By Zinnia B. Dela Peña
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=200807235
July 24, 2008

Publicly-listed information technology and gaming conglomerate IPVG Corp. is planning to raise as much as P150 million from a private placement of shares to fund the expansion of its subsidiaries.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, IPVG said its board has approved the issuance of up to 50 million shares out of the proposed increase in its authorized capital stock from P800 million to P1 billion. The shares will be sold at P3 per share.

IPVG said the terms and conditions of the private placement have yet to be finalized by the firm’s executive committee.

Aside from the private placement, IPVG also plans to issue up to 38 million shares to its employees and/or subsidiaries or to a company formed by such employees at P3 each.

IPVG is subscribing to 100 million shares and 90 million shares of IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc. and IP Coverage Data Center, respectively at P1 per share.

It is also investing $2 million in gaming unit IP E-Game Ventures Inc.

From January to March this year, IPVG reported a five-fold increase in net income to P33.91 million on the back of record-breaking revenues.

Consolidated revenues surged 430 percent to P827.69 million from only P156.17 million a year earlier on robust contributions from the firm’s online gaming and communications units and newly-acquired businesses.

While focused on high-growth technology driven sectors, IPVG generates revenues from the US, Europe and Southeast Asia thereby offering regional and global exposure. This has translated to a sustained growth in the company’s earnings with minimal risk.

Aside from IT and business process outsourcing, IPVG also has interests in telecommunications and online gaming. It has established presence in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Panama, United Kingdom and the US.

http://www.offshoringtimes.com/Pages/2008/BPO_news2182.html
July 15, 2008 - Tuesday

Publicly listed information and communications technology group IPVG Corp. announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Canadabased call center firm Gemma Communications LP GemmaCom.The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding MOU on Wednesday to provide call center outsourcing services as well as Englishspeaking customer support functions to GemmaComs clients in Canada and other countries.

Under the terms of the MOU, GemmaCom will primarily be responsible for promoting, marketing, quality assurance and infrastructure such as dialer and network setup with its preexisting outsourcing services. IPVG, on the other hand, will provide operations and infrastructure, including production seats and network, through its business process outsourcing BPO unit, IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc.

Upon completion of a successful proofofconcept, the parties will form a special purpose vehicle, to be owned equally by the parties.

The migration of services from both companies will provide full voice and nonvoice delivery capabilities such as inbound, outbound and BPO services.

Our partnership with Gemma Communications strengthens IPVGs outsourcing and offshoring network, IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said in a separate statement.

GemmaCom has 1,000 seats in three call center facilities in Toronto, Ontorio and Quebec in Canada.
The partnership with GemmaCom is the third in IPVGs BPO platform following its joint venture with Credence Analytics in India and the acquisition of USbased call center Influent.

By Zinnia B. Dela Peña
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008071018
July 11, 2008

IPVG Corp. has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CMC Telecommunications Services Corp. to develop and provide information and communication technology products and services in Vietnam.

Based in Hanoi, CMC Telecom is a telecommunications service provider engaged in telecommunications infrastructure, data services, online content services, and business process outsourcing (BPO). It is also  the distributor of many world-leading IT and telecom solutions and products in Vietnam.

IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said the move is in line with the company’s regional expansion aimed at becoming a leading BPO process outsourcing company in the region by 2009.

“Vietnam is a key component of our regional expansion and our relationship with CMC Telecom gives us access to providing cutting-edge solutions to the growing Vietnamese economy and foreign enterprises that do business there. We are committed to the long-term development of our presence in Vietnam and believe this partnership paves the way for this initiative,” Gonzalez said.

Tagged by market analysts and economists as one of the potential countries to be “The Next China”, the Vietnam market offers an attractive and dynamic business opportunity that must not be overlooked.

“As Vietnam becomes a strategic place for many global companies in their investment plan, the development of local IT and telecom market directly affects the business effectiveness of those companies. By signing the MOU of partnership with IPVG, we would like to open new opportunities for both companies in terms of expanding customer base and maintaining its reputation as leading ICT services companies in Vietnam and regional market”, said Pham Anh Chien, chief executive officer of CMC Telecom.    

The partnership will allow IPVG, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, to offer BPO for call center operations; knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) for outsourced services for banking and financial institutions; communications for IT and telecommunications services; and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation services, as well as regional infrastructure and access to international clients. 

