:Bermuda still has a big part to play in the IT industry - despite many such jobs being outsourced over the past few years.

That is according to Terry Lister, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce, who was speaking about the state of the ITsector at the IBM Smarter IT Decisions Conference held at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute yesterday.

But Mr. Lister said the Island had a lot going for it in terms of the most digital technology per capita than almost anywhere else in the world, with access to the latest technologies for both international and domestic communications.

"While many IT jobs have migrated off Island in recent years, I believe that by embracing the Smart Island approach Bermuda can continue to provide value in the IT area," he said.

"This can be done and must be done by us in this room seeking to embrace the technology opportunities that make our companies great and Bermuda the wonderful place to live and work that we enjoy."

Mr. Lister said Bermuda was already at the forefront of implementing the initiatives that chairman and CEO of IBM, Sam Palmisano, had defined as the "possibilities" that must exist in order to create a smarter world, with the planet becoming "instrumented, inter-connected and intelligent".

He said that during 400 years of habitation, the Island's community had always had to make smart decisions, in order to survive and thrive, including investment in shipbuilding extending its trading capabilities and partnerships and putting Bermuda inside the only international network that existed at that time, so it was no surprise that today it was truly a wired Island because communications and the smart use of technology was part of its culture.

Mr. Lister pointed to the fact that Bermuda was linked to rest of the world by several advanced undersea telecommunications cables, while telecommunications development has always been led by the Government, with the industry serving as the back-bone of the economy. But he added that in today's ever-changing environment, which required the continual re-invention of businesses, the Island must adapt to these changes to meet the new demands of the 21st Century.

"Much of our success in the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT's) resulted from an early realisation that the forward momentum of our island economy depended on a well developed ICT infrastructure," he said.

"We were the first jurisdiction; let me say that again, we were the first to specifically create a Ministry in Government to address the opportunities and challenges provided by E-Commerce. This was a clear sign to the industry that we were serious about our intent to be a global leader in this field. Another world first was the Electronic Transactions Act of 1999, which provided a legislative framework on which business-to-business e-commerce could thrive.

Mr. Lister said that now more than ever, during the global economic downturn, the degree of technological sophistication that companies take on board can greatly improve the likelihood of their success.

He cited the 2008 study into Bermuda residents' and businesses' competencies and attitudes towards ICT, which was commissioned the Department of E-Commerce and carried out by a local research company, as proof that the Island ranked highly in the use of information technology and that Bermudians were competent with different forms of technology.

"Bermuda is an ideal location for conducting e-business," he said. "We have tough but fair regulation of international business. Our regulatory framework is flexible and conforms to international standards. Our international telecommunications infrastructure consists of four diverse routes, we also have top quality hosting facilities with full redundancy capabilities, as well as the full spectrum of wireless telecommunications options, including WiMAX and 3G mobile services.

"As we say in business; location, location, location is everything. Being an hour ahead of the US Eastern seaboard, four hours behind the UK and seven to 12 hours behind the Middle and Far East, international companies consider Bermuda an excellent location to operate from." *

Mr. Lister concluded that one area identified as critical to Bermuda's success in the IT industry was business continuity and disaster recovery, with the ability to recover seamlessly from a crisis now at the forefront of management's risk mitigation strategies and several companies on the Island had recently developed world-class data centre facilities for that purpose.