1. Mobile Video Conferencing
   I’m still waiting for a little camera to appear on the front of my mobile phone so I can video chat while I’m on the go. Some mobile phone companies, specifically Nokia, have tried this in the past. However, it worked on a very small scale and only allowed Nokia-specific phone chats. For this to work correctly, mobile handset makers will need to allow video chats with computer users and across mobile handsets.
2. Biometric Sensors
   Some of the current biometric sensors used by high-level security companies could easily fit into your mobile phone and add a needed level of security. Adding iris scanning biometrics, for example, could enable higher protection when making purchases on mobile phones and would eliminate the need for current password authentication. It would also deter theft of mobile devices.
3. Common Awareness Between Devices
   Why can’t my phone talk to my computer and share information, including documents I’m reading? Why can’t I start watching a baseball game on my television and then finish it on my phone while I sit on the subway? Some of these features are available with a U.S.B. cable and a lot of dragging, dropping and waiting, but so far, devices can’t talk to one another and seamlessly share content.
4. Green Battery Power
   We’ve come a long way from cellphone battery packs that were as large and heavy as a phone book, but why not add some green to the current batteries? Apple filed a patent two years ago for technology that would integrate a solar cell into the iPhone’s LCD display, allowing the phone to charge when sitting in direct light. This feature would be environmentally friendly, and could avoid cumbersome plugs and a constant need to recharge. (In his article, Mr. Vance noted that NTT DoCoMo showed off a solar-panel phone at the Mobile World Congress.)
5. The End of Wires
   Speaking of self-charging devices, as many of us spend most of our online time in the cloud, why do we still need U.S.B. cables and headphone jacks? I wish that mobile phones could simple share all of our information, including videos, music and documents, wirelessly over Wi-Fi or 3G.
6. Mobile Projectors
   Over the last couple of years, a few phones have entered the marketplace, specifically in China, that include a pico projector. The technology is still in an early stage, but these projectors are extremely small and enable projection of movies, photos and presentations directly from a mobile phone.

America’s advanced cellphone network is already beginning to be bogged down by smartphones that double as computers, navigation devices and e-book readers. Cellphones are increasingly being used as TVs, which hog even more bandwidth. They can also transmit video, allowing for videoconferencing on cellphones.

And a new generation of netbooks, tablet PCs and other mobile devices that connect to cellphone networks will only add to the strain. “Carrier networks aren’t set to handle five million tablets sucking down 5 gigabytes of data each month,” Philip Cusick, an analyst at Macquarie Securities, said.

Wireless carriers have drastically underestimated the network demand by consumers, which has been driven largely by the iPhone and its applications, he said. “It’s only going to get worse as streaming video gets more prevalent.”

But you need a minimum 5 MBps link for a two-way; we used 15MBps for the three-location conference. The connection dropped once, but otherwise performance was great. The question is whether we can assemble 15 MBps reliable quality in LK. I would hazard a guess that the first real working telepresence system (beyond those now operational at the World Bank, the Distance Learning Center, etc. with lower quality and bandwidth demands) will come up at a place like the Taj Samudra, where it is not too difficult to ensure a high-quality 15 MBps link.

The New York Times has a story:

In fact, people in the growing high-technology end of the industry, which is called “telepresencing,” say the Skype-type systems have helped videoconferencing gain traction. The technique has given life to “the general idea that video is a realistic possibility to communicate for business,” said Marc Trachtenberg, the chief executive and co-founder of Teliris, which is a major player in telepresencing, along with competitors like Cisco Systems.

With the highest-end Teliris product (Cisco has a similar product), you see a space that looks like a half of a conference room and you face a wall of up to six high-definition screens that give the illusion that people in a similar room in another location are in the same place.

After a while, it isn’t easy to tell where the real room ends and the virtual room begins. The system costs $150,000 to $200,000 a unit. A much less expensive option is a high-definition desktop system that costs under $10,000. All are mutually compatible.

