Author: info@eacomm.com

ANIMAHENASYON 2008 PINOY ANIMATION FESTIVAL OFFICIAL LAUNCH!

Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. is proud to present An Animation Festival Launching a full-day activities with the animation companies to kick off the 2nd Animahenasyon 2008 Pinoy Animation Festival at the Central Plaza Eastwood City, Quezon City 24 September 2008, Wednesday 1:00 PM until 8:30 PM festival launching is sponsored by Megaworld Corporation festival is co-sponsored by the National Commission for Culture & the Arts and Hewlett Packard Philippines in cooperation with Cultural Center of the Philippines & De La Salle-College of St. Benilde School of Design & Arts Festival Dates: November 12-16, 2008 Have fun learning 2D & 3D Animation, Claymation, Voice Acting and other art activities. Have a tattoo just for week or two. Watch short film animations from past entries and works from member studios. Know about the festival: competition, exhibits and masterclasses. Participate in the writing of the history of Philippine Animation. Experience the live scoring by Uniitima of the traditional 35mm animation “Ang Paglikha”. Integrate and know the people behind the many years of animating buhay pinoy! Please join us. See you! For further information and confirmation call 817.2727 loc 108 (Jazel/Laisa/Mike/Avic) or email animationcouncil@gmail.com or log onto: www.animationcouncil.org __._,_.___

ANIMAHENASYON 2008

We are at it again! said this year’s Animahenasyon Festival Programmer Ricky Orellana. We are once again inviting professional and amateur/student Filipino animators to join the 2nd Animahenasyon 2008:Pinoy Animation Festival. The event, which is spearheaded by the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc., is now on its second year and the organizers are promising to give local animation enthusiasts a broader and better program. Definitely, the scope is bigger this year, Orellana said. We want to give festival-goers a larger view of what Philippine animation by screening earliest works done by animation masters. According to Orellana, last year’s festival has seen a lot of professional animators asking for advanced workshops. That’s why this time there will be master classes for professionals and enthusiasts. There will also be classes on visual storytelling, film language, production design, Asian and Japanese animation, and visual effects, he said. Last year’s festival screened over 150 original Filipino animation works and featured a two-day conference with Filipino US-based animator Ronnie del Carmen of Pixar animation as guest of honor keynote speaker.  The support was overwhelming, said Orellana. We are thankful to the animators who submitted very accomplished works as well as to the movie-goers who went out of their way to watch the screenings. In fact, the week-long event was even extended for a longer run at the Indie Sine Robinson’s Galeria. I thought that it was a very successful festival, said Del Carmen. I was very impressed with the animators. They were undaunted and courageous in pursuing their passion. In fact, so impressed was Del Carmen that he even agreed to give a talk in Naga for the regional extension of the festival. We have very accomplished animators, he said. These animators have contributed over the years to animated content the world over on very popular properties. If that isn’t about being world-class, I don’t know what is. We are known to be reliable and versatile, able to tackle the work and meld into what the project needs and get the job done.   Last year’s festival really proved that there is a very active animation industry in the Philippines, said Orellana. And this year, we are hoping to have more participants and more original works. And just like last year, 2nd Animahenasyon 2008 will feature 10 categories: one minute up to five minutes; 6 minutes up to 20 minutes; 21 minutes up to 40 minutes; Full-animated feature (more than 40 minutes); music video; OBBs, TVCs, infomercials, demo reels; and TV series. All of them are open for professional and amateur/student animators. Some of the award-winning animation entries last year were Jeff Capili’s Malaya (Best Animated Short, professional division), RJ Mabilin’s WWII (Animated Music Video, professional division), Valroman Francisco’s Pop (Animated Music Video, amateur division), and Anna Katrina Bigornia’s My Pet (Viewers’ Choice Award). The festival also honored the late Larry Alcala with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The deadline for the submission of entries is on October 8, 2008. For inquiries, call: 8172727 loc 108 or send an email to animationcouncil@gmail.com or visit ACPI’s website www.animationcouncil.org.

