interesting article from nortel thread.
Home Digital Service Becomes Next Wave of Life Style
Home Digital Service Becomes Next Wave of Life Style
hankooki.com
By Kim Deok-hyun
Staff Reporter
For several years, the technological line between wire and wireless services has become rather tenuous, and
transference has presented a major threat for wire carriers.
To cope with the fast changing environment, fixed-line telecom giant KT has been on a drive to create a
converged networking business model in order to cash in on what the company calls the knowledge-based
economy of the 21st century.
In a keynote speech presented at the second OECD Workshop on Broadband in Seoul, KT president Lee
Sang-chul predicted that the networking environment would spur the creation of new economic value and global
community, encompassing all individuals and enterprises.
``In the foreseeable future, all household appliances will be connected to the Internet, and will be controlled by
speech-recognition system,'' Lee said.
The new networking society will be defined by interactivity over the Internet on a global scale, the assurance of
information accuracy, and the transaction cost reduction based on real-time information exchange, he added.
Consumer wireless services are increasingly becoming more desirable and popular, which is having a direct,
measurable and impact on fixed-line services.
According to the International Data Corp., a technology research house, some 10 million access lines were
displaced by wireless access by 2001, primarily by consumers choosing the wireless service over installing an
additional access line at home.
The overall displacement of wire services is expected to accelerate even more in 2002, with additional 10 million
access lines to be replaced by wireless by 2005.
The research house said that worldwide revenue for wireless local area network (LAN) equipment in 2001
reached $1.45 billion, up 34.2 percent from 2000, and is expected to grow to $3.72 billion in 2006.
In secret development for years, Nespot, a combination of network, next, neo and spot, was introduced as one of
future business models that KT pursues, on October of 2001.
The service can be defined as a type of wireless Internet connection service, allowing notebook, personal digital
assistant (PDA) and other hand-held computer users to access broadband Internet in hotels, airports, universities,
libraries, subways, offices and homes.
Incorporating KT's existing wire Internet access line with the new wireless LAN, users can connect cordless
Internet with up to 11 megabit per second at its peak rate.
With the service, Nespot customers can keep track of late-breaking news, make online purchases, play Internet
games, follow the stock market and trade, read and send e-mails, and conduct banking transactions while on the
move.
To spur wireless Internet usage, KT plans to collect lower rates of 30,000 and 40,000 won per month, similar to
its fixed-line Internet service.
By 2001, KT had completed a trial operation of Nespot in 27 spots in major cities across the nation, offering free
wireless LAN cards for notebook or PDA. The company will expand the coverage to 10,000 spots by the end of
this year.
``Nespot will be used as the next growth engine for KT's future businesses, replacing the current asymmetric
digital subscriber line (ADSL) service,'' said Shin Heon-chul, a KT spokesman said.
The greatest unknown is how consumers, still warming to the potential of wireless Internet lifestyle, will receive the
technology.
``The world isn't really ready for this,'' Shin said. ``But, we see the world getting itself ready for this kind of
product.''
Between 1996 and 1998, KT had invested 540 billion won in research and development of next-generation
technologies, including Nespot. As of 1999, the R&D expenditure accounted for 760 billion won, representing
8.53 percent of the year's total revenue.
The budget was put into new business cores for media-rich Internet and data services, optical transmission
technology, and an ultra high-speed subscriber network for optimal stability and operational environment.
Home Digital Service
On Tuesday, KT opened an exhibition center for the general public to present a glimpse of future digital home
prowess.
The center, called Home Digital Service (HDS), is located at KT's new headquarters in Pundang, some 15
kilometers south of Seoul.
Traditionally, home networking has been referred to two or more computers interconnected to form a local area
network (LAN) within the home, but the term is evolving to connect all household appliances as the Internet turns
``work anywhere'' into ``work everywhere.''
For example, if you have a personal computer with Internet access, home networking allows the computer owner
to interconnect net-linking devices such as digital television, digital versatile disc (DVD) player, Internet-accessible
refrigerator and washing machine.
The new trend, is sometimes referred to as an intelligent network, extends the home network to include controls
for the home ambient environment, security systems, and kitchen devices.
At the exhibition center, visitors are encouraged to see and experience futuristic public housing with
remote-controlled appliances, automatic lights and room-to-room computer networks.
``Based on our four-A concept (anytime, anywhere, any device and any content), the HDS will be the beginning
of wired home project,'' Shin said.
With KT's broadband Internet network, the HDS has shown future housing apartments, classrooms and shops.
Visitors are able to control the digital appliances from any booth with hand-held wireless devices, he said.
``Most of the proposed services can be facilitated in a year,'' he said.
As part of plans toward the converged era, KT plans to supply PDAs to its 45,000 employees, with the aim of
creating a boom for wireless LAN services.
KT is also set to introduce fee-based content for its wireless LAN service and the massive purchase of PDAs for
its employees is likely to act as a catalyst for the early commercialization of next-generation Internet access
service.
Early this year, the Ministry of Information and Communication said its 2002 Internet initiative is to help users log
on to the Internet ``anywhere, anytime¡¯¡¯ through mobile handsets, PDAs and notebook PCs, taking full
advantage of the world's leading wireless and fixed-line Internet infrastructure.
To that end, the ministry said it would set up a wireless information infrastructure designed to offer multimedia
services to those who are constantly mobile yet have to handle business tasks.
kdh@koreatimes.co.kr |