As Travel Costs Rise, More Meetings Go Virtual – NYTimes.com

As travel costs rise and airlines cut service, companies large and small are rethinking the face-to-face meeting — and business travel as well. At the same time, the technology has matured to the point where it is often practical, affordable and more productive to move digital bits instead of bodies.

The emerging trend, analysts say, goes well beyond a reaction to rising travel costs and a weakening economy. “These technology tools are going to change the way corporations think about travel and work in the long run,” an analyst at Forrester Research, Claire Schooley, said.

Past predictions that technology could replace travel have been frequent and premature. The main difference today, analysts say, is that the technology is finally catching up to its promise. No single breakthrough explains the progress, but rather a series of step-by-step advances — and steady investment — in telecommunications networks, software and computer processing.

Sir Arthur imagined what the world could be. In some cases, such as the geostationary orbit that was named after him, he even did the mathematics to substantiate his imagination. But the mathematics was not the true achievement: it was that he imagined this wondrous idea of a specific orbit where satellites would be stationary in relation to the earth and could therefore serve as very tall towers for wireless transmissions with line of sight covering one third of the surface of the globe; it was that he imagined it a decade before anything had been sent that far into space and before the rockets with power had been designed.

His was a creative mind until the end. I recall him saying that we should consider a single time zone for the world at a video conference that we participated in back in 1998. I remember then laughing and telling him off camera that only he could get away with such outlandish and impractical claims. Yet, as I saw young people working in BPOs in Bangalore and Manila and then Colombo running to world time, I began to see his point.

I recall him forwarding me an e-mail from BT labs around 2000 asking what could be done on Giga Bit network. I, cautious quasi-bureaucrat, talked about the dangers of supply-side push. But Sir Arthur was all imagination. Today, when the YouTube site consumes as much bandwidth as the entire Internet did in 2000, I realize the incredible ability of that wonderful mind.

Satellites for arms control. He thought it first. And then Ronald Reagan said, famously, “doveryai, no proveryai” (trust but verify).

He also imagined Sri Lankan living in peace. With Sir Arthur’s track record, may be we stand a chance.

A generous man and a kind man. It was easy to be generous with money when you plenty. But he was generous with time, the scarcest of all commodities. I was an underling at the Arthur C. Clarke Centre for Modern Technologies in 1985-86, tasked with connecting Sri Lanka to the inchoate Internet, then Arpanet. He paid attention to my project, invited me to play with his lifetime CompuServe subscription from his home at a time when international calls were like gold. It was rarely that he declined an invitation or refused an appointment for a visitor wanting an autograph and a photograph.

He cared. I recall one of the early “Internet to your home” programs I was helping with at the government TV channel in 1999. In the run up to the millennium, we had cooked up this idea of asking significant people to name five people who had made the most important contributions to the dying 20^th century, and then doing live web searches about the named individuals to demonstrate the power of the Internet. Few hours before the first show was to air, I got a desperate call. They did not have the person to answer the question lined up.

Sir Arthur to the rescue. I called him from the studio live. He spoke on speaker phone and I translated his list and rationale. I still recall the thought he had given to his list and rationale. The inventor of the jet engine was on his list, beyond the usual suspects.

The show went on for all of 1999. I recall how often Sri Lankans of significance who were asked to give their lists included Sir Arthur among the five. There he was, in the company of Gandhi and Mandela.

We were fortunate to have him live here in Sri Lanka with us. Over the last thirty years, not much good news has come out of this country. War, refugees, riots, tsunami. It gets kind of tiresome when you’re at lunch with a bunch of foreigners, someone asks where you’re from, and then a pall of gloom descends on the table because the talk is of war and suicide bombers.

I used to say I was from Sri Lanka, where Arthur Clarke lived. And then, we’d have a pleasant lunch-time conversation about the literary license he had taken to move Sri Lanka south to the equator so that the space elevators could be located there (Fountains of Paradise, 1979) or his claim that the oceans surrounding Sri Lanka were the closest he could get to outer space in his life time.

