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The Role of Open Systems, The Internet and Standards in Bringing to Fruition Singapore's National Information Infrastructure

Dr. James L. Clark & Dr. Vasant C. Ramkumar

AT&T Bell Laboratories
(on assignment to the Information Communication Institute of Singapore)


clark@icis.gov.sg
vasant@icis.gov.sg
Abstract
The Information Communication Institute of Singapore, ICIS, is a collaboration between the Singapore Government and AT&T, administrated jointly by AT&T and the National Computer Board, NCB, of Singapore, with sponsorship by the Singapore Economic Dev elopment Board, EDB, and Singapore Telecoms. ICIS is the key centre for information communication advanced training, consultancy and research in information communication technology in Singapore. Consequently ICIS is at the forefront of many of the issues , technical and managerial, with respect to bringing the National Information Infrastructure to fruition.

In this paper, we summarized the state of Singapore's Information Industry and discussed Singapore's IT Vision for the year 2000. The national vision to make Singapore an Intelligent Island by year 2000 will be realised in four main phases.[1]

In this paper, we discussed Singapore's strategic framework for building the National Information Infrastructure (NII) which is one of the four thrusts that will ensure Singapore's survival in the battle to remain a developed nation in the information ag e. The ability to carefully plan and to execute these plans to minimize failure as Singapore moves forward into the future was given much attention at the highest level in government. We addressed such planning issues, discussed the critical success facto rs, and documented the ten major industrial centers that have been identified to play key roles in the NII development. The paper also gave a status on some of the projects and trials to prove and test the NII technology.

The role of open systems, the internet and standards, relative to the NII program is also addressed. We explore some of the legal concerns as they unfold simultaneously with the deployment of the NII. The paper concluded by showing some of the national pa yoffs from these key projects and what the results from such trials meant to Singapore and its people.

Keywords
Singapore, NII, Intelligent Island

Introduction

Singapore today is considered to be one of the most progressive countries in the Asian region. Though not officially declared, many would like to think of Singapore as a developed country. Why did this country, formally part of the British empire, manage to climb to the top given its short history? Singapore was a British colony until the late 1950s, joined the new Malaysia in 1963 but broke away in 1965 to become the completely independent Republic of Singapore.

Singapore was able to work towards a solid development program that today puts the island city state far beyond its counterparts in the region. Its leadership realised that IT is a necessary ingredient to international competitiveness.[2] Given the shift in emphasis from data processing in the 1960's to Information Infrastructures in the 1990's, Singapore once again managed to keep abreast with IT developments.

Singapore unveiled its National Information Infrastructure (NII) plans in 1991. These plans had been undergoing formulation, in some peoples minds, since 1988. These plans were endorsed at the highest level of government and cover eleven sectors of the ec onomy. The leadership of this strategy was given to the National Information Technology Council (NITC) and the National Computer Board (NCB). NITC and NCB were to oversee the entire project as the country moves forward into the Information Age. The Govern ment funded the initial kickoff project, and continues to fund on a case by case basis various projects within the NII strategy framework.

Singapore's Information Industry

Singapore realized the value of efficiency as being an important factor in not only developing a country but to remain developed. There was a national need to make use of current technology to its fullest to continue to be efficient in every endeavour. Wi th that thrust the National Computer Board was formed to oversee Singapore's National Computerization Plan. A plan that will affect every office, industry and home.

Many foreign companies in every industry, (banking, education, manufacturing, marketing, medical, etc.), are setting up business operations in Singapore. In many cases Singapore is the headquarters for their Asean operations.

Singapore boasts the very best in its shipping industry. It's port, on the sea route between Europe, the Middle East, India and the rest of Asia, (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea), handles the largest volume of cargo in the world. Its Changi International Airport is consistently voted one of the most efficient in the world. Singapore continues to make significant progress in all of its industrial sectors.

It is interesting to note that Singapore's NII efforts began long before the NII efforts of many other countries including the United States (US).