EACOMM Corporation Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine

EACOMM Corporation is featured in the July 2008 Issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. Entrepreneur Magazine is published by Summit Media and is available at most book stores, magazine stands, and convenience stores for Php 125.00. You can also check out the article below. The Interview was conducted last April, 2008. Technology Jul 02, 2008 Living yearbook By Katrina Tan After early gains in producing interactive yearbook CDs, this IT venture set up by a group of friends now offers a range of services to clients here and abroad The idea for EACOMM Corp. came up when five friends—Elias Ravillas, Arvin Sanvictores, Christiane de la Paz, Odnerolf Fajilan, and Mikhail Torres—chanced upon an interactive yearbook CD back in college. “Interactive CDs were just entering the market at that time and had limited features and functions,” says Torres, EACOMM’s current managing director. “Since four of us took up engineering at the University of the Philippines and had knowledge in programming, we felt we could improve the product. We wanted to add a creative aspect to the technology. Yearbooks are very nostalgic, and we thought that adding audio-visuals would be something viewers would appreciate.” In 1999, after their graduation, the five thus began their first venture as a semi-independent information technology arm of Universal Matrix Corp., a consultancy firm owned by Torres’ father, Ruben D. Torres. Torres recalls: “As part of Unimatrix, we were provided office space on Katipunan Avenue and given capital to acquire computers. Although we didn’t create a formal business plan, we learned a lot about conducting a business and about making presentations to clients.” The five had to learn online whatever programming skills they needed, such as Shockwave and Macromedia Director. “Some days we’d work from 10:00 a.m. till midnight,” Torres says. “We began with government projects. These were for database services, multimedia development, and other projects that took about six months to develop. One project went for about P700,000 based on the industry going rate, and we earned roughly 50 percent in profits from it.” EACOMM’s foray into the educational arena began when it was commissioned to create an interactive CD to complement the 2001 yearbook of the Ateneo High School in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Says de la Paz, the company’s director for marketing and training: “There were a few companies making the products then, but since our company was relatively young, we found it difficult to convince clients to purchase our product. So we surveyed how many students were interested in purchasing an interactive CD with their yearbook. Most of them were interested, of course.” Torres credits EACOMM’s ability to win clients to its creative approach to projects and to the consistency of its communication with clients. Its first yearbook project, for example, had a 3D gaming theme that perfectly suited the graduating batch—a unique feature that led to several other yearbook projects. It was at this time that EACOMM decided to separate from Unimatrix. In August 2001, it relocated to a 55-square meter office at the IBM Plaza Building in Eastwood, Quezon City, but kept its Katipunan office as a production facility. Investing almost P1 million of its saved profits in office space and PCs, the company then established a 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. work schedule, formed departments, and began actively approaching clients. The company’s early years saw some managerial changes, with founders Ravillas and Sanvictores migrating to the United States and getting replaced by Francis Alincastre as director for Web development and by Joel Abelida, director for multimedia, respectively. As an independent entity, EACOMM initially focused on markets inside academe, handling about 10 yearbook projects a year. Says Torres: “Since we were able to do the computer programming ourselves, the first employees we hired were creative people. Manpower is one of the main difficulties in this industry. Skilled employees are hard to find, and their salaries are always growing.” In fact, 80 percent of EACOMM’s current expenses go to manpower, with the balance going to acquisition of PCs and software licenses. “We have about 20 full-time and part-time employees, split between creatives and programmers, and 20 to 30 individuals from whom we outsource certain jobs,” says Torres. Today, aside from making job postings on their website and a few online advertising placements, EACOMM no longer actively looks for clients. The company now gets two to three unsolicited project requests weekly. The nature of its business also enables the company to render its services across the globe. Indeed, 40 percent of its current revenues is generated from foreign clients. “We charge a standard of US$15 to $20 an hour,” says Torres. “A basic website is about $2,000 to $3,000, but prices really depend on the project. What’s nice about that is we don’t really view local companies as our competitors—in fact, we even outsource projects to them.” EACOMM has since expanded its services to include web design and development, multimedia development, integrated hardware and software solutions, and training. The company now runs the EACOMM Studio of Digital Arts (ESODA). Over the years, the company has established strategic partnerships with, among several IT companies, Indigo 21, a UK-based information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions provider; Zeus Networks, a local software development company; and Elisha Telecom Ltd., London-based voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) hardware and software provider. EACOMM saw its biggest growth during the period from 2001 to 2006, experiencing a 30 percent annual increase in revenues. In 2005, the company moved to still another location—a larger 155-square meter office in nearby Eastwood’s CyberMall in Libis, Quezon City—to accommodate its growing business. “A major challenge in the IT industry is to constantly innovate and keep up with trends,” says Torres. “We’re currently creating standard Web applications that can be used by several clients, as opposed to creating one website per client. This makes our operations more efficient and productive and allows us to optimize the use of our current resources.”

Director 11 Coming Soon

After four years in limbo, Macromedia (now Adobe) Director is finally getting an upgrade! EACOMM has been authoring various multimedia applications using Director since 1999, fully utilizing (and oftentimes pushing beyond its limits) its  fantastic features such as a built in 3D engine, multi-player support, 3rd party-“xtras”, and highly developed scripting language.  Director has been the backbone of over half of EACOMM Corporation Multimedia Division’s Interactive Multimedia Projects such as CD/DVD authoring, interactive kiosks, on-line games and virtual tours.  We are particularly excited to see how the 3D engine has improved, with DirectX 9 Support and a new Physics Engine. Needless to say that this software upgrade would probably determine the ultimate future of this once top multimedia authoring software. It has lost a lot of ground to its ‘younger brother’ Flash, and if developers (us included), do not see any significant and  ground breaking improvements in Director 11, then sadly this might be the last version we’ll see of this application. Barring further delays expect Director 11 available for sale within the first quarter of this year and is already available for pre-ordering. For more details on what has been improved, click here.

