The Thematic Pavilions at TELECOM INTERACTIVE 97 represent a bold new concept in the continuing TELECOM family of international events. This concept bridges the gap between the Forum activities, which concentrate on policy, strategy and technology and the Exhibition activities, which concentrate on marketing, sales and products for the individual participants. The Thematic Pavilion will demonstrate, in an on-line, real-world environment, the best of interactive applications and systems, each bringing together its unique blend of the telecommunications bandwidth and connectivity, equipment and software that will fuel the launch of the new generation of systems and products. The Thematic Pavilions thus will contain the essential gateways among the Forum, Exhibition and future services and applications in TELECOM INTERACTIVE 97 and serve as the focal points to bring together suppliers and clients, policy-makers and strategists, requirements and solutions in a co-operative, international environment. In every way, the Thematic Pavilions represent the greenhouses in which will germinate the concepts and contacts to form the new generation of interactive systems and services.
For Telecom INTERACTIVE the ITU has provided four Thematic Pavilions, dominating the entrance to the Exhibition area and reflecting the central themes for the event. Each contains a variety of innovative demonstrations of applications and systems that can be supported, either now or in the future, by the telecommunications network.
The Pavilions are:
Networked Communities
Education and Healthcare
Networked Services
Intelligent Living
In each, the demonstrations of networked, interactive applications and systems, supported by ITUNET 97, are provided by developers to show the possibilities and to enable discussion of the practical, societal and theoretical aspects in an fruitful environment.
NETWORKED COMMUNITIES AND INTERACTIVE THEATER (2130)
This Pavilion will examine the effect of the network on the community at the local, regional and national levels, in such areas as administration, security, services, tele-working, etc. The participants are cooperating through the Advanced Networked Cities and Regions Association (ANCARA), which is assisted by Silicon Graphics. A feature of this Pavilion is the Interactive Theater, seating some 50 visitors, which is equipped with a large (4 x 3m) video wall sponsored by Philips, for which the European Design Center, working with all the participants in the Thematic Pavilions, has produced an exciting programme of presentations of wide interest.
EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE (2131)
This Pavilion illustrates some of the possible impacts and applications of networks in the societal areas of education and healthcare, through demonstrations of some practical applications. They include:
Gilat Communications Engineering, in association with the Open University of Israel Distance education using interactive networks for teaching, training and life-time learning.NETWORKED SERVICES (2160)Centre national d enseignement à distance (CNED), France Distance education tools for a number of levels in the school system.
World Health Organization, in cooperation with Intel Communications and OCS International (OCSIL, India), showing the possibilities of remote access to patient records, tele-diagnostics and consultations, patient monitoring, etc.
ITU Development Sector (ITU-D) showing applications in healthcare under consideration for use in developing countries, with three partner organizations and its collaborative activities in the field of distance education with UNESCO.
This Pavilion shows possible applications of the network technology to the delivery of new services. Participants include:
The Digital Audio Visual council (DAVIC) demonstrating the interoperability achieved in standards developed for a range of consumer applications in VOD, etc. Six major demonstrations are included supported by the DAVIC members.INTELLIGENT LIVING (2161) This Pavilion includes demonstrations in a number of areas related to consumer information and entertainment applications of the network and their possible impacts on future directions.Hispasat (Spain) will demonstrate through its leadership of the digisat project the potential for Internet and other data delivery as a part of the digital satellite broadcasting standard DVB.
Bay Networks (USA) will demonstrate the possibilities for data and Internet delivery over TV-cable systems.
GCS/AIN (Austria) will demonstrate their satellite-based Internet delivery system.
Participants include:
The European Commission, DG-XIII, will show a sampling of current development work in Europe under its auspices in six areas related to consumer services.The European Broadcasting Union is demonstrating the evolution of broadcasting in the interactive networked era through Internet broadcasting.
STET (Italy) is showing the operation of its public multimedia terminal, MOSAICO and the impact this may have of the future.
Lernout and Hauspie will demonstrate developments in interactive, multi-dimensional sound technology.
The Junior Enterprise of l Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) will participate in this Pavilion with demonstrations of interactive virtual reality, the USJE Intranet, multimedia, videoconferencing among a number of sites, including the Cybercafé and a number of other student projects.
FannieMae Corp (USA) is presenting an overview of developments in integrated networking applications in affordable housing projects in the United States, made possible by the availability of high-capacity networks.
The Development Laboratories of the Department of Communications of South Africa will demonstrate its novel design of a public access terminal for the Internet.
Contact:
Kenneth P. Davies,
Coordinator, Thematic Pavilions
TELECOM INTERACTIVE'97
Tel: +41 22 730 5297
Fax: +41 22 730 6444
e-mail: ken.davies@itu.int