The IT 2000 Vision

Singapore sees its information industry growing at the same rate as other developed countries. It does not intend to continue to follow but rather to take the lead in implementation as the opportunities arise. It is with this effort that the vision of the information industry in year 2000 and beyond was unveiled. As the demand for informa- tion rises there will be an increase of information vendors in the marketplace meeting the challenges to support consultancy services, financial services, advertizing services, and online shopping services, just to name a few. The entertainment vendors will meet the challenge of providing a wide range of multimedia services, etc. The media and publishing industry will be actively seeking the most advanced means of publication and distribution of media products. Consumer electronics will be state of the art and the most advanced in technology. Singapore is prepared and will be a test bed for the many new products that are soon to enter the marketplace.[3]

In 1992, the IT 2000 plan was unveiled with emphasis on what came to be known nationally as the three "C"s (Compute, Conduit and Content).[4] Singapore sees and recognizes a new paradigm shift in IT. Computation was the main study in the IT field dating back to the early days of the short IT history). Computability and computing power dominated IT discussions among professionals. In the 70's a paradigm shift changed the focus to communica- tion. The discussions then were on subjects such as networks, and on the movement of information. Today in Singapore's vision we are looking at a new paradigm shift to that of content. The concentration is on what kind of information are we moving, when, where and how. The integration of the three "Cs" will bring about a new paradigm that will dominate the IT world well into the next century.

A national vision to make Singapore an intelligent island is specified in four main thrusts:

  1. IT will link computers in every home, office, school, factory, and government. Today internet connectivity in the homes, offices, schools and factories is rapidly increasing. Prompted initially and in part by aggressive favourable pricing for home connectivity, as well as businesses, by Singapore Telecoms.
  2. The information appliances should be able to access a rich array of multimedia services
  3. Smart mini infrastructures should be put in place such as in ports, schools, roads, etc.
  4. An advanced National Information Infrastructure needs to be built and maintained.
It must be noted that the NII is more than just build- ing a high speed electronic highway. Its objective goes beyond to include the building of a new society that uses IT to its fullest potential. Already the internet is a household word throughout Singapore's society.

The NII Strategic Framework

NCB's response to the next wave in supporting this new vision is a result of the master NII plan. Eleven major industrial sectors have been identified for Singapore which will play key roles in the NII development. They are:

Over 500 projects were identified and there is currently an effort to priortise those that will provide a base for the NII implementation. The base led to the adoption of the term "Intelli- gent Island" with the concept of linking people to services. It is expected that every computer in the home, office, school, factory, government, etc. will be linked in a network supported by the NII. Smart infrastructures will be setup in mini environments such as schools, ports, etc. and then become part of the advanced National Information Infrastructure. The three cornerstones that form the major components of the NII are Business, Government, and the Consumer.

The framework under which all plans will be derived and implemented will depend on the following groups and their specific objectives. The policy and legal group must provide support to maintain a manageable and secure NII. Technical standards must be eit her developed where missing or enforced where existing to promote an environment that will be implemented correctly from the start. The platforms and engines will be sorted out so that the basic framework will exist upon which End User services will be implemented.

Open system standards are playing a major role here. The telecommunication networks must provide the basic common network services that will support all other services required by the users of the NII. Custom Off The Shelf (COTS) products will be used where possible and appropriate. Both defacto and dejure standards will be employed.

The "Compute" mentioned earlier has to do with finding ways to minimise all software bottlenecks. To craft software timely for the market place we must find better ways to improve our software development process. The creation of software in the future will be beyond a typical craftman's expertise as we know it today. Software production needs to be looked at as an industry of its own right and needs to incor- porate innovative mechanisms for its production as with any modern factory. Large scale software reuse can be an immediate answer but the methodology to make this possible must be researched further.

The "Content" mentioned earlier is an effort to move from the many mediums to one medium. Digitization enables endless manipulation, interchangeability and customization of information and as such, the communication medium should not be a barrier. The "interactive" method of working with information is necessary. You must be able to read it, hear it, watch it, touch it, navigate through it, immerse in it, etc. Electronic distribution of information via a digital media will enable such interactivity.

Why the Internet Will Play a Role in this Framework

The number of people, worldwide, who use the Internet to communicate and share information electronically is expected to grow at more than 60% compound rate over the next six years, reaching approximately 550 million in the year 2000. This explosive growth will result in the creation of new Internet related markets and exciting investment opportunities in companies that provide:[5]

The information revolution is here and 1994 was the year the Internet burst onto the scene. Stories about the Internet appeared in virtually every major publication from the covers of Time Magazine and Business Week to almost weekly articles in most of the developed countries major newspapers. United States politicians from both the conservative right (Newt Gingrich) and the liberal left (Al Gore) used the Internet to reach out to their constituencies and drum up support for their policies. Performers got into the act with the Rolling Stones broadcasting the first live roc k concert on the Internet. Even the Singapore National Day Parade, on 9 August 1995, was broadcast over it. Finally, the investment community signaled its interest by placing bets on companies whose businesses were related to the Internet like Ascend Comm unications, America Online, NetManage, Netcom, Netscape and Firefox.

