World Report

The New Democracy administration wants to speed up the use of technology in government, education and business

Thousands of new computers are being provided for use in the nation’s schools

CT experts, company chiefs and policy makers from all over the world gathered in Athens in May for the biennial World Congress on Information Technology. One of the most prestigious events in the industry’s calender, WCIT 2004 highlighted the need to bridge the gap between cutting-edge solutions offered by the ICT sector and the goal of modern governments to upgrade public sector services provided to their citizens.

Greece has a dynamic ICT sector that has seen rapid growth and has a crucial role to play in the country’s transformation into an information society. Greece’s new government wants to speed up progress under the EU-funded 2000-2006 Information Society programme.

OTEnet, the leading Internet Service Provider in Greece, has a backbone network designed to ensure national coverage and to expand according to emerging demand. A subsidiary of the OTE Group, the company has 43 per cent of the dial-up access business in Greece and its customers include some of the largest corporations, such as the Athens Olympic Games Organising Committee (ATHOC), the National Bank of Greece and Toyota Hellas.

Yorgos Ioannidis
Managing Director of Otenet
‘Low penetration offers the prospect of future development’

The company, has diversified its services and seen revenues quadruple from around 14 million euros in 1999 to 67.5 million euros (£44.6 million) today. Managing Director Yorgos Ioannidis sees the relatively low PC and internet penetration in the Greek market as an opportunity for further development. “Today, 62 per cent of our revenues come from dial-up access and the rest from the various other services that we offer,” he says.

OTEnet has partnerships with many companies, including Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco Systems. Through its partnership with Oracle, one of the world’s largest software companies, it is gradually moving into an ASP (application service provider) model. “Although the revenues from such services are currently minimal, the business is growing and the growth will continue,” Mr Ioannidis asserts.

George Deligiannis
CEO of Intracom
‘We are active in every country in Southeastern Europe’

INTRACOM, Greece’s largest manufacturer of telecom equipment, provides a number of critical systems for the public sector, including the Tax Information System (TAXIS), the electronic submission of VAT, and other services in the area of the social security.
George Deligiannis (INTERVIEW), the company’s Chief Executive Officer, points to opportunities arising from the rapid convergence taking place in telecommunications, highlighted at the WCIT conference. “Basic connectivity is becoming a commodity, networks – mobile and fixed – are expected to start merging, and what used to be a mobile phone is becoming an intelligent personal access device to a wide spectrum of content and services.”

Mr Deligiannis believes INTRACOM’s experience in telecommunications, applications and services uniquely positions the company to capitalise on this evolution.

INTRACOM has recently undergone comprehensive reorganisation focusing its operations on the key areas of telecommunications, defence, government, and banking. The company does more than 40 per cent of its business outside Greece and is the only high-tech Greek company that has such a pronounced presence abroad.
“To one degree or another, we have some sort of activity or a base in every country in Southeastern Europe,” says Mr Deligiannis. “These are very promising markets for the future.”