South Korea
Government support/laws: Good. The Korean government has written or revised more than 100 laws in finance, education and intellectual property in order to stimulate IT growth.
Quality initiatives: 17,676 ISO 9000 certifications.
Major providers: Hyosung Data Systems (www.hds-hyosung.co.kr), Hyundai Information Technology (www.hit.co.kr), Kolon Data Communications (www.kolon.com), Samsung SDS (www.sds.samsung.co.kr).
Major customers: NA.
Cities/Centres of outsourcing: Seoul.
National IT organisation: Federation of Korean Information Industries (www.fkii.or.kr), Korean Trade-
Investment Promotion Industry (KOTRA; www.kotra.or.kr).
Size of industry: 436,000 professionals.
Total labour force: 22 million.
Areas of expertise: Application development, application maintenance.
Thailand
Government support/laws: Fair. The Prime Minister is pro-IT and has introduced some incentives.
Quality initiatives: At least eight companies have reached minimum CMM certification; 3870 ISO 9000 certifications.
Major providers: Frontware International (www.frontware.co.th), Soft Square International.
Major customers: Dell, Glovia, Sungard.
Cities/Centres of outsourcing: Bangkok, Chiang Mai.
National IT organisation: Association of Thai Software Industry (www.atsi.or.th). Government plans to develop the Software Industry Promotion Agency.
Size of industry: 195,000 developers.
Total labour force: 33.2 million.
Areas of expertise: Application development, application maintenance.
Vietnam
Government support/laws: Good. As of 2001, the government charged zero tax for software exports and set a target of training 50,000 IT workers by 2005. Even the communist party (Ho Chi Minh City government) has publicly recognised the importance of IT.
Quality initiatives: 245 ISO 9000 certifications.
Major providers: FPT-Soft (www.fpt-soft.com), Global Cybersoft (www.globalcybersoft.com), TMA
Software Solutions (www.tmasolutions.com).
Major customers: Merrill Lynch, State of Oklahoma.
Cities/Centres of outsourcing: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City.
National IT organisation: Research Vietnam (www.researchvietnam.com), Vietnam Software
Association (VINASA; www.yes.com.vn/vinasa/indexe.asp ).
Size of industry: $US287 million.
Total labour force: 38.2 million.
Areas of expertise: Application development, application maintenance, e-business.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.