I-Bhd: Jerde input in ICT hub set to draw attention from afar

I-BHD has engaged world renowned architect Jon A. Jerde of the Jerde Partnership to plan and design its 72-acre freehold development site in Section 7, Shah Alam, into a state-of-the-art information and communications technology (ICT) urban centre.

In a strategic alliance with I-Bhd's majority shareholder, Sumurwang Group, I-Bhd will assume the role of ICT and property developer for Sumurwang's land located along the Federal Highway Route II fronting the Sungai Rasau toll plaza.

As the ICT developer for the whole development, I-Bhd will create a series of intelligent township software systems. Being the property developer, it will be able to generate revenue through sale of properties and rental income, and the provision of township and property management services.

The project will have corporate, commercial and retail elements, hotel and serviced apartments, a convention complex, an intelligent school and a technology hub.

It is expected to kick off early next year and generate gross development value of more than RM1bil when completed in about 10 years.

Intel boosts WiMAX in South-East-Asia

PETALING JAYA: Intel Corp has launched an Asian Broadband Campaign aimed at accelerating wireless broadband deployment in South-east Asian countries.

The company said it is providing broadband wireless expertise, silicon and technical services for governments, telecommunications regulators, education, health and agriculture public sector agencies, and carriers - including Telekom Malaysia - to help them prepare for and conduct WiMAX trials.

The company is bringing its best expertise from preparations and trials of WiMAX deployment conducted in North America and Europe, to implement trials in Malaysia, Thailand and The Philippines by the end of 2005. Trials in Indonesia and Vietnam are expected to take place in 2006.

WiMAX trials are currently underway in Malaysia's government administrative hub, Putrajaya.

A showcase was recently held in Kepala Batas, Penang, where communities of medical practitioners, students and teachers at different remote locations test the relevance of WiMAX in the health and education sectors, including their everyday lives.

The Apprentice Spearheads Internet Innovation

NEW YORK -- The New York-based NBC show 'The Apprentice' has become an innovator in combining in-show placement of products with Internet calls to action.

With more and more consumers skipping commercials because of TiVo and other digital video recorders, reality-television programs have provided marketers with a critical new-generation of product placement.

Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, analyzed traffic to the brand Web sites of sponsors of 'The Apprentice' for the current season.

It found after the Feb. 10 episode, featuring Dove Body Wash, the market share of Internet visits to Dove.com increased 1,512 percent for the week ended Feb. 12, 2005 versus the prior week.

'As reality TV product placement increases, advertisers should leverage the interactivity of the Web by employing this new type of cross-media advertising and promotion,' said Bill Tancer, vice president of research at Hitwise.

MSC-Status moves outside the corridor

KEPALA BATAS: The Government is prepared to consider applications for MSC-status from information and communications technology (ICT) companies residing outside the Multimedia Super Corridor.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said the Government does not want the MSC to be forever confined to just one area.

Jamaludin said that instead of a whole city being conferred “cybercity” status, companies which believe they can meet the MSC’s stringent qualification criteria but which currently reside outside the designated areas, can apply for MSC- status.

He said some Malaysian cities are large and it would take time for them to meet all the qualification criteria, which include having redundant power supply systems and a broadband infrastructure. “For example, certain buildings in a large city such as Johor Bahru could be conferred a ‘cybercentre’ status while waiting for the whole city to be made a ‘cybercity,’ so that companies that reside in these cybercentres could enjoy MSC benefits in the meantime,” he said.