Digium Products for the Philippines

EACOMM Corporation in partnership with Elisha Telecom Asia-Pacific is proud to announce the availability of a range of new products from Digium for the Philippine Market. This includes: TDM410 Series Analog Cards – Next generation 4-port analog cards able to accept Digium’s 32 channel echo cancellation module. Designed to replace the TDM400 series analog cards. TDM800 and AEX800 Series Analog Cards -8-port Analog TDM Card with optional Hardware-based echo cancellation module. TDM800 requires a standard PCI slot while AEX800 series requires a PCI-express slot. TDM2400 and AEX2400 Series Analog Cards – 24-port Analog TDM Card in PCI (TDM series) or PCI-express (AEX Series) models. All units can accept optional hardware-based echo cancellation module. EACOMM ships these cards with 6 feet 50-pin M<->F cable for free. Requires a 24-port Patch panel to terminate to standard analog RJ-11 cables. Next Generation TE-series Digital Cards – Includes TI/E1 TDM PCI and PCI express card models, option for echo-cancellation modules, and BRI models. Available in single-span, dual-span, and quad-span models. Asterisk Business Edition – Licensed version of Asterisk Open Source PBX. Asterisk Appliance -Full blown Asterisk PBX supporting up to 50 extension in a small box. Available with up to 4 FXO and 4 FXS ports. Lumenvox Speech Recognition Engine – Powerful Speech recognition software designed to work with Asterisk open source PBX. Download our current price list for Digium VoIP Products in Philippine Pesos here. For inquiries and requests for quotation, kindly contact Ms. Liza Castillo at +63 2 438 2983-85 local 212 or email us at sales@elishatelecom.com.

EACOMM Summer Internship Openings

INTERNSHIP OPENINGS: EACOMM Corporation is currently accepting Student Interns/Free-lancers/Part-timers for the following positions: Graphics Design/Desktop Publishing – part-time student or freelancer knowledgeable in Graphics Design and Desktop Publishing to work in completing various print-related projects. Web Content/Review Writer – students looking for part-time work as a web content/review writer. Ideal age would be 15-20 and must be an AVID PC GAMER. Web Programmer – on-the-job-training/freelance/student internship work on various in-house web applications currently under development. Flash Programmer – on-the-job-training/freelance/student internship work on various in-house flash games/content currently under development. Email Your Resumes to info@eacomm.com

Yourname.com Blog Hosting for just US$2.00/month

Yourname.com Blog Hosting for just US$2.00/month EACOMM Corporation is offering for a limited time only,  Blog Hosting for just US$24 per year! Yourname.com (or .org, .net, .biz) 8 GB of  Web Space 8 Email Addresses Pre-installed with WordPress Blog Engine FTP Access (ftp.yourdomain.com) This hosting service is not only ideal for Blogs but for small information websites which can be updated with little to no knowledge of HTML! Unique Web Page Layout for your Website/Blog For a one-time fee of US$150.00 we will provide you with a Unique Layout for your WordPress Blog/Website. Three (3) Layouts/themes will be presented to the client to choose from Inclusion of simple Flash banners/animation For more information about this limited offer email info@eacomm.com or call +63 2 438 2986.

EACOMM Corporation Website Version 5

Welcoming the new year, EACOMM is proud to launch the 5th version of its corporate website since the company’s inception in 2001. The new website features detailed interactive scenery with a retro, film-noir look developed in Flash. The website is managed through the latest version of EACOMM’s Dynamic Online Content Management System which features new features such as allowing for editing of Flash content as well as integration with Google’s Application suite. The site’s use of CSS 2.0 would also allow us to change the layout much more often and offer different layouts simultaneously in the future. The site is also designed to showcase the entire skill-set of EACOMM Corporation from Interactive Multimedia and Animation as seen with the various Flash scenes, to High-end Web Programming as showcased in the various dynamic content and interactive forms. For a blast from the past, visit the Web Archive which has our last three website layouts on record (for some reason the very first site was never stored). Version 1 (2001) was pure HTML and only had less than 10 web pages. Version 2 “Classic Black” (2002-2003) featured a number of online forms developed in PHP and writing to MySQL database. However, the main site content remained mostly HTML-based with a some small flash animation elements. Version two also included our first efforts in Search Engine Optimization of the website. Version 3 “United Colors of EACOMM” (2003-2005) featured a lively intro page and heavily SEO’d content. Some content were already content managed during the latter part of this version’s existence. Version 3 was also the first site hosted outside of EACOMM’s in-house web server for increased accessibility from the US/Europe. Version 4 “The Tree House” (2005-2007) This website was the first EACOMM website to fully utilize DO-CMS for content management. It feature original artwork from Visual Artist Robert Deniega. Further additions to the site includes this Blog website, a Japanese Version of the Website and other division sub-sites. Expect improvements and additions to the Current Website as we move forward through 2008 and beyond. Happy New Year to Everyone! EACOMM Corporation Web Team

