"As a whole, the infocomm sector is vibrant and technologically dynamic," said Dr Lee. He attributed this in part to the arrival of broadband, which he described as "a powerful catalyst for innovation and demand".

As part of its 10-year infocomm masterplan Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015), Singapore is rolling out a Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure to meet the growing demands of high-speed connectivity and mobility. Wireless@SG, the wireless component of this infrastructure, has already garnered some 850,000 subscribers in Singapore who use wireless connectivity at more than 7,200 hotspots.

To enhance Wireless@SG, new initiatives such as a Virtual Private Network service and a trial on Seamless and Secure Access (SSA) have been introduced by the three Wireless@SG operators, iCELL Network (www.icellwireless.net), QMax Communications (www.qmax.com.sg) and Singapore Telecommunications (www.singtel.com).

Minister Lee (centre) launches imbX 2008. On the extreme right is IDA's Chief Executive Officer RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay.

The Wireless@SG Virtual Private Network service, which is jointly provided
by SecureAge and the three Wireless@SG operators, is available to all Wireless@SG users for free until December 2009. The service provides secure wireless access by encrypting the data transmitted over the Wireless@SG network, so that users can have greater peace of mind while surfing the Internet and using applications such as email, instant messaging and
file-sharing.

The second initiative, SSA, provides users with an alternative method of accessing Wireless@SG. It enables user devices to connect to the network automatically whenever it is in a Wireless@SG hotspot, without the need to key in any user credentials. Data transmitted over the network is also automatically secured. Working with Microsoft and Nokia, the Wireless@SG operators are offering the SSA trial to 300 existing Wireless@SG subscribers who own devices that can support SSA. Trial locations include Suntec City Mall, Vivo City and Wisma Atria.

Even as the wireless initiatives take off, an entirely new wired network – the Next Generation National Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) - is being planned to bring pervasive ultra high speed broadband connectivity to all homes, offices and institutions by 2015. The IDA is currently evaluating the formal bids from two consortia to build the passive infrastructure of the Open Access and pervasive Next Gen NBN for Singapore.

In anticipation of the Next Gen NBN rollout, plans are also being drawn up for a Grid Market Hub which will offer on-demand computing services from the National Grid. The Grid Market Hub will offer infocomm services on a pay-per-use basis.

Besides end users, the Next Gen NBN will also benefit sectors such as digital media and entertainment. In 2006, this sector registered S$2.06 billion in digital business revenues, which represented an annual growth rate of almost 14 per cent from the previous year. To drive further growth, IDA is launching a Digital Marketplace programme to develop a trusted and conducive environment for digital media businesses to hub, manage, distribute and trade digital media assets such as movies, video programmes, music and mobile content through and from Singapore.

Singapore has also identified the development and distribution of Connected Games as another area to grow the Digital Media and Entertainment industry. "We will develop Singapore into a hub for game developers to deploy their products to the world market, as well as build an ecosystem to accelerate the development of Connected Games," said Dr Lee.

• Click here for the full text of Dr Lee Boon Yang's speech.

Singapore will invest S$20 million to develop a National Authentication Framework (NAF) which will create a trusted and conducive platform for accessing next generation services on the Internet.

Speaking at a media conference during imbX 2008, RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said as more mainstream services are offered online, user-IDs and passwords alone will be insufficient to address online identity risks. There is thus a need for a more rigorous process of verifying online identities.

"The NAF would provide another layer of security that would give consumers a convenient and consistently strong authentication experience," he said. "Under this nationwide platform, consumers will have the choice of different authentication methods or devices, any one of which can be used to access multiple online services offered by both the private and public sectors. This will give consumers both assurance and convenience."

RADM(NS) Tay: The NAF will give consumers a convenient and consistently strong authentication experience.

One way of implementing the NAF is through the use of two-factor authentication. A popular second-factor authentication method that many banks are offering to their online consumers today is the One-Time Password or OTP. When a user accesses an online service, in addition to user-ID and password, the user will be required to enter an additional "second factor password" which is generated on demand. This "second factor password" may be delivered through a hardware or software token or via SMS. Other types of authentication methods
include certificates and biometrics.