Thank you, Sir Arthur.

This was written for Montage, the monthly news magazine.

Abroad at Home – New York Times

Because of stricter border enforcement since 9/11, increased broadband access and reduced cost of video equipment, more businesses are offering videoconferencing services to reunite immigrants with their families back home. Typically found in or near places immigrants frequent like money-transfer operations or consular offices, these kinds of services are often reserved for weeks in advance. “I’m booked Dec. 20 through Jan. 1,” said Ivan Fernando Rojas, owner of a small videoconferencing business in Bay Shore, N.Y., called A Tu Alcance, which means Reach Out.Such businesses are often run by immigrants like Mr. Rojas who is from Colombia: “I know how it feels being in a country without your family.” He started A Tu Alcance in 2004 with money he saved from cleaning office buildings: “I got the idea 12 years ago when I was dusting videoconference equipment in an office.” But back then, the technology cost $10,000 to $20,000. Today, a complete videoconference setup costs as little as $2,000, according to Laura Shay, director for marketing at Polycom, a leading brand.

Pakistani telecom market is growing very fast currently.
Its market is liberalized with various types of Licenses: Local Loop,
Long Distance and International, Wireless Local Loop, Audiotex / Premium Services, Card Pay Phone Services, Vehicle Tracking Services, Video Conferencing Services.

Mobile penetration is relatively high and rising: 18% (Feb.), 22% (July), est. 32% (Dec.); Currently the market is governed by a CPP regime (previously RPP – till 2000). Handsets are cheap (below USD 100), subscription fees are low, and prepaid cards are available for as low as US 50 cents. There is number portability (since Jul 2006). Internet access is affordable (cost not more than local phone call).

The move from RPP to CPP and the implementaion of number portablity has benefitted the sector significantly.

Mobile sector revenue has grown by 84 % from 2005-2006. Fixed sector mobile is expected to increase with privatization. There has been 29.2% nominal increase in gross value addition of telecom sector in 2005-06. This is a direct effect of positive and consistent investment influx in the country.

The taxes imposed are higher in this sector as compared to their counterparts in the region. Yet, the sector is growing significantly – these could be the benefits of liberalization.

New players in the industry in 2004 & 2005 (Telenor and Warid)  has resulted in job creation. This sector is still attracting investment and thus contributing in human resource development in the employment sector as well.

The total teledensity for fixed and mobile telecom services has shown a phenomenal growth from 2003. Although the reforms ‘began’ in 2000 –i.e., the law/policy was formulated, the real growth (resulting form actual implementation – i.e., competition entering the market) began in 2003. The resulting growth is being seen now.

Mid-2006 saw total teledensity at 27.76%. The growth can be attributed to regulatory reforms encouraging level playing field for new investors, encouraging demand in consumers.

PTCL still has a 98% share in local market. Fixed line connections have in fact dropped due to intense competition from WLL services.

Mobile sector has been consistently breaking records in the telecom market in Pakistan. Currently there are 3.6 million cellular subscribers.

As of 2006, Pakistan had 2.5 million Internet subscribers.  Broadband adoption has grown from its introduction in 2004, but high tariffs and inadequate access to infrastructure pose significant challenges. PTCL enjoys a monopoly in setting the IPLC Tariffs, which are quite high as compared to the regional tariffs.

Mobile sector has been consistently breaking records in the telecom market in Pakistan. Currently there are 3.6 million cellular subscribers.
 
Post Deregulation (2003)., there has been an upsurge in growth trend reaching 170%. Much of this is owed to a liberalized telecom sector and positive investment trend of cellular companies. YoY cellular growth dips in 2003.