ANIMAHENASYON 2007 FINALISTS

CONGRATULATIONS TO FINALISTS FOR ANIMAHENASYON 2007!!! TO VIEW THEIR WORKS, DROP BY ROBINSONS GALLERIA’S INDIE CINEMA BETWEEN NOVEMBER 21-27, 2007. For more information about the festival and show schedules, please visit the Animation Council Website or email them at info@animationcouncil.org. I. CATEGORY A: “Animated Shorts” (Competition) Pande Pinoy Teaser Trailer by Ma. Katrina Celina Millar Dayrit Godspeed by Ellen Ramos / Paolo Villaluna Putek! by Ramon del Prado / Teresa Clamor Fiesta 2052 by Michael Rivero End Of Part 11 by Wayie Canoy / Brendan Goco / Kat Lorenos Poring Glory by Edwin Guillermo May Lakad by Gigi Constantino PMS by Rosevie C. Sevilla One Minute Death by Teta Tulay Goner by Gem Urdaneta Row Our Boat by Don M. Salubayba Sketch Of War by Sherwin U. Llames Red Balloon by Titam Rebueno Malaya by Jeff Capili II. CATEGORY B: “Animated Shorts” (Competition)   Assorted Nuts! Episode 6: Funfair Mayhem by Nick Barrameda Inday Wanda by Nelson ‘Blog’ Caliguia, Jr. Kariton by Markwell Uy Gallos The Forgotten Legacy: Barter of Panay by Arnold M. Fuentes, MPA Left Turn by Roxlee / Lai Crisostomo / Maisa Demetillo Building Diamonds by Poklong Anading Si Silang At Ang Haring Ibon by Jason Francis C. Confesor Libingan by Ramon del Prado III. CATEGORY C: “Animated Shorts” (Competition)   Araw At Gabi by Nelson B. Caliguia, Sr. IV. CATEGORY E: “Music Videos” (Competition)   Alkohol by Mark Galvez / Dustin Uy Parapap by Ma. Katrina Celina Millar Dayrit Dream Systems by Paraluman C. Cruz En El Bano Con Frida by Ellen Ramos WWIII by RJ Mabilin Sweet Cheeks by Juan Alcazaren Tumatakbo by Dennis E. Sebastian Tuparin Natin Ang Banta ng Ating Panahon by RJ Mabilin / Teta Tulay V. CATEGORY F: “TVCs/OBBs/Demo Reels” (Competition)   “Art Jam” OBB by Paolo Villaluna / Ellen Ramos “Bitemark Animation Studios” Demo Reel by Ma. Katrina Celina Millar Dayrit Stop The Killings by Emil James Z. Mijares A Day In The Life Of Gloria Arrovo “Imperialist’s Puppet” (Part I: Expanded Value Added Tax) by RJ Mabilin “Lips” TVC by Pete Jimenez “Siopawman” Teaser by Pete Jimenez / Kinjo Estioko VI. CATEGORY H: “Animated Shorts” (Competition)   Magbaroto: Take 1 by Jonathan P. Jurilla Night Shift by Jerome Albrando Double Trouble by Nino H. Pilotin Akeyah by Chaz Raimier R. Penas Homebound by Glenn Oliva Berg by Cherrelle Ann V. Consulta Last Haven by Mae Ann E. Britanico The Last Bloom by Christopher A. Etorne The Legend Of Tibud: The Journey Begins by Vicente B. Galino III Doodle Of Doom by Jason Francis C. Confesor / Nelson ‘Blog’ Caliguia, Jr. Pinish Product by Kat Lorenos / Ian Lorenos Reprogress 1.5 by Ian Navarroza Kalapit-Bahay by Valroman R. Francisco When Only Blood Will Fill Your Heart by John Ryo E. Manaluz A Dull Story by Kerwin Atienza Call Of Nature by Gretchen Alarkon A Dog’s Tale by Sesinio A. Ampongan, Jr. Karaniwang Tae by Edwin Guillermo Kokie by Amos Victor Delgado Swok, The Sidewalk Story by Pauline Rhea Barra Goat It by Paolo T. Arcilla The Golden Tooth by Klevin Jake P. Laforteza Si Diego At Ang Halimaw Dagat by Kei Anne Uchida VII. CATEGORY I: “Animated Shorts” (Competition)   The Tear Stealer by Frederic F. Declaro Sinta’s Wish by Fara Martia P. Manuel Afterbirth by Reginald Vinluan The 3R’s by Irene Villanueva-Surio Lola Pia by Sesinio A. Ampongan, Jr. / May John Amilano / Wesley Babor My Pet by Anna Katrina G. Bigornia Makina Ng Manggagawa by Emil James Z. Mijares Ang Paglikha by Teta Tulay Patik by Wesley Kent Rasines VIII. CATEGORY J: “Music Videos” (Competition)   Yeah by Jerome Albrando Babae Po Ako by June H. Vasquez Bad by Ivan Shane SA. Salceda Go The Distance by Chris Gerrard dl. Castro Pop by Valroman R. Francisco The Spider & The Fly by Kenny Lyn Tai Over The Rainbow by Delma Kryll Baluyot Si Filemon by Omar P. Aguilar Makulay Ang Buhay by Klevin Jake P. Laforteza Same Ground by Marvin C. Pila I Believe I Can Fly by Kristian P. De Leon IX. CATEGORY K: “TVCs/OBBs/Demo Reels” (Competition)   Mutation Permutation by Edwin Guillermo “Tech Gen (Y4IT 2007 National Youth Congress In Information Technology)” OBB by Hedrick G. David “ADAAF 2006” OBB by Christopher Etorne “Mongol” TVC by Valroman R. Francisco “Crayola” TVC by Chris Ivan Robert P. Ceres “Adidas” TVC by Ryan Rey A. Licas “Nike” TVC by Jerome Albrando “DHL” TVC by Paolo T. Arcilla “Fedex” TVC by Donreb Ernesto “Coca-Cola” TVC by Roman V. Matuguinas “Yellowcab” TVC by Nowen Fernandez “Purina” TVC by Omar P. Aguilar “Game Boy Micro” TVC by Kristoffer Ralph Brocales “Sony Bravia” TVC by Amira June P. Mallari “Sony Ericsson W900i” TVC by Ryan P. Rubi “Apple Macbook” TVC by Mary Kennette Carla E. Esta “Power Mac G5” TVC by Juan Martin G. Victorio “Logitech” TVC by Nicolette F. Aguilar “Toyota Yaris 2006” TVC by Baylon, Delfin Joseph Christopher Sy “Lexus RX 300” TVC by Ivan Shane SA. Salceda “Greenmind” Demo Reel by David De La Paz / Alan Wansom   X. EXHIBITION PROGRAM: “Persistence of Vision” (To Be Announced)

