Computer Engineering students from the University of La Salle, Manila visited iComm last June 5, 2008. as part of their curriculum, they went on a tour and visited major IT companies in and around Cebu.

They were welcomed by Divine Grace Golingay (HR) and IT Representatives: Paul Yu (Dev), Rowell Bughao (Web) and Riann Bañez (Sys) who eagerly gave them a brief and shared inputs on the technologies being used by iComm and the companies we serve worldwide.

The students were also discussed on the Programming languages / Development tools and the type of IT products we create along with demonstrations on PDA / Pocket PC, Web applications and features.

May 9, 2008- Marked a new dawn for iComm as it has achieved the prestigious Microsoft Gold Partner Certification level. After joining the Microsoft Partner Program which started last June 2007, the company has been preparing all the requirements for its IT resources and worked hard to achieve the goal of being recognized as a certified partner. During the evaluation period, two areas were judged upon by Microsoft before giving out their certification: Microsoft Certified Professional Certification (MCP) and Competencies.

Our IT professionals including yours truly, went through a series of rigid examinations conducted by Microsoft for each of our designations. We passed with flying colors and attained MCPs in the fields of System Administrator (MCSA), System Engineer (MCSE), Database Administrator (MCDBA), Application Developer (MCAD), Solution Developer (MCSD), Technology Specialist (MCTS), and Desktop Support Technician (MCDST).

Both iComm Philippines (CIT) and Indonesia (BIT) now has 19 MCPs: Cathy Ramirez, Conrad Siega, Dennis Aguelo, Emmanuel Dacuba, Iven Yap, Jimmy Teo, Luanne Pang, Neil Colina, Oied Labajo, Michael Esgana, Raffy Arnaez, Riann Bañez, Ronaldo Buenafe, Firstman Marpaung, Henri Setiawan, Reza Pribadi, Tri Mardani, Andrian and me. Each of us contributed the necessary points needed for the company’s gold certification.

In the area of Competencies, iComm earned the crucial two namely: Custom Development Solutions and Networking Infrastructure Solutions- the former being the competency awarded to partners who provide unique customer solutions through software development, application quality assurance (testing) and application architecture and the latter being given to partners who have proven their proficiency in implementing solutions based on Microsoft Windows Server 2000 or Windows 2003 Operating Systems and Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 / 2003.

To be given the Gold Partner status is the highest level of association with Microsoft- granting us a number of benefits including internal use software bundle, which normally costs up to $2 million US Dollars, a personal account manager at Microsoft for assistance, limited discount offers on training and certifications, invitation to offshore partner conferences, free subscription to Technet- the knowledge vault for Microsoft Professionals and finally, the Logo in recognition to the company’s feat.

Modesty aside, iComm will continue to support the MCP Program of Microsoft by empowering its IT resources, staff and personnel to pursue new competencies in the future.