Despite the media hype, and the temptation to dismiss it as just the latest fad, the Internet is experiencing explosive growth that is creating new business and investment opportunities at an incredible pace. According to the Internet Society, the number of computer net- works, on the Net in January 1995, was 46,318 and is expected to grow to 194,822 by October of 1996. Others estimate that there were 30 million users on the Internet worldwide at the end of 1994.

The explosive growth of the Internet will create a burgeoning market for services and software that pundits expect will increase from approximately US$370 million in 1994 to over US$5 billion in the year 2000.[5]

The first major Internet business opportunity is providing Internet access to businesses and consumers. The second commercial opportunity is selling Internet software. Due to the complexities of managing all of the different technologies relating to the I nternet, most companies will choose to outsource the fulfillment of their Internet needs to businesses with specific Internet expertise.

In Singapore, until late 1993, Internet was only available to the tertiary educational institutions and the R&D community in Singapore. However, the situation has now changed dramatically, with more than 600 educationists and teachers in the Ministry of Education headquarters, secondary schools and junior colleges connected to the global network and having internet accounts.

Started four years ago, TechNet was established at the National University of Singapore and funded by Singapore's National Science and Technology Board (NSTB). Singapore's first Internet operator, TechNet currently has 522 subscriber organisations and a u ser base of over 50,000. With the increasing use of Internet for commercial traffic, NSTB has decided to allow the TechNet unit to be commercialised by the private sector.

The Pacific Internet consortium has recently taken over TechNet. Sembawang Media Pte Ltd, ST Computer Systems & Services Limited (ST Computer), and Singapore International Media (SIM), announced recently that they have formed a consortium called Pacific Internet Pte Ltd which will buy over TechNet. "TechNet", as such, will cease to exist.

Pacific Internet is ideally positioned to commercialise TechNet as it synergises the expertise and resources of three companies which are leaders in their fields. Their complementary strengths will provide the strategic thrust in building up TechNet into a leading regional Internet service.

The information technology arm of public-listed Sembawang Corporation, Sembawang Media's main focus is the provision of information-based products and services. The Internet will be a crucial infrastructural vehicle for the provision of multimedia and on- line services to a global audience. Through the Asia Online service operated by its SilkRoute Ventures subsidiary, Sembawang Media provides Asian companies with a way to reach out to Internet users. With a 50 per cent stake in Pacific Internet, it is the largest shareholder.

Critical Success Factors

Singapore recognized the need to carefully plan and execute the NII deployment to minimize failure at any given stage. To address this issue critical factors have been identified to be managed carefully so as to minimize the impact and not to deter progress. The first is "Trust". There must be good communication among all participants and users of the NII. Users must also have confidence in the system they will be using and engineers must be prepared to make the changes necessary to enhance the system to facilitate "ease of use." This will promote wide usage and help everyone get on board quickly with certain expectations that the system is reliable, secure, etc.

Second is the "Ease of Use". There must be good human to machine interface. There is continued effort to look for a new human interface that will promote the ease of use of any system and application to encourage wider usage. Third is "Affordability". Sin gapore does not want to create two classes of society, one that can afford to use the services the NII provides and another which cannot. The cost therefore must be manageable and tracked to ensure cost effective solutions at every phase. Fourth is "Acces sibility". Everyone must be able to access the services offered, connectivitywise. Other factors such as regulatory framework must be put in place to govern and help in the advancement of such services. All implementation decisions made must put Singapore in a position to be able to work with international communities, for global connectivity supporting global applications and services. Agencies within and out of Singapore must be able to work closely and collaborate to advance the technology quickly and with quality.

The NII must evolve with the right direction for it to be successful and stay successful. Open architectures are essential. There must be a transitional technology strategy to move from the old to the new platform. By following the open systems strategy w here appropriate, thereby ensuring that standards and interoperability are maximised will lend to economies and tractability in migrations later on. Applications must be built to meet diverse needs going through the stages of design, prototype and then de ployment.

The support of testbeds and showcases is important to sustain interest. The NII effort is extraordinary in that it must provide the platform for the incorporation of fast changing technology. It must be leading edge with the ability to meet the uncerta in demands of users and those with a need to create more demands. There is no model to emulate.

NII Status-To-Date

The many activities; establishing a borderless collabrium, defining NII trigger products, promulgating national IT standards, and conducting IT policy research studies; are on going. The NII prototype has been completed and the concepts can now be demonst rated.