With the nationwide deployment of two-factor authentication, online service providers such as government agencies and financial institutions will be able to outsource their second-factor authentication infrastructure to trusted third parties known as the Authentication Operators (AOs).

The AOs will be able to offer multiple authentication devices and methods, depending on market needs, and consumers can hold more than one authentication device such as a security token or an SMS OTP. However, a single device should be able to provide the consumer with access to multiple online e-services that require strong authentication. Consumers can thus benefit from the enhanced security of strong authentication without the inconvenience of having to carry multiple devices.

IDA plans to issue a Call for Collaboration for the NAF in the second half of this year, to seek industry partners who will operate as AOs. According to IDA, initial demand for the NAF is likely to come from government initiatives such as SingPass and the Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOEasy).

Currently, about 40 Government agencies use SingPass to authenticate users for some 370 e-services. Since its launch, the total volume of SingPass authentication transactions have increased from 4.5 million in 2003 to 18.9 million in 2006, representing a more than three-fold increase in usage over four years. The second initiative, SOEasy, involves the rollout of a robust, connected and agile infocomm environment to more than 60,000 public officers. Both could leverage NAF for the delivery of services with stronger authentication needs.

The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has taken a significant step towards the creation of a Grid Market Hub with the appointment of three consortia as Singapore's first National Grid Service Providers (GSPs). The three consortia are led by Singapore Computer Systems (SCS), PTC System, and NewMedia Express.

Targeted to be in place by 2013, the Grid Market Hub is an infocomm marketplace for sharing, buying and selling infocomm resources such as software, computing and storage. It will enable businesses, large and small, to make use of infocomm resources on-demand and on a pay-per-use basis.

Mr Khoong: Companies can expect a more robust and secure offering from the National Grid service providers.

According to Mr Khoong Hock Yun, IDA's Assistant Chief Executive (Infrastructure), the grid model capitalises on the wider trend of organisations moving their infocomm spending from capital expenditure to operating expenditure.

With the National Grid effort, businesses can buy compute capabilities for as low as S$0.33 per core hour, and data storage capacity for as low as S$0.48 per GB per month. This is opposed to having to spend thousands of dollars buying and maintaining in-house servers, or leasing them from overseas grid providers
who typically charge about US$1 per CPU hour.

The National Grid also enables firms that require high performance computing, such as animation companies or financial organisations that do data-crunching, to scale up their computing power as and when they need to. They can look forward to local access to the compute capabilities of more than 2,500 cores for a start, scaling up to more than 3,500 cores by 2011, all on a pay-per-use basis.

In addition, more than 30TB of storage will be made available on the National Grid, making it possible for organisations to back up massive amounts of data.

By 2011, IDA is also targeting to have more than 80 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers who will tap on the National Grid to offer services such as productivity and desktop publishing tools on a pay-per-use basis.

The three National Grid service providers are expected to offer commercial services by the end of 2008.

The SCS-led consortium will primarily offer two major categories of services – Platform as a Service (core on demand and storage on demand) and SaaS. The Platform as a Service focuses on driving enterprise adoption by leveraging grid resources for their infrastructure needs, said Mr Tan Tong Hai, President and Chief Executive Officer of SCS. SaaS will be targeting the SME markets to address their enterprise application needs.

The NewMedia Express consortium will offer the entire ecosystem of grid offerings ranging from raw CPU and storage on demand to SaaS services with both vertical and horizontal focus, said its Marketing Manager Ms Shirley Lee. The consortium's offerings include operating systems, Microsoft Office applications, remote access, application development, email, platform virtualisation, video streaming, web-based server management, web site creation and billing tools.

The third consortium, led by PTC System, will focus on Storage as a Service, targeting mainly users who require archival storage. "As the data on expensive primary storage grows, users can offload the data to a secondary storage at a remote site," said S.S. Lim, Managing Director of PTC System. "This will free up space on expensive primary storage and allow archive data to be kept on lower cost secondary storage."

