Cisco Systems, HP commit resources at information society summit

By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 4/1/2004 7:00:00 AM

Thorny issues of global Internet governance and financing for an inclusive information society that embraces disadvantaged people did not thwart enthusiasm for the progress made at the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society that concluded in Geneva at the end of 2003.

A declaration of principles and plan of action leading to a second summit to be held in Tunisia in 2005 set ambitious goals, but also garnered endorsement from government officials from 176 countries and scores of private enterprises—including Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Microsoft—with an initial commitment of more than $1 billion.

The three-day summit was the first ever multistakeholder global effort to "share and shape the use of information and communication technologies [ICT] for a better world," say official sources.

United Nations Security-General Kofi Annan told delegates, "Technology has given birth to the Information Age. Now it is up to all of us to build an information society from trade to telemedicine, from education to environmental protection. We have in our hands, on our desktops, and in the skies above, the ability to improve standards of living for millions upon millions of people."

Key objectives include linking all schools, villages, governments, and hospitals across the world; and providing information and telecommunication system access to half the world's population by 2015.

Commitments toward that end included $400,000 from the U.S. toward ICT development in low-income countries.

Private sector pledges included a commitment by Cisco Systems to open 20 Internet Training Centers in developing countries; donation of low-cost products by HP for overcoming ICT illiteracy; and $1 billion from Microsoft to fund a five-year program to bring ICT skills to underserved communities.

Public and private commitments stemming from the conference are listed in the box at right.

To assist local and national governments in engineering the infrastructure and content flow of a global information society, working groups will focus on development "best practice" models and fostering public-private collaboration toward creation of a sustainable global information society initiative that extends beyond the Tunis summit.

Information & communications technologies (ICT) partnerships at a glance:

$400,000 grant by the U.S. government for ICT development in low-income countries
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with its private sector partners to open 20 more Internet Training Centers in developing countries
Hewlett-Packard will provide low-cost products that will help overcome the illiteracy barrier to ICT. Handwritten texts, for example, will be recognized for e-mail transmission.
Microsoft, working with United Nations Development Programme, will provide a $1-billion program over five years to bring ICT skills to underserved communities.
ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau has signed MOUs with members of the business sector, including AMEA, ALCATEL, Cisco Systems, INMARSAT, RASCOM, and WorldSpace Corp.

Source: UN World Summit

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