ANIMATE THIS: Animahenasyon 2007 highlights original Pinoy animation

The Filipino animator must be one of the most overlooked artists in the Philippines. As diligent and creative as the Pinoy independent filmmaker but not as recognized, the local animators have, for the longest time, been looking for a chance (and in some cases, a venue) to finally showcase their originality and talent. Strangely enough, it is the foreign animation companies that have been recognizing the local animators by giving them steady work for the many years now. Indeed, it has been an open secret that some of the cartoons produced by foreign production houses employ Pinoy animators. No doubt about it, Filipino animators are talented but the question is: when will they be given the spotlight they so rightfully deserve? Enter ANIMAHENASYON 2007, Pinoy Animation Festival slated on November 21 to 25 at Robinsons Galleria’s Indie Cine. The festival aims to finally give professional and amateur Filipino animators a venue where they could screen their original works. “I think it is about time to give these animators a chance to show their own works,” says Ricky Orellana, festival director of ANIMAHENASYON. “After all, they have been working on other’s people’s materials for the longest time.” He says that viewers might be surprised to discover that Pinoy animators are not just copycats of American or Japanese animation. “We have our own style,” he says. Indeed, if the entries this year prove anything, it’s that Filipino animators are hard to pigeonhole. “Some are in 2-D and 3-D and some used cell animation but what is really surprising is that we received entries from all over the Philippines: from Baguio to Iloilo, from Lapu Lapu to Marinduque,” Orellana said. Suffice to say that the topics are also diverse. Some are interpretation of local folklore and some are original stories by the animators themselves. “Even now, I expect our judges to have a hard time picking which entries to include in the final list,” the festival director said, “because some of the entries are really good.” And since ANIMAHENASYON’s goal is to spotlight Pinoy animators, what better way to do that than to have two very successful Filipino animators from PIXAR (Toy Story, Finding Nemo) and Dreamworks (Shrek, Madagascar) to give a talk during the festival. “Aside from the original Pinoy works, we are also inviting two Pinoy animators who have done significant work in mainstream Hollywood,” says Orellana. “Hopefully, the forum will give animators a chance to discuss pertinent issues concerning not only the local industry but the international animation industry as well.” And like any other festival, ANIMAHENASYON will hand out various awards for deserving entries. Up for grabs are the GRAND PRIZE AWARD, AWARD for BEST REGIONAL ENTRY, JURY’S SPECIAL AWARD, and AUDIENCE’S SPECIAL AWARD, among others. But of course, as the festival organizers never fail to point out, the real prize is that finally Pinoy animators are not just anonymous workers toiling on some cartoon series but, through ANIMAHENASYON, artists in the real sense of the word. ANIMAHENASYON 2007 is spearheaded by the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI), a non-stock and non-profit organization. The members of ACPI specialize mainly in—but not limited to— 2D or 3D animation. The organization, which is recognized and supported by the Philippine government, aims to create an identity for the Philippines to be considered among the preferred countries that service the animation industry. Animation by some of the members of Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. Contact Persons: Mario Banzon Laisa Gonzales Animation Council of the Philippines T: 4382983 local 150-151

PHP Everywhere! December 1, 2007

PHP User Group Philippines, Inc. (PHPUGPH), a non-profit organization established to provide support for LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) and open-source enthusiasts in the Philippines, will be holding it’s 1st ever PHP Developer’s Conference on December 1, 2007 (1-day event)/9am-6pm. This is in follow-up with last Aprils successful event, a gathering of professional LAMP developers, web freelancers and companies utilizing OSS (Open-Source Software) technologies for enterprise use. The goal for this upcoming conference is to spread the news of using OSS solutions such as Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP and some Web 2.0 technologies in wider audiences such as universities and training institutions. Many noted members of our group are certified and professionally affiliated with leading company in the industry such as Barclays, UN-IOSN, Yahoo! Singapore, Accenture, Mobius Asia and some semi-conductor/electronics like Intel, Atmel, Amis, which has some open source software deployed in production environment. Last Aprils event was sponsored as listed below that capture’s local IT industry attention and it is our aim to widen the coverage this coming December’s event with your support. Contact ajbatac–at–phpugph.com for more details.

