The problem of software development in Korea relying heavily on imported equipment should be addressed for the balanced development of the domestic information and communications technology (ICT) industry.
According to industry sources, domestically-produced ICT equipment such as servers, storage devices, and network equipment has rarely been used in software R&D projects led by the Korean government.
“Server and storage software development has been almost completely dependent upon foreign hardware, though a very small amount of domestic equipment has been in use for network software,” said an expert in the industry. The Telecommunications Technology Association added, “One of our major tasks is testing the performance of newly-developed software, but we have employed no domestically-produced servers or storage for the purpose, and this is all the same as most of the other research institutes.”
This is because software developers have to consider the actual environments of use, in which imported hardware such as those of HP, Dell, IBM, and EMC are prevalent. However, experts warn that the domestic ICT industry could be at risk if this trend becomes permanent. “The government would be well advised to alter development standards, so as to encourage domestic hardware-based software development and help small firms accumulate technologies,” one of them commented.