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Subject:      CND-China, June 5, 1999 (CN99-05)
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+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+   C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Internet Technologies in China

                           (CND-CN, No. CN99-005)

                              June 5, 1999

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                                ISSN 1024-915X

Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. News Brief (7 Items) ................................................ 198
2. China Rises to 8th Place for .com and .net Registrations ............. 46

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1. News Brief (7 Items) ................................................ 198
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 (1) HP Wins Contract for Public Key Infrastructure in Hong Kong
 (2) HK Scientist Develops Multilingual Speech Based Browser
 (3) E-Commerce Network for China's Auto Industry
 (4) City of Shanghai Launches Web Site
 (5) Firms Eager to Acquire Stakes in Cable TV Networks
 (6) Chinese "Network" Stocks Shoot Up
 (7) China's IT Market to be Worth US$15 Billion Next Year
                          ____   ____   ____

(1) HP Wins Contract for Public Key Infrastructure in Hong Kong

[CND, 05/27/99] Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been awarded by Hong Kong Post a
HK$17.2 million contract for the the design, development and
implementation of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), as part of the public
Certification Authority (CA) system, Reuters reported.

Out of the total 13 tenders from 40 companies worldwide, HP and its US
partner GTE CyberTrust won the contract.

Under the contract, HP will set up the PKI for a trial run scheduled for
August, with full solution expected to be delivered by the end of the
year.

The CA is the cornerstone of the Hong Kong government's Electronic
Services Delivery (ESD) project, which will provide secure electronic
commerce, addresing issues of authenticity, integrity, confidentiality,
and non-repudiation of transactions.  (Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)

A public CA allows participants to prove the identities of their
transaction partners with digital certificates issued by a trusted third
party.

According to Yuk Wai-fung, director of the Hong Kong Post's electronic
services division, the E-Cert operates with a pair of encryption keys, one
public and one private each of which is 1024 bits long, which is a
high-trust certificate by any international standards and is roughly
equivalent to a Class 2 to Class 3 security level if you compare it with
VeriSign.

Yuk estimated the total investment on the establishment of the CA to be
HK$60 million.  (Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)
                          ____   ____   ____

(2) HK Scientist Develops Multilingual Speech Based Browser

[CND, 06/01/99] A research group at Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology (HKUST) is developing a multilingual voice-activated Web
browsing system that is compatible with the newer versions of Internet
Explorer and Netscape, Reuters reported.

According to Dr. Pascale Fung of the research group, the application will
be commercially introduced in several months.

Fung is the project leader of HKUST's Speech-Bases Information Access
Research Group (SBIR) and leads the development of the Speech Assisted
onLine Search Agent (SALSA), a multilingual speech-based web access
system.

Fung thinks that the uniqueness of SALSA is that "it is the only speech
based browser in the world which is multilingual and can recognize mixed
languages on the same page," and that it is the only speech recognizer
that can handle multiple accents.

Currently, SALSA can understand multiple accents in English, Cantonese,
and Mandarin.

As opposed to a dictation system, SALSA is an open system that needs to be
pretty robust to go to sites that are "hostile environments", said Fung.

"Hostile environments" are sites with non-standard web pages, Fung
explained.  For example some sites may have a Chinese text editor but Web
site language is in English.

"Our recognition rate is about 80 percent which is state of the art," said
Fung.

The voice activated system is of particularly usefulness to Chinese
Internet users because Chinese keyboard is still more complicated than
English, said Fung.

Currently, the Hong Kong Government, Hongkong Telecom, and the Jockey Club
are the major financial backers of the project.  (Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)
                          ____   ____   ____

(3) E-Commerce Network for China's Auto Industry

[CND, 06/02/99] An e-commerce network has been setup for China's
automobile industry, AFP reported quoting Xinhua and China Daily.

With the service from the Shanghai-based China Automotive Rainbow Net
(CARN), China's automobile manufacturers, suppliers and dealers will have
access to EDI services and auction capabilities.

Major auto manufacturers, such as First Automobile Works, Dongfeng Motor
Group and Shanghai Automotive (Group) Corp. hope to to use the e-commerce
to slash purchase and marketing costs and to better organize inventories.

Clearing services for Web-based transactions will be provided by China
Merchants and China Construction Banks.  (Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)
                          ____   ____   ____

(4) City of Shanghai Launches Web Site

[CND, 06/02/99] The city of Shanghai has launched a Web site called "China
Shanghai," featuring information on the local culture, economy and
tourism, Xinhua reported.

