An interesting movement in the executive of IBM Philippines.  IBM announced yesterday the appointment of Mariels Almeda Winhoffer as the President and Country General Manager for IBM Philippines effective immediately.

Almeda-Winhoffer was born and raised in Manila, Philippines, started her career in IBM 26 years ago most recently serving as Client Advocacy Executive for IBM Corporation, where she reported directly to the Chairman and provided support for global client engagements.

She succeeds James Velasquez who has been appointed Director, Maintenance and Technical Support, IBM Global Technology Services IBM ASEAN.

Under James Velasquez’s leadership, IBM Philippines has expanded its business portfolio exponentially with significant additions to its global delivery missions. Through various collaborations with government, academe and industry, IBM has also established itself as a national asset. As we enter the next phase of our growth, Mariels Almeda Winhoffer’s deep client insight, global experience and outstanding leadership will help boost IBM Philippines as an industry leader, serving local and global clients.”

Ms. Almeda Winhoffer will assume responsibility for all of IBM’s operations in the Philippines, including the company’s sales and distribution, systems and technology, software and services units, and fully-owned subsidiaries offering global delivery including IBM Solutions Delivery and IBM Global Process Services Centers.

Ms. Almeda Winhoffer has held various executive posts within IBM including Vice President and Business Development Executives leader for the Industrial Sector, Client Relationship Executives leader for Global Technology Services (GTS) Strategic Outsourcing, as well as Services leader for Electronics and Automotive accounts – all based in the USA.

She was also a recipient of the 2009 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center, recognizing her contribution to the Asian business community in the United States.

Ms. Almeda Winhoffer completed her primary and secondary education at Assumption College, Philippines, before moving to the United States earning a double degree in Finance and Computer Science from Fordham University, cum laude.

She’s now the fourteenth Country General Manager, and the first female President of IBM Philippines.

Solar Entertainment Corporation last December 5, 2011, signed IBM  Philippines to managed subscription service agreement to help the broadcast media and content provider with its storage solution requirements.

Solar Entertainment Corporation CEO and President Wilson Tieng said, “Our partnership with IBM allows us to increase the storage capacity our IT broadcasting operations require to keep both short-term and long-term archives and databases of shows for all our channels. The additional storage equipment ties in with our growth plans as we intend to keep our audiences continuously happy with the variety of shows we line up everyday. Our operations team is also freed up from manually updating and maintaining our databases and we don’t need to worry about technology obsolescence, because IBM manages and supports our storage requirements for the foreseeable future.”

According to Solar’s Technical team, they are using approximately more than 1 Terabyte of storage as part of their daily requirements in archiving data, media and databases in which they will be needing more or less 430Terabytes of storage space in the next 365days.

“Providing the necessary storage capabilities and helping manage their archiving infrastructure will enable Solar Entertainment to focus on their core business, while taking advantage of exceptional operational efficiencies and cost savings,” said James Velasquez, Country General Manager, IBM Philippines. “IBM is excited to work with Solar Entertainment on this strategic project as they continue to improve and expand their business to provide top notch entertainment for Filipinos.”

PJ Lhuillier Incorporated (PJLI)recently strengthened its IT infrastructure with IBM BladeCentre servers and IBM’s latest eX5 systems to support the company’s continuous growth nationwide. PJ Lhuillier is the company behind the 1,500 Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop (CLP) branches nationwide.

The new IBM systems will also help PJLI address increasing customer demands and better prepare for the anticipated surge of business transactions in the last quarter of the year.

According to the news released, the IBM – PJLI team-up was first established in 1996, where PJLI made its first IBM server acquisition. This continuous enhancement is one of the manifestations of PJLI’s goal in providing the best service to its clients, truly living up to its slogan “Walang Kapantay Magpahalaga.”

The IBM Blade Centre server is a highly integrated system comprising of blade servers, storage, management and networking options which help reduce management complexity, increase performance and energy-efficiency. It also significantly reduces costs with a highly reliable and flexible design that deters the need for “rip and replace” as capacity needs change.

As part of the solution, IBM BladeCentre HS22 blade servers will provide hot-swap drives and integrated systems management tools, common across all new x86 servers, to help improve the economics of PJLI’s current infrastructure, including fueling faster performance to a reduction in IT footprint, energy and connectivity costs.

