2000 The Year of E-Everything and E-Commerce1

Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman and Dr. Kanokwan Wongwatanasin

Dean of Internet and E-Commerce President of Internet KSC Assumption University of Thailand Bangkok, Thailand

charm@ksc.net kanokwan@thailand.net

1. Introduction

We are surrounded by reminders of thegrowth in the capabilities of information andcommunication technologies, especially theInternet. The use of the Internet as aninterface between the public administrationand citizens as well as businesses comprisesa broad and growing range of applicationsbut the most important is the Internet andWorld Wide Web. The Internet will changethe way you live. The Internet will changethe way you learn. The Internet will changethe way you work. The Internet will changethe way you play. The Internet will changeeverything. Everything will converge on theInternet. All of those activities are occurringwith the help of the Internet ServiceProviders (ISPs) and related organizationsproviding access to the Internet and relatedservices such as electronic commerce. ByJanuary 2000, about 69.59 million Internethosts are connected in about 250 countriesand territories. A host may have 1-100terminals. A terminal may serve 1-20persons. Assuming that a host serves 10persons, the number of people on the Internetmay be said to be about 347 - 695 million inthe year 2000 and expected to be over one

billion in a few years. The year 2000may also be said to be the year of“e-everything” from “a through z”, such ase-auction, e-banking, e-booking, e-commerce, e-dating, e-education, e-entertainment, e-fax, e-government, e-housing, e-knowledge, e-learning, e-loan, e-gmail, e-music, e-phone, e-reservation, e-tour, e-trading, e-travel, etc., up to e-zoo.This paper presents a brief historycomputeri-zation and Internet in Thailand,Internet for Education (E-education), E-Government, and E-Commerce.

2. Computerization and Internet inThailand.

As shown in Figure 1, the number ofInternet hosts in over 250 countries as ofJanuary 2000 is 69.59 millions. If thereare 5 - 10 users per host, the number ofInternet users would be 347 - 695 millions.An Internet host may have only one user,but another may have several hundredusers.

1 Invited keynote presented to the Seminar Program Assumption Graduated School at Dusit Resort Pattaya,February 5-6, 2000

The number of Internet users varywidely from one source to another source.While the estimate according to thenumber of hosts above is 347- 696millions for the year 2000, the estimatefrom Jupiter Communication is only about228 millions for the year 2002. JupiterCommunication said that 62% of allInternet users are in the United State, thatthere is one new user every 1.67 seconds,and that by the year 2002, the USA marketwill hit 85 million users. JupiterCommunication indicated that in the year2000, non-US users are the majority ofInternet subscribers, and that by the year2002, the Internet users for the wholeworld will reach 228 millions users with85 million in the United States and 140million outside the United States.

In July 1960, His Majesty the Kingprovided the first and most importantinspiration for modern computerization ofThailand by visiting the IBM computer plantin San Jose, California, USA, as shown inFigure 2. In 1961, the SEATO GraduateSchool of Engineering (now AIT or AsianInstitute of Technology), which was a part ofChulalongkorn University, confirmed the

realization of the importance of computertechnology by presenting a scholarship for aPh.D. level studies in computations in theUnited States, to the M.S. graduate of thefirst graduating class with the highest grade.The scholarship was given to SrisakdiCharmonman who went to Georgia Instituteof Technology in the United States in 1962.In June 1964, after only two and a half years,he earned his Ph.D. in Computations with thewritten purpose of preparing the graduate toplay a key role in computerization ofThailand.

Figure 2. HM the King VisitedIBM Plant in 1960

Figure 1. Internet Hosts Count in World 1992 - 2000

However, in order to gain more practical experience, Dr.Srisakdi stayed on to become Director of Graduate Studies in Computer Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and later Full Professor of Computing Sciences at the State University of New York before returning to Thailand to become Professor of Applied Statistics, Head of Computer Department and President of the Staff Association at the National Inst i tute of Development Administration (NIDA). Later, Dr.Srisakdi became the first engineering professor in Thailand to be promoted to the C-11 level (the highest level in government service) or Distinguished Professor of Computer Engineering at King

Mongkut’s Institute of Technology.

His Majesty the King and Her RoyalHighness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhornhave always shown their interest andleadership in the computerization ofThailand. An example is shown in Figure 3where HM the King and HRH the Princessvisited the computer exhibition at KingMongkut’s Institute of TechnologyLadkrabang. Another example is shown inFigure 4 when HRH Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn presided over the openingceremony of the seminar on Computer inRatanakosin Era.

Figure 4. HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Presided over the

Opening Ceremony of the Seminar on Computer in Ratanakosin Era.

Figure 3. HM the King HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at KMITL Computer Exhibition.

Another example is shown in Figure 4 when HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the opening ceremony of the seminar on Computer in Ratanakosin Era.

In 1964, the first computer, IBM 1620, was installed in Thailand at Chulalongkorn University and the second, IBM 1401, which was ordered before the one at Chulalongkorn, was installed at the National Statistics Office.

Minicomputers were introduced inThailand in 1972 and microcomputers in

1978. One of the first microcomputersbrought into Thailand, Radio Shack TRS 80,was hand carried by Dr.Srisakdi and used tostart the first Bachelor’s degree programmajoring in Business Computer atAssumption University. The term “BusinessComputer” as a formal education major hadnot been used in any other countries exceptThailand where it has since been adopted atmost universities in the country. By the year2000, the number of computers in Thailandis over 2 million and the approximatenumbers from 1964 to 2000 are shown inTable 1.

Table 1. Approximate Numbers of Computers in Thailand

Year Approximate Numbers of Computers1964 21975 701985 23,0001995 1,000,0001996 1,300,0001997 1,600,0001998 1,800,0001999 2,000,0002000 2,300,000

In 1981, an international computerpublication called “Computer Asia”published in Hong Kong set up aninternational committee to select “AsianComputer Man of the Year.” As a proof that

Thailand is not behind any other countries inthe computer field, a Thai was voted “AsianComputer Man of the Year 1981” as shownin Figure 5 which is the front cover of themagazine.

Figure 5. Asian Computer Figure 6. Highest Royal Decoration for Man of the Year 1981. Computer Professional in Thailand.

Another proof that the Thai governmentrealized the importance of the computer fieldis on human resource. Earlier, the highestposition a computer professional could reachin civil service was Position ClassificationLevel 8 such as Director of the NationalComputer Center. Therefore, after acomputer professional had reached C-8 incivil service, he had to change his field if hewished to be promoted higher. Later, theThai government allowed a computerprofessional to be promoted, if he isqualified, to the highest level of C-11 whichis equal to the Permanent Secretary of aMinistry. The first computer professional tobe promoted to C-11 was in 1988 whenDr.Srisakdi became Distinguished Professorin the field of Computer Engineering at KingMongkut’s Institute of TechnologyLadkrabang and later awarded the highestroyal decoration as shown in Figure 6.

