1.2 Concept Summary
Like the transportation and power grids, the NIG will provide a resilient
delivery grid for another public utility: information delivery and exchange.
In order for it to be resilient, the NIG will deliver information through
various delivery mechanisms, or appliances, including the more common types
such as telephones and fax machines. As technology advances and sometimes
converge, the types of delivery mechanisms will increase to provide more
delivery modes for the NIG.
New and emerging delivery mechanisms such as interactive television, video-phones and multimedia workstations will require more data to be delivered within shorter periods and thus, the NIG will be designed to handle all types of data, in volumes large and small, falling into the general categories of narrowband, wideband and broadband data transmission rates. At the time of writing, the West is already operating gigabit (super-broadband) test sites and the NIG must also cater for that when it is timely to do so.
In addition to supporting the many types of delivery mechanism, the NIG must also present the user with a seamless interface on each mechanism type to various information providers and services. This eliminates the need to probe and enquire from separate information providers for different types of information, or to use several information services in order to communicate with different parties. In this context, the NIG will provide Malaysia with a common platform that brings together users, information providers, service providers, making it an Information Market and an Information Broker. Figure 1-1 provides a simplified logical view of the NIG concept.
Since the NIG will cater for the most common “terminal” found in homes and offices, which is the telephone, it will also pose as the best platform for facilitating a daily need for the local users -- financial transactions. On-line payments, telebanking, telecommerce, teleshopping, etc. is being implemented, albeit in small pockets, in other countries but with a Third-party GIRO as a subset of the NIG, electronic financial transactions will act as an economic lubricant for the country.
The NIG will be composed of many “nodes” spread across the country, all working in a true client-server fashion, with each node transparently supporting users and providers in each local region. Coupled with its ability to deliver information through the several telecommunication networks in Malaysia, the NIG will be highly resilient against the failure of any of its subcomponents.