Neo Laptop Drivers

For those looking for Laptop Drivers for your NEO Notebook, and like us you couldn’t find any online*, we’ve taken the liberty of uploading them to our support site as a ‘temporary’ repository while NEO themselves decide to offer it in their website. Download the drivers at: http://corp.eacomm.com/support/neolaptopdrivers *UPDATE!!!! – As of mid-2008, Neo Philippines are now offering Laptop Model-specific Device Drivers for all its current and past Laptop Models. Please visit their Support Page at: http://neo.com.ph/support.html to download! DISCLAIMER: We make no guarantees that the drivers available here would work for your specific NEO Laptop Model. For best results, we still suggest you visit the nearest NEO laptop service center or inquire at: http://www.neo.com.ph You’re still free to download the versions we have on the link above, but we HIGHLY RECOMMEND using the drivers available from NEO itself.

Setting Up Virtual Private Networking (VPN) Connection Under Windows

Setting Up Virtual Private Networking (VPN) Connection Under Windows Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Step 1 Click the Start Menu then click Control Panel. Double-click the Network Connections icon. The Network Connections window will open. In the Network Tasks side panel Click the Create a new connection icon. If the side panel is not shown, double-click the New Connection Wizard icon. The Network Connection Wizard will open. Back to Top Step 2 Under the Network Connection Type section, select Connect to the network at my workplace option. Click Next to continue. Back to Top Step 3 Under the Network Connection section, select Virtual Private Networking connection. Click Next to continue. Back to Top Step 4 Under the Connection Name section, enter the name you like to use for your connection. Click Next to continue. Back to Top Step 5 Under the VPN Server Selection section, enter the Host Name or IP Address of the computer to which you are connecting. If you are not sure what to enter, please consult your Administrator. Click Next to continue. Back to Top Step 6 Click Finish to exit the wizard. You may also check the Add shortcut to desktop checkbox. Back to Top Step 7 To open your new VPN Connection, double-click the VPN icon on your desktop with the name that you entered earlier. Enter the username and password. Click Connect to start the connection. Back to Top

WAMP Installation Guide

WAMP Installation Guide WAMP (Windows-Apache-mySQL-PHP) is an all-in-one packages which installs the basic programs you will need to get a localhost running and to be able to build and run PHP scripts. This guide will walk you through installing a WAMP package for the first time. Step 01: Open WAMP website. Step 02: Open the DOWNLOADS page. Step 03: Choose version to install. *note: Ask supervisor which version to use. Step 04: Installing older version. Step 05: Installing older version: Re-direction to download page. Step 06: Installing older version: Checking which WAMP version to use. Step 07: Choosing download mirror and downloading. Step 08: Run the installer file. Step 09: Run the installer file: License Agreement. Step 10: Run the installer file: Saving Directory Step 11: Run the installer file: Creating Start Menu Folder Step 12: Run the installer file: Auto-launch WAMP on Startup Step 13: Run the installer file: Confirmation of Installation Settings Step 14: Run the installer file: Saving Document Root Folder Step 15: Run the installer file: Default Browser and Finishing the Installation Step 16: Manually Starting WAMP Server Step 17: Testing the LOCALHOST NOTE Step 01: Open the WAMP website at http://www.wampserver.com/en/index.php. You should be able to see a page like this: [Back to Top] Step 02: Click the DOWNLOADS link. [Back to Top] Step 03: Ask your OJT supervisor which versions of mySQL and PHP would you be using. If it is ok to use the newest available version of WAMP then click the DOWNLOAD link to install. Proceed to Step 07 if you would do this step. [Back to Top] Step 04: If you would require a version of WAMP with older version/s of either Php, mySQL, or phpmyAdmin click on the PREVIOUS VERSIONS link. [Back to Top] Step 05: You will be directed to the download page of all the older versions of WAMP, such as below. Scroll down and click the VIEW OLDER RELEASES link. [Back to Top] Step 06: You will then be directed to a page such as below. To check which version of WAMP has the versions of the programs you need, scroll down and click on any of the NOTES links in the page, as illustrated below. It will direct you to a page such as below. Scroll down to search for the appropriate version that suits your requirements. Return to the previous page after taking note of what version you will use, then select the version you would need to use. [Back to Top] Step 07: Whether or not you would need to download the newest version of WAMP, you would be directed to a page where you would select mirrors for the download. You could choose any mirror you would like but personally I would advice choosing either Japan or Taiwan as a mirror, or any Asian country for that matter (they?re closer to the Philippines). You should be able to see a page like this: After choosing a mirror, save the file to your computer. [Back to Top] Step 08: Once download finishes, run the installer file. [Back to Top] Step 09: In the license agreement click [I accept the agreement], then click next. [Back to Top] Step 10: Select the directory where you would like to install WAMP. [Back to Top] Step 11: Select the start menu folder where you would like to place WAMP?s shortcuts. [Back to Top] Step 12: In the additional tasks you may select if WAMP would be loaded on startup or no. If its most likely that you would be programming PHP as soon as you start your computer (most likely yes) then I suggest you select the checkbox. Otherwise you may opt to leave it unchecked and turn on the WAMP server manually. [Back to Top] Step 13: This is the confirmation screen of the options you have selected. Click back to modify your install settings or click next to start the installation. [Back to Top] Step 14: Some time midway into the installation a window will pop-up asking for the directory where to save the document root folder. It is recommended that you leave it as it is and click ok to continue the installation. [Back to Top] Step 15: After the said pop-up another window will appear asking for you default browser. If you have no preference for browsers just hit Open. If not search for the .exe file of your preferred browser then click Open to continue the installation. Once the installation is finished, click finish. [Back to Top] Step 16: To manually start the WAMP server, click Start>Programs>WampServer or [name you assigned in Step 15] >start WampServer. This is illustrated below: [Back to Top] Step 17: Open your preferred browser and type in the address bar LOCALHOST. It should display the WAMP homepage like below, signifying a successful installation. Click this link to try launching the localhost > http://localhost [Back to Top] NOTE: Always remember to enable the WAMP server (if it isn’t already enabled) as illustrated in Step 16 whenever you want to test any page in the localhost. [Back to Top]