2.1 The Birth of the Internet.

Many papers have been publishedand/or presented concerning Internet andrelated topics in Thailand [1-45].

In 1969, the US Department of Defense(DOD) Advanced Research Project Agency(ARPA) established ARPANET as anexperimental network to support armedforces research. In war, it has to be assumedthat any part of the network could bedestroyed at any moment and the remainingportion must still work. Therefore, to send amessage on the network, a computer puts themessage in an envelope which is called anInternet Protocol (IP) packet and put thereceiving address on the envelop. Theresponsibilities of sending the packet is notplaced on the network (which is assumed tobe unreliable) but on the sending andreceiving computers.

The Internet Protocol software have

been made available on all kinds and brandsof computers. Thus, a user can buywhichever computer he likes and connect itto the Internet.

Then came UNIX operating system withInternet Protocol and the popularity of localarea network (LAN). So, the whole LAN canhave connectivity with ARPANET, i.e. eachcomputer on the LAN can have access toARPANET.

In the late 1990’s, NSF (the US NationalScience Foundation) established fivesupercomputer centers. Dr.Srisakdi visitedone at the University of Illinois and foundthat the cost was over 70 million US$. Thatkind of cost is expensive even in the USstandards. As supercomputers should beshared, a researcher closer to anysupercomputer should have his terminalconnected to that computer. The idealsolution at that time was to use ARPANETfor the connection but it did not workbecause of bureaucracy. So, NSF decided tobuild its own network based on ARPANET’sIP technology. The network was calledNSFNET. It connected the fivesupercomputer centers by 56 kbps telephonelines and any user can use telephone toconnect to the nearest center to access thenetwork. In 1987, NSFNET becameoverloaded and the 56 kpbs lines had to bereplaced by lines which were faster by afactor of about twenty.

With the increase of popularity of theInternet, other networks like Bitnet, DECnet,Fidonet, etc. developed methods ofconnecting to the Internet. At first, theconnection was for transferring electronicmail only but later some of them havedeveloped full service translator.

The International StandardsOrganization (ISO) has designed OSI (OpenSystems Interconnect) protocol which is

allowed in many of the Internet’s componentnetworks. Consequently, users of OSI alsohave connectivity to the Internet.

A citizen of Thailand got to use theInternet when it first started in the UnitedState in 1969. At that time, the USDepartment of Defense (DOD) AdvancedResearch Project Agency (ARPA)established ARPANET as an experimentalnetwork to support research. From 1968 to1973, Dr.Srisakdi was Director of GraduateStudies in Computer Science at theUniversity of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri,USA and also Directors of a few researchprojects supported by the US NationalScience Foundation. Therefore, he becamethe first Thai to use the Internet. Figure 7shows a group of Computer ScienceDepartment Heads from universities in theUSA joining a teach-the-teacher conferenceorganized by Dr.Srisakdi in his capacity asthe NSF-funded project director. All NSF-funded research project directors wereencouraged to use the Internet which wasalso funded by NSF after its birth fromDOD.

2.2 Internet for Education in Thailand

Similar to the case of the US, the earlystage of the Internet in Thailand was madeavailable only for education and research.

In 1987, the Asian Institute ofTechnology (AIT) in Thailand entered intoan agreement with the Department ofComputer Science at the University ofMelbourne in Australia to operate Internetemail service on a regular basis. TheAustralian node would call AIT three times aday to send and collect emails. Dr.Srisakdiwas the President of AIT AlumniAssociation and got to use the Internet inThailand also when it was started.

In 1987, AIT charged 200 baht (aboutUS $8 at that time) per month for upto15,000 characters transferred (countingcharacters both in and out combined) plusone baht for every additional 50 characters.One of the problems was the inability tocontrol any incoming mail, especially thelengthy Calls for Papers, list of references,etc. which were not asked for, and had to be

Figure 7. Some of the Early Educators Who Used the Internet in the US.

paid for because they had automaticallyentered the mailbox. This problem was latersolved when the rate was changed to a fixamount per month rather than varying withthe number of characters. Another problemwas that during the connection to Australia,usually three times a day at 02:30, 15:30 and19:30, users were requested not to call theonly dial-in number with the only modemavailable at that time.

In 1988, Prince of Songkhla Universityin the southern part of Thailand establishedan Internet node connected to MelbourneUniversity a few times a day. Two dial-intelephone numbers were made availablefrom 09:00 in the morning till 19:00 in theevening.

In 1991, Digital Equipment Corporation(DEC Thailand) acquired an Internet addressfor internal and research-related usage. Nodial-in number was made available and usershad to use the machine at the company. Asof the year 1999, DEC has been purchasedby Compaq and is not in existent any more.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1991when Chulalongkorn University (Chula)became the first international Internetgateway in Thailand. After sufficient testing,full operation was started in July 1992 with a9600 baud (bits per second or bps) leasedline to Virginia, U.S.A. and later upgraded to64 Kbps line. In 1992, the fees for the leasedline with 25% educational discount from theCommunications Authority of Thailand(CAT) were about 5.2 million baht per year.Initially, only one telephone line was madeavailable but by 1993, twenty lines wereaccessible. The all day, all night and fullInternet service at Chula were obviouslymuch better than the email-only at AIT.Instead of waiting a day or so for themessage to be routed through Australia, onecould communicate as many times a day asnecessary and desirable. One could use the

“talk” command to enter into interactivecommunication. When calls for papers werereceived from the network, one could ask forand obtain clarification right way. So, as anassociated faculty at Chula, Dr.Srisakdi gotanother email address there.

In January 1992, the NationalElectronics and Computer TechnologyCenter (NECTEC) established the NECTECe-mail Working Group (NWG). In February1992, NWG established a network namedThaiSarn (Thai Social/scientific, Academicand Research Network) with a machinedonated by IBM, and two dial-in telephonelines available 24 hours a day for NWGconnections. UUCP (UNIX-UNIX Copy)was made hourly with ThammasatUniversity and Prince of SongkhlaUniversity, and international connection withAustralia through AIT three times a day. Theservice was later upgraded to included sixdial-in telephone lines and 24 hours per dayinternational connection through Chula.Then in September 1993, NECTEC becamethe second international Internet gatewayfrom Thailand and it was also connected toVirginia, U.S.A. (the same place Chulaconnected to) by a 64 Kbps leased line.Dr.Srisakdi also got an e-mail address fromNECTEC.

In January 1992, Thammasat University(TU) Information Processing Institute forEducation and Development (IPIED) wasalso registered as an Internet node. One dial-in telephone number was made available 24hours a day.

