ICA Newsletter May, 2006 #1

The International Computer Association is Tokyo's premier organization covering
Information Technology and the IT business in Japan. Feel free to contact us
http://www.icajapan.jp/contact.htm or visit our website http://www.icajapan.jp.

Contents
1. President's Message
2. May 9th Event Postponed
3. May 18th Event

President's Message
Dear ICA Friends:

The ICA board would like to give a special thanks to our new corporate sponsor
Access Technology. Access Technology is Japan's premier technology-focused
search firm. Access joins current sponsors Skillhouse, Temple University & PM
Global.

As a part of the ICA's ongoing efforts to better serve our members, we are
continuously looking for feedback from our attendees. In doing so, we have
received a number of constructive comments. One of those comments has been that
there is not enough time to share information regarding each member's company
during the networking period, prior to the main presenter. For this reason, we
have set up two discussion rooms at Yahoo. One of them is for assisting members
in better sharing information about their respective companies. Details at
http://www.icajapan.jp/yahoo_chat.html.

ICA Chat
This discussion group was set up to allow members to voice their opinions, offer
suggestions on ways to improve the ICA, or discuss whatever is on their mind.

ICA Company Promo
This discussion group was set up to allow ICA members and friends to post
information about their company.

Again this month, we would like to thank LINC Media for promoting our events in
their popular and informative email newsletters which are free of charge. For
those of you thinking of buying real estate in Japan, there is a wealth of
information in the archives of the Personal International Investor newsletter.
You can sign up for that newsletter and 9 others at:
http://www.japaninc.com/subscribe_news.html.

The big news around Tokyo has been the sale of Vodafone KK to Softbank.
Softbank's Son-san is moving quickly to transform the company which is a good
strategy in the ongoing battle with KDDI and DoCoMo. Sun Tzu, the author of the
Art of War, would approve. In chapter two Sun states "When doing battle, seek a
quick victory. I have heard of military campaigns that were clumsy but swift,
but I have never seen military campaigns that were skilled but protracted".
Son's reputation with services such as Yahoo BB is to slash prices to gain
market share. This is great news for consumers and enterprise customers of
mobile services, but terrible news for KDDI and especially DoCoMo which is
already under pressure from price erosion. The next 12 months will be very
interesting to watch in Japan's mobile space. Hey, maybe the ICA can get Son as
a speaker later this year!
Sincerely

Darren McKellin
President - ICA

>-----------<< Partner Event-PM Global (May 9) POSTPONED >>----------<
ICA Professional Development Seminar:
Boosting your Career with Project Management
Note: This event originally scheduled for May 9 will be rescheduled to a later
date, more details to come soon.

Speaker: Jason Frank, Partner, Representative Director, PM-Global, a project
management consulting firm.

A Project Management (PM) certification has risen from #10 to #4 in
CertCities.com's "10 Hottest Certifications for 2006." CIOs, Recruiting
companies, and clients are requiring their IT professionals to be well-versed in
managing complex projects. Are you ahead of the curve? Learn about how you can
move your career along with PM knowledge. Topics will include:

* General trends in the profession-what's hot in PM
* Functional areas such as organizational maturity
* Sample career paths for the project manager of the future
* Graduate programs and continuous education in project management
* Professional Certification: A focus on PMI's PMP
* What are the current trends for IT professionals with a PMP?
* How do I get certified?
* Enough about me: How can I develop my project team's skills?

Date: TBA
Time: 7-9pm
Venue: Tokyo Design Centre
Map : http://www.designcenter.co.jp
Cost: 1,000 Yen members, 2,000 non ICA members

All attendees are entered to win a 100,000 JPY scholarship to the next 5-day PMP
Exam Training Course on May 20, 21, 26, 27, 28
(Course details at http://www.pm-global.com/service_2_1.html )


>------------------<< ICA Event - May 18 >>-----------------<
Next event Thursday May 18, Mobilizing your Enterprise - Successful Case Studies
from KDDI. Stay tuned for more details.

>------------------<< ICA SPONSOR >>-----------------<
PM-GLOBAL

PM-Global provides enterprise-wide program and project management consulting and
training services. Our core competencies are IT and Business Improvement. We
help our clients achieve quicker time-to-market and increased shareholder value
by creating project success. We guarantee an increase in our client's project
success rate. http://www.pm-global.com

>------------------<< ICA SPONSOR >>-----------------<
Skillhouse Staffing Solutions
IT and Administrative Staffing Services.
http://www.skillhouse.co.jp/eng_home.htm

>------------------<< ICA SPONSOR >>-----------------<
Temple University
The oldest and largest American University in Japan.
http://www.tuj.ac.jp

>------------------<< ICA SPONSOR >>-----------------<
Access Technology
Japan's premier technology - focused search firm.
http://www.accesstech.com/indexe.html

>---------<< JCI Investor and Executive Network Event >>---------<
The Investor and Executive Networking Event May 25th at the Top of Akasaka
Prince Hotel. (Akasaka Mitsuke Station)

The event provides executives, bankers, venture capitalists, lawyers,
accountants, entrepreneurs and angels alike with opportunities to direct
business matching.

Thursday, May 25th - from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
10,000 Yen (covers food and beverages)
*Registration is limited to 100 people.

For further information, please contact mailto:seminar@..., or call
03-5226-5081 and provide your name, company, email, phone and fax numbers.

Details: http://www.jci-inc.com/executive.html

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