CPLC (Citizen Police Liaison Committee) has published a document called “Security Measures for Family & Child Safety“.

I believe this is a must read document for everyone who lives in Karachi (or Pakistan for that matter). The document can be downloaded from here (PDF 1.85MB).

The original document can be found on CPLC’s Official Website (on the very first page/main page).

Please help spread the word.

The organizers of TEDxKarachi are pleased to announce the 2nd edition of TEDxKarachi to be held on 27th May 2011. The theme of the event is Making the Impossible Possible and in the same context we have plans to assemble some interesting personalities who will come forth onto the TEDxKarachi stage and hopefully inspire us all.

Follow this website or the Facebook page to keep yourself updated leading up the event. If you are interested in attending this event then please apply here.

As we plan to have (InshahAllah) various small data-center locations all over Pakistan, there arose a question as to what to name them? In the West, datacenters have a very tech name associated with them, like Digital Realty, Equinix’s IBX (Internet Business Exchange), Datamart, Databank, etc. We wanted to be different. Not just for the sake of being different, but different as in authentic and ethnic.

So, we have decided to name our small data-centers after the Karakoram Range, in particular the peaks. The First one we are initiating is going to be called K2 (i.e Mount Godwin Austin), and henceforth as we keep naming them, we will keep assigning the names of the Karakoram peaks to them.

The reasoning behind naming them after our majestic mountain peaks is because they are one great asset of this country. They are our primary water supply, they can easily be cited as the nature’s greatest wonders, and also offer us various forms of natural protection. The same sense goes into our data-center. It’s our (i.e. our company’s) greatest asset, it’s our valued resource and in some manner, our peak.

So – with this – once the data-center is ready for business, we shall aptly christen it as K2.

Every now and then – I like to buy ‘things’ from abroad. Sometimes it is books, but most of the time it is hobby or computer parts related.

Of late we have been sourcing equipment for the data center. Having servers, routers, parts, accessories, cables, drives, processors, switches, firewalls, power plugs, etc. picked up from various countries and cities across the world. The ONLY company worth mentioning is Fedex. We initiated a Fedex corporate account a couple of months back. It has been nothing short of a lifesaver for us. For example when we were buying KVM switches, from a small distributor in Texas. We did a wire-transfer for the money, and for equipment pickup – we simply gave our Fedex number to the company. It was as simple as that. No need to make an invoice, no other details. Simply provide the Fedex number. The Fedex man arrives, picks up the goods, and labels them, etc. and delivers them to our door step in Karachi. If customs clearance is required – that too is taken care of by our local clearing agent.

The whole process is so simple. Yes, it is expensive, but Fedex today has by far the best coverage. I use to think DHL and TNT were the prevailing tigers of Asia, but that is not so true anymore. DHL, when we wanted to open a corporate account with them in Pakistan, just kept on giving us the run-around, today the sales guy is coming. Tomorrow the sales guy is coming. I mean I literally had to call up their office so many times, citing I want to become a corporate customer. I guess we were not important enough. With Fedex, – everything was SO professional. Next day their sales rep came to us. Explained to us the entire process and we were up and running within a couple of days. I haven’t looked back since. We’ve even had shipments weighing up to 250Kgs be picked up and delivered. Such is the cool efficiency of Fedex.

I wish other courier companies can also get their act together like this. A good example is to use a friend to call their own companies and initiate a sales query and see how your own team responds. I will admit one thing for sure, I NEVER was a fan of Fedex. I thought DHL was the coolest company in the world to work with, however, all that changed with one experience.

I have been toying with an idea for the last couple of years to have a ‘meaningful’ internship in our company. My meaningful I imply – worthy of learning, challenging, tough, the most intense / learning 8 weeks you will ever spend anywhere.

The no-frills – eat, sleep, drink and talk technology kind of an internship… but (yes there is a but)

… it has to be fun!!!

Well, I really did not have any kick-ass ideas, until a few weeks back. Now I am preparing to have something like a Rs. 100,000 Internship challenge.

Twelve students (1st or 2nd year) would be participating in the Internship challenge, (3 teams of four people each).

They would get their usual stipends, etc. but to make it worth while, I’d like to put a financial incentive for the team that wins – Rs. 100,000 (to be divided equally amongst the member of the team).

2nd and 4rd place will get some form of a reward as well.

I now just need to make sure that this internship program sees the light of day.