Creating New Collaboration with Web Services

Mr Lam Chuan Leong, Chairman Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore Speech - iLIUP Recognition 2002, Raffles City Convention Centre

Mr Lam Chuan Leong, Chairman
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Speech - iLIUP Recognition 2002, Raffles City Convention Centre
Singapore, 3 October 2002

Good Evening
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Infocomm Local Industry Upgrading Programme (iLIUP)

1. This is the second year of the iLIUP Recognition event, to recognise the contributions of our iLIUP partners, in helping to develop our local companies and in our industry development efforts. The infocomm Local Industry Upgrading Programme or iLIUP in short, is a win-win partnership between multi-national corporations (MNCs) and Singapore enterprises. Its aim is to develop local capabilities and innovation by leveraging on best-of-breed technologies and globalising Made-In-Singapore products and services. These partnerships help create synergy, value and wealth for our global and local industry players.

2. Currently, there are 23 iLIUP MNC partners and over 170 local enterprises under the programme. I am pleased to note that the number of MNC partners has more than doubled over the last two years. I would like to welcome 8 new MNC partners who have come on board since the last iLIUP Recognition Event. They are Avaya, BearingPoint, Inc. (formerly KPMG Consulting), Borland, RealNetworks, SpeechWorks and the more recent partners, Mercury Interactive, NEC and Rational Software. 

3. The success of these partnerships is demonstrated by the 60 over products that have been developed, with another 40 in the pipeline.  However, with customers increasingly demanding solutions that "work out of the box", local developers can no longer work in isolation on a single product to succeed. It is therefore important for companies to explore a "whole product" solutions approach.

4. Moving beyond iLIUP, we need to continually excel in areas where Singapore can play a leadership role.  Web Services will be one of the areas that will be an engine of growth for our software and IT services industry. 

Web Services - The Next Wave in Software and IT Services Development

5. "Web Services" is a term that covers a wide variety of software and IT services.  At its heart, the vision of Web Services is to make the Internet more "intelligent" by eliminating many of the human interventions we now need in order to provide seamless and integrated services.  Web Services exploit machine-to-machine communications to allow for "real-time" or "on-the-fly" updating and processing of information and data.  This will bring about a new level of connectivity, communications and fulfilment of products and services between businesses, governments and users. An example will be to link a car reservation system to the airline reservation system so that a passenger can rent a car and book the airline ticket at the same time.  The two systems are linked by Web Services so that if there's a flight delay, the airline reservation system will "talk" to the car reservation system to change the car pick-up time accordingly.  This automatic updating of information, and the facilitation of real-time and on-demand delivery, is just one potential use of web services. 

6. The vision of "Web Services" can be approached in phases, starting with services we already have.

7. The first phase can be called the "Enterprise" phase, where the services within the same enterprise are integrated through web services to achieve better efficiencies. The first phase can be done without much new spending, which is good news in these times. One good example is the Esplanade which has engaged Ecquaria Technologies to implement a Web Services platform to integrate its internal IT systems.

8. The second phase is to use Web Services to integrate one's system with an outside known Partner - we can call this the "Partner" phase.  The final phase is called the "Mass" phase and it involves integration with any number of outside partners which are using web services as well.

9. The market potential of Web Services is good.  Market research firms have projected that the global software, IT Services and hardware revenue derived from Web Services will reach US$34billion by 2007.  IDA has also conducted a series of closed-door consultations with technology companies, analysts, industry associations, educational and research institutes, and end-users which gave us the same conclusion.

10.Singapore's high level of local connectivity and international connectivity provides a strong foundation for the deployment and adoption of web services.

11. Nevertheless, there are some learning we have to acquire to exploit the growth of web services.  First, companies need to learn how to use new development tools and deployment platforms,  adapt to new development methodologies as well as develop new business opportunities and revenue models to exploit the benefits of XML Web Services.

12. Second, we need to test the market.  The question for Web Services in the market now is not "Will the technology work?" but rather "Will it sell?"   Third, there are industry-wide issues regarding web services that need to be addressed. 

The Web Services Industry Development Framework

13. To help address these issues, IDA has taken the lead to define a Web Services Industry Development Framework  to grow Singapore's software and IT services industry through three initiatives.

14. First, we will help grow the manpower capability and intellectual property to provide the foundation for the growth of the Web Services industry.  Some of the programmes that are implemented under this initiative include iLIUP, competency centres, manpower development, as well as Intellectual Property creation and commercialisation.  For example, the recently launched Java Smart Services Lab (JSSL) at SIMTech in August by Sun Microsystems together with other Java technology partners and the IDA, is part of our efforts to develop our Intellectual Capital.  The JSSL aims to position Singapore as a regional hub for development of web services.

15. Second, we will help establish Singapore as a "Living Lab" where market proof points are created to jumpstart adoption. We want to encourage the development of more flagship and PATH projects in the vertical sectors including manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, healthcare, e-government, finance, travel and hospitality, as well as information and media.  In April this year, IDA signed a Memorandum of Intent with Microsoft to jointly launch a nationwide web services initiative called .NET MySingapore.  The two-year flagship project will establish web services as one of the key technologies to better connect Singaporeans.

16. Third, we will put in place an "Enabling Infrastructure" initiative to address some of the industry-wide issues that hinder growth of Web Services industry.  The issues include inter-operability, security, network identity, semantics, management of Web Services and a Public UDDI Registry.  An example of our efforts to enable infrastructure is the collaboration between IBM and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to establish a Web Services Innovation Zone (WIZ) in NYP just last month.  WIZ will focus on the interoperability issues across different technology platforms.  We will also work with international bodies to address these issues. 

Collaborating with the Industry

17. We are glad to see that our industry partners are fully supportive of this Framework.  As a further endorsement of industry support, we are pleased to announce the launch of Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation's (SITF) Web Services Chapter.  The Chapter aims to accelerate the adoption of Web Services applications and services.  It will also maintain close working ties with the public and private sectors to promote Web Services as an emerging technology in the industry, and achieve the realisation of business opportunities and inter-operability through its various initiatives. 

Conclusion

18. With the launch of the Web Services Industry Development Framework, we look forward to collaborating with our industry partners in strengthening and growing our Software and IT services industry.  I would also like to thank all the iLIUP partners for their support and wish you success in your own collaboration efforts.

Thank you.