November 7, 2000

Contact: Tinabeth Burton, tburton@itaa.org, +1-703-284-5305

March 6, 2000, Tokyo -- A group of leading Internet executives meeting in Tokyo today and tomorrow are issuing statements on how to ensure the continued rapid growth of the Internet in Asia and elsewhere. Citing the rapid convergence of technologies and markets, the industry leaders pledged to work with world governments to advance policies that recognize and promote the global Internet economy. One statement focuses on the area of voluntary wireless Internet standards, while the other, a new white paper on caching, explains the importance of this technology to Internet operations and how legislative or regulatory changes may unwittingly cause problems in this technical area.

The executives, members of the Global Internet Project (GIP), are in Tokyo for a workshop on wireless and satellite Internet services in Asia. This high-level, by-invitation-only workshop, being held tomorrow at the Tokyo International Forum, is entitled "Internet Everywhere: Wireless and Satellite Internet Services in Japan and Asia." The workshop is co-organized by the GIP and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council/Telecommunications Information Industry Forum (PECC/TIIF). Additional funding for the workshop is being provided by Fujitsu Limited, the Research Institute for Internet Strategies, Inc., and Japan Telecom.

Leaders from the Internet industry, including Shuichi Shindo of NTT Mobile Communications Network, Michio Naruto of Fujitsu Limited, Vint Cerf of MCIWorldCom, and Bob Collet of Teleglobe will be participating in the workshop. New wireless technologies such as iMode, 3G wireless and new satellite data systems will be discussed. Workshop participants will discuss what wireless technology can do today, what will be possible tomorrow, and what technical problems stand in the way. In addition, the GIP will release a statement on wireless Internet standards that stresses the need for "voluntary, global, open standards and protocols for wireless data and Internet technologies."

"The telecommunications industry is going through a major transformation in which all communication is becoming both digitized and packetized. At the forefront of this transformation is the rapid evolution of all forms of wireless access to the Internet, which is the focus of the GIP workshop tomorrow," said Vint Cerf, Senior Vice President of MCI WorldCom and a member of the GIP. "It is especially appropriate to hold this workshop in Japan, where we are seeing a tsunami of new wireless Internet services."

Prior to the workshop, the GIP members met to consider discuss several on-going projects and to meet with senior Japanese and U.S. government officials and leaders of the Internet industry in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. The GIP members also approved a briefing paper on caching, a technology that can help relieve congestion on the network, enable new, exciting Internet applications, and enhance the experience of Internet users. Because of the increasingly important role of caching in the Internet, the GIP members felt it would be useful to release a primer on how caching works and how policy-makers need to be sure not to enact legislation or impose regulations that would hinder the effective use of caching throughout the network. For example, the GIP and other industry groups have been working with the European Commission to ensure that new EU regulations on copyright protection in cyberspace do not block the effective use of caching technologies.

At their business meeting today, the GIP members also welcomed two new members, Matthew Miau, the CEO of MITAC, a leading information technology company in Taiwan, and Tom Evslin, the CEO of ITXC. Mr. Miau has played a key role in the development of the Internet in Taiwan. Mr. Evslin is founder of ITXC, a pioneering Internet telephony company, and a former GIP member, when he oversaw AT&T Internet Services.

Much of the agenda of the GIP members' meeting was devoted to discussing how best to help government policy-makers take actions that will foster the growth of the Internet. In particular, the group focused on the convergence of different media and the evolution of broadband Internet services that will provide interactive video, as well as images, voice, and text.

"Traditional regulatory policies, based on industry boundaries, such as publishing, telephony, broadcasting, may not apply in the Internet as telecommunications, media, and IT companies use the flexibility of digital technologies to offer new Internet services," said GIP member Michio Naruto, the Vice Chairman of Fujitsu. "Whether there will be regulatory collision or accommodation for the Internet, the GIP has identified the impact of convergence as a key issue to explore this year."

The GIP members are working with leading academics, such as Len Waverman from the London School of Business on policy papers that explore how many existing broadcast, cable television and telephone regulations are being made obsolete by the Internet. The GIP members also discussed growing concerns about Internet security, on-line privacy, and how their companies can work better together to protect the data of Internet users.

"We need new models--new business models and new economic models--for this new medium," said John Patrick, the Chairman of the Global Internet Project and IBM's Vice President for Internet Technology. "Today's meeting builds on the important work we began on 'Next Generation Internet policy' at our last meeting in Brussels last September. We believe that Internet companies, working with each other and with governments, on a global basis, can and must find creative, new ways to anticipate and address Internet policy challenges."

The Global Internet Project (GIP) is an international group of senior executives committed to fostering the continued rapid growth of the Internet worldwide. Members come from leading Internet-centric companies representing the telecommunications, software, financial services, and content sectors. GIP participants are well-known leaders in the Internet Revolution and represent companies based in Asia, Europe, and North America. Dr. James Clark, former chairman of Netscape Communications Corporation, founded the group. John Patrick, Vice President for Internet Technology at IBM, is the current chairman of the GIP. For more information on the group, visit the GIP Web site at http://www.witsa.org/gip.