For the BPO operations, IPVG will lease CMC Telecom’s facilities while a joint venture company will be formed for the KPO business.  The joint venture firm will be tasked with the delivery of KPO services to domestic and foreign banks using solutions and applications by Credence Analytics, a leading software developer and also a strategic partner of IPVG.

Under the communications component, IPVG and CMC Telecom will focus on the provisioning of bandwidth and International Private Leased Circuits (IPLC).

IPLC are lines used by organizations to communicate between offices that are geographically dispersed globally. These lines can be used for Internet access, business data exchange, video conferencing, and other forms of telecommunications.

Capacity on an intra-Asia cable system (IACS) will provide capacity to the Asia-Pacific market, allowing potential customers to acquire increased bandwidth, additional route diversity and broader.

CMC Telecom shall market IPVG’s DDoS mitigation business, Prolexic, a wholly-owned subsidiary which provides cutting-edge solutions that protect Internet operations from the debilitating service disruptions caused by DDoS attacks.

Prolexic’s patent-pending Clean Pipe Virtual Transport network offers solutions that keep its clients’ Internet-facing infrastructures free of DDoS traffic.

Aside from IT and BPO, IPVG also has interests in telecommunications and  online gaming.  It has established presence in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Panama, United Kingdom and the USA.

IPVG earlier  entered the Vietnam online games market through Cyberworld Corp. a fully licensed online games publisher in Vietnam.  IPVG’s objective is to become one of the leading online game companies in Vietnam.

The company has secured the licensing rights for RAN ONLINE and O2Jam for the Vietnam market, and expects to replicate the same success that they have achieved in the Philippines with these two  market-leading products.

By James A. Loyola
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080711129476.html
July 11, 2008

IPVG Corporation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enter into a strategic and commercial partnership with leading Vietnam ICT company CMC Telecommunications Services Corporation (CMC Telecom) to develop and provide ICT products and services in Vietnam.

CMC Telecom is a member of the Asia Data Center Alliance which was recently formed with the objective of meeting the region’s growing demand for data center services.

"Vietnam is a key component of our regional expansion and our relationship with CMC Telecom gives us access to providing cutting-edge solutions to the growing Vietnamese economy and foreign enterprises that do business there," said IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez.

He added that IPVG is committed to the long-term development of its presence in Vietnam and believe this partnership paves the way for this initiative.

"As Vietnam becomes a strategic place for many global companies in their investment plan, the development of local IT and telecom market directly affects the business effectiveness of those companies," said CMC Telecom chief executive officer Pham Anh Chien.

He said that by signing the MoU of partnership with IPVG, "we would like to open new opportunities for both companies in terms of expanding customer base and maintaining its reputation as leading ICT services companies in Vietnam and regional market."

The partnership between CMC and IPVG will allow the latter, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, to offer Business Process Outsourcing or BPO, for call center operations.

Other service to be offered are: Knowledge Process Outsourcing or KPO, for outsourced services for banking and financial institutions; Communications, for information technology and telecommunications services; and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) mitigation services, as well as regional infrastructure and access to international clients.

The partnership will have several areas of implementation. For the BPO operations, the parties will enter a lease agreement for the facilities to be used which is owned by CMC Telecom.

by Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/july/11/yehey/business/20080711bus10.html
July 11, 2008
 
IPVG Corp. said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into a strategic and commercial partnership with a leading Vietnam information and communication technology company.

CMC Telecom is a service provider engaged in the business of telecommunications infrastructure, data services, online content services and business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

Enrique Gonzalez, IPVG chief executive officer, said that Vietnam is a key component of regional expansion, thus the tie-up with CMC Telecom will give the Philippine company access to the growing Vietnamese market, including foreign enterprises that do business there.

“[We] are committed to the long-term development of [our] presence in Vietnam,” Gonzalez said.

Under the partnership, IPVG through its subsidiaries and affiliates will offer services for BPO operations, knowledge process outsourcing, as well as outsourced services for banking and financial institutions. The company would also provide communications for information technology and telecommunications services, distributed denial-of-services mitigation, as well as regional infrastructure and access to international clients.

By Lawrence Casiraya
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20080710-147542/IPVG-eyes-IT-services-market-in-Vietnam
July 10, 2008

MANILA, Philippines – Publicly listed firm IPVG Corp. said it has signed a partnership with CMC Telecommunications Services (or CMC Telecom) to offer IT services in Vietnam.

