Dr Balakrishnan (centre) at the opening of the first Silver Infocomm Junction.

The SIJ is a conveniently-located facility catering to senior citizens who are comfortable in different languages, be it English, Malay, Chinese or Tamil, with their peers. It is part of the Silver Infocomm Initiative under the Intelligent Nation 2015 masterplan to equip 30,000 senior citizens with digital lifestyle skills and knowledge over the next three years. The first such hub was launched at the Retired & Senior Volunteer Programme (Singapore) centre in Bishan last month.

The SIJ is part of a slew of programmes by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore aimed at leveling the digital field for senior citizens and disadvantaged Singaporeans. Speaking at the launch of the SIJ at RSVP Singapore, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said, “We all know that IT is very important for transforming the economy and for social interaction, but there are some groups of society that are at risk of being left behind – the older citizens, the disabled and families who are less well of. As part of the government, IDA will make sure that there is no digital divide, no one left behind because of lack of opportunity.”

Noting that only 25 per cent of Singaporeans above the age of 55 are using the Internet, he said he hopes the setting up of SIJs will have a cascading effect in getting senior citizens to understand and appreciate the importance of infocomm. For senior citizens, it presents an opportunity to stay connected through cost effective means, such as email, videoconferencing and Skype,
he said.

In a separate initiative to level the digital playing field, IDA has announced an innovative twist to its existing NEU PC Plus programme to allow students from less well-off families to exchange community service credits for PCs and Internet access. The NEU PC Plus programme offers students from low-income households and disabled people a brand new computer bundled with three years of free broadband access and software for S$285.

For NEU PC Plus applicants who are unable to make this co-payment, the iNSPIRE Fund will allow them to render community service in order to receive a fully-paid desktop PC. The programme will assist some 4,000 students from needy households over the next four years. The iNSPIRE Fund will be administered by the Singapore Children’s Society, with support from Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation, National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre
and Maybank.

A third area that IDA is addressing is the need to empower the disabled through infocomm. By mid 2008, an Infocomm Accessibility Centre (IA Centre), housed within the premise of the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD), will be fully operational. Its facilities will include an Infocomm Assistive Technology library and vocational training services. Co-funded by IDA and the MCYS, with support from the industry, the IA Centre aims to train some 4,000 people with disabilities over the next three years to help increase their self-independence and job prospects.

• Factsheet on Silver Infocomm Initiative
• Factsheet on NEU PC Plus
  
• Factsheet on Infocomm Accessibility Centre

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) led a delegation of Singapore infocomm companies to Oman and Qatar last month to explore opportunities in the areas of infrastructure, education, trade and logistics,
and healthcare.

The visit to the Middle East followed the signing of MOUs with Qatar and Oman to enhance collaboration in infocomm and communications technologies.

The visit followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Singapore and Qatar in October, and between Singapore and Oman in November, to enhance collaboration in infocomm and communications technologies (ICT) between the states. The MOUs covered areas such as telecommunications, e-health, e-education, e-commerce and e-tourism. The parties agreed to share their experiences and knowledge and to explore opportunities for cooperation in both private and public sector projects in the respective countries.

The delegation, which included representatives from 15 Singapore infocomm companies, the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and the Singapore e-Government Leadership Centre (eGL), was led by Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, accompanied by IDA’s then Chief Executive Officer Mr Chan Yeng Kit.

Highlighting Singapore’s ICT expertise at the Singapore-Qatar e-Government Forum during the visit, Dr Lee said, “With the launch of our most recent e-service masterplan for the Singapore Government – iGov2010 or Integrated Government 2010 – in May last year, we aim to integrate organisation structures, change rules and procedures, reorganise and integrate public service around businesses’ and citizens’ needs and aspiration. This means putting ourselves in the user’s shoes, constantly thinking of what he needs, what will be useful and convenient for him when he transacts with the Government. It also means planning ahead to make e-services responsive, accessible, convenient and easy to use.”

For many of the Singapore delegates, the visit provided useful insights and helped to generate opportunities in the Oman and Qatar markets. “Singapore companies have good standing amongst the government and industry in these countries, and it is very evident that there are significant opportunities in Qatar and Oman,” said Mr Stephen Lim, Chief Executive Officer of
SQL View (www.sqlview.com).

Mr Foo Jong Ai, Chief Executive Officer of Netrust (www.netrust.net), also found the trip very beneficial. “It opened doors and facilitated access to key government officials in the two countries,” he said.

Mr. Ang Kwang Tat, Vice President of business development at Advanced Network Technology Laboratories (www.antlabs.com), said opportunities have opened up for his company in the area of wireless infrastructure projects in Qatar. “We have been approached by their ICT staff to ask if we can submit proposals for these tenders,” he said. “In both countries, we were able to find local partners with good fit since the more reputable companies were invited to the forums.”