The Faculty of Engineering at KingMongkut’s Institute of TechnologyLadkarbang started experimenting withInternet in mid 1992. connected toThammasat. At the beginning, only about 40users were approved. Later the ComputerResearch and Service Center which servedall the faculties established a central node for

Ladkrabang. By October 1993, about 500Internet addresses had been given.

Digital Equipment joined ThaiSarn inJanuary 1992 but was later disconnectedbecause commercial organization was notallowed to use educational Internet inThailand. Prince of Songkla University andAIT joined ThaiSarn in 1992 but AIT laterinstalled a direct leased line to Chula.

After several years of usage of Internetin Thailand through AIT and Chula,Dr.Srisakdi was convinced that the systemshould be made available to the wholeuniversity. Therefore, in August 1993, heproposed to the Assumption UniversityBoard of Trustees and got approval toimplement the Internet project by setting upan Internet network called AuNet. Thepurposes of AuNet include the followings :

• To educate the students, faculty and staffmember on the concepts of local andinternational networking.

• To prepare the students to enter intoinformation society where networkingwill be the norm rather than the exception.

• To provide full Internet access to allstudents, faculty and staff members for theirpersonal and educational usage.

On the financial side, the Board ofTrustees of Assumption University approvedthe proposal to let the students pay for theproject. The Board decreed that Internetknowledge and experience become arequirement for graduation in any and alleducational programs at AU. Eachundergraduate student was charged 100 bahtper month and graduate student 200 baht permonth. The rate for undergraduate wasincreased to 200 baht per month later. All theincome is earmarked for the developmentand maintenance of the project.

2.3 Commercial Internet in Thailand

From 1987 to 1994, Internet wasavailable in Thailand only for educationaland research purposes. In June 1994, Rev.Bro. Dr. Prathip Martin Komolmas,President of Assumption University signedan agreement with Dr. Srisakdi who is theBoard Chairman and Kanokwan who is thePresident of Internet KSC for AssumptionUniversity to serve as the “Incubator” forKSC Group.

As shown in Figure 8, on January 19,1995, Her Royal Highness Princess MahaChakri Sirindhorn graciously presided overthe opening ceremony of the InternationalInternet Gateway at Assumption Universitypaid for by KSC, also 64 Kbps linked toUUNET in Virginia, USA. This internationalInternet gateway may be considered the thirdinternational Internet gateway from Thailandor the first private-sector internationalInternet gateway from Thailand. The twoearlier gateways were in the governmentsector.

It may be said that breakthrough forcommercial Internet in Thailand occurred atthe end of 1994 when the CommunicationsAuthority of Thailand (CAT) Board ofDirectors approved the proposals for CAT tohave joint venture agreements with twoorganizations, namely, NECTEC andInternet Knowledge Service Center Co., Ltd.(KSC), to offer commercial Internet inThailand for the first time. For flexibility inoperation, it was agreed that each jointventure be made a private company in orderto avoid the red tape and bureaucracyassociated with government agencies.However, the joint venture with NECTECwas supposed to become a private companynamed Internet Thailand Co., Ltd. in 1995but the Ministry of Commerce refusedregistration on the ground that governmentagencies cannot register a private company

without special approval from the Cabinet ofThailand. NECTEC requested the specialCabinet approval but the Cabinet at that timedid not give approval. So, NECTEC wasallowed to operate commercial Internet on atrial basis until another Cabinet gaveapproval for it to register as a privatecompany on May 13, 1997, becoming the16th private company in Thailand to offercommercial Internet as shown in Table 2.

Almost all ISPs waited until a month orso prior to the time that all the paperworkwere completely settled to start the service.KSC and Internet Thailand were exception.Internet Thailand ran into unexpecteddifficulty at the Ministry of Commerce andcould not be registered until May 13, 1997.

Right after the CommunicationsAuthority of Thailand (CAT) gave approvalfor CAT to enter into joint venture withInternet KSC on October 31, 1994, KSCstarted soft launching of the service. Manyindividuals not full-time members ofeducational institutions were given e-mailaddresses at <ksc.au.ac.th> in 1994 using the

international link at ChulalongkornUniversity (Chula). A complaint was lodgedwith CAT that KSC should not startproviding commercial Internet service. CATasked Chula to investigate by seekinginformation from KSC. Chula threatened todisconnect KSC from the Internet. So, KSCrequested negotiations with Chula and CAT.KSC argued that CAT Board of Directorshad approved the joint venture with KSC inOctober 1994. The Ministry of Commerceapproved the registration of KSCCommercial Internet Co., Ltd. on December21, 1994, to become the joint venturecompany with CAT. In KSC point of view,the remaining paperwork was just formality.To be successful, business should act veryfast. While negotiations were going on, KSCcontinued to provide the commercial Internetservice. KSC also argued that withAssumption University as the incubator,KSC must comply by the special lawgoverning the university which states thatone of the four functions of a university is toprovide services to the community and, so,KSC must provide service to the communityby offering Internet services. Thus, in effect,

Figure 8. HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Presided over the Opening of

the First Private-Sector International Internet Gateway.

KSC started the Soft Launch of commercialInternet service in Thailand in 1994 andcontinued undisrupted until the FormalLaunch in May 1995. The conflict betweenChula and KSC was resolved on January 19,1995 when KSC switched from the 64Kbpslink with Chula to its own 64 Kbpsinternational Internet Gateway atAssumption University, the openingceremony of which was graciously presidedover by HRH Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn.

Another evidence to show the order ofestablishment of ISPs in Thailand is theAutonomous Systems (AS) numbers. Thenumber has to be obtained before an ISPcould be independently routed and identifiedby other Internet systems. The number isAS4274 for KSC, AS4618 for InternetThailand, and later numbers for all the otherISPs.

The international Internet Society cameinto existence in January, 1992, by aworldwide cross-section of individuals andorganizations who recognized that theSociety was a critical component necessaryto evolve and globalize the Internet andInternet technologies and applications, and toenhance their availability and use on thewidest possible scale. Assumption Universityof Thailand is the only Founding Memberfrom Southeast Asia. As a founding member,Assumption University sends Dr.SrisakdiCharmonman to be a member of theAdvisory Council and Dr.KanokwanWongwatanasin his alternate.

In June 1996, the Internet Societyapproved the establishment of ThailandChapter of the Internet Society with Dr.Srisakdi Charmonman as the FoundingPresident. Figure 9 shows some of themembers of the Board.

Table 2. ISPs in Thailand Sorted by the Date of Registrationwith the Commerce Ministry

RegistrationApproved

by CommerceMinistry

RegistrationNo.