EACOMM Integrated Solutions now offering VoiSmart VoIP GSM Gateway

EACOMM Corporation Integrated Solutions division is excited the announce the availability of the VoiSmart vGSM Series VoIP GSM gateways. This is the first 100% Asterisk compatible PCI bus card, for multiple channel (up to four) GSM communication management.This board allows systems integrators to transform highly priced fixed to mobile voice traffic into a much cheaper mobile to mobile call management, with considerable savings. No external gateways needed. 100% compatible with EU and US GSM networks (900/1800/1900 MHz) and with Brazil and Japan networks. SMS are handled in native modality, thanks to a new Asterisk application for messages TX and RX, available free together with this board. The VooSmart vGSM cards are available for ordering and purchase at the EACOMM On-line Store

June 6, 2007 Hacking Incident

On Early morning Philippine time, some of our virtual servers hosted with Dreamhost were broken into and a number of webpages vandalized. EACOMM provides hourly, daily and weekly backups of all its web sites and as of noontime of June 7, most, if not all websites have been recovered to its original state. This marks the second time EACOMM servers have been hacked in the company’s six years in existence. At both times recovery of all client sites took approximately 24 hours. For our clients, please notify web@eacomm.com of any further problems with your webpages that might have been overlooked during the recovery process. Please understand that we had to recover a few dozen websites in a span of just 24 hours so please forgive our support team if your specific site or webpage was overlooked. Despite of this we stand by our choice of using Dreamhost for most of our website hosting needs, however,if any client wishes to be hosted elsewhere, please notify web@eacomm.com and we will provide you viable alternatives to our main hosting servers. EACOMM currently maintains 2 Virtual Servers in the United States, 1 Dedicated Server in the UK, and 2 Dedicated servers in the Philippines. Note that web hosting prices vary depending on which server you prefer. For more information about the hacking incident, Dreamhost’s official report on the matter is posted here: http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/06/06/security-breach/  EACOMM CORPORATION WEB DIVISION

Pacific Internet Launches VOCAL VoIP Service

Pacific Internet Philippines is offering a VoIP package that comes with a FREE grandstream or linksys VoIP Phone. Available plans start at Php 900.00 per month with 125 call minutes free. Higher priced plans comes with DID in UK, US or other countries. Compared with foreign offerings from the US or Europe, Pacific’s offering seems a bit expensive. With effective per minute charges to the US ranging from Php 5.00 – 7.20/minute. The free IP Phone would be the biggest come-on though, albeit at the price they’re charging perhaps a higher-end phone would have been nicer. For more information, visit: http://vocal.pacific.net.ph/index.html

