Distinguished Infocomm Speaker Mr Malcolm Matson believes that implementing an Open Public LAN would help develop Singapore into a world-class "information entrepôt"

This was the view of Mr Malcolm J. Matson, President of the OPLAN Foundation which is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of open public local access networks (OPLAN) and the social and economic benefits they deliver to their communities when he was in Singapore on 13 April 2007, as the guest speaker of IDA's Distinguished Infocomm Speaker Series.

Mr Matson posed the question to attendees that, "If the free trade of goods and materials between Singapore and its airports and seaports and those of the world have contributed to creating such economic and social prosperity in the industrial age, how much more will be created if, in the information age, it leads the world in opening its computer and network ports to 'information' passage that is similarly free from constraints, duties and tariffs?"

Members of the audience at the Distinguished Infocomm Speaker seminar were interested to know Mr Matson's perspective on the government's role in developing the infocomm environment

The world is, according to Mr Matson, at a turning point in the age of a new industrial revolution: that of the Age of Information. It is how a country and community moves from here that will dictate whether it will be a leader or get left behind.

Mr Matson also shared that with initiatives like iN2015 and Wireless@SG in place, Singapore is well placed to take lead the world in the development, launch and implementation of Next Generation Networks (NGN) or as Mr Matson calls them, Next Genus Networks.

There are a number of factors working in Singapore's favour:

Mr Matson feels that an NGN infrastructure needs to be put in place by the community with community as a whole benefiting from it whether they are an individual, business or government body

However, Mr Matson also cautioned that traditional business models that were used in the past by service providers like telcos will not work for an NGN. "Having a company that has control like a monopoly dictating how much bandwidth you can have at a particular price will not work for Next Generation Networks. Doing so will slow growth and adoption. The infrastructure needs to be put in place by the community and have the community as a whole benefiting from it whether they are an individual, business or government body."

"Singapore has a unique advantage because the critical infrastructure needed to support such an NGN is being put in place by a government that has the political vision and leadership at the highest level to make Singapore the world leader," Mr Matson concluded.

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Following the opening of Alcatel's first IPTV and Triple-Play Center of Competence last year, the newly merged Alcatel-Lucent will be launching a new, state-of-the-art Asia Internet Protocol (IP) Transformation Center (IPTC) in Singapore, to bolster its network of IPTCs worldwide. The Centre will be the center of its kind and scale in Asia-Pacific, and aims to develop, integrate and test end-to-end IP networking solutions to help operators and enterprises.

Mr Vince Pizzica, CTO of Alcatel-Lucent Asia-Pacific, explained that the Asia IPTC will reduce costs and risks for service providers, allowing them to take advantage of the new facilities to develop better quality IP products

The Asia IPTC represents an investment of approximately S$40 million over the next three years, with support from the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore, and is expected to host about 50 technologies and employ 80 professionals. The new center will be co-located with the IPTV Competency Center, and aims to complement the existing IPTCs and Network Integration Centers located in Antwerp, Belgium; Lisle, Illinois and Plano, Texas. These centers, which share knowledge, resources and best practices, help service providers execute their IP Transformation projects.

The launch was rolled out in response to the growing competition faced by developers, telcos and industry players in the region, with increasing demand to develop more sophisticated services, provide more value and accommodate new business models.

"Shortening the IP transformation period and ensuring seamless customer network migration are the prime objectives of our global IP Transformation Centers and Network Integration Centers," said Frederic Rose, President of Alcatel-Lucent Asia-Pacific. Through the Asia IPTC, Alcatel-Lucent will be able to lower barriers to entry and reduce the substantial investments typically required for such facilities.

Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of IDA, said that Asia IPTC will provide the industry with collaboration opportunities for both MNCs and local infocomm enterprises

Speaking at the Asia IPTC soft launch on 2 April 2007, Mr Ko Kheng Hwa, Managing Director of the EDB, noted that the new Centre will bring together Alcatel-Lucent's expertise and resources to support the development, integration and testing of communications networks and solutions for regional and global markets. This is in line with the Government's objective to further promote Singapore as the ideal hub for a broad spectrum of ICM innovation activities, and have committed a budget of S$13 billion over the next 5 years to support R&D efforts.