Name of Company

1. Jun 7, 1994 (2)2414/2537 Internet KSC Co., Ltd.2. July 20, 1994 (1)1816/2537 C.S. Communication Co., Ltd. (CS Internet)3. Dec 21, 1994 (2)5675/2537 KSC Commercial Internet Co., Ltd.4. Jan 19, 1995 (3)0202/2538 Info News Co., Ltd.5. Nov 9, 1995 (1)2867/2538 Chomanan WorldNet Co., Ltd. (CMN)6. Dec 8, 1995 (3)2716/2538 A-Net Co., Ltd. (Anew)7. Jan 29, 1996 (3)243/2539 Info Access Co., Ltd. (Infonews)8. Feb 19, 1996 459/2539 Loxley Information Services Co., Ltd. (LoxInfo)9. March 7, 1996 (2)1141/2539 Asia Infonet Co., Ltd. (AsiaNet by CP and TA)10. Mar 12, 1996 (1)661/2539 I Net (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Asia Access)11. Apr 1, 1996 ºÍ¨.»·.2458 Samart Infonet Co., Ltd. (Samart Cybernet)12. Apr 10, 1996 (1)939/2539 World Net & Services Co., Ltd. (World Net)13. May 13, 1996 (2)2188/2539 Data Line Thai Co., Ltd. (Line Thai)14. Sep 2, 1996 1904/2539 Idea Net Co., Ltd. (Idea Net)15. Sep 13, 1996 (2)3748/2539 Siam Global Access Co., Ltd.16. May 13, 1997 (1)430/2540 Internet Thailand Co., Ltd. (Internet Thailand)

Figure 9. Executive Board of Thailand Chapter of the Internet Society

In June 1999, Dr.Srisakdi became thefirst Thai to be elected one of the 15members of the Board of Trustees of theinternational Internet Society for a three-year term.

The largest cost for all ISPs in Thailandis for the bandwidth to the USA, accountingfor 35-50% of the operating costs. WhenChula started the first international gatewayin July 1992, the bandwidth was only 9,600bits per second and later upgraded to 64Kbps. In September 1993, the secondinternational Internet gateway wasestablished at NECTEC and it was also

64 Kbps. In January 1995, the thirdinternational Internet gateway in Thailand orthe first private-sector gateway wasestablished at Assumption University andKSC and it was also 64 Kbps. Eachinternational link for ISPs has to be leased intwo parts, i.e. half circuit from Bangkok tothe US leased from CAT, and half circuitfrom the US to Thailand leased from aninternational carrier such as AT&T, GlobalOne, KDD, MCI, TeleGlobe, etc.

The combined bandwidth from all ISPsin Thailand to the US from 1992 to 1999 areshown in Table 3.

Table 3. Combined International Bandwidth to the US in Mbps

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999/10

0.064 0.13 2.77 4.77 10.25 32.5 37 109.875

The details of the bandwidth to the USAin October 1999 for each of the 15 ISPs plusUNINET (4 Mbps) which is the ISP foreducation operated by the Ministry ofUniversity Affairs are shown in Table 4.

All Thai ISPs have indicated that theywill be increasing their bandwidth to theUSA. For example, KSC announced that itsbandwidth to the USA will be increased to87-90 Mbps in the year 2000, and probably180 Mbps by 2001.

Table 4. Thai ISP Connectivity to the US Sorted by Bandwidth, October 99No. Company Name Bandwidth to USA

1 Internet KSC Co., Ltd. (KSC) 46 Mbps2 Internet Thailand Co., Ltd. (Inet) 16 Mbps3 Loxley Information Services Co., Ltd. (LoxInfo) 7.5 Mbps4 A-Net Co., Ltd. (A-Net) 6 Mbps5 C.S. Communication Co., Ltd. (CS) 6 Mbps6 Samart Infonet Co., Ltd. (Samart Cybernet) 4.5 Mbps7 Asia Infonet Co., Ltd. (AsiaNet by CP and TA) 4.5 Mbps8 World Net & Services Co., Ltd. (Wnet) 4.5 Mpbs9 Siam Global Access Co., Ltd. (SGA) 2.25 Mbps10 Info Access Co., Ltd. (Info News) 1 Mbps11 Asia Access (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Asia Access) 0.5 Mbps12 Chomanan WorldNet (Chomanan WorldNet, CMN) 0.5 Mbps13 Idea Net Co., Ltd. (IDN) 0.25 Mpbs14 Far East Internet Co., Ltd. (Far East) 0.25 Mpbs15 Data Line Thai Co., Ltd. (Linethai) 0.125 Mbps16 UNINET, Thaisarn, SchoolNet, and IIG 10 Mbps

Total 109.875 Mbps

Figure 10. The Late Dr. John Postel (right)

in Charge of IP and DNS.

The top-level domain of “th” forThailand was given to a group of persons atAsian Institute of Technology (AIT) becauseAIT was the very first organization inThailand to be connected to the Internet. Atthat time, Dr.John Postel of the University ofSouthern California was in charge of IPaddresses and domain names. Dr.Postel andhis associates used the principle of “Firstcomes, first served”, i.e. whoever asks for itfirst would get it first. The group at AIT laterset up what is called “ThNIC” standing for“Thailand network information center”

InterNIC” for “International” and“APNIC” for “Asia Pacific”. Figure 10shows Dr.Postel with Dr.Srisakdi whoattended the ITU (InternationalTelecommunication Union) meeting inGeneva, Switzerland, in his capacity as anelected member of the Board of Directors ofAPNIC.

To register a domain name under “user has to pay ThNIC a certain amount ofmoney every year. To avoid such paymentand still has a domain name to use inThailand, KSC has registered “.th.com”,“.th.org”, and “.th.edu”.

The registration of “.com”, “.net”, and

“.org” has been assigned by the US NationalScience Foundation (NSF) to a privatecompany for which a founder is an Americanmathematics professor, Dr. Donald Telage.The company name is Network Solution Inc.(NetSol) which runs InterNIC. Figure 11shows Dr. Telage (standing in the back row)of Network Solution at the signing ceremonyfor KSC to represent NetSol in Thailand.

2.4 Internet Users in Thailand.

On July 13, 1998, the NationalEconomic and Social DevelopmentCommittee announced in the MassCommunication and Information TechnologyDevelopment Plan for Human Resourceand Social Development (1999-2008) inParagraph 2.2 (5), Chapter 4, Visions,Objectives, and Goal:

“To facilitate computer communicationin all tambon, and Internet usage by 20percent of the whole population”

By the year 2008, the government planscall for approximately 14 million Thais usingthe Internet.

Figure 11. Network Solution in Charge of .com, .net, and .org

By the year 2006, when telecommuni-cation is completely liberalized in Thailand,there should be about 12 million Internetusers. Customers of all ISPs should begreatly increased by then. For example, KSCplans to increase the number of customers ofabout 0.25 million in 1998 to about 3.6million customers in 2006. The roughestimate of the numbers of Internet users inThailand and of KSC for 1998 and 2006 aregiven as shown in Table 5.