Other Singapore infocomm companies in the delegation included

Amdon (www.amdon.com),
CrimsonLogic (crimsonlogic.com),
Ecquaria Technologies (www.ecquaria.com),
eSys Technologies (www.esysglobal.com),
Genovate Solutions (www.genovate.com),
HAN Technology (www.hantechnology.com.sg),
iCell Network (www.icellnetwork.com),
MicroUsability (www.microusability.com),
NCS Group (www.ncs.com.sg) and
Singapore Technologies Electronics (www.stee.stengg.com),
ST LogiTrack (www.stlogitrack.com) and
Web Professional House (www.wph.com.sg).

• Details of the Singapore Mission to Oman and Qatar.

Owners of websites can now use their favourite lucky numbers as their website addresses, because Singapore’s national registry for domain names, SGNIC, has launched fully numeric domain names to link websites to businesses, organisations and even personal pages.

Numeric domain names will join the spectrum of website addresses that make up Singapore’s vibrant online scene.

While alphanumeric domain names (eg. www.in2015.sg) already exist, fully numeric ones such as www.123.sg were not allowed previously.

This restriction stemmed from the early days of the Internet, when there were concerns that the old operating systems and software used back then would confuse pure numeric domain names (eg. 10203010.com), with Internet Protocol addresses (eg. 10.20.30.10).

With the rapid advancement in technology, today’s highly intelligent operating systems and software are able to differentiate between domain names and IP addresses. More registries around the world have also started to permit the use of pure numeric domain names, including China and South Korea.

Mr Lim Choon Sai, General Manager of SGNIC (www.sgnic.sg), said, “Some number patterns may be sought after because they have a familiar ring about them. Some might even be deemed auspicious, especially within the Asian culture. These domain names will join the spectrum of colourful website addresses that make up Singapore’s vibrant online scene. We are definitely looking forward to see some creative uses of numeric domains.”

SGNIC will also allow pure numeric domain names in all seven .sg categories - .com.sg, .net.sg, .org.sg, .gov.sg, .edu.sg, .per.sg.

Applications have opened and there will be bidding early next year for domain names with multiple applications.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) issued two Calls for Collaboration (CFCs) and a Request for Information (RFI) in November as it ramped up industry engagement in the areas of grid services provisioning, SME infocomm and Virtual Worlds.

IDA is inviting participation in grid, SME infocomm and Virtual Worlds initiatives.

Grid Services Provisioning CFC
To extend high performance computing, storage and software facilities to all businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the IDA has launched a CFC to bring together Grid service providers and independent software vendors to provide these infocomm resources on a pay-per-use basis. The aim is to enable more firms to leverage on the Grid to develop new, innovative business models and infocomm services, without having to incur hefty investment costs.

Through the CFC, the IDA aims to develop the Independent Software Vendor ecosystems that will enable "Software as a Service" applications to flourish, and establish Singapore as the "Shared Services Hub" of Asia. The CFC also aims to accelerate the deployment of software, compute and storage utility provisioning and to catalyse the demand for these services by increasing the number of users in the public and private sectors.

A Networking Session will be held on 5 December 2007. IDA would like to invite companies who are interested to participate in this CFC to attend the event.

Registration for the above event is available at IDA’s website (www.ida.gov.sg) under Infrastructure > Grid > Grid Services Provisioning Call-For-Collaboration.

The Grid Services Provisioning CFC closes on 4 February 2008. Details of the CFC and the proposal submission template can be downloaded below:

• Grid Services Provisioning CFC - Public Document
• Grid Services Provisioning CFC - Proposal Template

SME Infocomm Package CFC
The SME Infocomm Package CFC is aimed at accelerating infocomm adoption among SMEs by bringing together infocomm and related companies to provide one-stop infocomm packages to help SMEs operate more efficiently and grow their businesses.

One or more consortia may be selected to develop the infocomm packages, which may include non-infocomm products and services. To incentivise SMEs to adopt infocomm in their businesses, IDA will co-fund SMEs when they take up these packages.

The SME Infocomm Package CFC closes on 8 January 2008. Details of the CFC and the proposal submission template can be downloaded below:

• SME Infocomm Package CFC - Public Document
• SME Infocomm Package CFC - Proposal Template

RFI for Virtual Worlds for 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 (DME) capital offering innovative content, services and technologies to the world. The key steps toward achieving 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.

In line with this, IDA is inviting industry players to submit information and concept proposals for a programme to harness Virtual Worlds technologies to realise the iN2015 DME vision. The aim of this RFI is to gather feedback and to assess commercial interest and challenges faced by Virtual
Worlds stakeholders.

The closing date for RFI submission is 15 January 2008. The RFI document can be downloaded here.