in the ICT infrastructure and manpower availability. In one instance, one of the data conversion companies started complaining on the reliability/technical capability of telecommunications service providers that hamper their operations and subsequently affect their output and delivery to their clients abroad.

The ongoing world economic slump brought about by the financial crisis in the US, which happens to be the major market of these BPO companies, has definitely brought a cascading effect to the industry.

In view of the above situation, the local key players/stakeholders in the industry led by the Albay ICT Association, Inc., gathered together last December 10, 2008 for a one day Conference to discuss possible strategies and initiatives to minimize the impact especially to the MSME IT players.

The activity was held at Hotel Casablanca and was participated in by 126 IT players and stakeholders. Hon. Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) was the guest speaker. Industry leaders were invited as resource speakers. Mr. Jojo Uligan, Executive Director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) presented the State of the Philippine Call Center Industry: Its prospects Amidst the World’s Economic Slowdown” while Ms. Gigi Virata, Information and Research Director of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) discussed the topic: “Next wave cities as Potential Locations for the BPO sub-sector.

Aside from the plenary topics, the activity also served as venue for the local stakeholders particularly the telecom sector, the real state developers and the existing locators to present their capabilities and services being offered. The two pioneering locators, the Content Online Services, Inc. (COSI) and M3 Medical Management Services Group, Inc. also presented their testimonies, experiences and decision for putting up and expanding their facilities in Legazpi. This was done basically to give inspiration to the small BPO companies in the city started up by local entrepreneurs.

Through a workshop, the Provincial ICT Action Plan for 2009 was formulated. The plan was focused on the four components of the ICT Scorecard namely: Talent, Infrastructure, Cost of Doing Business and Business Environment. Particular attention was given to the scorecard especially on the “talent/manpower” component because it serves as the primary basis for prospective locators in considering an area as a possible location for their investments and projects.

The one-day Conference was concluded at the Embarcadero de Legazpi wherein the participants were toured at the on-going construction of the soon to be opened newest tourism destination cum IT Park in the Bicol Region.

Legazpi: The Next Wave City for ICT in the Philippines

LEGAZPI: THE NEXT “WAVE CITY” FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY















Legazpi City, the Regional Administrative Center of the Bicol Region, the capital city and the center for trading and commerce of the Province of Albay, is now one of the Philippines’ Regional Hubs for Information and Communications Technology. This recognition has been conferred with the city after it has been showcased in the Philippines’ Next Wave Cities during the 8th E-Services Philippines (ESP) Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition 2008 last February 11-12 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City.

Along with 14 other Regional IT Hubs dubbed as “Next W ave Cities” in the county, Legazpi City has been pre-selected as a location of IT excellence based on the presence of an established ICT Council (Albay ICT Association, Inc.) in the locality and the favorable score it garnered on the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) IT scorecard.


As a participant in the ESP 2008, Legazpi City has earned enough positive and remarkable gains. The 10-minute presentation of Hon. Mayor Noel Rosal in the Regional IT Hubs Forum provided him the opportunity to present the advantages of the City in terms of manpower and infrastructure readiness and thereby selling it as a location of choice for ICT-enabled investments and projects to potential investors and locators.

In the two-day exhibition, the City Government featured the Embarcadero IT Park, a PEZA-declared private IT Park located at the Legazpi Port Area. The IT Park is the city’s major development project being offered to interested investors and locators. It attracted a significant number of visitor-inquiries which was followed by actual site visits a week after the affair. Negotiations between interested locators and investors and the embarcadero management are on-going.

The ESP participation did not only benefit the Embarcadero IT Park as the focus of the promotional effort. Some of the 40 delegates from Albay (who happened to be the biggest delegation to the ESP 2008) particularly the home grown Business Process Outsourcing companies also got a share in the gains. One participant with a Call Center company even negotiated for accounts from two US-based companies namely Freeway and AT & T. Representatives of these companies have already conducted site visits and inspections of the facilities of their local partners. Impressed by the local technical capabilities, the foreign companies have decided to activate their accounts with the local partner and operations are now in full swing generating close to 50 jobs and counting.

It can be recalled that prior to Legazpi City’s participation in the ESP 2008, local ICT advocates and stakeholders have been actively advocating and implementing local initiatives and projects to develop the growth and development of the local ICT Industry.

