DOTr Leads Launching of P2P Starmall Alabang - Vista Mall Daang Hari and Dasmarinas Routes

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation (DOTr), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and MetroExpress Connect, Inc. today launched two new routes of the Premium Point-to-Point Bus Service (P2P), namely: Route 1: Starmall Alabang-Vista Mall Daang Hari, Bacoor; and Route 2: Starmall Alabang-Dasmariñas.

The opening of the new P2P routes is expected to help reduce traffic congestion and encourage private car users to use public transport.

With an introductory fare of Php 50.00 (Php 40.00 for students, senior citizens and PWDs) for the Alabang-Bacoor route, and Php 70.00 (P56.00 for students, senior citizens and PWDs) for Alabang-Dasmariñas route, and vice versa, the new P2P routes will operate from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. with fixed schedule of trips that leaves every 15 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during off-peak hours regardless of passenger count. The buses will travel directly from terminal to drop-off point without frequent stops.

MetroExpress Connect’s premium buses use a cashless system with reloadable Prime Tap cards. The certified Euro 5 compliant air-conditioned Volvo buses are also equipped with free Wi-Fi, 4 flat screen TVs, onboard radio, CCTV, and GPS. They have four reclining seats per row with generous leg room and low floor entry with a retractable wheelchair ramp at the exit for persons with disabilities (PWDs).

In December last year, DOTr and RRCG Transport also opened P2P Alabang-Ortigas route, with pick-up point at Starmall Alabang and drop-off points at Robinson’s Galleria and Starmall EDSA from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Currently, the existing P2P routes are: 1. Trinoma to Glorietta 5 in Makati / Centris to Glorietta; 2. Robinsons Galleria to Park Square Makati; 3. Alabang Town Center to Greenbelt 1; 4. SM North EDSA to SM Megamall; 5. Fairview to Makati; Alabang to Ortigas; 6. Starmall Alabang-Vista Mall Daang Hari, Bacoor; and 7. Starmall Alabang-Dasmariñas.

Web Hosting Firm Web.com.ph Migrates Servers to PH, Taps IPC for Colocation Service

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Web.com.ph, one of the country’s leading e-commerce service providers specializing in domain name registration and hosting, recently tapped IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc., a subsidiary of ePLDT, Inc.) to colocate their servers in the latter’s data center facilities. Originally colocated in the United States, the company fully migrated its servers to the Philippines to address connection, stability, latency, and data sovereignty issues.

According to IPC Chief Operating Officer Patrick David R. de Leon, it is imperative for companies like Web.com.ph who rely on the Internet to generate revenue, to have access to stable and secure digital infrastructure. “Businesses of today are turning to digital processes, tools and infrastructure, to meet operational efficiency goals and gain a competitive advantage. We ensure that enterprises, especially those like Web.com.ph who are in the e-commerce space, are not only supported with robust data center and network facilities to cover stability, security, and speed, but are also able to tap into our various digital resources in the cloud.”

Through this partnership, IPC will be hosting Web.com.ph’s servers in their data centers, and will handle the necessary measures to preserve business continuity such as power, cooling, bandwidth, physical infrastructure, data security, among others. IPC’s flagship data center located in Paranaque City is accredited by Japan’s NTT Communications as one of its over 140 Nexcenter facilities around the world. The company is also certified for ISO 9001 and 27001, which pertain to Quality Management Systems and Information Security Management Systems respectively.

De Leon adds that by colocating in IPC’s data centers, Web.com.ph’s customers stand to experience utmost Internet service quality and speeds as a result of IPC's data communications network that’s peered with all major domestic and international carriers in the region. IPC operates its own Asia Pacific network with bandwidth capacity on multiple undersea cable facilities.

Founded in 2004, Web.com.ph, currently serves as the Internet domain provider of over 6,000 clients. This number simply reflects the capabilities of its technical support staff which consists of Red Hat Certified Technicians (RHCT) and Novell Certified Linux Professionals NCLP, who are supported by a number of highly competent webmasters, graphic designers, and web developers.

“With our servers being colocated abroad, it was an ongoing challenge serving Philippine clients due to connection issues. We addressed this with our partnership with IPC. They have the cost advantage along with the stability of the platform. What made us partner with them, to summarize, are: Cost and Top-notch infrastructure,” said John Henry Oseña, President and Systems Administrator of Web.com.ph.

Oseña explained that due to IPC’s colocation service, Web.com.ph has received accolades from their clients. “Since the servers are hosted here, it’s faster compared to our competitors in the US, and our clients recognize this through the stability of their domains. Also, thanks to the happy customers brought by the enhanced connectivity and stability, we’ve had an increase in referrals which in turn helps our company to grow further.”

A local cloud services pioneer in the country, IPC owns and operates three state-of-the-art data centers, located in Makati, Parañaque, and at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. These robust, globally compliant facilities offer full infrastructure and telecommunications redundancy that protect every client’s mission-critical data and applications, and assure uninterrupted operations against connection issues, cyberattacks, and downtime. IPC’s data centers are a part of ePLDT’s nationwide chain of VITRO Data Centers.

Cover Photo: (L-R) Sheila Oseña, VP for Finance and John Henry Oseña, President of Web.com.ph with Niño Valmonte, Director for Marketing and Digital Innovation of IPC at a previously held #DiscoverDigital seminar.

Petron Blaze 100 Euro 6 Tested and Proven in Marathon Performance Run

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Since 2005, market leader Petron Corporation has tested its cutting-edge fuels in real world driving conditions to validate its laboratory findings. This has resulted in fuel innovations that best match the requirements of Filipino motorists, for all types of vehicles, on all types of terrain.

Following the certifications issued by leading global laboratories which rated Petron’s Blaze 100 Euro 6 as surpassing the most stringent fuel technology and emission benchmark in the world, the Philippines’ most advanced gasoline was field tested in a marathon performance run across the length of Luzon.

With Honda as the official vehicle partner, test teams were deployed in two driving modes—hypermiling mode to test fuel efficiency, and normal mode to test the overall driving experience. The six-day run saw the test teams driving up to Ilocos Norte and then all the way down to Sorsogon, before turning back to return to Metro Manila. For the hypermilers, the challenge was to see how far they could go on one full tank of Petron Blaze 100 Euro 6. In normal mode, the cars were heavily loaded with luggage and other equipment, and drivers were asked to drive as they saw fit depending on the terrain and traffic conditions.

Driving a Honda City 1.5 E CVT, the hypermiling team of Raymund Dimapilis and Enrico Mabunay were able to travel an impressive 33.69 kilometers for every liter. According to Dimapilis, their team did not expect to go the distance, saying: “There are a lot of write-ups that say there is no need to get a high-octane fuel beyond the manufacturer’s recommendation. However, this run proved that having a high-performance fuel has its benefits—in our case, fuel economy—when used properly. Another factor is that Blaze is 100% gasoline, so we had additional energy available to go farther.”