The introduction of value added services such as GPRS/MMS, EDGE and Blackberry corporate mobile email solutions by the mobile operators (2003) has helped growth in mobile subscribers over the years,

SMS use has grown by nearly 100% last year due to launch of free on-net text services by Telenor.

69% of the total population resides in rural areas while 31% in the urban areas, yet the fixed teledensity digital divide indicator shows a murky imbalance between the two areas in terms of access to services. Balochistan has the lowest density of 1.8 after NWFP.
Telecom regulatory environment assessments:

The TRE Survey had been disseminated among a varied pool of informed professionals. A quarter have responded so far. Overall, the Mobile Sector has received positive feedback (especially in market entry) while fixed sector only shows signs of encouragement in market entry dimension. This is due to the entrance of new companies in the WLL services. There is an appreciable response towards market entry and tariff regulation undertaken by the regulator.

Pakistan has USO’s in mobile as well as fixed.

LIRNEasia and Vanguard Foundation, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka National Committee of Large Dams, have conducted an Expert Consultation as the basis for developing a concept paper on an Early Warning System for Dam Related Hazards. Most of the Sri Lankan experts on dam management and safety were invited to this event.

The event was kicked off by Chandra Jayaratne, Director of the Vanguard Foundation and Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director of LIRNEasia with a welcome address and opening remarks.

The first presentation titled, Nineteen years later, what lessons have been learnt from the Kantale breach (and what changes have been implemented)? by D W R Weerakoon, Former Director General of Irrigation and Secretary, Presidential Commission on the Kantale Dam Breach.

It was followed by a presentation by Nimal Wickramaratne, Director, Headworks of the Mahaweli Authority documenting International best practices in dam safety.

The third presentation documented the Current situation of dam management in Sri Lankaby Badra Kamaladasa, Deputy Director (Dam Safety), Department of Irrigation.

The fourth and the last presentation was made by Tissa Illangasekare, AMAX Distinguished Chair of Environmental Science & Engineering & Professor of Civil Engineering; Director, Center for Experimental Study of Subsurface Environmental Processes (CESEP) Colorado School of Mines, USA & Anura Jayasumana, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Computer Science, Colorado State University, USA via videoconferencing from Colorado. Their presentation explored What are some innovative technologies for hazard detection in dams?

Each presentation was followed by 30 minutes of discussion. The Expert Consultation ended with an open forum where dam experts discussed some of the crucial issues raised in the presentations. This session was chaired by K.S.R. De Silva, Director General of Irrigation & President, Sri Lanka National Committee on Large Dams.

Based on the discussions and presentations, a concept paper on an Early Warning System for Dam Related Hazards is currently being written and will be presented on this website shortly for your comments. Please check back later.

Sequence: Disaster happens, analysed, and transmitted in a secure communication mechanism to the media. Once the warning message is transmitted, the disaster warning process is over. As far as Vanguard and LIRNE is concerned this is a ICT and telecom problem. Disaster education will be undertaken by vanguard at a later point in time.

Since we are not govt, for credibility we need to have wide-based participation as possible. Once Pete comes he, Ayesha, Malathy and I will sit and write the document. A powerpoint presentation will be presented at Transasia for 70 people. I have obtaqined participation of Asian Disaster Preparedeness Cnetre in Bangkok. There were 143 Sri Lankans who have gotten disaster prepapredness training at the above Center and a selection of them will be invited. Armed forces participants, public with specialised knowledge in the area will also be invited.

Feb 4-5th draft of paper will be finalised and press conference will be held. There will be videoconferencing with experts in Thailand, USA and elsewhere. The document will be finalized based on feedback and will be submitted to the Sri Lankan govt.

Divakar makes a strong argument that village local warning system needs to be involved. But I think it needs to be part of another initiative – possibly through the private sector.

Jinendra: But in the document [final report], the need for a local emergency system should be mentioned.

Chanuka: Source(disaster)—Media–report to–people. Do we have the sources? Tsunami warning system.