Endorsing the Centre's location in Singapore, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said, "The Centre will contribute to the infocomm ecosystem in Singapore and potentially seed the development of local independent software vendors and attract product development and system integration from Alcatel-Lucent's partners. The presence of the Center will help develop a pool of highly-skilled network professionals."

One of the inaugural initiatives the Asia IPTC will be working on is the roll out of critical infrastructure that will enable sophisticated Internet Protocol (IP) communications services for Companhia de Telecommunicações de Macau S.A.R.L. (CTM)'s business and consumer customers to realize the operator's "Digital Macau" vision. Announced last November, "Digital Macau" delivers a new generation of communications services that will keep pace with and support the Macau Special Administrative Region's sustained growth. Next-generation network services will be provided in four key areas: mobile, broadband, high-speed data services and applications.

In addition, Alcatel-Lucent is already working on several major IP transformation, triple play and IPTV projects in the region, including SingTel's IPTV trials which were conducted in October 2006.

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With VoIP, instant messaging and other collaborative technologies gaining ground rapidly, many companies and analysts see Singapore being strategically positioned to take advantage of these trends. iN.SG speaks to various infocomm players to get a first-look at the shape of things to come.

Mr Gregory Wade, Director of Asia Pacific, Research In Motion (RIM) says that CIOs and CTOs from across the region are consistent in their identification of requirements for wireless enterprise architecture. Based on RIM's experience in Singapore, enterprise decision makers are seeking wireless architecture which are established, reliable and secure. Scalability and manageability are also key factors – platforms should be able to support multiple hardware partnerships as well as multiple network protocols (such as GSM, CDMA, UMTS, WiFi).

As a result of these requirements, RIM sees five major trends emerging in Singapore:

• Fixed Mobile Convergence
• Enterprise grade collaboration
• Expansion of value added services in mission critical enterprise environment
• Utility vs. Aesthetics
• Work life balance

Fixed Mobile Convergence represents the path leading up to mobilisation. We are seeing an emergence of consumer and enterprise grade solutions in the market and the lines between fixed and mobile environments are blurring. Clearly, security is still of paramount importance and BlackBerry leads in this important element of wireless solution delivery.

Both Research In Motion and Juniper Networks see convergence among mobile devices as a major trend that is taking place in Asia

Where Internal Messaging (IM) has been seen as a valuable tool for individuals to communicate and share life's experiences, businesses are starting to recognise the importance of dynamic collaboration within office walls, across the country, and internationally.

Companies and end-users are seeking more from the wireless service providers and solution providers. Platforms such as BlackBerry provide the basis from which to build business-driving, customer experience enhancing applications and solutions.

Companies and individuals need to sustain and support a concerted effort around establishing a strong work-life balance. The promise of the next phone cannot be met without some tangible elements of utility for end-users, thus we are witnessing this growing trend in Singapore.

According to Mr Brendan Leitch, Director of Service Provider Marketing of Juniper Networks APAC, consumers and businesses will increasingly demand more customised and unique services from operators. These services include IPTV, video sharing, my-space type services, you-tube services, instant messaging services onto mobiles. More importantly he says, consumers will want their services bundled into a single, easy to use interface and a single bill that charges only for their services. To make this happen, the carrier must deploy and deliver these services over a single network platform. "This is called convergence," he adds.

According to Mr Craig Gledhill, Cisco's Managing Director for Singapore and Brunei, strong broadband penetration and increasing affordability of technology solutions now enable SMBs to realise the same benefits from technology as larger companies

Mr Craig Gledhill, Cisco's Managing Director for Singapore and Brunei says that a major trend is the strong adoption of technology among SMBs. Strong broadband penetration and increasing affordability of technology solutions now enable SMBs to realise the same benefits from technology as larger companies. Video is also expected to be another significant growth area for Cisco, just as voice became an application on Internet Protocol Networks, so will video.