THE SECRETS OF VOIP BILLING

We have tried out a variety of VoIP providers in the past few months and the way they bill for calls are almost always unique to specific providers. We thought we’d run down some of these billing techniques in this article so to help us all choose which type of billing system is best for our different applications. Unlimited Billing. Typically for residential and ‘small business’ users, most VoIP companies offer some sort of “Unlimited” Plan. The best suggestion one can give for these plans is READ THE FINE PRINT!!! You’ll see that most of these plans are unlimited, “Based on the Average Usage of a Residential/Business Customer”. In other words, the providers reserve the right to bill for “Overusage” or to upgrade your plan if they think you’re abusing it. So essentially, what’s so unlimited about them then? How unlimited plans work is the providers think up of an estimate of the number of calls a ‘typical’ client would make…let’s say the slightly above average Residential Customer would make 1,500 minutes of calls per month and a Business Customer would make 4,000 minutes of calls per month. Now let’s say the package is for continental USA and that the providers cost of connection is US$ 0.01/minute and cost of providing a DID (traditional telephone number) to it’s customers is US$5.00/month. Hence they’ll give out an Unlimited Plan of 0.01×1,500 = US$ 20.00/month for Residential Users and US$45.00/month for Business Users. Laws of statistics say that as long as most of their customers will fall well below their predicted consumption they stand to make a ton of profit and the beauty of it is, if specific customers are heavy users (i.e. above the predicted call minutes per month), then the provider can say you’ve ‘overused’ the system and must pay more…hence the provider will never lose money on a single “Unlimited Subscription”. Pay per Use. A much more versatile plan is paying per use. In this plan either you have a fixed subscription (i.e. for DID rental) then you have to pay for your call charges or you pay for everything up-front. This seems to be very straightforward an upfront vs. unlimited billing, but it’s not. Where the providers differ in the Pay per Use scenario is how they treat your per minute charges. Minimum Billing – Some providers require a minimum call charge regardless of how long the call is. Some provide a specific monetary amount such as minimum of 1 cent per call, or minimum of 1 Minute Charge. Seems harmless, but over an entire voip system, you’ll be surprised of the amount of calls that last less than a minute! Billing Intervals – Some providers bill per second, per X second interval, or some even per minute! Treatment of Sub-cent Charges – Billing for half a cent is obviously impossible and it only makes sense to roundup charges to the nearest cent. However, providers do have the option of aggregating the total call charges and just bill on the Cent level on actual invoicing or practice rounding up sub-cent charges on a per call basis. Rounding-up per call over MILLIONS of call minutes is a Huge money earner. Let’s say a provider offer 1 cent/minute and per second billing, and you make a 90 second call. The Charge should be 1.5 cents. If they round up per call this is charged 2 cents. Lines/Channels. For those of you using VoIP termination for a PBX, this is a big consideration. Lines or Channels limit the number of inbound and outbound connections your server can make simultaneously. True wholesale termination will give you UNLIMITED number of Lines/Channels. However, hosted PBX providers, DID providers and “PBX termination” typically limits this. Again, if you need this service, make sure it’s available before you sign-up! Some providers discuss channel limitations in very small fine print in the deepest recesses of their websites! And if ever you need to expand your number of channels the additional fees can be PHENOMENAL. For example one provider we tested offered 4 channels free and US$20.00/month per channel over that. Another provider offered 2 channels free and $10.00/month per channel over the first 2…but on minimum bulk purchase of 10 channels! The bottom line is read the fine print! Also note that we’ve not discussed Quality of Service in this article, you might be getting the cheapest fairest deal with your provider but it turns out he’s running his VoIP setup from a Pentium 3 desktop in his house! As there’s a multitude of companies out there, make sure you do your research on the companies you sign up with, test various providers before settling with a big investment with one, and READ THE FINE PRINT!

Digium announces release of New Products

High Performance Echo Cancellation – For quite some time now, Digium has been offering On-board Echo Cancellation for its TDM2400 and TE series of cards, while those using the smaller TDM400 cards are left to tweak echo cancellation using Asterisk Software. Last Feb, Digium announced the availability of High Performance Echo Cancellation that users can download and install for FREE if they own a Digium Card or can purchase for US$10.00 if they don’t. HPEC is available directly from the Digium Website. We’ve yet to test the HPEC but Digium claims it provides ‘Carrier-Grade Echo Cancellation’. The catch though is the tremendous CPU Power that the HPEC will consume: “Digium recommends that users requiring 8 channels at 1024 taps run a PC comparible to a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4, while users only requiring 4 channels at 1024 taps may run a 2.5 GHz Pentium Celeron” Nonetheless the added CPU load could be a small price to pay if it makes it easier for all of us to create the ever elusive ‘Echo-Free’ calls we’re all looking for. TDM800 Series – Also this February, Digium has announced the availabilty of its TDM800 Series of Cards. Addressing the ‘middle range’ between its TDM400 entry level series and the TDM2400 cards. The TDM800 can accept both the X100M Single FXO and S100M Single FXS daughter cards as well as the X400M Quad FXO and S400M Quad FXS cards. There are 2 Available slots for Quad Modules and up to 4 available slots for Single Modules. Giving a configuration of 1-6 or 8 slots (mix of FXO and FXS). The TDM800 does not come with the Echo Cancellation Module available for the TDM2400 and TE series cards but the Digium’s HPEC software can provide Carrier Grade Echo Cancellation for this PCI card. The TDM800 Series is available for purchase on-line for the Philippine Market from EACOMM’s Online Store.