Hanoi-based CMC Telecom already provides telecoms and business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

In previous interviews, IPVG chief executive Enrique Gonzalez said the company, which has subsidiaries engaged in data center services and BPO, is expanding in the region including Vietnam.

By partnering with a local player, Gonzalez said this gives IPVG access to both local and multinational companies in Vietnam.

The partnership will have several areas of implementation, IPVG said in a disclosure. For the BPO operations, the parties will enter a lease agreement for facilities owned by CMC Telecom.

The two companies will also form a joint venture company providing knowledge process outsourcing or KPO services targeted at banks and financial services customers using industry solutions from Credence Analytics, a partner of IPVG.

IPVG and CMC Telecom will also focus on the provisioning of bandwidth and International Private Leased Circuits (IPLC) for customers with multiple sites globally.

By Zinnia B. Dela Peña
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=200807098
July 10, 2008

Publicly-listed information technology and gaming conglomerate IPVG Corp. has forged an agreement with leading Canadian call center firm Gemma Communications LP to jointly provide outsourcing services to clients based in Canada and other countries.

GemmaCom has 1,000 seats in three call center facilities in Toronto, Ontorio and Quebec in Canada.

Under the agreement, IPVG and GemmaCom will also provide English-speaking customer support functions for clients of GemmaCom that have off-shore outsourcing requirements.

GemmaCom will be primarily responsible for promoting, marketing, quality assurance and infrastructure such as dialer and network set-up with its pre-existing outsourcing services. IPVG, on the other hand, will provide operations and infrastructure, including production seats and network, through its business process outsourcing (BPO) unit, IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc.

“Our partnership with Gemma Communications strengthens IPVG’s outsourcing and off-shoring network. GemmaCom is a leading outsourcing provider in Canada, and allows us access to Canada’s growing off-shoring requirements. This is yet again another milestone for IPVG and the Philippine BPO industry,” said IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Y. Gonzalez.

For his part, Gemma Communications president Craig Meilleur said:  “After completing a  multi-continent review of possible off-shore locations and partnerships, we believe that our decision to go to the Philippines and team up with IPVG ideally positions Gemma to provide our clients with exceptional value and industry best call center solutions.”

The migration of service offerings from both companies will create a full complement of voice and non-voice delivery service capabilities such as inbound services (customer service, technical support and sales and marketing)  outbound services (sales and marketing, surveys and loyalty programs),  BPO services (email support, chat support, document management and transaction processing).

The agreement with GemmaCom is the third in IPVG’s BPO platform following its partnership with Credence Analytics in India and the acquisition of US-based call center Influent.

IPVG  aims to be a regional operator of Internet data centers, online games and a regionally integrated business process outsourcing company.

BusinessWorld – Corporate News S1/7
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW070908/content.php?id=049
http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=070908b
July 9, 2008

LISTED INFORMATION technology company IPVG Corp. has partnered with Ontario-based outsourcing firm Gemma Communications LP (GemmaCom), where both will jointly provide outsourcing services to clients based in Canada.

Both will also provide customer support functions to clients of GemmaCom that have offshore outsourcing requirements.

GemmaCom will be responsible for marketing, quality assurance and infrastructure, while IPVG will provide call center outsourcing services through business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary IP Contact Center Outsourcing, Inc.

"After completing a multi-continent review of possible offshore locations and partnerships, we believe that our decision to go to the Philippines and team up with IPVG ideally positions GemmaCom to provide our clients with exceptional value," GemmaCom President Craig Meilleur said in a statement.

The migration of service offerings from both companies will create a complement of voice and nonvoice service such as inbound customer service, technical support, and sales and marketing; and outbound sales and marketing, surveys and loyalty programs.

GemmaCom has 1,000 seats and operates three call center facilities in Canada located in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.

GemmaCom is the third international investment agreement in IPVG`s BPO platform following a deal with Credence Analytics in India and the acquisition of US-based call center Influent.

Manila Bulletin – Business B-3
July 9, 2008

Publicly – listed IT company IPVG Corp. yesterday announced that it had entered into a partnership agreement with Gemma Communications LP (GemmaCom), a leading call center company based in Ontario, Canada.

Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), IPVG and GemmaCom shall enter a joint undertaking to provide call center outsourcing services to clients based in Canada and internationally as well as English speaking customer support functions for clients of GemmaCom that have off-shore outsourcing requirements.