Rohan: If Asian tsunami warning system is in place that’s where the bulletin will come from. Cyclones will come from Met dept If you have multiple sources what are the potential of abuse? It needs to come from national disaster center. Supposing no tsunami warning system. But we have disaster management center in SL–manned by professionals. They get the first tsunami bulletin, they get 2nd bulletin about earthquake and possible tsunami. They could have then triggered a warning to SL

Chanuka: I will prepare excel sheet–who are responsible organization for particular disasters. And the document will be distributed to media and there can be accountability.

Sabina: If you have a cross-checking system to authenticate the information. You then have reliable info.

Rohan: Maybe operation of disaster warning need to be outsourced to private sector. Probably a telecom company.

Chanuka: Good idea, will such a thing happen?

Harsha: 911 is outsourced in New York City

Chanuka: Will profit make private sector efficient as disaster managers? [see Chanuka's comment below]

Rohan: Will a government organization work?

Sabina: Can you get tourism industry involved cause they have a motive to have efficient disaster warning

Rohan: Yes; without credible early warning no tourists will come to SL

Jinendra: It will take 2 years to get back on track for tourism. Maybe also get insurance companies involved. They have a stake too for a disaster management.

Rohan: Yes, good idea.

break for cake and ice cream

Rohan: Govt makes policy–civil society reacts. Here we are trying to give proposals. Will there be resistance to accept the plan?

Chanuka: they will probably accept it and run it as their own.

Rohan: We are interested in the policy process. LIRNE is about pushing for certain kind of policy to govt. – publicy pushing solutions for the governement.

looking at the ‘blame game’ as we have seen in SL over the last two weeks – the big problem in disaster management is that its cross-cutting in nature -it requires the involvement of many ministries, departments, etc.

Arun Mehtah has sent info on what we’re (LIRNEasia) doing to the chairman of TRAI (india) recommending that they work with us, rather than re-inventing wheel. Also Pete Anderson will be visiting India with Canadian PM. We may be able to link up with the Indians.

We need a system NOT just for tsunami’s. System must be ready to handle any (at best) form of disaster.

Harsha : (reads listing of natural disasters from ?website..?) …includes AIDS.

Rohan : like drought, AIDS is a creeping disaster. Time is not an issue.

Chanuka : However education is necessary

Sabina: what about epidemics like SARS

Jinendra: recent viral flu in Embilipitya

Rohan: the proposed organisation must be limited in its size, and therefore its scope (eg, it can’t be involved in the actual setting off sirens, etc) otherwise it just becomes another big bureaucracy.

Divakar: I’m concerend that the very ‘last mile’ will not get the message. Can’t issue one central warning in Colombo and then expect it to get to the last mile on its own, need devolvement as much as possible. more channels for communicaiton that are available makes the system more robust.

Sabina: how about a system that alerts all medical services/police services through island.

Jinendra: not all people have TV/electricity/telephone/radio

Divakar: can’t depend on someone by chance hearing a radio braodcast to pick up on warning and take action/spread word.

Rohan: can’t create more bureaucracy!!!!

Jinendra: we need to address the problem of how to communicate with those people who don’t have access to a phone/tv/radio, etc.

Rohan: East has been and is the worst hit part of the country in most disasters- cyclones, etc. They have to be given sirens, claxons, etc. But then, the rest of the coast (West, South) will want the same. This is costly – maintainance, etc. like payphone companies, structure is needed (not governemt) to mainitain it.

Harsha: concern of vandalism of sirens / towers, etc. Hopefully after the disaster that people have faced, people won’t.

Rohan: A robust, resilient solution, that is imperfect is better than trying to go for 100% perfect system .

Jinendra: need alternatives that don’t rely on solar/electricity, etc; how about manual operation (of local warning center)? as in railway crossings

Rohan: people become complacent- they think they are safe just because it is there. What if the siren/rail crossing signal is not working?

