http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200610/kt2006103014434111780.htm
Ubiquitous City, Buzz That Is Here to Stay
By Baek Sang-yeop
Vice President of LG CNS
We’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it twice _ in fact, we have heard it
so many times. It seems like everybody is talking about it these days
_ well, at least, those who are continually looking at advances in
the field of Information Technology.
The buzzword is U-City or Ubiquitous City. So, what is the buzz all
about? This article neither will give you a technical brief nor a
white paper about U-City. It will just simply share, in layman’s
terms, some aspects of U-City worth knowing and sharing.
Compelling Applications
The advent of the digital and information age has brought along
advancements in the field of IT like never seen before, much less,
imagined by generations gone by.
Who would have imagined that home appliances can be turned on or off
just with the use of a cell phone; or a refrigerator that replenishes
its stock automatically by making orders over the Internet; or a home
security system that can detect the slightest movement and connect
directly to the police; or pressure sensitive floors that report
accidental falls directly to emergency personnel?
All of the aforementioned seemingly unimaginable situations are now
possibilities within the realm of a U-City that utilizes ubiquitous
technology.
It may be far-fetched for some or even bizarre for others but U-City
which is the combination of two distinct words, ubiquitous and city,
makes it all achievable.
Ubiquitous traces its roots from the Latin word ``ubique,’’ which
simply means being everywhere at once.
Given current technology trends, ubiquitous and city are innovatively
fused together to concoct a new word that opens up exciting
possibilities _ ``a city where everything is interconnected with
everything else, where information is instantaneously shared, and
where computers and people seamlessly communicate.’’
Putting it in a different way, it’s a city that defies the
traditional concept of an old city, which you and I, not to mention
our forefathers, have grown up and lived in.
It’s, however, a defiance in a good way and the succeeding
discussions will elaborate why.
4 A’s: Anywhere, Anyone, Anything and Anytime
If old cities are mainly built with brute strength using concrete and
steel, U-City is built with information technology as its heart and
soul.
U-City with an urban management center (UMC) sitting at its very
core, centrally controlling and managing the whole city, is literally
the ``city of the future.’’
Having a UMC, a U-City allows for information exchange
``anywhere’’ (whether at work, at home, within or outside the city)
and makes technology accessible and usable for ``anyone’’ (regardless
of gender, physical capacity, or age).
It also provides residents with the capability to connect with
``anything’’ (with the use of intelligent home appliances,
communication devices, and even the human body itself).
Further and just to put a funny parallelism into it, if New York is
the city that never sleeps, U-City instead builds a community that
can communicate ``anytime, all of the time (24 hours a day, 7 days a
week).’’
This is of course because of the UMC, which is the one thing that
truly never sleeps.
South Korea, as a worldwide technology powerhouse, is leading the way
in building U-Cities, which are slowly taking on a mainstream
recognition around the world.
South Korea has been first in many things. It was one of the early
adaptors of e-governance, it’s the first to use ground wave digital
multimedia broadcasting technology, it’s one of the pioneers of a
cashless society, and now it’s again leading the pack in U-City.
What started as just a dream has now been transformed to a tangible
reality with U-City construction in the pipeline across the country
in places such as Unpyong New Town, Songdo, Pangyo and so forth.
U-Cities will be a showcase of the most sophisticated technologies
available in the market such as radio frequency identification (RFID)
systems, smart cards applications, geographic information systems
(GIS), location based systems (LBS), sensor-based computing, wireless
communication devices, home networking, digital multimedia
broadcasting and video conference technologies, just to name a few.
Let’s take the examples of RFID and GIS. RFID is wireless data
collection technology that uses electronic tags for storing data,
uniquely identifying items and tracking movements of goods wherever
they may be within a certain range.
GIS, on the other hand, is an information system that systematizes
the storage, retrieval, mapping, and analysis of map data for
navigational and location searching purposes.
RFID and GIS along with the other aforementioned technologies make U-
City the melting pot of the latest technology trends that surely
appeal to IT enthusiasts.
However, more than just being appealing to the senses, U-City
encompasses its residents’ day-to-day living.
It is the integration of technology, information services, and
people’s lifestyles that is intended to make life more livable,
safer, comfortable and convenient.
Model U-City in Seoul
Helping to foster the interplay of people and technology are Korea’s
IT service companies.
Big IT service companies like LG CNS, Samsung SDS, and KT have been
in the forefront of U-City initiatives while still in its
conceptualization stage, even before it became a buzz-word.
Much has been said, written and heard about these companies.
However, more than just lip service, these IT service companies have
been mobilizing their resources and sharpening their competency in
developing U-City technologies and actually undertaking the
implementation of U-City projects.
A testament to this is the recently awarded U-City project at
Unpyong, which was bagged by one of the above stated IT service
companies.
When completed, the Unpyong New Town project will be a U-City putting
things together that were once only in the imagination; using
technologies that were once only reachable for the blessed few; and
building a city that once only animated films could bring to life.
Even with the impressive developments in the field of U-Cities, many
still argue that they are still very much in their infancy and thus,
pose a high degree of uncertainty as to their viability and
sustainability.
However, with them currently taking center stage and enjoying strong
support from both the government and private sector, the buzz is
definitely here to stay.
Needless to say, Korea’s IT service companies, being some of the
major innovators and pioneers of U-Cities, are strategically
positioned not only to make the buzz stay for years to come, but also
to make it prosper.
Now things are definitely moving and the momentum is expected to
continue.
So as they usually say, ``sit back, relax and enjoy the ride as your
new U-City is coming to an area near you.’’
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