NITEL Internet Gateway & services: Its Opportunities
And Prospects In The New Information Age
BY Dr. Frank Ibikunle (NITEL Internet Service)
The INTERNET has turned the world into a global village in which
information is transferred across in seconds and
has become the favourite information Highway for the global Information Technology (IT)
industry. Surviving the
emerging information revolution thus depends on access to networks. Access is crucial to
any countrys meaningful
development to take place ; both knowledge and exchange of information and ideas drive the
world economic order:
It is no wonder that the Internet now dictates the educational and commercial development
of national economies.
The INTERNET has been described as global network connecting series of
international and local networks carrying
information of all kinds and their individual resources via the Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet protocol(TCP/IP)
as the data transport protocol. The TCP/IP is a set of protocol that allows a reliable end
communication between
two hosts (computers) over different physical types of networks. The TCP ensures the safe
transportation and delivery
of data packets to the correct destination in the network, while the IP stipulates how
data are arranged in packets for
transmission.
The Internet is a cost effective resource in terms of information sharing and for
the Purpose of electronics mail,
entertainment, research collaboration and governance. The Internet is reliable, secure
accurate, fast, versatile and
economical modern global Information superhighway that will provide network access and
other value-added service
Apart form the need to share and provide a cost-effective resource. Below are the
opportunities and prospects that
the introduction of NITEL Internet Gateway and service will bring into our countrys
economy educational sectors, etc.
2. In The Social Sector.
Many of the individual aspects of the way in which the NITEL Internet project will
affect our social order are quite
not easy to bedescribed; the overall effect is profound. Much has been written about the
Global Information Village,
characterized by simple access to broad-based information anywhere in the world and
instant communication with
people all over the globe. For those who have embraced e-mail they will have begun to
understand the power of this
medium for enhancing communication. It is immediate yet unrelenting in the sense that it
can be used for written
communication that flows almost in conversation mode and requires rapid response. Whatever
you write can be read
and re-read in order to absorb exact detail before formulating a response. This is not the
case in spoken communication,
where although discussion is immediate, detail and perception can be corrected in flow of
a conversation. Todays
generation of school goers will learn very little about where to place an address on
letter or letter writing formalities.
The e-mail you are to write or receive a day is so much and may require urgent response
that you need on special
approach or formality to writing them.
The advent of extensive on-line shopping, brokerage services can now be made possible
on the INTERNET. The Internet
together with other emergent technologies such as smart cards finally offers the real
thing. The social impact of this
On-Line shopping (e-commerce) goes beyond the simple convenience of cutting down on the
Extent to which you have
to get into your car and travel to shops. Consider the effect on the design and deployment
of shopping centres and the accompanying effect on our urban Environment. The Internet
On-line shopping will greatly alleviate this phenomenon on
our environment sooner. With the advent of smart cards and associated readers for your PC,
you wont even need to
use ATM machines to get cash. And of course, all of your account payments and other
banking transactions will be taken
care of without the need to move away from your desk.
On-line shopping on internet carries with it the implied promise of home delivery of
purchased goods; the advent
of Internet banking and smart card readers remove the need
to physically visit the bank; and on-line communication cuts down on the need for
meetings. The on-line store
offers a retailer several areas of economy over a traditional store: no expensive sales
force is required; no investments
in front shop bricks, mortar and display equipment. In most brokerage type business, such
as stock and insurance
brooking and travel agencies it is rapidly becoming vital for business to provide genuine
added value, typically in the
form of consulting and advice, since the process of procurement will soon be done more
efficiently by direct on-line
transactions. There are already several very good on-line automated travel agencies and
stock purchasing systems that
found the Internet useful for this aspect of business (that is, on-line-shopping on the
Internet).
The Internet now accelerates the Integration of TV, PC and Telephone into single
Communications device. The advent
of cheap Internet based telephony systems will probably also provides for viable video
telephony systems. Video and
music entertainment will also become downloadable to our PC/TV in the near future when we
finally embrace the
NITEL Internet.
It is becoming relatively common for people to work from home, even when employed by
large companies. People
can communicate easily with their peers and submit their output (normally written) via the
Internet. It will be seen
too that increasing numbers of people would like to use their computers as a primary tool
for their day-to-day work,
for their shopping and personal banking and of recreation.
Tens of thousands of vacancies exists in the IT industry all over the world. The Global
Market means that recruitment
easily transcends geographical boundaries. The Information Technology industry is paying
increasingly high salaries to
suitably qualify IT Professionals throughout the world. Therefore, the NITEL Internet can
contributed Immensely to the
social and employment rate of our nation.