Sabina: Suggestion: Centralised organization (govt) sends out signal to next level organisations (Divisional Secetariats); they send it out to the next level (Pradeshya Sabhas), etc…

Rohan: More government?

Chanuka: 24 hour systems don’t work are difficult to maintain in this country – like Sathosa! [see Chanuka's comment below]

Divakar: what about connecting the warning system to VGKs (Vishwa Gnana Kendra’s – a telecenter network to be established throughout the island under the eSri Lanka Initiative)?

Rohan: There are no VGKs located on the coasts.

Sabina: How about manning them (warning centers ) on shift basis?

Rohan: Won’t work

Jinendra: the number of offices that one Divisional Secretariate will have to communicate to is far too many; communication time will be very long.

Rohan: Any thoughts/ideas on how can we extend this to other countries in the region?

Why LIRNEasia?
Enormous amounts of money are invested annually in ICTs. The potential of information and communication technologies, or ICTs for economic and social progress is substantial. ICTs aren’t necessarily the answer to higher incomes and development in itself; but together with other factors, they provide a means to improve people’s capabilities and knowledge so that they may better their lives. ‘Asia’ is the collective name for the countries roughly encircled by Russia, Turkey, Egypt and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. There is little that the entire region holds in common. Within this vast continent, lies South Asia, home to the largest concentration of poor people in the world. Yet Asia is seen as driving the global economy and is home to some of the world’s highest ICT industry performers. Korea has the highest broadband penetration rate as well as the second highest estimated number of Internet users in the world. Taiwan (China) has the highest number of mobile phones per hundred inhabitants in the world; Hong Kong (China) has the third highest (ITU, 2004). But Asia is also home to some of the lowest: the Internet is used by less than one per cent of the population in DPR Korea, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Cambodia, just to name a few. There are less than two telephones (fixed or mobile) per one hundred people in several of these countries (ITU, 2004). Broadband penetration is barely worth mentioning in many of Asia’s poorer nations. In terms of ICT sector performance, there are many Asias. ICT use in Asia and developing countries is held back by laws and regulations. The existing policy and regulatory arrangements do not help people use ICTs to live their lives; they actively hinder them, for the most part. Very often, especially in South Asia, laws and regulations restrict, or even preclude the exploitation of new low-cost technologies, such as Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is ideally suited for developing countries, it is a very low-cost and convenient technology developed by multiple small manufacturers because the United States government chose to unregulate two bands of frequencies (2.4 GHz and 5.8GHz), also called the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands. Subject to minimal safeguards, people were free to do whatever they wanted in these bands. Today, pretty much every laptop you buy has got Wi-Fi built in. The equipment is cheap and ideal for countries where purchasing power is low. However, the frequency band that Wi-Fi operates in is regulated in most other countries. In Sri Lanka, for example, the law requires operators to obtain a license for ‘every frequency emitting apparatus’ from the telecom regulator. Although some operators, like LIRNEasia’s service provider have managed to include Wi-Fi services within the scope of their licenses, the full potential of the service cannot be achieved unless the law is changed. Unlicensing or deregulation of this band would greatly reduce the cost of making use of this technology, allowing the cost to users to reflect the true cost of the technology, not arbitrary regulatory charges. This is the kind of thing that we will seek to promote and facilitate.