Singapore Telecom (ST) announced their plans in two distinct areas that will promote the NII strategy and will foster quick development and implementation.

The first, was to bring fiber to the curb. This means ST has embarked on a plan to wire their entire infrastructure with fiber such that any use of technology which requires fiber for high speed transmission will become available for the implemen- tation of any service that is required. Fiber in the home/office/premise for now will be the responsibility of the individual and will be left to the premise owner for implementation. This is in line with "conduit". The present debate is for individual bodies such as the cable TV companies, and the Housing Development Board to be responsible for bringing the fiber from the curb into the home. This is an economic issue.

In Singapore, presently 80% of all high-rise buildings have been linked by optical fibre cables and Singapore Telecom is confident it will meet its target of wiring up the island by 2005. Some 158,000 fibre kilometres of optical fibre have been laid so f ar. This represents a 47 per cent increase since the March 1994 figure of 107,350 fibre-kms.[6]

The second, Singapore Telecoms began to offer Internet services to the home in July 1994.[7] The cost is nominal so that the affordability will not impede the progress of the NII development and usage. This new service (Internet) will definitely create th e need and opportunity for the development of new services. People will use the Internet to test their new services and to get new information for education and research. At the time of writing there are presently two internet service providers in Singapo re, with a tender out for a third. All of this will promote the IT development to reach NII goals. This is in line with "compute" and "content."

The NII prototype was built and demonstrated in 1994. The objective was to demonstrate that the NII project can be realized and to build confidence in the interested parties to move ahead as planned. The prototype included:

Collaboration with Schools and Industries

A borderless collaboration effort with industry and schools is being attempted. The idea is to have a mini NII to connect the universities, airports, shipping ports, R&D institutions, etc. and use the infrastructure to conduct trials.

The next step will be to invite other commercial firms to hook up to the NII and then continue to run other trials. The mini NII campuses will become the sites for application showcase and solution centers. International locations will be invited to join in the trial. These sites will not only be for demonstration and education purposes but will also be involved in experimentation with design, planning, proof of concept, verification, testing, customization, integration, and prototyping. The IT2000 components are expected to fall into the following categories, deployable technologies, common services, policies, quality applications, and network architectures.

Among the core services to be supported by the NII architecture are:

Projects/trials

Many projects were undertaken for "proof of concept" of the NII approach. These include:

IT Standardization Efforts

Rather than inventing their own, Singapore is ready to work with industry to select emerging standards and organize themselves to try to influence the standard decisions. Working groups will be formed to look at standards [5] specific to barcoding, EDI, G raphics interchange, moving pictures, smart cards, and software development. The groups chartered to oversee implementation will come from, and have specific interests in Industry needs, national IT projects, Industry Forum, Promotion and Education, and S ingapore IT Standards and Conformance. Singapore endorsed the Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML) and the Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring Language (HyTime) in building their NII [11].

IT Policy Research Activities

Over thirty research topics have been identified but work began only on a few given limited resources. The many organizations in- volved are for example the National University of Singapore (law faculty, faculty of business administration, etc.), the Nanyang Technological University (school of accountancy and business, school of communication studies, etc.), Singapore Telecom, Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS), the sub-committee of law and technology, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of information and the Arts, and the Institute of Policy Studies.

Potential NII Triggered Products/Services

The NII will be successful if the products/Services can be profitable. Some of the initial services that will add value are, borderless libraries (linking all the libraries), personalized electronic newspaper (only one newspaper company in Singapore), classroom of the future (distance learning), singatouch (touch screen multimedia system to be installed at bus stations and Mass Rapid Transit stations, for provision of real time information for commuters), media marketplace, and telemedicine.

Legal Issues

The deployment of the NII will certainly raise many questions with respect to the existing legal rules. Electronic communication has a long history of debate in an effort to find the appropriate rules to protect and control the vast number of services off ered as well as the access to the services and equipment resident on the information highway. A closer look at Singapore, a country whose legal system is based on English Law, will show that some areas of immediate concern are:[12]

Intellectual Property (IP) Rights

Singapore supports the protection of IP and as the country further develops and becomes a major player in the Information age there is greater need to protect its own IP both at home and abroad. The Copy Right Act, the Trademarks Act, and the Registration of the United Kingdom Patents Act gr ant statutory protection. Rights not protected under these are covered under "Common Law." Nevertheless, new guidelines may be required as applications such as multimedia are built using different technologies from many sources. Here the question of Royalties and IP comes to mind. The two issues at hand are the right to access information, and the right to use information.