One such initiative is the giving of a more focused industry development effort by the Department of Trade and Industry. In consultation with the Local Government Unit of Legazpi and other stakeholders, the ICT-ENABLED SERVICES has been chosen as the City’s One-Town-One Product (OTOP) under the program. With manpower as its major resource, being the center of Education not only of Albay but of the Bicol Region as well, the city produces 6,000 plus qualified and trainable manpower pool, a major requirement of IT investors.

Another worth mentioning is the very dynamic organization of local ICT advocates and stakeholders, the Albay ICT Association, Inc. (AICTA), formed in year 2003. The association is actively partnering with the Local Government Units of Albay and the different National Government Agencies (NGAs) in implementing various activities and projects for ICT development in the province.

Aware of the significant benefits the ICT industry would provide to the city particularly in generating employment and investments, the City Government has amended its Investment and Incentive Code to attract new investments from the industry. It now includes new Priority Development and Investment Areas in the Urban Center specifically ICT-enabled and other Service-oriented projects. It also provides New Incentives both to Existing and New Investors. These incentives are in addition to the ones being given by PEZA, BOI and other incentive-giving entities.

Added to these incentives is the very dynamic, supportive and ICT advocate and marketer Chief Executive of the City. Mayor Noel Rosal is personally on top of all ICT-related initiatives and activities of the City. In fact, in order to ensure that the city can provide the required manpower requirement, the Mayor has put up a fund to finance the study now pay later program for qualified students-trainees who would undergo short-term ICT-related courses/trainings such as call center agents, medical transcription and the like.

As a consequence of these activities and initiatives, several tangible milestones have been achieved so far which would further support and strengthen Legazpi City’s campaign to attract more ICT investments and projects.

To-date, there are already eight BPO companies operating in the City. These include four Call Centers; one of which was opened only last February 8, 2008, two data conversion and processing companies, one medical transcription and one doing engineering and architectural designs development. These companies provide employment to more than 2,000 IT professionals and workers.



The projected upsurge in demand for commercial space by prospective IT locators in the city has convinced a local investor to develop a sea-front property into an IT Park, the Embarcadero IT Park. The park is a master planned PEZA-declared IT Park that costs P 700 million which will provide 15, 477 sq.m. of IT-ready space to would-be locators and investors. The Park is an integral part of the Embarcadero de Legazpi, a world-class destination lifestyle and entertainment center in bay front development in the Philippines located at the Legazpi Port Area and is set to be opened on August 8, 2008.

With all the industry requirements in place, TALENTS, INFRASTRUCTURES, LOWER COST OF DOING BUSINESS AND A FAVORABLE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, Legazpi City is ready to welcome and accommodate IT locators and investors alike.

Business Name Registration in Albay Increases

ALBAY EXPERIENCES UPSURGE IN BUSINESS NAME
REGISTRATION FOR Q1 OF 2008

With the local economy starting to recover from the devastating effect brought about by super typhoon Reming in the last quarter of 2006, a remarkable 432 or 53.40% increase in Business Name registration has been noted during the first quarter of 2008 as compared to the same period in year 2007. During the latter, only 809 businesses were registered which rose to 1,241 on the same period this year.

Corollary to this upsurge, investments generated from business name registrations also increased by 186.20%. From Php 205,173,000.00 total investments for the same period in 2007, it rose to Php 587,191,000.00 in 2008. The high increase in investment can be attributed to the rise in the per capita investment in 2008 which on the average, a business registrant invests P 473,159.55 as compared to only Php 253,613.00 in year 2007.

Another contributory factor to the growth in business name registration in the province is the strict implementation of Local Government Units of applicable business licensing requirements in their respective areas. Special mention are the LGUs of Camalig, Ligao City and Sto. Doming that strictly require DTI Business Name Registration before they issue the corresponding Mayor’s Permit or Business License.

It is also worth mentioning that the basic infrastructure such as power and telecommunications in the province are already back to normal operations as compared during the same period in 2007. It has been quite easy and speedy to process business name registrations this year as the internet is functioning well and there was no recorded long periods of power interruptions as compared in year 2007.