The approximate numbers of Thainational using Internet from 1969-2009 aregiven in Table 6.

Information concerning corporate userswith ISPs in Thailand have been guarded as

commercial secret because each ISP may beafraid that another ISP may try to take awaythe corporate customer. As an example,KSC has about 380 corporate customers in1999. Altogether, the total number ofcorporate in Thailand connected to all theISPs may be about 1,000.

As shown in Figure 12, the largestindividual Internet link in Thailand is forHRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn andit is 2 Mbps provided by AssumptionUniversity and KSC. The largest link foruniversities is at Assumption University andit is 3 Mbps to the US.

Table 5. Rough Estimate of Numbers of Internet Users in Thailand and KSC

1998 2006Thailand KSC Thailand KSC

1. Universities 275,000 100,000 1,500,000 450,0002. Commercial and Technical

Colleges110,000 53,000 800,000 240,000

3. Elementary and High Schools 110,000 42,000 800,000 240,0004. Individual Users from

government, state enterprises,private sectors, etc.

105,000 60,000 8,900,000 2,682,000

Total 600,000 255,000 12,000,000 3,612,000

Table 6. Approximate Numbers of Internet Users from Thailand

Year 1969 … 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994#users 1 … 100 200 300 400 500 1,000 1,500 3,000*

Year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 ... 2006 2007 2008#users 50,000 150,000 350,000 600,000 800,000 … 12,000,000 13,000,000 14,000,000

*Notes: Assumption University got in with 25,000 users.

Figure 13 Website e-citizen

Figure 12. HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Granted an Audience to Present2 Mbps Internet Connection for Her.

3. E-Everything

Whether you want food, facts, or fun,you can find it on the Web. First there wase-mail. Then came e-zines. Before we knewit, we were in the midst of 1998’s e-commerce explosion. Now, this is the yearof e-business, but perhaps it might be betterto simply call it the year of e-.

That’s because the Internet has becomesuch an easy way to do nearly everything.You can put an e- in front of any aspect ofsociety and make it relevant to people’s livesor at least that’s how it seems. In fact, the e-culture has become so commonplace, onesite has proclaimed that we are all e-citizenswww.e-citizen.org. As shown in Figure 13.

So as an e-citizen, you can accomplishalmost everything by typing an e- in front ofwhat you want to do and the Web will serveas taskmaster.

Need to pay your utility bill? E-citizenscan go to e-city hall www.e-cityhall.org topay bills, report potholes, contest zoningchanges, and get building permits. When it’stime to elect officials, e-citizens can cast

their ballots at the e-vote www.evote.comWeb site, which has election news, polls, anddebate transcripts. Likewise, e-citizens don’thave to sweat tax time. They simply visit e-smart www.etaxforms.com for tax forms andtax law information.

But e- isn’t all about politics andgovernment. Maybe you’re relocating orlooking for a bigger house. In either case,you can go to e-homes www.e-homes.comwhere there are houses and land for sale.If you happen to be moving to Colorado,you’re even luckier.You can visit Colorado’s

Figure 14. Website eBay.com

Figure 15. Website e-food at www.peapod.com

Figure 16. Website emusic atwww.emusic.com

e-life site www.softronics.com/colochat,which offers information on everything youneed to know about living in the RockyMountain state.

Perhaps you’re a little worried aboutyour finances? Then, try e-tradewww.etrade.com as shown in Figure 14 forfinancial investment and retirement planningstrategies. Or if you want to sell or buymerchandise as an investment, how abouttrying e-bay www.ebay.com, the popularonline flea market for e-citizens?

Of course, if you have extra cash in yourpocket, you can always take a vacation. Inthat case, you need to visit e-travel www.e-travel.com, where they will send youanywhere you want to go. Or, perhaps,investing in art is a better idea. Then tryErl’s Gallery www.incunabula.com/gallery/index.htm, which specializes in e-art, or visitthe e-museum at Minnesota State University.

Feeling a little hungry? You can orderyour groceries and have them delivered bysigning on to PeaPod www.peapod.com, asshown in Figure 15, which offers e-food.Need to send a birthday card? Go to e-cardwww.horsburgh.com/card to send anelectronic greeting to someone you love.Maybe you want to send a gift as well.

Music is always nice. So visit e-musicwww.emusic.com and get a CD. As shownin Figure 16.

To keep up with your favorite sportsteam, check out e-sports www.e-sports.comfor all the scores you need. In fact, streamingmedia now lets e-citizens watch sports andother e-broadcasts www.broadcast.com righton their computers.

There’s also the e-phone www.emagic.com for your convenience. The ElectricMagic Co. has created a digital phoneservice that works through your computer.

The Internet isn’t only for adults. E-kidswww.e-kids.org features games, educationalexperiences, and activities for children of e-citizens. Your kids can now attend a virtualcamp or join the e-kids club.

Finally, for outdoor enthusiasts, there’se-land www.gmi.edu/~cram0438/, created bya student a Kettering University in NewSouth Wales, Australia. E-land offersinformation on exciting activities such asskydiving, rock climbing, and SCUBAdiving.

With all this already available on theWeb, it seems probable that the power of e-will soon be even more unbelievable.

4. Internet for Commerce (E-Commerce)

As the world is moving towards theInternet economy, it has come to the pointthat business has to expand their strategy tosupport the development of the digital world.New opportunities presented by the fastgrowth of virtual company in the marketbecause this kind of companies can quicklytake advantages of the Internet by doingElectronic Commerce. The wonderful thingabout E-Commerce is that it can cut cost andbe efficient in every sector of business. Thefollowing section of this paper will presenteda brief history of Internet in business,opportunities of E-Commerce, E-Commercemarket statistics, and the examples ofsuccessful e-commerce business.

4.1 History of Internet in Business

Although E-Commerce has been takingplace on a big scale for a few years, thecurrent commercial free-for-all began in1991 when the federal government of USAmade it known that it no longer intended to

limit the network's backbone for use inresearch.

That policy shift created an incentive forthree major Internet access providers-Performance System International Inc. (PSI),Uunet Technologies Inc., and GeneralAtomics' Cerfnet-- to create their oncommercial backbones, allowing hem toskirt the government-controlled NationalScience Foundation NSFNet. Theseproviders, along with nine others, formed theCommercial Internet Exchange (CIX).Today, virtually every form of commercialtraffic is allowed to pass through CIXnetwork providers, through unsolicited junkmailing are still frowned on by the Internetcommunity.

