SINGAPORE - October 12, 2000 - Cisco Systems, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and SingTel Aeradio today announced the completion of Singapore's first "Internet Home". The Home Affairs Minister of Singapore, Mr. Wong Kan Seng, visited the Internet Home, located in a 4-room HDB (Housing Development Board) apartment in Bishan, which is owned and occupied by a young Singaporean couple.
Entertainment, security, air-conditioning, lighting and computing systems in the Internet Home are all connected, giving residents immediate access to entertainment, information, services, communications, education and work, from any room in the apartment.
Developed by Cisco Systems, IDA, SingTel Aeradio and ASPnetcentre, the Internet Home brings an entire system of community and personal services into residents' homes and also provides them with an e-lifestyle where online services, home automation and the Internet are all seamlessly integrated, and available at the touch of a screen.
Equipped with always-on high-speed Internet access, the Internet Home has touchscreen panels located at various points in the apartment, which not only gives the residents access to the World Wide Web but also to several e-lifestyle services that is hosted on a secure personal website.
The Shopping System application, which is linked to local supermarket chain, The Cold Storage Company, helps them keep track of the groceries they need to re-order. When the residents want to replenish food or sundry items, they can create a shopping list by simply passing the item over a barcode scanner to record all relevant details. When their shopping list is complete, the order can be sent online to the supermarket, which ensures delivery right to their door at a convenient time.
Access to community services is available through the eBooking application, which allows the residents to make online reservations for common facilities through the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council. eClassified has online classified advertisements posted by residents in the area and eSearch provides a virtual map of amenities and shops in the vicinity, including the fastest way to get there.
For medical services, eServices, which is connected to the Raffles Medical Group's branch in Bishan, allows the residents to monitor the queue at the clinic, minimizing the time they would spend in the doctor's waiting room. The Internet Home also allows the residents to monitor what is going on in their apartment even when they are out of Singapore. With eView, a password-protected application, the residents can view web cam images of different rooms from anywhere, anytime.
And, if they need to speak to each other when one of them is in the office and the other at home, they can still enjoy a 'face-to-face' discussion using the video conferencing facilities in the Internet Home. With eMessage, the residents can access or leave messages for each other or read messages which their friends or family have left for them on their homepage.
The Internet Home also integrates the Internet with home automation to provide great convenience for the residents. Before leaving the office for home, they can choose to switch on the lights, air-conditioning, stereo or any other connected device, in the Internet Home. The lights, stereo or the PC are also controllable from a single touchscreen panel, doing away with multiple remote controls.
The e-lifestyle that the residents will enjoy in their apartment is only a sampling of the infinite possibilities presented by bringing the Internet into the home as more service providers develop residential networked services and applications.
"This Internet Home is in line with our vision to realize an ecosystem for the e-lifestyle, where ordinary Singaporeans can access a wide range of products and services via fully interactive broadband multimedia (IBBMM) content. We would like to spur our industries to look into how they can re-engineer themselves to provide new services and product offerings to homes, leveraging on Singapore's nation-wide broadband network. The fact that integrated online services are brought to this HDB flat goes further to prove that today's technologies are fully deployable not just in the commercial sense, but also in any private or public residential property. This is further made possible with 99% broadband coverage in Singapore," said Mr. Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive, Infocomm Development of the IDA.
"We believe the Internet will soon become essential to the home - a utility like water, electricity or gas," said Mr. Bill Chang, Managing Director, Singapore, Cisco Systems. "By providing high-speed access to the Internet and wiring up devices in the home, we're helping to create a new personal lifestyle - and changing the way people live, work, play and learn. The home management solutions save time and increase convenience, and the high-speed connections make it easy to access useful services like online shopping."
"Eventually, everyone will live in an Internet Home, and the Tangs are the first couple to experience it," said Mrs. Tan Kah Rhu, CEO of SingTel Aeradio. "SingTel Aeradio is proud to provide seamless integration of broadband technology with home automation systems. The feedback from the Tangs will allow us to further fine-tune our current offering to the property market. Together with SingTel's readily available broadband infrastructure island-wide, it is possible for each Singaporean to live tomorrow - today - to experience this Internet lifestyle."
"ASPnetcentre is glad to participate in Singapore's first Internet Home project, which demonstrates that the Internet Home is within the reach of every HDB dweller. Advances in technology will continue to raise living standards, and we look forward to seeing, not just one Internet Home but a whole Internet HDB Estate some time soon," said Mr. Lim Hwee Leng, Managing Director of ASPnetcentre.