The parties will bring their respective management, operation and technical skills and know-how wherein GemmaCom shall be primarily responsible for promoting, marketing, quality assurance and infrastructure such as dialer and network set up with its pre existing outsourcing services. On the other hand, IPVG shall provide call center outsourcing services by means of the operations and infrastructure of its BPO subsidiary, IP Contact Center Outsourcing, Inc. (IPCCO) through its operators, production seats and network.

"After completing a multi-continent review of possible off-shore locations and partnerships, we believe that our decision to go to the Philippines and team-up with IPVG, ideally positions Gemma to provide our clients with exceptional value and industry best call center solutions," said Gemma Communications President, Craig Meilleur.

"Our partnership with Gemma Communications strengthens IPVG`s outsourcing and off-shoring network. GemmaCom is a leading outsourcing provider in Canada, and allows us access to Canada`s growing off-shoring requirements. This is yet again another milestone for IPVG and the Philippine BPO industry," said IPVG Corp. Chief Executive Officer, Enrique Y. Gonzalez.

The migration of service offerings from both companies will create a full complement of voice and nonvoice delivery service capabilities such as: 1]Inbound Services (Customer Service, Technical Support and Sales and Marketing) 2] Outbound Services (Sales and Marketing, Surveys and Loyalty Programs) BPO Services (Email Support, Chat Support, Document Management and Transaction Processing)

GemmaCom has 1,000 seats and operates three (3) call cehter facilities in Canada which are located in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.

GemmaCom is the 3rd international investment agreement in IPVG`s BPO platform following the KPO joint venture with Credence Analytics in India and the acquisition of US-based call center Influent.

 

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/105861/RPs-IPVG-partners-with-Canadian-firm
July 9, 2008

MANILA, Philippines - Listed information technology company IPVG Corp. has partnered with Ontario-based outsourcing firm Gemma Communications LP (GemmaCom), where both will jointly provide outsourcing services to clients based in Canada.

Both will also provide customer support functions to clients of GemmaCom that have offshore outsourcing requirements.

GemmaCom will be responsible for marketing, quality assurance and infrastructure, while IPVG will provide call center outsourcing services through business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary IP Contact Center Outsourcing, Inc.

"After completing a multi-continent review of possible offshore locations and partnerships, we believe that our decision to go to the Philippines and team up with IPVG ideally positions GemmaCom to provide our clients with exceptional value," GemmaCom President Craig Meilleur said in a statement.

The migration of service offerings from both companies will create a complement of voice and nonvoice service such as inbound customer service, technical support, and sales and marketing; and outbound sales and marketing, surveys and loyalty programs.

GemmaCom has 1,000 seats and operates three call center facilities in Canada located in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.

GemmaCom is the third international investment agreement in IPVG`s BPO platform following a deal with Credence Analytics in India and the acquisition of US-based call center Influent. – BusinessWorld

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=124569
July 9, 2008

Publicly-listed information and communications technology group IPVG Corp. announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Canada-based call center firm Gemma Communications LP (GemmaCom).

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday to provide call center outsourcing services as well as English-speaking customer support functions to GemmaCom`s clients in Canada and other countries.

Under the terms of the MOU, GemmaCom will primarily be responsible for promoting, marketing, quality assurance and infrastructure such as dialer and network setup with its pre-existing outsourcing services. IPVG, on the other hand, will provide operations and infrastructure, including production seats and network, through its business process outsourcing (BPO) unit, IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc.

"Upon completion of a successful proof-of-concept, the parties will form a special purpose vehicle, to be owned equally by the parties," IPVG told the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The migration of services from both companies will provide full voice and non-voice delivery capabilities such as inbound, outbound and BPO services.

"Our partnership with Gemma Communications strengthens IPVG`s outsourcing and off-shoring network," IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said in a separate statement.

GemmaCom has 1,000 seats in three call center facilities in Toronto, Ontorio and Quebec in Canada.

The partnership with GemmaCom is the third in IPVG`s BPO platform following its joint venture with Credence Analytics in India and the acquisition of US-based call center Influent.

The Philippine Star – Networks C-4
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Networks&p=49&type=2&sec=32&aid=2008070620
July 7, 2008

IP Converge Data Center Inc., the information technology and telecommunications division of listed company IPVG Corp., signed a new partnership agreement with Kalypto Risk Technologies, a leading India-based specialized risk management and Basel II solutions company.

Kalypto’s solutions address the areas of credit and operational risk for the banking vertical.

