FITIS warns Govt. ban on imports to severely affect critical IT Infrastructure

FITIS Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe

FITIS Hardware Chapter President Gnanam Sellathurrai

The Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) yesterday warned recent import ban will severely impact the IT hardware industry and appealed for a revision with urgency for the betterment of sustainability and livelihood to all.

The apex IT body in Sri Lanka said the measure of constraining many hardware products banned from being imported whilst leaving many local entities crashing can further mean the exit of many multinationals. Many software development firms accounting for export revenue are foreseen to be reduced due to equipment shortages.

The telecommunication sector too feels mounting pressure creeping in. The displeasure can not only mean for these industries but can cause complications to many others as computers and devices along with their peripherals necessitates them to function.FITIS Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe said that the move can seem as reducing pressure on forex reserves with the dollar crisis, in reality, the damage may be more severe with this action. He indicated of some gloomy factors such as snags when working from home, total shutdown of many critical operations, huge cyber security threats to businesses and loss of its valuable data, asides the present exodus of skilled employees migrating an even larger amount likely to consider it, and the loss of employability to many.

FITIS Hardware Chapter President Gnanam Sellathurrai stressed that “now with the ban specifically equipment's such as servers, network appliances, notebooks and desktops, and firewalls are the key platforms that maintain all kinds of activity online. It can be any software which runs on the hardware unit, but the hardware is the main unit that necessitates for any of the programs to be set on any digital activity”.

Adding to the burden when replacements are needed, Sellathurrai expressed displeasure asserting that: “When devices are to be serviced, replaced, or be renewed with the relevant licenses, the choice of postponement is not the solution. If delayed, the entire country’s technological platform may crash part by part. 

“Examples would be instances where the connectivity is lost between the head office’s central infrastructure and the branch when the interconnecting device breaks off. Therefore, it is essential that an understanding regarding the intensiveness of the problem is supposed; as already due to the forex shortage, where the country has been short supplied for the past three quarters.”