Subject: n-1-4-015.51 Singapore Gigabit Networks by Charles Catlett & See Mong Tan (stan@iti.gov.sg) Over the past decade, Singapore has deliberately prepared herself to meet the new challenges of the information age. We have developed a substantial national information technology (IT) capability. A positive environment exists for the private and public sectors to collaborate in exploiting IT for national competitive advantage. The Next Lap charts the future direction of Singapore - to be a developed country, the first developed city of distinction in the tropics, a city of gracious living and a cultured society. The National Computer Board's (NCB) response to The Next Lap is called IT2000 - A Vision of an Intelligent Island. The realisation of this vision will bring about new national competitive advantages and enhancements in the quality of life of the people of Singapore. In our vision, some 15 years from now, Singapore, the Intelligent Island, will be among the first countries in the world with an advanced nationwide information infrastructure. It will interconnect computers in virtually every home, office, school and factory. The computer will evolve into an information appliance combining the functions of telephone, computer, TV and more. It will provide a wide range of communication means and access to services. The vision of IT2000 is based on the far reaching use of IT." The Singapore Gigabit Testbed is scheduled to become operational mid next year, connecting FDDI campus LANs and MANs as well as the National University's supercomputer via HIPPI. Two universities are involved, about 20 miles apart with a Fujitsu Broadband-ISDN switch as the backbone. There are also two ATM LANs, one at the Institute of Systems Science and the other at the Information Technology Institute (by Fore/Adaptive and MPR Teltech). The Institute of Systems Science is working on Network Management using ISODE/CMIS and similar schemes. The testbed is being called "collaboratory". Researchers are building an object-oriented "Application Architecture", which are frameworks for applications to run on the collaboratory and eventually on the National Information Infrastructure. One of the projects on the collaboratory here is called IIRS - Intelligent Information Retrieval System - which hopes to use technology similar to CNRI's "Knowbots." Other applications work includes multimedia for musuems. People are looking at cultural preservation through interactive multi-media of Asian art forms and literature. One unique feature of the collaboratory is that fiber has been installed to about twenty high-rise apartment blocks in the east of the island, reaching some two thousand families. They will actively use the applications we'll provide on the collaboratory. One goal is to bring fiber to the curb, then ATM into all homes on the island using copper into the home.