Although I can’t afford to acquire IBM BladeCenter for our company, Going Straight Salon, Inc.  have been running IBM Servers X series for more than 5 years because of it’s reliability and stability.

Last night November 23, 2011 – PLDT announced its new roster of Bossing, the winner of MVP Bossing Awards 2011 held at the Meralco Theater in Pasig.  It started with the unveiling of the 2011 MVP Bossing Trophy at the  Lobby (which I have missed due to heavy traffic in Makati ). At exactly 8:30 PM, the awarding  ceremonies  started in which it was hosted by a well-known KAPATID anchor Mr. Paolo Bediones and Ms. Tessa Prieto – Valdez  at the Theater Area.

Together with the previous awardees, Mr. Paolo Bediones and Ms. Tessa announced the following  2011 MVP Bossing Awardees:

Special Awards:

Philippine Azkals Member – Phil and James Younghusband (Youth and  Sport Development)

EchoStore’s - Chit Juan (Social Entrepreneurship)

MVP Bossing Awards:

Autohub Group – Willy Tee Ten

Automatic Centre/Blims Furniture – Samie and Eric Lim

Bounty Fresh – Tennyson Chen

CATS Motors – Felix Ang

Chic-Boy – Franchis Juan

FERN Inc. – Tomanny Tan

HBC Inc. - Dr. Rosalinda Hortaleza

Max’s Fried Chicken – Robert Trota

Pancake House Group – Martin Lorenzo

Profood International Corporation – Justin Uy

Sulit.com.ph – RJ and Arianne David

Grand Bossing Awardee:

National Bookstore – Socorro Ramos

The MVP Bossing Awards is PLDT’s annual search for successful small and medium-sized businesses, a prestigious selection of individuals who display an enterprising spirit and innovation.  Out of 200 nominations were received across all sectors, the above new Bossing out-stand the others because of their value of entrepreneurship.

Each winner received a Kenneth Cobonpue-designed trophy. The acclaimed furniture icon in the country, created a trophy featuring a man perched on top of a tower, symbolizing the success story of winning over adversity.

All last night awardees will be part of the 2012 PLDT SME Nation Bossing Ako, and they already campaigning for the next batch of Bossing for 2012…. Do you have an early bet?

For more detail on the MVP Bossing Awards, visit its website at www.pldtsme-nation.com.ph/bossingako/

More Photos at the : http://www.thelunchbreakblogger.com

More and more families live in digital homes that need a fast, reliable, wired Internet connection for simultaneous use on multiple gadgets. It may sound like a tall order for most broadband services in the country, but PLDT myDSL has come up with a plan to help you get the strongest DSL connection at home, with speeds as high as 10MBPS at only P4,000 a month. Of course, there are plans convenient for any budget as well, starting at the affordable monthly rate of P990.

This is just the latest plan the nation’s most preferred broadband is offering to help make broadband easier to share among everyone in the family. Tried and tested, myDSL has more reliable connections thanks to the continuous upgrades of its lines, most notably the ongoing switch from traditional copper lines to the PLDT Next Generation Network, which is being done without additional costs on the part of subscribers.

Going hand-in-hand with these improvements is an upgrade on PLDT myDSL’s customer services and a regularly updated website for news, product announcements, and promotions.

All myDSL subscriptions are part of PLDT’s Triple Play package, which includes unlimited myDSL, a landline, and PLDT online entertainment portal Watchpad, which gives you access to 17 channels and exclusive content, as well as the coming Pacquiao Vs. Marquez fight, live with no commercial breaks if you’re on plan 1995 and up and registered to Watchpad. Not yet on Watchpad, register now. And if you’re a non 1995 and up subscriber, you can still watch the fight for free if you subscribe to Watchpad Big Ticket from now until Nov. 10.

Get your family on PLDT myDSL now! Log on to www.myworldmydsl.com.

[Press Release]

A few days ago IBM announced the successful completion of an operational framework project towards an integrated development process, particularly in urban planning and transport & traffic management for Cebu. As part of the IBM Centennial Corporate Social Responsibility, IBM formed six senior IBM leaders from the United States, Sweden, Germany and Italy worked closely with the various Cities and Municipalities of Cebu through the newly formed Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDCB).

IBM Team Provides a Roadmap Towards a Smarter Cebu