3. In The Commercial Sector
The Internet within the world of commerce is effectively a new medium
characterized by the following elements:
The days of Web sites being static on-line billboards are over. The power of this
information tool is that it provides
for extensive interaction between Web site visitors and Web site owners. With the growth
in Information Technology,
millions of people and organizations are linked together. As a result of the advent of
sophisticated database system, the
Web sites on the Internet represents a business opportunity area and it is an open and
unconstrained medium for business transaction.
With the NITEL Internet, users will be able to browse the Internet more extensively
Through the convenience of the
Web, than they can by having to physically visit a Spectrum of stores and merchants.
Much of the leverage that large companies have in the physical world is reduced in The
Internet on-line world.
For example, a well-positioned small company has potentially the same accesses to
customers as a large company player.
It does not help to build lots of expensive stores all over the trading areas or territory
if they are both competing
for on-line business.
Electronic commerce is one of the attractions of the Web and already thousands of
Dollar transactions such as banking
and insurance are done on the web using secure servers to transmit credit card
information.
With the vast resources of information available on the NITEL Internet there exist
powerful indexes cataloguing it for
references. The content of the Internet is dynamic to the extreme, competition for
accuracy and efficiency in
directories is made possible.
4. In The Education Sector
In Nigeria, with the recently completed NITEL Internet Gateway for the country, the
hope has risen very
high for a new lease of life for our educational system, courtesy of the INTERNET. The
NITEL Gateway will
improve the accessibility of the Internet in terms of cost of telecommunications and the
quality of the connections in
terms of speed and noise level. Internet education resources are particularly valuable to
students, teachers and all
those who are interested in education. By interacting with the educational resources on
the Internet, teachers can
benefit from publications on new research findings in any field of human endeavor from the
sciences and the
social science, to family planning and child related topics. I believe that if every
student had a
computer, the Internet would represent the second most important educational resource in
the world, after the human
teachers.
With the recently introduced Internet Gateway in Nigeria, the hope has risen very high
for our teachers, students and
the life of our educational system. Those who have access to the Internet already have
access to well support schools,
well-paid teachers and well-stocked libraries. While those who havent the Internet
access lack the above.
In the past, the case is even worse as
student and teachers have little or on access to these valuable educational resources both
in the public and private
educational sectors.
The Nitel Internet will serve people in the educational sector in Nigeria in ways that
are unprecedented. The vast
educational materials on the Internet in terms of teaching aids, developmental models,
research finding, scholarships,
grants and special loans to needy students can be easily tapped and teachers can use the
materials to improve the
quality of information that is passe d to students.
If lecturers have access to the Internet, they can educate themselves and then pass on the
training to the students
via the usual teaching methods. With increased number of Universities getting linked up
with one another locally
and abroad via Internet, more teachers are getting connected to the network and more
students becoming computer
literate and having access to computers.
The dawn of a new era is round the corner in our slightly battered educational system with
The completion and
introduction of the NITEL Internet Gateway and services.
5. In The Field of Medicine
This area would be feasible with well-managed database systems on which it shall be
based. In the near future,
much of the interaction between practitioners and the healthcare schemes will be on-line.
Coming to the of remote
diagnosis. It has already become a Reality in the field of Radiology. Radiographers at
various locations can attend to
patients, the resulting scans or x-rays are then transmitted digitally to a central
location where the radiologist can
examine the pictures and provide his or her diagnosis.
This of course can then be made available on-line to whoever needs it. The radiologist and
patient could well even
be in different countries.
References
(1) Mark Todes: Some prognostications for the Internet: It's social and Commercial
impact 18 March, 1998,
MBA in a day.
(2) Mrs. Monilola Udoh-Using the Internet for Education, in Computer plus Magazine, May 1998.
BIOGRAPHY
Engr. (Dr) Frank Ibikunle holds a Bachelors Degree of the University of Science and
Technology, Port Harcourt,
River State in Electrical/ Electronic Engineering in 1986. He won the Federal Government
scholarship to study
for his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Telecommunications Engineering at the Beijing
University of post and
Telecommunications, China in 1995 and 1998 respectively. He is a member of the IEEE and
Nigerian Society of
Engineers (NSE). Have participated papers and delivered lectures at various local and
International Seminars,
Workshops and Conferences by the IEEE and NSE. He is presently the HOD of NITELs
INTERNET SERVICES UNIT.