Unlike the National Grid Pilot Platform, which was set up five years ago to provide universities and the research institutions with shared infocomm resources provisioned on a "best effort" basis, the National Grid service providers will offer paid services with Service Level Agreements. "Companies can therefore expect a more robust and secure offering," said Mr Khoong.

The government will lead the way in National Grid adoption, providing up to 40 per cent of the demand for the grid infrastructure, he said. Defence, the National Library Board and other government agencies are expected to come on board, as are organisations in sectors such as manufacturing, digital media and healthcare.

The future of computing will take place in a "cloud". Companies will minimise the need to build their own data centres as they will not be hosting their own applications but will be buying infocomm applications for their businesses over the web. Software will then be viewed as a service, a utility which can be accessed through web browsers.

These were some of the insights shared by Mr Paul Slakey, Enterprise Director, Asia-Pacific and Latin America of Google (www.google.com), in his keynote address at the recent iX 2008 Conference organised by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation. iX 2008 was part of the Infocomm Media Business Exchange, Asia's largest infocomm and media event, which also included CommunicAsia2008, BroadcastAsia2008 and CGOverdrive.

Mr Slakey: 'Cloud' will revolutionise computing, just as long-distance electrical wires did with electricity.

According to Mr Slakey, cloud computing will revolutionise computing, much in the same way as long-distance electrical wires did with the provision of electricity, which eliminated the need for utility companies to install power plants near urban areas.

As it is, consumers are already exploiting simple easy-to-use tools over the Internet for their instant messaging and social computing applications. "There is an inversion taking place recently. No longer are the best and most cutting edge technologies found in the Internet but in the homes. It is the consumers who now use leading applications such as instant messaging, voice over Internet protocol, mobile networking and
social computing."

This trend, he said, will migrate to the business world and when it does so, it will give rise to power collaborators, the characteristic of the 21st century employee. "Productivity gains in future will centre not just on the individual employee but on the team and the ‘cloud' enables collaboration within and between the teams to be so much simpler as it does not require everyone to have the same version of the application downloaded on their computers for collaboration to happen."

As the world becomes more globalised, these Web applications will be fitted with instant translation, which means that each member of the global team can work using the language he or she is most familiar with, and yet be able to communicate with each other effectively.

Mr Slakey also highlighted some of the barriers to cloud computing – connectivity, user experience, reliability, off-line access and security – but said that these obstacles are fast falling away. "While it was difficult to be connected to the Web 10 years ago while a person is on the road, it is no longer the case today. Mobile workers can now access high-speed Internet link in many cities," he commented.

He also pointed out that both user experience and reliability have improved by leaps and bounds and that companies developing applications for cloud computing are well aware of the need for companies to have off-line access and are providing these features in their applications.

He sees security as the last frontier. This has always been a serious concern of governments and companies and he said that, "it is a legitimate concern and we are making sure that we can protect your data better than you with redundancy currently being built in."

In the future, he said, it was more likely that the weak link would be the physical computer, which was so highly susceptible to thefts. He said 10 per cent of laptops are stolen within their first year of purchase, often with sensitive information inside. Rounding off his talk, Mr Slakey conceded that while cloud computing would take centrestage in future, on premises
software would not go away, and most corporations would be using both
in their organisations.

Carrier grade partner : Check.
Partner for SMS broadcast solution: Check.
Partner for managed services: Check.

At its very first outing at imbX 2008, three-month-old integrated content player Mobile Global Markets (MGM; www.gomgm.biz) managed to source for partners in the three areas that it was looking for, said Chief Executive Officer John Koh.

MGM was one of nine mobile services companies brought together by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to showcase their offerings at the Infocomm Singapore pavilion at imbX 2008. The company, in partnership with Thomson Reuters, provides real time information that is delivered to users' mobile phones, giving them the latest in market movements, political or economic developments, sports, entertainment and other news. The service provides complete news articles and analysis, and not just 160-character SMS updates, said Mr Koh.

Working with telcos, service providers and large consumer-based institutions, MGM also produces customised products to meet special requirements such as live quotes, 24-hour tournament updates or SMS alerts.