In reality, the potential for commercialexploitation of the Internet was alwayspresent. Because many large corporationsalready have TCP/IP networks in place, it'sbeen relatively simple for them to connectcomputers in distant offices via the Internet.For another, low connection cost provides acost effective alternative to building andmaintaining expensive proprietary WANs,which also require leasing expensive long-distance lines or hooking up withcommercial networks such as CompuServeor MCI Mail.

These day, the Internet as a worldwidehome shopping network where consumerswill ultimately be able to order productsdisplayed via their computer, palmtop eitherfull-motion video, access interactive games,and chat “live” with other users who they seeon their computer or television screens.What's more, the Internet's attractiveness tobig corporations also makes it aopportunities to direct marketers. Recentdemographic studies indicate that theInternet community is affluent and well-educated. Not only do the corporateexecutive who log onto the Internet have

money to spend on goods and services, butso do the collage kids who dial up to swap e-mail, research papers, and play games.

4.2 Opportunities in E-Commerce

What are the hottest businessopportunities on the Internet today?Although hundreds of entrepreneurs arerushing in to set up roadside stands, hopingto sell products and services via the Internet.Furthermore, the success of any business-online or off-line - relies upon two things,which are customer satisfaction and loyalty.While customer acquisition is critical, acompany's ability to retain valued customers.

There are some key factors that can bemet in order for your business to achieveonline success for examples:

4.2.1 Provide Value

Two of the most successful onlineventures: Yahoo! and Amazon.com. Theyprovide tremendous value to the Web. Yourwebsite must provide free resources, foster asense of communities and show real value toyour visitors.

4.2.2 Quality Presentation

Your website must be presented aquality, which means fast, clear web designthat looks good and is easy to understand.That will make your users quickdeterminations about the quality of yourwebsite. High quality will result in repeatvisitors.

4.2.3 Be Unique

Your website have to own something noone else has because you don't knowanything about with a website that looks

exactly like hundred of others. If you don'thave your own unique website then you'renothing.

4.2.4 Build your brand

Yahoo! valued at 10 times more thanInfoseek because of their band name.Yahoo! is now virtually synonymous withthe Internet and also Amazon.com. Bothcompanies have formed a name that peoplecan easily remember and with a comfortableto go to. Your website brand name needs tobe catchy and meaningful, and also express afeeling or image in the mind of theconsumer.

4.2.5 E-Commerce

Your website must have a fullyfunctions E-commerce system built in it, asyour business can do through the web.Visitors to be able to purchase a product orservice at any times with just a click button.Your website needs to make fast shopping,fun and easy experience. Forrester Researchfound that online retail sales will hit $108billion by 2003.

4.2.6 Promote

Use targeted advertising to tell the worldabout your site, search engines, ezines, emailmarketing and other online promotionaltools. Advertise on the radio, newspapers leteveryone know that you exist and yourbusiness.

4.2.7 Patience

You have to be patient and think inlong-term. It takes a lot of hard work to besuccessful and it won't happen overnight.You have to focus on your strategy anddevelop the right moves for the right time,take business step by step.

4.3 E-Commerce Market Statistics

The Internet today is a highly effectivetool for communications, informationgathering, multiple-site collaboration, andalso the business. The biggest barrier todoing business on the Internet today, webelieve, is differentiating your message fromthe tons of information that washes over eachuser every time they come near the networkand standing out from the crowd in a waythat allows your company to be viewed as acontributor to the growth of the network andonline community, not a detractor from itsoriginal vision and goals.

In the present, the Internet, or whateverthe name the information superhighwaytakes, will be a busy thoroughfare for allkinds of voice, data, video traffic transactionbecause the Internet become user-friendlierfor users and more new technologies like E-Commerce. Now, more than 400,000 U.S.companies have Website, which are trying tosell products and services.

There are all kinds of E-Commercemarket statistics available on the web andsome interesting one are given bellows:

• The number of Internet users in Asia isexpected to expand by 422 percentwithin the next five years (2005),according to a recent study by London-based Philips Group. The regioncurrently has 43.6 million online users,but the study expects that number toincrease to about 228 million in 2005and 370 million in 2006. Theprediction for Japan will likely retainthe largest number of users until 2004,but China will surpass Japan in 2005.

• The survey from the ElectronicCommerce Promotion Council of Japanand Andersen Consulting founded thatthe market for Business to Consumer(B to C) electronic commerce in Japanin 1999 was 248 billion yen, or roughlyfour times the 64.5 billion yen of 1998.Moreover, the next prediction for 2003,will search more than 3.5 trillion yen,or a total of 4.4 trillion yen, whenincluding real estate. In 2004, the scaleof the market is expected to be 5.5trillion yen without real estate and 6.7trillion-yen including real estate.Categories expected to significantlyincrease in market scale includeautomobiles, travel and real estate,each of which should top one trillionalone in 2004.

• Jupiter Communications which donethe research about e-commerce inEurope concluded that in 2003, e-commerce in Europe will be valued of18.6 billion Euros.

• IDC Research Institute expected thatthe growth of electronic commerce inAsia Pacific will be expanded. The endof 1999 will have the value of $1.9billion and in 2003 B-to-B electroniccommerce will reach $13 billion whileB-to-C will reach $13 billion.

• Forrester expects Online retail in US asshow in Figure 17, the value ofbusiness to business e-commerce(B2B) revenues will swell to $1.3trillion over the next three years(2003).

Figure 17. US Ecommerce 1998-2003

Boston Consulting Group

• According to a study by the BostonConsulting Group (BCG), one-fourthof all US business-to-businesspurchasing will be done online by theyear 2003. The Boston ConsultingGroup shows that 25 percent of allbusiness-to-business purchases will beaccounting for $2 trillion in business-to-business sales and $780 billioncoming from private networkpurchases.

• North America currently dominates theglobal business-to-business e-commerce picture, with a $700 billionmarket that is twice the size of the non-North American nations combined.“North America will likely retain itssignificant lead over the next fewyears, but the global dynamics ofbusiness-to-business e-commerce willshift.

• North American market will still comeclose to doubling the rest of the world,by 2003, which will reach $3 trillionin business-to-business e-commerce,

while the rest of the world willcontribute about $1.8 trillion.

BCG predicts that more than 65 percentof all business-to-business e-commercepurchases will be concentrated in six sectorsover the next five years: retail, motorvehicles, shipping, industrial equipment,high tech and government. “Cost savings,rather than strategic opportunities, will drivemost of the initial adoption.”

4.4 Example of Successful E-Commerce Cases

Even thought the new concept ofelectronic commerce will help businessreduce cost of operation while distributingtheir products and services to customersaround the world, the way to success in e-commerce is not easy. About 10% of thoseentering into E-Commerce have beensuccessful.