The agreement with Kalypto Risk Technologies will enable IP-Converge to provide a full suite of risk management solutions with the addition of Kalypto/Credit and Kalypto/Ops to complement its existing range of services.

IP-Converge will leverage on Kalypto’s expertise in the areas of credit risk, operational risk and Basel II compliance to offer cutting-edge solutions and knowledge-share to banks in the Philippines.

With the decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to adopt the Basel II accord, these have become high-priority areas for banks in the country.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) set up Basel II on June 24, 2004 initially to create an international standard for banking regulators to follow in establishing a set of risk and capital requirements that will ensure that a bank has capital reserves appropriate to the risk it exposes itself to in its transactions.

As a rule, the greater the risk to which the bank is exposed, the greater the capital it needs to hold to protect it from collapse.

Based on BSP Circulars 280 (for banks) and 400 (thrift banks), universal and commercial banks were expected to comply with the standardized approach for credit risk, and the basic indicator or the standard approaches for operational risk by 2007.

According to Daniel Viray, IPC vice president for financial systems, the new services being offered by IP-Converge will greatly aid Philippine financial institutions in conforming to BSP regulations.

“Basel II requires that for every risk a bank exposes itself to, whether through investment or lending, there has to be a commensurate amount of capital reserves to prevent major financial issues, or in some instances, even closure,” Viray explains.

“Our new offerings will provide financial institutions the critical information they need to maintain solvency and economic stability,” he adds.

Trendsetter

IP-Converge embraces its thrust on being a trendsetter and early adopter of emerging technologies. It is in the forefront of the shift to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or On Demand and Kalypto’s solutions complement its directives.

“We want our customers to have the ability to process large amounts of credit and operational risk data to generate the reports they need with the option of owning the software and putting up the infrastructure or to acquire it as needed through a subscription-based model,” says Viray.

“Whether premise-based or hosted, our customers can leverage on our robust network infrastructure, our experienced IT professionals and the high availability of our services,” he adds.

Kalypto/Credit is a highly scalable solution that serves as a foundation for evolving regulatory risk requirements and for integrating the institution’s entire credit risk information.

Kalypto/Credit enables banks and institutions to accurately assess credit exposures in multiple dimensions, and automatically calculate and compare the effects of alternative risk-mitigation strategies.

Kalypto delivers a robust, modular, highly configurable best practices risk management framework with “proactive” capabilities and flexibility to accommodate all on and off-balance sheet credit products. It also performs the critical calculations for regulatory and economic capital.

Kalypto/Credit also has extensive credit rating and credit scoring capabilities. The solution comes bundled with a set of pre-configured models for rating and scoring, which will enable banks to jumpstart the implementation exercise.

Kalypto/Ops is a comprehensive solution which facilitates identification, assessment, measurement, monitoring and control of operational risk. It is among the few tools available in this space that provides banks with both the conventional loss events, KRI & SAQ tools and the more contemporary scorecard-based modeling approach for assessment of operational risk at the enterprise level.

Both solutions provide banks a clear migration path from the basic approaches to the most advanced approaches for compliance with the Basel II accord.

The application on reporting prescribed by BSP is already integrated in the solutions.

“With better insight into Basel II regulations and greater sensitivity to risk, financial institutions can conduct better resource planning and open a wider range of opportunities for lending and capital investment,” Viray says.

“Financial institutions will be able to have a clearer picture of the overall risk and assets position of their company,” he adds.

Mashreq Bank, Dubai and Seylan Bank, Sri Lanka are among the leading banks using Kalypto’s solutions.

IP-Converge will offer these cutting-edge solutions to banks in the Philippines on both licensing and hosted (Software-as-Service) models.

http://www.rpindia.info/news48.php

IPVG, a Philippines based listed information and communications technology Conglomerate has set up a $ 1-million joint venture company in India. Based in Mumbai, it will start its operation in July of this year.

Its Indian partner is Credence Analytics, a specialist financial solutions company. This partnership was the outshoot of President Arroyo visit to India in October 2007, where they are signed a Memorandum of Agreement. Now they have sealed this joint venture.

Verity Analytics will be the name of the new company and will be owned 60% by IPVG. This venture marks the first-ever entry of a public listed Filipino IT company into the KPO space for financial services in India.

Mr. Enrique Y Gonzalez, CEO of IPVG believes that they would be leveraging on synergies with their strategic investments in USA and Europe, namely Prolexic and Influent which currently has some Fortune 500 client base.

Our congratulations.