NEC to digitize Hong Kong's ID records

By Nawaz Marican NEC Hong Kong has won a contract from Hong Kong's Immigration Department to digitize the records of 12 million people. "We will convert all data stored at the Immigration Department since its inception," an NEC representative said in an interview. The Immigration Department was established in 1961. According to the Census and Statistic Department, Hong Kong has a population around 6.7 million. The NEC project will include the records of deceased and migrated individuals. The endeavor, which is expected to take two-and-a-half years to complete, is said to be worth $12.45 million (HK$97.1 million) and will involve the transfer of records from microfilm and paper to CD-ROMs, the representative said. Additionally, NEC said it will build a local area network (LAN) for the department, a project that involves integrating more than 100 servers and workstations and setting up software for electronic data conversion and scanners for microfilm and paper, as well as establishing security systems and technical support. The contract is the company's first in the government sector. Staff writer Nawaz Marican reported from Singapore.