4.4.1 Amazone.com

Amazon founded in July 1995 by JeffBezos, intended to be the leader of fastest,

Figure 18. Jeff Bezos

easiest and fun for the buyers in selling thebooks on Internet. Since that time Amazonhas becoming widely known and the numberof the books sale are increasing. Now a day,there are many things that Amazon providedother than the books such as cds music,video, dvd, toys and games plus theelectronics and software, auctions, homeimprovement and zShops.

There are 13 millioncustomers worldwideshopping in Amazon.According to theresearch by MediaMetrix, the number ofunique visitors who

shop the onlinestores for theweek ending

November 22, 1999 through December 19,1999 as the number of days for shipping giftsin time for Christmas, Amazon went tonumber one rank in the top 10 web sites thathave the visitors came to its web site byhaving 6,079,000 visitors during that time.

Amazon operates two internatinal Websites: www.amazon.co.uk in the UnitedKingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany.Amazon also operates PlanetAll(www.planetall.com), a web-based addressbook, calendar, and reminder service. It alsooperates the Internet Movie Database(www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensiveand authoritative source of information onmore than 150,000 movies and entertainmentprograms and 500,000 cast and crewmembers dating from birth of film in 1892 tothe present. Amazon.com also operatesLiveBid.com (livebid.amazon.com), the soleprovider of live-event auctions on theInternet.

In addition, Amazon.com has investedin leading Internet retailers that areimproving the lives of customers by makingshopping easier and more convenient:drugstore.com, an online retail and

information source for health, beauty,wellness, personal care and pharmacy, atwww.drugstore.com; Pets.com, the onlineleader for pet products, expert information,and services, at www.pets.com;HomeGrocer.com, the first fully integratedInternet grocery-shopping and home-deliveryservice, with operations in Seattle andPortland, Oregon, at www.homegrocer.com;and Gear.com, which offers brand-namesporting goods at prices from 20 to 90percent off retail, at www.gear.com.

The one example that obviously showshow Amazon success is expanding theproducts range which is Cds music back inJune, 1998. This is the result in the leader ofCds music in the first quarter of the year1999. After the Cds store was opened for 6months, it followed by videos store and giftsstore. Since that time, Amazon is also theleader of videos retailing store just only 6weeks since the store was opened.

The other reason making Amazonsuccessful is 1-Click ordering. It securelystores billing and shipping information sothat each customer needs only one click ofthe mouse to buy a selected item, rather thanentering the same information over and overagain for each purchase.

Last year 1999, the fourth quarter saleswas $650 million (US$). However Amazonis still getting some losses. The reason whyAmazon still gets loss is that Amazon spendsmoney much on promotions and marketingand also as it spent heavily to lure holidayshoppers end of last year. However JeffBezos believe that Amazon will get moreprofits soon.

4.2.2 Dell Computer (www.dell.com)

Dell Computer Corporation was foundedin 1984 by 19 years old Michael S. Dell in that time company called PC's Limited. His

office is his dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin, he knew he had no access to the channel. So he invested $1,000 of his personal savings in advertisements in PC publications and began selling computer components through the mail. From this channel's 10 to 15 percent markup allowed him to sell at a lower price, and savvy buyers were happy to pocket and saving. Soon he expanded beyond the dorm room and began offering complete PC.

His basic idea was to eliminate the middleman and bui lding relationship with suppliers, reducing inventories and receiving direct input from customers. On the meeting in 1986, when the company had $60 million in sales, he identified three key strategies. First focus on the largest corporate customers, ignoring time-consuming first-time buyers. Second, the company would offer a level of service unprecedented in the PC industry and the third is Dell would take its direct model global.

Dell is providing more performance,optimize the products to meet customerdesires, every customer contact with Dell'stoll-free-number on Dell's Website. Everyservice call and resolution are recorded,when a customer call Dell's representativecan see customer purchase history.

Dell began offering its products over the Web in July 1996, at a time when most companies were still commissioning feasibility studies of on-line commerce. Third party surveys of Web customers have shown that as many as 70 percent were new to Dell, and that 30 percent bought from someone else if they could not have ordered from Dell over the Web.

Dell entered Asia Pacific in selectmarkets and began investing in regionalfacilities and management, service andtechnical personnel. Moreover, Delloperated a Asia Pacific Customer Center(APCC) in Malaysia and China also websitewww.dell.com/ap which now support 16country specific site for Asia Pacific, usingfive language including Chinese, Korean,Thai and Japanese.

4.2.3 eBay (www.ebay.com)

eBay was lunched on Labor Day inSeptember 1995 as a result of a conversationbetween Pierre Omidyar and his wife, anavid Pez™ collector (she currently covets acollection of more than 400 dispensers). Hiswife commented to him that how great itwould be if shewere able tocollect Pezdispensers andinteract withother collectorsover theInternet. As anearly Internete n t h u s i a s t , Pierre knewthat peopleneeded acentral location to buy and sell unique itemsand to meet other users with similar interests.He started eBay to fulfill this need.

eBay is the world's largest personalonline trading community. eBay created anew market: efficient one-to-one trading inan auction format on the Web. Individuals—not big businesses—use eBay to buy and sellitems in more than 1,600 categories,including collectibles, antiques, sportsmemorabilia, computers, toys, BeanieBabies, dolls, figures, coins, stamps, books,magazines, music, pottery, glass,photography, electronics, jewelry,

Figure 19. Pierre Omidyar

gemstones, and much more. Users can findthe unique and the interesting on eBay—everything from chintz china to chairs, teddybears to trains, and furniture to figurines. Asthe leading person-to-person trading site,buyers are compelled to trade on eBay due tothe large amount of content available andusers can participate in ongoing auctions 24hours per day.

eBay generated consolidated netrevenues of $58.5 million in the third quarterof 1999, a 169 percent increase over the$21.7 million reported for the same periodlast year. Consolidated net income for thequarter was $1.4 million, or $0.01 per shareon a diluted basis. eBay's consolidated netincome excluding the effects of certain non-cash charges was $3.2 million, or $0.02 perdiluted share, compared with $1.8 million, or$0.02 per diluted share during the thirdquarter of 1998. eBay's expansion into localauction site, now has 20 auction sites, andwill expand 10 new auction site

There are some reasons to make eBaybecome successful for example:

• eBay is the present their website as aperson to person online tradingcommunity not a business trading.

• eBay focus on their core business andprovide great customer service, thenetwork capacity.

• eBay is great collections has partneredwith some of the finest galleries,dealers and auction house in the worldto offer a vast selection.

• eBay always create a new site for localauction sites and in other country andhas country-specific categories andcontent, also ability to trade in thatcountry dollar currency.