At imbX 2008, the company was looking for a carrier grade partner that would provide it with a platform for international deployment. "The service offers a unique value proposition because our clients are always on the move, crossing borders and accessing multiple networks in different countries," said Mr Koh. "The ability to work with a single party to cater for global delivery is very important. Quality is everything when it comes to breaking news and information where every second matters." MGM is currently in talks with a player based in the United States to deliver this, he said.

IDA led a contingent of nine local mobile services companies which showcased their offerings at the Infocomm Singapore pavilion.

MGM has also identified a partner to help provide a quality of service solution for its SMS services. "We were looking not only for expertise and performance, but also for company that brings along very deep experience working closely with their customers based on trust and relationships," said Mr Koh.

Finally, in looking for a software developer to create solutions around its platform, MGM found instead a player in France who was keen to develop
and deliver these solutions on a revenue-sharing basis. The arrangement would work well for MGM, said Mr Koh. "That will help me keep my company size small."

Besides MGM, other companies at the Infocomm Singapore pavilion were also successful in linking up with potential partners and clients at imbX 2008. Mobile solutions provider MobiQuest (www.mobiquest.net) was looking to touch base with content aggregators, as well as enterprises which wanted mobile applications to be integrated into their business. "We managed to talk to prospects from countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, and also some from the United Kingdom, said Managing Director Ashok Agrawal.

Maven Lab (www.mavenlab.com), which provides a mobile broadcasting platform for businesses and also helps with their mobile campaign management or mobile advertising needs, also met up with local companies that were interested in its services, as well as overseas telcos and retail brands, said its Director Hiew Wee Soon.

Other companies that made up the IDA contingent at imbX 2008 included InCentOne (www.incent.com.sg), Yuuzoo (www.yuuzoo.com), Amazing Worlds (www.amazingworlds.com), Quantum Inventions (www.quantuminventions.com), VoiceRoute (www.voiceroute.net) and Teliwave (www.teliwave.com).

Singapore has emerged strongly as a key services and outsourcing (SSO) hub, with the local SSO market standing at US$1.53 billion in 2007. This represented a 9.14 per cent growth from US$1.40 billion in 2006, according to a 2007 Global Sourcing Study by Frost & Sullivan. Singapore was also ranked as the fourth most favourable location across seven industry verticals including the technology sector.

Ms Tham: IDA will focus its efforts on attracting high value-added activities to capture an even greater slice of the global SSO market.

The demand for global SSO is expected to reach US$1.43 trillion by 2009, and Singapore is well-positioned to tap into the burgeoning opportunity with its robust infocomm infrastructure, excellent connectivity, political stability, strong intellectual property protection and a pro-business environment, said Ms Tham Ai Chyn, Assistant Chief Executive of Industry & Cluster Development at Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Ms Tham was speaking at Frost & Sullivan's 2008 Global Shared Services and Offshoring Summit.

She said IDA will focus its efforts on attracting high-value-added activities such as financial services, supply chain management, development centres and centres of competency to capture an even greater slice of the global SSO market. It will work together with the Economic Development Board of Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Workforce Development Agency, International Enterprise Singapore and Ministry of Manpower to put together plans, programmes and initiatives to promote and develop the SSO sector.

As the SSO industry is a big buyer of IT-enabled services, 10 Singapore companies also showcased their offerings at the Summit, which was attended by more than 200 delegates from Asia including Malaysia, China, India, Philippines and Indonesia. These companies were Emerio (www.emeriocorp.com), ST Electronics (e-Services), Chio Lim Stone Forest (www.rsmchiolim.com.sg), Melioris (www.melioris.biz),
TransFingo (www.transfingo.com), StarVision (www.starvisionit.com), Asiasoft Global (www.asiasoft.com.sg), Zapper Services (web.singnet.com.sg/~zapper/), NCS (www.ncs.com.sg) and Scientific Digital Business (www.sdbgroup.com). On the second day of the Summit, delegates were given a pre-organised site tour at either the MINDEF Shared Services Centre (managed by ST Electronics) or Trusted Hub Limited's processing centre.

Founded in 2001, Melioris, a business process outsourcing company specialising in finance solutions such as receivables, payables and communication platform for the finance industry, now counts as its customers Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific, Sony-Ericsson, DHL and Carrier.