By acceesing the site (http://www.Shanghai.gov.cn), Internet users will be
able to obtain a wide variety of information on the city.

The Web site has 12 information areas.  The Shanghai Municipal People's
Government and related government departments will be the main information
providers for the Web site.

Also, in response to the '99 Fortune Global Forum, China Shanghai has set
up a special edition devoted to the forum featuring information about
meetings, the conference site at the International Convention Center, as
well as application procedures and the investment climate in Shanghai.
(Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)
                          ____   ____   ____

(5) Firms Eager to Acquire Stakes in Cable TV Networks

[CND, 06/02/99] Telecommunication companies in China are rushing to
acquire stakes in provincial cable television or information-linked
networks, Xinhua reported.

Beijing is expected to develop a broadband nationwide information network
based on cable TV, which will generate a considerable amount of
opportunities for cable and information port operators.

Seven listed companies have announced plans to hook up with some of the
country's estimated 756 provincial cable operators, which now reach 80
million families, more than the number of telephone lines.

The seven companies are Shanghai Oriental Pearl, Zhejiang Xinlian, Qingdao
Dongfang, Zhejiang Zhongda, Hunan TV and Radio Industry, Chengdu Taikang
and Changsha Zhongyi Group.

Xinlian recently concluded two separate deals to buy 49 per cent stakes in
companies operating cable TV networks in Changchun and Hubei.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl will shell out 116 million yuan for a 29 per cent
stake in the city's cable operator.

The other five companies have also finalised talks to acquire various
stakes in cable TV networks operators in their home bases.

About another 14 listed companies manufacturing hardware for cable or
Internet-linked services are getting themselves ready to embrace the
explosion in demand.

China introduced cable TV about 10 years ago to improve the quality of
terrestrial video signals, with provincial and city government in charge
of their own networks.  (Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)
                          ____   ____   ____

(6) Chinese "Network" Stocks Shoot Up

[CND, 06/02/99] Chinese investors are keeping a close look at the
country's so-called "network-concept" stocks, Reuters reported.

The domestic currency "A" shares in a few China-listed firms, whose
businesses are related to telecommunications service, cable television or
Internet have soared by 50 to 100 percent in the last month, while the
entire "A" share market rose less than 20 percent during the period.

"The buying frenzy is sparked by the incredible gains in some U.S. shares
such as Yahoo," said an analyst at the China Guotai Securities.

China has about two million registered Internet users and some analysts
forecast the number will grow to 10 million over the next year.

At the mobile phone end, there were 17 million users last year and 15
million more were expected to sign up this year.

"Hold your network shares firmly. Don't let them slip through your hands,"
proclaimed a headline in the latest edition of China's Securities Market
Weekly magazine.
                          ____   ____   ____

(7) China's IT Market to be Worth US$15 Billion Next Year

[CND, 06/03/99] With an expected market value of US$15 billion next year,
China will surpass Australia to become the largest IT market in
Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, an IDG report predicted.

The same report also predicts that China will increase its share of the
Asia-Pacific IT market (excluding Japan) from the current 18 percent to
about 30 percent by 2003.

China's total IT market was US$9.24 billion last year, putting China ahead
of South Korea but behind Australia.  (Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)

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2. China Rises to 8th Place for .com and .net Registrations ............. 46
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[CND, 05/27/99] Replacing the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Japan, China,
Australia and India have edged into the top 10 foreign countries in domain
name registrations for .com, .net and .org, Computerworld reported quoting
a report from Network Solutions Inc. (NSI).

According to a statement from NSI officials, China's and India's growth
are partly due to declining online costs in those countries.

The U.S. still leads in domain name registrations, accounting for about
73% of all registrations for the three names.

According to NSI figures, the number of new international registrations
totaled 230,000 in the first quarter of 1999, up from 168,000 in the same
period last year.

"Growth in international registrations proves once again that 'dot com' is
one of the few phrases understood in every language on earth," Doug
Wolford, NSI senior vice president, was quoted as saying.

Following the U.S., which had 4.2 million registrations as of the end of
March, the top 15 countries (areas) in .com, .net and .org registrations
are as follows:

 1. Canada
 2. United Kingdom
 3. France
 4. Germany
 5. Sweden
 6. Spain
 7. Italy
 8. China (Mainland)
 9. Australia
10. India
11. The Netherlands
12. Korea
13. Hong Kong
14. Japan
15. Turkey

NSI didn't list the total registrations per country.
(Ray ZHANG, Charles MOK)

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