Our Mission
LIRNEasia’s mission is to improve the lives the people of Asia; by making it easier to use the information and communication technologies that they need; by changing the laws, policies and regulations to enable those uses; by building Asia-based human capacity through research, training, consulting and advocacy. To that end, LIRNEasia will endeavor to transform governance and regulation of ICTs in the Asian region from obstructive, inhibiting regimes, into ones that will allow opportunities for people to use ICTs in ways that will improve their lives and to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators to introduce new products and services with a minimum of government interference. Our immediate priority is building a team of Asian ICT policy and regulatory professionals that can work on equal terms with the best in the world. Initially concentrating on the South Asian and Bay of Bengal areas, LIRNEasia will soon expand its scope to the rest of Asia, with the help of our regional partners. Sri Lanka will anchor this effort, but it will be a genuinely regional initiative, drawing on human capacity from the region itself. We will focus on creating and disseminating independent, useable, actionable knowledge, through applied research, on documenting and disseminating regional best practices, on training and on some forms of short-term advisory assistance to governments/parties who request it. Our primary audiences are government (including bilateral and multilateral donor agencies), the private sector within and outside Asia and civil society. We emphasize Asian expertise, but are not exclusive about it. We do case studies, but our policy is to abstract from the complexity to produce information that other countries can use.

Our culture

‘We aim to build a virtual organization that will one day make working from Bhutan as easy as working from this office. We will work in teams; we will work flexibly and we will work effectively. The organization centered on this office will help each person work to their full capacity; it will be a learning organization; a place where creativity is valued and debate encouraged. It will not be a place to clock in and out from; to engage in office intrigue; or to worry about the next promotion. It will add to your productivity, not drain it.’ -Rohan, LIRNEasia office opening

Currently, LIRNEasia’s physical presence consists of two full time staff, an executive director and a compact 15 by 20 ft office under the leafy shade of an ancient Mara tree at the back of the parking lot of SLIDA, the administrative training academy of Sri Lanka, in Colombo. Neither our size nor our location will in any way limit our possibilities. With a small administrative core, much of our work will be facilitated through extended networks across Asia. The value of this is parallel to that of networks according to Metcalfe’s law: the total value of a network is greater than the sum of the number of its users. We already have several researchers and partners across South Asia involved in our first projects. As far as technology and cost permit, LIRNEasia will function as a virtual organization, with small ‘wireless, paperless’ offices located in a few South Asian countries at a second stage. These offices will function primarily as administrative units, as well as communication points, where, for example, someone in Dhaka can participate in a project meeting, taking place in Colombo via video conferencing facilities at a Dhaka office. As well as a facilitator of innovative ICT uses, we aim to be an exemplar. Our office is one of the few Wi-Fi hotspots in Sri Lanka. At LIRNEasia’s inaugural event, the 2004 WDR Expert Forum at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, a temporary hotspot was provided for the participants, so they could check their email from their seat at the forum, saving them the hassle of going down to the hotel’s highly priced Business Center for Internet access. We also hope to collaborate or make use of the Distance Learning Center Limited, an advanced video-conferencing and IT-based teaching facility at the SLIDA office, onsite. Our website is a user friendly work and discussion platform, adapting innovations from the blogging culture. Animated discussion and debate, and is open to anyone interested. Whilst making innovative use of technologies, we emphasize the building of relationships and common values among our team members. Regular colloquia are held for our local partners to share information on discuss hot topics. In the future, we even expect that our regional partners can be virtually present at these, by the use of whatever technology possible. For the most part, the project teams will not be in the same country, so for this reason it is very important that we have effective mechanisms for the seamless coordination and completion of our work. Additionally, the significance of Colombo office as the base of LIRNEasia’s operations will gradually be reduced over a period of three years.

Supporting organizations
LIRNEasia is the Asian affiliate of LIRNE.NET, collaboration among leading universities in Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom and now LIRNEasia. LIRNEasia’s programs over 2004-2005 will primarily be funded by IDRC [International Development Research Center] of Canada, which supports many projects in developing countries, and has over the last two decades supported hundreds of research projects in South Asia, including the ISP, Pan Lanka Networking. LIRNEasia’s work will also be funded by infoDev, a World Bank unit that has partnered with LIRNE.NET since 2001 in the World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies. LIRNEasia is a non-profit organization incorporated under Sri Lankan law but intending to operate throughout Asia. LIRNEasia was officially launched on 17 September 2004 during the World Dialogue on Regulation’s Expert Forum in Sri Lanka.