MANILA -- While the Philippines has become a top destination for offshore call center work, it still lags far behind India and China as a center for software development, two U.S. executives said during presentations at a conference here last week.

"The Philippines doesn't even come to mind," Stephanie Childs, vice president of government affairs at the Information Technology Association of America, said at the Software Innovations Philippines 2006 conference.

Randall Reade, president of software exporter Zipzone Ltd. in Washington, said that rising costs in India are prompting some U.S. companies to look elsewhere for offshore development services.

But, Reade added, "frankly, no one even has an image of the Philippines" as a location for software development.

Briefly noted