National Statistical Service issues results for IT sector in January-April 2010

Review of June 1-7 telecommunications and IT events.

The Armenian National Statistical Service issued the results for IT sector in January-April 2010. According to the data provided, the revenue increased by 6.2% as compared with the 2009 index and totaled AMD 52.9 bln. During the reporting period, 459 computers were assembled, what is 3.4% more than last year (475). 2% drop was recorded in tariffs for communication services.

June 11, 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) requested the Armenian government for allotment of 140sq. m territory at Tigran Mets Avenue to establish ARMIX unit – a center for Internet traffic exchange. Providers intend to decrease usage of external Internet traffic through ARMIX that will have a significant impact on tariffs and quality of the provided Internet services.

BarCamp 2010 IT conference in Yerevan featured presentations on geolocation, website monetization, information wars and security, use of web tools in education. During a meeting with the RA PM, the conference participants requested for elaboration of National strategy of Armenian e-content development.

South Caucasus Railways (SCR) CJSC is developing a system of electronic circulation of documents in 2010. “Since its establishment, the SCR CJSC has been adhered to introduction of modern information technologies: computerized Road Operating Control Center has been opened, automated systems of stations administration have been introduced,” the company’s spokesman Vahe Davtyan said.

None of the participating teams won the first and second prizes at ArmRobotics championship, as they have not managed to fulfill the task entirely. Ericta (European Regional Academy) and Ciber RAU (Russian-Armenian University) won the third place, each receiving AMD 100,000 as a monetary prize. The other seven teams were awarded encouraging prizes at the amount of AMD 40,000.

Number of Opera Mini mobile browser users in Armenia grew by 91.9% in 2010, compared with last year’s data. At the same time, web page visits rate grew by 177.1%. According to the Opera Software report on Armenia, odnoklassniki.ru, yandex.ru, mail.ru and google.com top the most visited websites list. Nokia 6300, Nokia 6233, Sony Ericsson K750i, Samsung SGH-E250 and Nokia 6500s were named top handsets for April 2010. In April 2010, Opera Mini became officially available on the Apple iPhone, with over 2.6 million unique users of Opera Mini on the iPhone.

It became known this wee week that the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (ACCEA) will host TEDx Yerevan conference to be held under Beyond Borders motto in September. TED (short for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a U.S. private non-profit foundation that is best known for its conferences devoted to what it calls "ideas worth spreading”. TEDx is a program that enables schools, businesses, libraries or just groups of friends to enjoy a TED-like experience with TEDx Events they themselves organize, design and host. Among the most popular issues to be discussed at TEDx Yerevan are: energy, innovations, technologies, education, homeland and Diaspora, tedxyerevan.com-based poll shows. Speakers from Armenia, foreign states and Diaspora will be participating, with 20-25 presentations featured.

Gayane Mirzoyan