Singapore hopes to lead future tech trends

NEWS

Singapore may be microscopic on the world map but the island-state hopes to be a leader in the global technology landscape. The government today unveiled its third Infocomm Technology Roadmap, charting several technology trends over the next five years. "Among the areas Singapore will focus on are grid computing, peer-to-peer and open standard-based Web services," said Raymond Lee, the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) deputy director of Technology Direction. These technologies were identified after four months of internal analysis based on feedback from info-communications companies and government agencies worldwide, Lee told CNET Asia in an interview this evening. Grid computing involves connecting numerous servers at various locations to create collective supercomputers capable of performing taxing calculations, such as global climate modelling. The concept's appeal lies in the ability to ensure that all of a server's computing power is used by allowing its idle time to be harnessed by anyone who needs the processing power. For example, the computing capacity of a bank in the US may be largely unused overnight. If connected to a grid, that power could be tapped by its counterparts on the other side of the globe. The first application for grid computing in the nation was announced last September. The Biomedical Grid is a project which aims to put in place a host of high-end computers to allow the secured sharing of biomedical data among research institutes in the Republic and its overseas affiliates. Lee said the IDA is in the process of identifying other sectors where the concept can be implemented. Best known as the technology behind Napster, peer to peer (P2P) is defined as the sharing of resources among computers and other devices by direct exchange between systems. Besides allowing collaboration such as instant messaging and file sharing, P2P technologies also enable idle processing power and disk space to be shared among participating "peers". In Singapore, P2P applications development is still at a nascent stage. "The IDA is currently discussing with several technology companies on how to implement the P2P infrastructure here," Lee noted. A major P2P deployment in the international front is the Intel Philanthropic Peer-to-Peer Program, which gives medical researchers access to PC users' free hard disk space and processing power. Launched last April, the project was initiated by several parties including Intel, the American Cancer Society and Oxford University. On the third area of focus, Lee said that the IDA is currently encouraging the local IT industry to develop services based on open standards such as Xtensible Markup Language (XML) and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). Singapore's first technology blueprint, released in July 2000, identified broadband and mobile wireless technologies as key areas of focus while the second roadmap last March highlighted home networking and e-commerce security as trends to watch.

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