IT contractorPeter Moorehas been held hostage in
Iraq for over two years.
His plight has highlighted the dangers facing ordinary workers
and civilians living and working in the country. Even aid agencies
have deemed the situation too perilous, and most moved their staff
out years ago.
There are 31 million Iraqis in the country, as well as thousands
of contractors and military staff, including technology workers
working on projects that will play a crucial role in the rebuilding
of the country.
The war decimated much of the country's infrastructure,
including the telecommunications network and any hope of a reliable
internet.
Some restructuring work is underway, but Gartner analyst
Vittorio Dorazio predicts it will be at least five years before
Iraq sees any real changes.
Many would consider technology as relatively low down the list
of priorities in a country that does not have enough doctors or
schools. But IT will be a crucial part of improving basic living
standards.
Building records and systems
IT company EMC is working in Iraq through its business partners.
Mohammed Amin, regional manager for EMC Middle East, said IT is
central to providing public services and standards of living.
"IT has to work in parallel with building roads and schools, and
improving transport and healthcare," he said. "These developments
need records and systems. You need healthcare databases, and
systems are needed to determine who is eligible for new passports
and citizenship, for example."
The main areas of activity are telecoms, government and the
banking sector, which is now starting to re-awaken. Most telecoms
investment is going into
mobile communications, because landline networks are more
cumbersome and expensive. The government, with help from oil
revenues, is investing large amounts in basic infrastructure
equipment and in archiving government information.
"There are so many documents from the past 30 years which are
very important - they detail how to run the country, how to handle
the security situation, how to control Iraq's borders. They need a
huge archiving system," Amin said.
Full of potential
Despite the hurdles that Iraq will no doubt have to get past,
there is plenty of activity and potential, according to
Dorazio.
"The Iraqi IT industry is definitely growing, despite the
crisis. There are small companies, but you don't see large
companies. It is in a very early stage. The fighting is even now
ongoing and it is very hard to provide a service when the overall
infrastructure is disrupted," he said.
EMC's Amin agrees the security situation is still a problem. EMC
has considered opening an office in the safer northern part of
Iraq, but has had to put its plans on hold after a resurgence of
violence in the past couple of months.
Progress on security is still being made. Large IT companies and
consultancies, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, do business in Iraq
and transfer knowledge to the country.
The armed forces have also played a big role in training up the
Iraqi security forces in all kinds of skills, ready for the UK's
departure in July this year.
Lt Col Jon Cole, commander of joint forces for communications
and information systems in Iraq, said, "We have assisted with
training the Iraqi forces so we are not leaving them in the lurch.
There is also a small British army presence that is staying in the
country, at the invitation of the Iraqi government, to help with
training."
The army, navy and airforce have worked in partnership with
local contractors throughout their six years in the country,
although the military operations have been self-contained and will
have had little impact on civilians. In mid-March the information
systems engineers started winding down the military IT operations
in Iraq, and they expect to be finished in mid-July.
Throughout the war,
IT and communications have been a central part of military
operations. "It is absolutely crucial," Cole says. "More and
more equipment that comes into service is technologically far
superior than in previous generations. Command and control officers
use large screens and advanced systems to keep track of where
soldiers and vehicles are. If the IT is not working, a patrol will
not go out - it is as simple as that."
Once the military has moved out, the UK government will help
reconstruction efforts through the Provincial Reconstruction Team,
based in Basra. There is a long way to go, but hopes are high that
Iraq could one day become a technological hub in the Middle
East.
"First, we need stability," says Dorazio. "But Iraq could really
leapfrog other countries in terms of technology. Back offices will
not be constrained by
legacy systems, and people starting businesses can get the
newest technology. There is a massive amount of potential."