The ICT world is coming to SEA
By Geoff Andrew in Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi will open the mega-IT event.	Ahmad Al-Yamani from Saudi Arabia.	Bill Gates, Microsoft founder will appear live on stage in KL in holographic format.
Nobel Peace Prize 2007 Joint winner, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri.	Vinton-Cerf, Internet pioneer.	A Raja, India's Minister of Communications & Information Technology.

The ICT world is converging on Southeast Asia this weekend for the largest group of events on information and communications technology (ICT) ever held in Southeast Asia.

Anchored by the 16th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2008), 13 major events will be held in Kuala Lumpur from May 17 to 24, truly the place where business and IT come to life.

Termed as the Olympics of ICT and held once every two years, WCIT is the premier global forum that brings together leaders in business, government and academia to impact economic and social development through the exchange of policies and ideas on technology.

The 3E's theme mirrors the opportunities the event provides to enable businesses, empower societies, and enrich economies.

Collectively, WCIT 2008 and its related events, will attract 50,000 people to Kuala Lumpur including 6,000 delegates and 44,000 expo visitors from over 80 countries, as well as more than 100 eminent speakers.

The major participants will include key ICT players from Brunei Darussalam, with the delegation expected to include representatives from Ministry of Communications, AiTi (Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry) and the new IFB (InfoCom Federation Brunei).

Most of the activity will be focused on Kuala Lumpur's new hi-tech Convention Centre in the heart of the city next to the world-famous Petronas Twin Towers.

Even two days before the "big kick-off", there is a hive of frenetic activity with organisers putting the finishing touches in preparation for the arrival of delegates and exhibitors.

WCIT 2008 Chief Executive Officer Dan E Khoo said: "The global interest in WCIT 2008 has been phenomenal. We have actually exceeded our stretched target of 2,500 delegates.

"Traditional delegate sizes during previous editions of the World Congress on Information Technology have averaged 1,800, so we are truly enthused by the show of support for the event that we are hosting in the region."

The highlight event is clearly the 16th Edition of the Global Gathering of the ICT industry.

From the opening welcome address by Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, to the final presentation by Internet pioneer, Vint Cerf, the programme is jam-packed with eminent and distinguished people from the global IT industry.

Vint Cerf is one person who could claim to be the founder of the Internet, unlike ex-US Vice-President Al Gore, who was widely ridiculed for making such a claim a few years back.

Vint Cerf - yes, that is his real name and has nothing to do with coining the phrase "surfing the web" - was the leader of the team which devised the TCP/IP protocol in the 1970's.

As techies around the world know, TCP/IP is the technology, which enables the world's computers to talk to each other. Without that work, the Internet would probably never have become the essential tool it is today.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has always been a man who jumps outside the box. He will do so again by appearing live on stage in KL - even though he will actually be in Seattle, USA.

How can this be? Will he be doing a David Copperfield magical act?

In fact, the audience will swear he is on stage, but he will actually be in holographic format.

Emphasising the impact modern IT has on the world at large, another interesting session will feature Nobel Peace Prize 2007 joint winner, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri. Rajendra is the Chairman of the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change.

Together with his co-winner, Al Gore, he changed the world's thinking on the topic of climate change.

In Kuala Lumpur, he will discuss how ICT can be used to facilitate efforts to mitigate global warming and other issues related to climate change.

Also, away from mainstream IT, global Genomics expert, Dr Craig Venter will share a glimpse of future technology-enabled healthcare and consider some of the near-future possibilities.

Politicians will also feature prominently in the Congress, with government ministers from India, Malaysia and Singapore, together with ministerial advisers from the UK and Saudi Arabia sharing their insights into a wide range of IT-related issues.

Add in a selection of the cream of industry and academic personalities from Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and North America, we can readily see why the WCIT2008 event will be an event not to be missed.

The e-Governance Seminar organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), of which the government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam is a member, will raise a number of issues which will be of interest to the Brunei representatives.

And, the PIKOM Software & Services Showcase (PS3) is one of the related events, which will attract large numbers of participants.

PS3 (pronounced as PS cube) provides a platform for software and services organisations to showcase their products and services which in turn, creates the opportunity for the business visitors of PIKOM PS3 to align and match these with their business needs.

Borneo Bulletin aims to bring Bruneians highlights of these presentations and discussions over the coming days, together with initial responses from some of Brunei's representatives who will be participating in the event.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin