VZCZCXRO5983
RR RUEHBI RUEHLMC
DE RUEHLM #0851/01 1660321
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150321Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6270
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1096
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0206
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 7189
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 5296
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 2202
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 7775
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 5435
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2128
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000851 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB/EPPD NSMITH-NISSLEY AND SCA/INS 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
MCC FOR S. GROFF, D. TETER, D. NASSIRY AND E. BURKE 
TREASURY FOR LESLIE HULL 
GENEVA PASS USTR 
 
FOR EEB ASSISTANT SECRETARY SULLIVAN FROM AMBASSADOR BLAKE 
 
E.O 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON BEXP ETRD ELAB KSEP SENV AMGT CE
SUBJECT:  SRI LANKA - NOMINATION OF VIRTUSA FOR CORPORATE EXCELLENCE 
AWARD 
 
REF: STATE 47222 
 
¶1.  I am pleased to nominate Virtusa for the Secretary's Award for 
Corporate Excellence in the small and medium enterprise category. 
While meeting all eligibility requirements for this award, Virtusa 
has demonstrated outstanding corporate citizenship by assisting 
disaster-ridden countries with an open source disaster recovery 
management system it developed following the 2004 tsunami which 
struck Sri Lanka and other Indian Ocean countries.  Virtusa also 
contributed to the advancement of Sri Lanka's scientific and 
technology policies by enhancing information and communications 
technology (IT) capacity in local universities.  Finally, by 
creating an intensive training program which converts unemployed but 
motivated graduates without sufficient IT training into IT managers, 
Virtusa is directly contributing to Sri Lanka's overall growth and 
development. 
 
OUSTANDING CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP:  VIRTUSA-SPONSORED SYSTEM SPEEDS 
RECOVERY FOLLOWING DISASTERS 
 
¶2.  When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami seriously damaged the 
coastline of Sri Lanka, Virtusa funded salaries and benefits for its 
employees as they developed open-source software for disaster relief 
management.  It continues to fund its employees as they travel to 
disaster-affected countries and assist in implementing the software 
program. 
 
¶3.  The system, called Sahana, was initially designed for Sri Lanka 
to have a good disaster recovery system following the tsunami.  It 
has been widely used in recent disasters, including Pakistan 
following its 2005 earthquake, the Philippines following its 2006 
mudslide in Southern Leyte, and Indonesia following the Yogjakarta 
earthquake of 2006.  The software has received several awards, 
including the Free Software Foundation's 2006 Award for Social 
Benefit, the 2006 Good Samaritan Award from Software 2006. Sahana is 
now managed by the non-profit Lanka Software Foundation.  In 
addition to Virtusa's continued support through its personnel, 
Sahana receives funding from IBM and the U.S. National Science 
Foundation. 
 
CONTRIBUTING TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SRI LANKA'S SCIENTIFIC AND 
TECHNICAL POLICIES:  ENHANCING UNIVERSITIES; ENLIGHTENING STUDENTS 
WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 
 
¶4.  Sri Lanka has identified IT as a potential growth sector, and is 
actively encouraging its development.  Hundreds of "Virtusans" have 
volunteered their time and skills over the past few years to create 
IT awareness within communities and share best practices with 
academia. In 2006, the company introduced information technology to 
over 700 students in a southern district of Sri Lanka, donated a 
computer lab to a Colombo-based school, provided career guidance and 
leadership skills to thousands of undergraduate and advanced level 
students, and contributed to fostering free and open software 
education in Sri Lanka. 
 
¶5.  Virtusa supplies staff to universities to serve as 
lecturers/trainers.  It shares industry best practices with 
university staff and invites them to Virtusa for special seminars. 
Through Virtusa's Project Enhancement Initiative, university 
undergraduates receive software engineering and management guidance. 
 All of these activities promote the importance of IT to Sri 
Lankans, furthering Sri Lanka's prospects for growth in the IT 
sector. 
 
CONTRIBUTING TO OVERALL ECONOMIC GROWTH:  TRANSITIONING 
PROFESSIONALS FROM OVERSUBSCRIBED PROFESSIONS INTO INFORMATION 
TECHNOLOGY THROUGH TRAINING 
 
¶6.  As Sri Lanka's IT industry continues to grow, the country's 
shortage of IT workers becomes increasingly critical.  Universities 
still have not adapted sufficiently to meet the demands of the IT 
sector.  In 2006, Virtusa implemented a dynamic IT Leadership 
 
COLOMBO 00000851  002 OF 002 
 
 
Conversion Program to help resolve this shortage.  The company 
identifies self-driven, high-aptitude graduates who do not have 
sufficient IT skills.  It then provides these individuals with a 
fast-track career conversion opportunity enabling them to make the 
transition into an IT services career. 
 
¶7.  The company has hired 30 successful Virtusa IT Conversion 
Program graduates from the 40 it trained.  It plans to double the 
number of Conversion Program candidates this year, enabling Sri 
Lanka to meet a greater demand in the growing IT sector. 
 
BLAKE