Computer Misuse

The need to address activities that are classified as criminal and abuse of privileges granted to the user of the electronic environment is becoming more apparent. Can a list of activities defined to be criminal be compiled? If such a list is generated would it be complete? Law makers will be battling with this issue in the years to come. What constitutes "abuse"? The rules must be clear as the game cannot be played well. The Computer Misuse Act in 1993 classifies activities such as tampering with software programs to dictate a special outcome (eg. lottery), hacking, introducing viruses, unauthorized tapping, and theft of information, to be criminal. The Act provides for the compensation to t he victims for damage caused to the system or data. The question is, how much more is yet to be done to safeguard the entire electronic highway environment?

Liabilities and Obligations

What should be the liabilities and obligations of any electronic highway? What role should the Government play in enforcing any rules (laws) that binds any two parties, one providing a service and the other receiving the service? How about the third party , the one who delivers the service (the electronic highway itself)? In the absence of statutory laws, contracts must be drawn up in such a way to clearly state the obligations and liabilities among all parties involved.

Electronic Evidence

The acceptance of electronic data as evidence in court is certainly an area which will require much work by law makers. Electronic signatures or other forms of electronic identification will someday be considered legal in day t o day court proceedings. The Evidence Act, based on the English Civil Evidence Act of 1968 provides guidelines with respect to electronic evidence. Section 35 of the Act provides specific definition to the process for extraction and presentation of electronic evidence which includes, the media, the computer, and the person extracting the information.

Singapore recognizes the need to look further into the legal issu es and work has began to study and formulate new rules and guidelines to govern the implementation and use of the information highway and its services.

Conclusion (National Payoffs)

The national payoffs from all of these efforts will give Singapore a competitive edge, become a global information and communication hub, improve the quality of life, bring about more social cohesion, and transform Singapore into a learning nation. Provid ing a National Information Infrastructure where the physical infrastructure is flexible, smart and has high value will inturn elevate the competence, innovativeness and skills of Singaporeans. This will definitely help Singapore stay ahead of its counterparts in the region.

For the past thirty years Singapore has focused on building up its infrastructure. Consequently it now can now be proud of its harbour, mass rapid transit system, highway system plus many others. As it continues to develop its National Information Infrastructure, emphasis will be placed on several aspects of technology with the Internet being one of them.[13]

References

[1]
J. Motiwalla, M. Yap, L. H. Ngoh, "Building the Intelligent Island." IEEE Communications Magazine, October 1993, pp28-34.
[2]
Wong Seng Hon, "Exploiting Information Technology: A case study of Singapore." World Development, Vol 20, No. 12, pp. 1817-1828, 1992.
[3]
V. C. Ramkumar and M. F. Kazmi, "How Intelligent Net- works will change the way Singaporeans do business by the year 2000." Paper presented at the IT Works 93 Conference, Singapore. October 13, 1993.
[4]
L. K. Cheong, "Keynote Address: The Philosophy of NII." ICIS/University of Essex Symposium '94, March 18, 1994.
[5]
Volpe, Welty & Company, Denver, Colorado, Market Report, August 1995.
[6]
The Strait Times - Business IT Section, 8 July 1995.
[7]
"Internet Accessibility to all from July." The Strait Times - Business IT Section, May 20, 1994, Page 10.
[8]
C. Y. Meng, C. S. Yit, "Broadband ISDN Service Trial in Singapore." 3rd Communications Technology Seminar, DTG Seminar Series 93', pp35-40.
[9]
"IT in Education," The Innovator (The Information Technology Institute Newsletter - Singapore). June 1994, issue 15.
[10]
Eng Pheng Tan, "Internet for Schools - The Singapore Experience", INET'95, Annual Meeting of the Internet Society, Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1, pp293-297, June 27-30, 1995, Honolulu, Hawaii.
[11]
"SGML/HyTime - a Hypermedia Standard for an Information Infrastructure." Singapore National Computer Board Intelligent Island Seminar, November 9, 1992.
[12]
K. Y. Tuan, "Legal Challenges in Deploying the National Information Infrastructure." Journal of SCS, September 1994, Vol 6 No 1, pp107-109.
[13]
J. L. Clark, V. C.Ramkumar, "Singapore's National Information Infrastructure.", VOICE+ASIA, May/June 1995, pp7-15.
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