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The dream to transform the isolated, foggy land hidden between high mountain ranges will become a reality with the latest effort of a group of five local software companies, which hopes to turn the Mae Hong Son province into a software development centre.

The attempt is a part of the IT Valley project initiated by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) to help the remote province become self reliant for its technology needs.

Instead of sourcing technology from outside, the province will aim  to develop its own software for local use.

If people develop their skills to the required standards, they can also take on software jobs out¬sourced from other companies.

Five software companies - Soft Square 1999, MFEC, Summit Computer, AHost, and Miracle Net - have collaborated to create a soft¬wareoutsourcing hub and develop Mae Hong Son into an IT Valley within the next five years.

Soft Square 1999 managing director Ramade Silapapom said the plan aims to develop at least 500 programmers in the province and encourage at least 10 local software companies to become eligible to  receive support from Thailand's  Board of Investment to set up in Mae Hong Son by 2013.

To achieve this goal, the group will initially focus on human resource development. It will set up  softwaretraining programmes in primary schools, universities and professionaltraining institutes.

"Training courses in primary schools will be designed to intro¬duce students to software develop¬ment. It will pave the way for them to become  developers.

This project will run parallel to the software training of Nectec's IT Valley project but will be run by a group of private companies," Ramade said.

In the professional softwaretraining course, residents of Mae Hong Son will be trained to become experts in Java, database and report programming. In the next five years, there will be at least 500 profes¬sional programmers in the province.

"We will train them to become software professionals and entre¬preneurs who are ready to handle   outsourced work in the future. We will provide softwaredevelopment work to them," Ramade said.

Under the plan, he said, the group will set up an outsourcing centre in the province that will man¬age the process of getting out¬sourced work from companies in Bangkok and distributing it to soft¬ware companies in Mae Hong Son.

"The five software companies are pioneers. We hope about 10 more software companies will join the project," Ramade said.

The project is also a part of the IT application and cluster scheme initiated and supported by the Software Park Thailand.

The cluster is an association between the government and pri¬vate sectors to establish a local soft¬wareoutsourcing model.

"Our role in this case is to sup¬port the cluster in the northern region covering eight provinces,  including Mae Hong Son.

The cluster will team up with seven universities to develop at least 5,000 programmers in the region within the next five years," Ramade said.