Thanks to infocomm, this year's NDP experience can be shared through PCs, laptops, mobile phones and PDAs.

As at May 2007, Singapore's mobile penetration stands at 109.5 per cent, including 1.14 million 3G subscribers. Household broadband penetration has reached 69.2 per cent and about 78 per cent of these, or some 8 in 10 households, own at least a PC or a laptop. There are also now 428,000 Wireless@SG (free 512 kbps) subscribers in Singapore.

"Infocomm has the power to extend the 'reach' and 'richness' of our National Day celebrations," said Mr Chan Yeng Kit, IDA's Chief Executive Officer. Singaporeans who have not been lucky enough to get hold of an NDP ticket, or who are overseas, can still be part of the celebrations. "With infocomm, you needn't take a back seat. You can be part of the celebrations."

Singaporeans can access video footage from up to 18 "live" cameras which will be streamed through www.ndp.org.sg/infocomm

For example, Singaporeans can access video footage from up to 18 "live" cameras which will be streamed through www.ndp.org.sg/infocomm. Furthermore, "live" streams from four selected cameras can be viewed via their mobile phones when they access www.ndp.org.sg/mobile. Some of these cameras will also be capturing fringe celebration activities.

Interactivity through infocomm will be another key feature of this year's celebrations. The NDP organisers are getting Singaporeans to bond through blogs. People from all walks of life, from the NDP parade commander to performers and spectators, will be sharing their experiences online and anyone who wants to video-blog or share pictures of NDP celebrations can upload them to www.ndp.org.sg/mobile via their mobile phones.

Mobile phones equipped with a 2D barcode reader can also be used to scan the "EzCode" for special discounts at some 168 participating retail outlets in Marina Bay, while video call charges for all operators are being reduced to five cents per minute for a special 3G video-on-demand service which allows National Day filmlets to be streamed onto 3G handsets when subscribers make a video call to 6829-2007.

• Media release: 10 July 2007 - No National Day Parade Tickets?

Connected Games offer gamers a more engaged and pervasive experience and game creators new avenues to monetise their intellectual property.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has issued two Requests for Information (RFIs), one for a Connected Games Delivery Infrastructure and the other for Connected Games Rapid Development Platforms in Singapore.

As part of Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015), a 10-year infocomm masterplan launched in June 2006, one of IDA's goals is to establish Singapore as a digital media and entertainment capital offering innovative content, services and technologies to the world. The key recommendations to achieve this goal include providing technologies, platforms, and infrastructure for media and entertainment companies to process, manage and distribute DME content and services, and to create content and services.

"The Digital Media and Entertainment industry is at the brink of a revolution as a result of infocomm technologies," said Thomas Lim, Cluster Director, Education, Learning, Digital Media & Entertainment Cluster. "This is transforming the production, processing and distribution of content and services, and this is clearly evident in the digital games space. Connected Games offer gamers a more engaged and pervasive experience and game creators new avenues to monetise their intellectual property."

Towards this objective, IDA proposes:

1. Establishing a Connected Games Delivery Infrastructure in Singapore. This would "level-up" Singapore's capabilities in delivering and distributing Connected Games content and services to the region across platforms, including online, mobile, console, and handheld, and
2. Establishing Connected Games Rapid Development Platforms in Singapore. The aim is to accelerate the development of Connected Games by making available platforms that provide access to technologies and resources for the game development and publishing community.

IDA would like to invite prospective industry players to submit information and concept proposals for either or both RFIs. IDA would especially invite game publishers, distributors, online game service operators, and infocomm service providers to submit for the CGDI RFI, and game developers, technology providers, and platform operators, to submit for the RDP RFI. Both RFI submissions close on 31 August 2007.

• Download RFI for Connected Games Delivery Infrastructure
• Download RFI for Connected Games Rapid Development Platforms

All enquiries regarding the CGDI and RDP requests should be sent to IDA_CGDI@ida.gov.sg and IDA_RDP@ida.gov.sg, respectively.

Mr Leong (centre) checks out grid-based applications and services at GridAsia 2007. Mr Mark Linesch (left) is president and CEO of the Open Grid Forum.

Come 2008, a National Grid will be in place to make high performance computing, software services and huge storage capabilities available to enterprises on a pay-per-use basis.

This comes after the successful trial of the National Grid Pilot Platform (www.ngpp.ngp.org.sg), that was established in 2003 to provide compute-resources free-of-charge to both the R&D community and businesses. In that pilot, organisations contributed idle compute-resources and from an initial base of some 250 CPUs in 2003, the NGPP has grown to boast capabilities of nearly 1,000 CPUs today. Going forward, the National Grid will involve a more concerted effort between the public and private sectors to realise on-demand, pay-per-use grids for enterprises, with more robust service level agreements.

Speaking at the annual conference, GridAsia 2007, Mr Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive/Director-General (Telecoms) of the Infocomm Development Authority of SIngapore (IDA), said IDA is currently in talks with various Government agencies and industry players such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle, to develop the commercial grid infrastructure for enterprises to tap on.

Grid computing has traditionally been used by the R&D and academic communities, given the compute-intensive applications that they have to run. In 2005, Singapore became the first South-east Asia node within the Global Operational Grid, and has contributed storage and compute resources to facilitate global research projects, such as those by CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research).

In recent years, commercial enterprises have begun to realise the benefits of grid computing and sectors such as digital media, and finance and banking are increasingly dependent on grid technologies. Pointing out that high computing needs were no longer the preserve of the R&D community, Mr Leong said, "Animated movies like 'Shrek', 'Shark Tale' and 'Madagascar' are made possible only because of grid-enabled utility rendering service."

Mr Leong also announced the formation of the National Grid Advisory Council to lead and guide local enterprises in grid adoption. The council, which is led by Mr Richard Lim, Chief Executive of the Defence Science and Technology Agency, is made up of users, service providers, academia, and Government agencies.

"The grid model promises optimum utilisation of IT resources and tremendous cost savings for businesses. We envision a future where grids are for all. No enterprise should be left behind because they cannot afford grid computing," said Mr Leong.