November 24, 1999. Copyright 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

INTERNET OF THE FUTURE

LONDON, November 24, Graphic News: A EUROPEANÊ Commission plan due to be presented in December aims to get more Europeans online and help catch up with Americans in the move towards electronic commerce.

Erkki Liikanen Ð Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society Ð told an international information technology conference that European Commission President Romano Prodi would present the new ÒeEuropeÓ initiative at the EU summit in Helsinki.

He said its aim was to bring all of Europe online as soon as possible by providing cheaper and faster internet access and promoting greater computer literacy among Europeans.

Low-cost internet access and telecom prices were crucial because they were an obstacle to higher penetration into networks in Europe, he said.

ÒWe risk being left behind,Ó Liikanen said. ÒWe need a wake-up call.Ó

Three key areas need to be changed to open up the opportunities of e-commerce.

To gain full access to the internet, most people use a PC which is prone to crashing without warning and inconvenient if you are travelling.

Secondly phone line capacity, the internet backbone, is falling behind demand, leading to gridlock.

Third, the internet itself is overly complicated to use Ð potential e-buyers have trouble finding what they want, and internet security and reliability are both inadequate.

Software wizards say the answer to these challenges lies in new standards, or protocols, that will let computers, handheld devices, mobile phones, TVs and other household appliances talk to each other in new ways. 

This is perhaps the internetÕs most dramatic shift, extending computing beyond clunky desk-top PCs to smart phones and wireless Palm Pilots. Soon cheap, tiny transmitters, receivers and sensors in appliances in the networked home will enable refrigerators to automatically re-order the food you have removed and car keys will e-mail you to tell you where you left them. 

Existing protocols such as POP (post office protocol), which lays down the rules for delivering e-mail, and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which defines the layout of web pages, need to be upgraded.

The new protocols include one called Bluetooth Ð the work of more than 500 firms, led by Ericsson, Nokia, Toshiba, Intel and IBM Ð which defines how devices should transmit data to each other by replacing cables that link devices with a single short-range radio link. 

Within two years, four out of every five mobile phones will carry a $5 Bluetooth chip that can connect them to laptop and hand-held computers, printers, the internet and any other digital device within about ten metres.

Another protocol called WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) allows pocket-sized gadgets to access the internet using a ÒmicrobrowserÓ to display web pages specially formatted for tiny screens. WAP lays down the rules for a more user-friendly, wireless internet that will become a bigger part of daily life.

Nokia is launching a WAP telephone, Motorola will be selling WAP telephones in America, and Ericsson has just launched a WAP-based wireless notebook computer. Swedish bank, Handelsbanken, has made its internet banking service available to mobile WAP devices so customers will soon buy and sell shares, transfer money and pay bills Ð any time, anywhere. 

But all this requires escaping internet gridlock caused by the web doubling in size every six months.

A new internet backbone known as the ÒAbilene ProjectÓ, or I2 (internet2), designed by companies including Cisco Systems, Nortel, Qwest and IBM offers access speeds up to 1,000 times faster than those currently available.

Local fast connections include DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) which turns existing twisted copper wires into Òfat data pipesÓ, 30 times faster than the speediest dial-up modem. 

The protocol responsible for the daunting complexity of the internet is HTML Ð the language which tells a web-browser such as Netscape or internet Explorer how to lay out the contents of a page.

Unfortunately HTML does not tell the user what the page is actually about Ð and there are an estimated 800 million documents available on the Web. This is being addressed by an extension to HTML, called XML (eXtensible Markup Language). 

Currently we use search engines such as AltaVista to locate pages of interest by finding invisible labels called ÒmetatagsÓ to describe the content of a web page. But even the best search engines scour only about 34 percent of the Web.

XML adds metatags automatically so, for instance, specifications, price and availability of each product in an online store can be compared across several stores and the browser can make a recommendation, no matter how much various websites differ from each other in appearance. XML is the lingua franca which allows previously incompatible computing platforms to understand each other.

Secure payment systems are being built around a protocol called PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) which uses Òdigital certificatesÓ, the electronic equivalent of a handwritten signature. Web users who register with a certification authority will be able to transmit data securely, make payments and prove that they are who they say they are. Digital ÒkeysÓ authenticate the identity of each party to a networked transaction. These services are already on offer from firms such as telephone operators and banks.

The internet of the future will be integral to the eEurope initiative towards the world of electronic commerce.

ÒThe time has come to accelerate the transition to the new economy,Ó said commissioner Liikanen. ÒFailing to do this now would compromise EuropeÕs future.Ó

/ENDS

Sources: Reuters, Economist, Mapnet