September 2008: Singapore has developed into a truly global technology and commercial hub. It is home to over 7,000 multinational companies, and its technology infrastructure includes 99 percent broadband coverage of the island, and one million sq feet of advanced data centre space.

One key appeal for multinational IT companies setting up shop in Singapore is the fact that it has been consistently ranked among the top 10 countries in terms of technology and business competitiveness:

т€Ђ The World Economic Forumт€™s Global Competitiveness Index placed Singapore in 8th position in 2006 and 7th in 2007.

т€Ђ The International Institute for Management Developmentт€™s World Competitiveness Yearbook ranked the Republic even higher т€“ 3rd place in 2006, and 2nd place in both 2007 and 2008.

т€Ђ The UK business and political news magazine, The Economist, which started its Industry Competitiveness in 2007, placed Singapore 9th in 2008, a two-notch improvement from 2007т€™s 11th placing.

т€Ђ Top IT management consultancy firm Accenture ranked Singapore first in e-government services for 2007.

Pulling in technology giants

Today, more than 90 per cent of Fortune 1000 technology companies have made Singapore a key node in their global research and product development programme. Some highlights:

т€Ђ Computer maker Hewlett-Packard located one of its main manufacturing operations for computing, imaging and printing products in Singapore. Its Singapore operation has also launched the Itanium-processor based server, Integrity rx2660, which is completely researched, designed and developed in Singapore.

т€Ђ Network giant Cisco set up an advanced Customer Briefing Centre in Singapore to showcase the latest in Internet networking technology.

т€Ђ Software producer Oracle established its first Asian centre of excellence for enterprise grid technology in Singapore and teamed up with a local university to offer the region's first certification for Enterprise Grid Architects.

т€Ђ Online financial services giant PayPal most recently set up its international headquarters in Singapore. PayPal is just the latest of more than 600 leading financial institutions operating in Singapore, making the Republic the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre.

Innovative Local Enterprises

Local technology enterprises have also mushroomed, offering homegrown but world-class innovations in products and services. Collectively known as iLEs (a handy acronym for "innovative local enterprises"), they have rolled out innovative large-scale infocomm projects at home and abroad, that have both sector-wide and global impact.

Almost all PC users have heard of and used Creative Technologyт€™s digital media entertainment peripherals. Another company with similar consumer impact is Trek2000, the inventor of the ThumbDrive, now a ubiquitous device for all computer owners. The company has registered over 390 patents of which 114 are worldwide patents.

In infrastructure projects, too, Singapore has led in innovations. TradeNet is a case in point. It streamlines information flows between logistics players and relevant government agencies and the deployment of infocomm systems and applications has contributed significantly to making Singapore one of the worldт€™s busiest ports.

Another major project that showcased the high level of technology sophistication is the Wireless-broadband-access for SEaPort, or WISEPORT, project, launched jointly by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), and QMax Communications (an offshoot of Creative Technology).

With the infrastructure in place ships now enjoy wireless mobile broadband connectivity while operating in the Port of Singapore, up to 15km from Singaporeт€™s southern coastline.

Spreading technology abroad

Singapore's innovations have also spread to key markets in South-east Asia, China, the Middle East and Europe. Some examples:

т€Ђ In the complex and difficult area of deploying e-government services, the NCS Group т€“ Singapore's largest homegrown IT vendor т€“ has developed both the portal content and infrastructure for a one-stop Web portal offering comprehensive government services to the people of Qatar. Known as Hukoomi, the portal marks a milestone in the Qatari governmentт€™s commitment to deliver world-class government services to the people live and work in Qatar.

т€Ђ In Taiwan, ST Electronics wins a multi-million contract to design, supply, install and commission the Communications System for two new mass rapid transit lines in Taipei, to be completed over the next half decade.

т€Ђ On a more modest scale is Philip Tang & Sons, once an accounting firm that has now transformed itself into a developer of software platforms for mobile content delivery, content management and content personalisation. Its products and services are now used in both Singapore and neighbouring countries.

Next Gen infocomm infrastructure

A major factor in the countryт€™s competitive position is that the infocomm industry has evolved to become an important engine for economic growth. Industry revenue hit S$45.4 billion in 2006, a growth of 20 percent from 2005.

Looking ahead, many opportunities lie ahead for Singapore's infocomm industry, says RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority. An example is building and operating the passive infrastructure layer of the Next Generation National Broadband Network, to be awarded in the third quarter of 2008.