He also added that the consumer market is also taking on a new importance, not just for Cisco, but for the technology industry in general. Empowered by the Internet and other online collaborative applications, consumers are beginning to determine what technologies enterprises adopt and what service providers deploy. Linksys is a very key component in Cisco's consumer strategy and the synergies that Cisco can drive with Linksys are tremendous. You would have seen Cisco technologies such as voice over IP being integrated into Linksys' product portfolio.

How is Singapore poised to take advantage of these trends?
RIM feels that Singapore is well poised to take advantage of these trends and is leading the way to establish strength and prominence in areas, namely Fixed Mobile Convergence, work-life balance, etc. according to Mr Wade, opportunities exist vis-à-vis application extension, the germination of small design houses and independent developers. The Singapore Government has also been putting forward initiatives which strive to achieve work-life balance.

According to Rim, on a regional basis, Singapore is a leader in supporting and sustaining an environment which can ultimately support Fixed Mobile Convergence. Infrastructure is critical and Singapore continues to demonstrably invest in IT and telecommunications infrastructure. According to Mr Wade, if you couple this dedication with the continuing rise of technical educational institutions, Singapore's strong position is irrefutable both regionally and globally.

Singapore Government's commitment to leveraging infocomm technology to benefit the country's economic growth will generate a lot of opportunities for the industry

Mr Leitch says that Singapore's consumers lead the region in adopting new and unique services. Singapore businesses are similarly aggressively in adopting innovative new business oriented services. He also applauded Singapore's well established software and technology development environment. "With sophisticated end users and a well developed tech industry, Singapore is strongly positioned to take new services to market, leading the industry," he said.

According to Mr Gledhill, the Singapore government's commitment to leveraging infocomm technology (ICT) to benefit the country's economic growth will generate a lot of opportunities for the industry. "We have seen a lot of excitement generated by SOE and by wired and wireless infrastructure projects but we are also going to see a lot of ICT infrastructure build-out as a result of the Integrated Resorts," he added.

Mr Gledhill also added that Singapore was ranked #1 and #2 in the past Global IT Reports by the World Economic Forum, so it clearly is considered a leader in leveraging ICT. Singapore does lag in some areas, notably in broadband penetration, but this will change now that the government has identified this as one of the areas to invest in.

What do you expect to see happening in the near future?
Value-added services (VAS) will continue to represent a significant element in enterprise wireless strategies and as a matter of fact, we do foresee GPS playing a bigger role within the solution environment in Singapore. Mr Wade says that RIM expects Fixed Mobile Convergence to lead to tighter integration of software elements, be it from multimedia engines, mobile applications or voice telephony. This, according to Mr Wade, will see security ultimately becoming even more important within corporate strategies for mobility and he anticipates the growth and extension of solutions with an emphasis on security and reliability of mobile solutions.

Mr Leitch says that advances in technology, competitive pressure, and an evolving regulatory environment are radically shifting the economics of delivering voice, data, and video services. In response, he says that providers are making significant changes in their business models, not just to cut costs, but also to drive new, differentiated revenue streams.

Overall, he says that we can expect that operators will remodel their networks to rapidly accommodate new services as consumers and business users demand them. These networks will need to be built using only open standards as opposed to the traditional approach of procuring a single network system from a single vendor, which greatly limits the number of services and applications that can be taken to the market.

According to Mr Leitch, building networks using Open Standards will address the need for the operators to build services for consumers and businesses, using their choice of software and hardware partners that are best suited to build and deliver those specific services. Operators are free to work with any partner of their choice. It will also provide the Singapore technology industry the opportunity to deliver customised software and hardware for Singapore, Asia and around the world Cisco's Mr Gledhill expects that, with iN2015 and the other ICT initiatives, the buzz is returning to the ICT sector. "This is an exciting time for ICT in Singapore and there is a real sense of what can be achieved if Singapore executes correctly on its initiatives," he enthused.