Technologies that are changing our lives

Information and communication technology (ICT) is poised at the start of what is known as "the fifth wave of computing" - the huge growth of the mobile Internet and mobile phones evolving into "lifestyle devices" through 3G wireless technology, cloud computing, global positioning systems (GPS) and second-generation barcodes..

With an eye on various trends and innovations, the Association of Thai ICT Industry (ATSI) has drawn attention to several new technologies that it believes will affect the conduct of business and the quality of life in Thailand.

ATSI director Thanachart Numnonda said the changes and innovations of the digital age - exemplified by the advent of social-networking media - would affect business, marketing and improve the quality of life. Among the most important of these are Web2.0, mobile Internet and cloud computing.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is commonly associated with Web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability and user-centered design.

A Web 2.0 site gives its users the free choice to interact or collaborate with each other in a social-media dialogue, as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community. This contrasts sharply with websites where users are limited to passive viewing of content that has been created for them.

Thanachart said that examples of Web 2.0 included social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs, YouTube, video-sharing sites, hosted services and Web applications.

"Web 2.0 allows businesses to provide digital marketing, and this is growing rapidly. I think that new-generation users will be familiar with communicating and accessing information and knowledge via the Internet and social networks. Thailand now has about 4.9 million Facebook members, who are able to share information in real time," he said.

Mobile Internet

Mobile applications allow users to access the Internet via mobile devices, making it easier for busy "new generation users" to "stay connected". The mobile Internet is now entering an era called Mobile 2.0, which is a perceived next generation of mobile Internet services that leverage the social Web, otherwise known as Web 2.0.

Mobile 2.0 integrates the core aspects of mobility with the social Web - services that are personal, localised, always-on and ever-present. These services are appearing on wireless devices such as smart phones and phones with multimedia features that are capable of delivering rich, interactive services as well as being able to provide access to a full range of mobile-consumer touch points, including talking, testing, capturing, sending, listening and viewing.

With the arrival of Mobile 2.0, all technologies become available on smart phones or mobile Internet devices, including financial services and e-government services. Users or customers are more easily able to reach new services from businesses.

Cloud computing

This is Internet-based computing; a system in which shared resources such as software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like electricity is supplied by the grid. Cloud computing is also next-generation Internet-based computing and along with it comes next-generation data centres that have evolved from serving enterprises to concentrating on private users. Cloud computing offers everything from software to platforms and infrastructure to private users, as a service.

Thanachart said that the innovation and technology revolution was having social impacts such as creating virtual communities and drawing people into using the hugely popular social media.

He said the government should take advantage of the way innovation and technology were changing daily life and business, and develop infrastructure so that government agencies could apply these new technologies to deliver new services to enhance the quality of life for Thai people.

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Thaneerat Siripachana, said that as ICT trends and developments continued to occur, ICT executives [chief information officers] should develop and improve themselves so as to increase the productivity and capabilities of their organisations by applying new technologies.

He said the ministry believed business executives would be following ICT trends and developments, and with an understanding of recent innovations, would increase or diversify their services by introducing online trading or e-services.