As Singapore progresses into a world of globalised and networked economies where countries have to both compete and collaborate at the same time, the presence of a good infocomm infrastructure will be crucial. It will not only support the needs of the users and to allow them to thrive in this new global environment, it will also enhance Singaporeт€™s global competitiveness.

As part of the iN2015 Masterplan, Singapore is looking into the deployment of a seamless, trusted and intelligent infocomm infrastructure by 2015. The Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure comprises a nationwide ultra high-speed fibre access infrastructure and a pervasive Wireless Broadband Network. New industries will be supported, such as digital media and biomedical sciences.

Grid computing

With the ultra high-speed, any time and anywhere connectivity, the Next Gen infocomm infrastructure makes possible the adoption of Grid Computing. In recent years, Grid Computing has already increasingly been adopted across many industry sectors such as finance and banking, interactive and digital media, manufacturing and healthcare and life sciences т€“ all key sectors of interest for Singapore.

The IDA will also catalyse the development of grid service providers to provide grid-enabled software, computing and storage services.

Wireless Broadband Network

A Wireless Broadband Network is being deployed in key catchment areas around the island, to offer wireless access at affordable rates under a Call-for-Collaboration development programme. It is scheduled for completion by end-December 2008. As at July 2008, there are more than 7,400 Wireless@SG hotspots.

There are also ongoing efforts by banks, operators and payment service providers to develop applications in mobile commerce (using the mobile phone for retail promotion and payment). Whatт€™s currently missing is a common mobile-payment platform to handle settlement, security, risk of bad debt and repudiation.
Many stakeholders are involved, including QB, EZLink, NETS, Systems@Work, and international organisations such as VISA, MasterCard and the banks.

Location-based services

With an existing pervasive cellular network and ongoing projects to provide public wireless access in many areas of Singapore, mobile devices offer users one distinctive benefit that wired networks cannot: mobility. Mobility allows location to become an important attribute that can greatly enhance a userт€™s mobile experience.
Under the National Enabling Platforms, Policies and Standards in the iN2015 masterplan, location-based services is one of the six areas of focus that have been identified to create a conducive environment for the development of new applications and services. Location infrastructure will be an enabling platform for service providers to obtain location information and to roll out location-based and context-driven services to consumers and businesses.

Advanced Cellular Network

The Cellular Network Programme aims to catalyst the development of an advanced and high data rate national cellular infrastructure in Singapore. With such an infrastructure in place, a vast array of new rich multimedia, innovative and interactive cellular services that leverages on high-speed wireless data can be conceived.

As part of this programme, the IDA launched the Call for Collaboration on 3G content and services in 2005 to bring the local wireless industry together to develop and launch new and innovative 3G content and services that will fully exploit the capabilities of the 3G platform.

Following this, the programme will establish Singapore as a regional mobile hub for the cellular space, and facilitate towards realising the iN2015 Masterplan vision.

Clouds of the future

One of the most exciting recent developments is cloud computing, an innovation not in technology but in the way technology can be used productively to serve businesses. As in all technology relating to the future, Singapore too is involved actively in cloud computing research and deployment.

In July 2008, a global research partnership on cloud computing was established between HP, Intel, Yahoo!, Singaporeт€™s IDA, the University of Illinois and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

Six centres are being set up, at IDA facilities, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Steinbuch Centre for Computing of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, HP Labs, Intel Research and Yahoo!. Each location will host a cloud computing infrastructure, largely based on HP hardware and Intel processors, and will have 1,000 to 4,000 processor cores capable of supporting the data-intensive research associated with cloud computing.

The test bed locations are expected to be fully operational and made accessible to researchers worldwide later in the year. The test beds run the Apache Hadoop т€“ an open source, distributed computing project of the Apache Software Foundation т€“ and other open source, distributed computing software such as Pig, the parallel programming language developed by Yahoo! Research.

IDA will facilitate research in the test bed by providing its users with the computing resources required to develop cloud computing software and applications. IDA will also leverage the test bed and its industry partnerships to train local students and professionals on the technologies and programs associated with cloud computing.

т€œWith the ready and available Internet-scale resources in Singapore to support cloud computer research and development work, we can collaborate with like-minded partners to advance the field,т€ says Khoong Hock Yun, assistant chief executive of the Infrastructure Development Group at IDA.

т€œCloud computing is considered by many to be the next paradigm shift in computer technology, and this may be the next т€˜platformт€™ for innovative ecosystems. Partnerships like this will allow Singapore to leverage this new paradigm for greater economic and social growth,т€ he adds.