[Hong Kong Broadband Network]
Hi Pat,
Thought you'd be interested with the broadband progress in Hong Kong. I think ADSL is in there somewhere amongst all the fiber. How ya doing this year? I'm treading water with some long shots. Hope you're doing better.
Regards,
Steve
Posted: 9:35am Wednesday, July 29, 1998
HK Telecom wins Office-on-demand backing
By Megan Scott
Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd. is moving closer to an official launch of its Office-on-demand service after announcing last week a dozen partners pledging support. The service, piggybacking on Hongkong Telecom' s broadband network, is targeting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an expected formal debut in early 1999, officials said.
Compaq Computer Corp., Computer Power, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Informix Corp., Kodak, Lotus Development Corp., Microsoft Hong Kong, Oracle Corp., Silicon Graphics Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Telecom Directories Ltd. form the initial list of partners providing software, hardware and support for Hongkong Telecom's Office-on-demand platform.
By sharing a multi-application platform, the partners can split the costs of reaching Hong Kong's SMEs, which in turn translates into lower unit costs for users, said William Kwan, general manager for business development and marketing at Hongkong Telecom. Being part of a leading-edge service was cited by one partner as a reason for joining the project. "Microsoft has invested heavily in broadband applications and we see broadband access playing a key role in the next few years," said Clifford Lee, Microsoft Corp.'s director of the Internet customer unit for China and Hong Kong.
Users will have a network interface card in their PCs which will connect through Hongkong Telecom's Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) broadband network to central servers housed at Hongkong Telecom's computer center, Kwan explained. Currently, the central servers are supplied by Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics Kwan added.
With Office-on-demand, users will have desktop access to a range of applications, content and tools housed on the servers, including business applications, business content, interactive training, storage and back-up, and file restoration.
Hongkong Telecom's infrastructure consists of an optical fiber backbone network based on ATM technology, supporting bandwidth of up to 25M bits per second directly to the workstations, giving users greater multimedia capability, Kwan said. The open application platform allows users to pick and choose which applications they want, he added.
Currently, Hongkong Telecom is halfway through a six-month test with 100 internal and external trial users, who will help determine demand and pricing before the official 1999 launch, Kwan said. One trial user in Pacific Place was happy with the service and noted that the convenience of having quicker access to several different applications from one workstation was important. But she indicated that the cost of the service would be the biggest selling point. "If the cost is not that great, we will probably consider it," said Sherrie Wong, marketing coordinator at Sydney-based Star City, an entertainment firm.
According to Kwan, after investing HK$4 billion (US$516.4) million annually in ATM broadband networks, Hongkong Telecom plans to have full network coverage of Hong Kong within two and a half years. Currently there are only seven buildings hooked up to the network -- Shun Tak Center, Dorset House, Hongkong Telecom Tower, Pacific Place, Vicwood Plaza, Telecom House and Lockhart Exchange.
Touting the service as a cost-savings tool for improving operating efficiency and increasing competitive advantage for Hong Kong's SMEs, Hongkong Telecom officials said this package is the first commercial high-speed broadband business service accessible from customers' desktops.
According to Microsoft's Lee, the Office-on-demand service is unique from a global standpoint as well. "These are services that can be seen nowhere else at the present time," he said, adding that Singapore is working on a similar broadband infrastructure but does not have the commercial component in place yet.
One regional telecommunications analyst agreed that Asia is a front runner in this type of service, and noted that geography has played a key role. "I don't think anything similar is going on in the States (but) Hong Kong and Singapore have the advantage of being really small in size," said Amala Menon, market analyst at International Data Corp. And the future for all metropolitan areas lies in having similar architectures and services, she added. Hongkong Telecom is welcoming additional partners to join the service in order to provide more choices for SMEs.
Copyright 1998 IDG Communications (HK) Ltd. All rights reserved.
Computerworld Hong Kong is an IDG publication. |