"We are strong in our domain knowledge and the Web-based IT enabler we provide helps our clients with control, governance and visibility, all of which are critical for multinational companies," said Mr Mak Chee Wah, Chief Executive Officer of Melioris. "Being a Singapore company also helps as Singapore is a financial hub, a trusted brand known for its integrity. Singapore is the right place and right forum to draw people together."

Mr Chelladurai Devarajalu, Assistant Vice President of delivery at Emerio agreed. With Singapore as a trusted regional hub, it is easy to attract foreign talent here to provide high-end consulting solutions, which can then be marketed to the less mature markets, he said.

Mr Eddy Tan, General Manager, Business Process Outsourcing at NCS said the trusted hub concept promoted by IDA gives customers a strong and reliable image of a top-notch infocomm provider. "While we may not be able to compete directly with India and China in labour costs, we are able to leverage on the Singapore brand. Our pool of experienced process consultants focus on high-end business process outsourcing tasks such as design, transformation, re-engineering and business processes while the day-to-day operational delivery can be farmed out to our delivery centres in China to take advantage of the cost difference," he said.

Operating from Singapore gives regional customers confidence that "we have the expertise to implement their solutions," as IT adoption here is more advanced, said Ms Nicole Quah, Marketing and Communications, Scientific Digital Business.

1-Net Singapore (www.1-net.com.sg) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with three other data centres in Southeast Asia to form an alliance aimed at meeting acute data centre requirements in the region.

The Data Centre Alliance, which includes Malaysia's The AIMS Asia Group (www.aims.com.my), Vietnam's CMC Telecom (www.cmctelecom.vn) and Thailand's TCC Technology (www.tcc-technology.com), in addition to
1-Net Singapore, will form a one-stop hub that provides a full suite of services and connectivity.

According to the Alliance, the data centre services market in Asia is experiencing "colossal demand", driven by sharp growth in IT services. According to an IDC Market Analysis Report, the market for data centre services in Singapore alone is estimated to be US$270 million in 2007, and is forecasted to expand at an annual compound growth rate of 7 per cent to reach US$326 million in 2011.

Mr Yow (left): We see this Alliance as an opportunity to meet the regional business needs of our customers.

The members of the Alliance will have a combined space of more than 500,000 square feet and a projected annual turnover of S$100 million by 2009, making it one of the biggest data centre operators in the region catering to first-tier telcos, government agencies, banks and other businesses.

The focal point of the Alliance is to create network and systems interoperability while allowing peering between all its data centres to enable seamless transfer of data and digital media for enterprises. It will also offer value added managed services such as Digital Asset Management and delivery systems.

"We see this Alliance as an opportunity to extend our services by providing a comprehensive suite of regional data centre solutions to meet the regional business needs of our customers," said Mr Yow Tau Keon, Managing Director of 1-Net Singapore.

Through the Alliance, customers can easily set up complementary and alternative disaster recovery sites across borders. The objective is to ensure enterprise customers can gain easy access to the same high level of service at every data centre within the Alliance.

With the signing of the MOU, the members of the Alliance will now move towards definitive agreements between the parties and common Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and establish peering between the data centres so as to start operations by end of 2008. Other priorities of the Alliance include working towards jointly developing technologies and promoting adoption of industry standards among its members such as a Green Data Centre initiative to drive energy efficient processes and standards.

The data centres within the Alliance will meet Tier III and above standards as stated by the Data Centre Tier Classification from Uptime Institute. They will also be adopting ISO27001 as a reference for their information security management system.

Welcoming the formation of the Data Centre Alliance, Ms Tham Ai Chyn, Assistant Chief Executive (Industry and Cluster Development), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, said it was in line with IDA's efforts to establish a trusted and conducive environment for digital media businesses to securely host, manage and trade digital media assets, under its Digital Marketplace programme. "We are encouraged to see the Alliance focusing on promoting industry best practices and standards as this also aligns well with our efforts to establish best practices and technical standard guidelines to facilitate international digital media asset exchange and trade," she said.