And another website such as

• Ben and Jerry’s Homemade(www.benjerry.com)

Started in a renovated gas station in Vermont, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield became famous for their ice cream flavors. Their web allows customers to fire an ICBM which does not stand for “Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile” but “Ice Cream By Mail” anywhere in the world. It was said that Ben and Jerry ice cream was sent to a US ship off the coast of Bosnia. The ice cream is packaged in six packs in liquid nitrogen and can be sent over-night by Federal Express. Netscape software has been used to provide animated graphic which includes a “cemetery” for discontinued ice cream flavors with dancing skeletons.

• CDnow (www.cdnow.com)

This web was started by two 27-year-old twin brothers in their parents’ basement and became a highly successful business entirely on the Internet. Each month, more than half a million shopper order from more than 200,000 CDs, albums, cassettes, music videos, CD-ROMs, laser discs, T-shirts, and other music-related accessories. The idea to start CDnow occurred when Jason Olim, one of the twin, wanted to buy classic and alternative rock music but could not find any local store to satisfy his needs and so had to start his own company to provide the service on the web.

• CitySearch (www.citysearch.com)

This site was developed by Bill Gross asa one-stop interactive resource guide toseveral local communities such as Pasadenaand San Francisco in California, Raleigh andChapel Hill in North Carolina, Austin inTexas, Salt Lake City in Utah and New YorkCity in New York. The idea started whenBill Gross looked in the Yellow Pages for aplace to have a hair cut in New York City.Then he took a taxi to the barber shop andfound that it was not the kind he liked to use.This web provides easy interface forcustomers to browse community informationand make a sophisticated searches bykeyword, time, and location to obtaininformation such as shops, shopping area,movies, plays, weather, sports reviews,profiles of community leaders, etc.

5. Internet for Education or E-Education

The Internet will make everybody equalin terms of education and knowledge. Usingthe Internet in education is a global andgrassroots phenomenon. Internet Educationor Electronic Education allows everyonewho is interested in getting educated or inlearning by using Internet can do so easilyfrom over 800 million pages of informationon the Internet as well as from many virtualUniversities. In addition to those writteninformation, all kinds of educators, expertsand consultants are also readily reachablethrough the Internet.

5.1 Education in Thailand

Education in Thailand was firstdocumented in the reign of KingRamkamhaeng the Great of Sukhothai (A.D.1279-1300), and the first two computerswere brought into Thailand about 700 years

later in the reign of King Rama the Ninth.The number of computers in Thailand areshown in Table 1. From only two computersin 1964, the number of computers inThailand has grown steadily to about 70 in1975, 23,000 in 1985, and greatly increasedto about 2.3 millions in the year 2000.

In developed countries, the first threemost popular computer applications are inairlines, banking, and manufacturing plants.However, in Thailand, the first three mostpopular applications of computers are inbanking, airlines, and education.

The first known policy on computers foreducation in Thailand was started around1960 when the Asian Institute ofTechnology, which was affiliated withChulalongkorn University at that time,proposed that a computer be installed inThailand for the first time. The purpose was,of course, for education.

By 1976, the Ministry of UniversityAffairs established a Subcommittee to Co-ordinate Computing Activities responsiblefor computing activities of all governmentuniversities, all private colleges and alldepartments in the Ministry. The authorhappened to be named the head of theWorking Group and later the Chairman ofthe Subcommittee for 8 consecutive years. In1979, the Ministry of Education started aproject to acquire a mainframe computer foreducational purpose. In August 1982, St.Joseph Convent which is a private highschool became the first school in Thailand toinstall microcomputers and started teachingbasic concepts of computers to a group ofstudents. In his capacity as AcademicChairman of the Parent-Teacher Association(PTA), the senior author convinced the PTAto raise fund for the purchase of thecomputers.

In March 1984, the Council of Ministersof the Royal Thai Government approved theresolution for the Ministry of Science,Technology and Energy to promotecomputer software industry. A national-level Committee to Promote SoftwareIndustry was later established with the seniorauthor of this paper as the Chairman and theother 18 members were from governmentagencies, universities, and computercompanies.

Also in 1984, the Ministry of Educationapproved a plan to introduce computer majorin junior colleges. A committee was earlierestablished in 1982 to prepare textbooks forthe major and the senior author happened tobe named the Chairman of the Committee.He wrote 2 books for the purpose. Similar tothe case of the junior colleges, teachercolleges as well as the Institute ofTechnology and Vocational Education (acollege under the Ministry of Education)were authorized to offer computer majors atthe level of higher certificate, associatedegree, and Bachelor's degree. In 1984, highschools in Thailand were also officiallyallowed to offer 2 computer courses, namely,Introduction to Computer, and BASICProgramming.

One of the first few high schoolsselected to offer computer courses wasTriem Udom Suksa School which is theleading government high school. In hiscapacity as the Computer Chairman for theTriem Udom Parents-Teachers Association,the senior author conducted training for agroup of teachers.

By 1988, at least one kindergarten inBangkok has installed microcomputers forkids to play with. Officially, about 1,000microcomputers have been installed inschools in Thailand by that year.Unofficially, the number may be muchhigher. The reason for the discrepancy in theofficial and unofficial figures may be

because the National Computer Committee(NCC) made it, to say the least, difficult forgovernment schools to acquire computersofficially. Therefore, Parents-TeachersAssociations (PTA) had to purchasecomputers and borrow rooms at schools tostore the computers which were officially theproperty of the PTA's and not the schools.However, schools can use the computersunofficially. By 1996, all high schools inThailand do have microcomputers.

Also at another meeting at the Ministryof Education, the Institute for Promotion ofTeaching Science and Technology wasinstructed to consider additional computercourses for elementary and high schools. Thefollowing 16 courses have been approved:

1. Introduction to Computer2. Word Processing Package3. Introduction Database Package4. Introduction to Spreadsheet Package5. Intermediate-Level Database6. Intermediate-Level Spreadsheet7. Introduction to Programming Concepts8. Beginning BASIC9. Intermediate BASIC10. Beginning PASCAL11. Intermediate PASCAL12. Introduction to Electronics13. Introduction to Digital Computers14. Intermediate-Level Digital Computers15. Introduction to Microprocessors16. Modern Electronic Technology

By 1996, all government and most ofprivate universities in Thailand each offers atleast one degree program in IT area. Thesenior author of the papers happens to be theChairman of the Computer CurriculumCommittee for Government Universities andChairman of the Computer CurriculumCommittee for Private Universitiesappointed by the Ministry of UniversityAffairs.

For using Information Technology toimprove Thai education by providing

Internet access to all schools andUniversities throughout the country. Internetbecomes new technologies of choice for theyear 2000 because of its readily availability,low cost, and ease of use. In the study areaalso provide opportunities for the educationand access to instructional resources via theWorld Wide Web, business travelers andstudents in isolated areas can enjoy e-education from interactive classrooms nomatter where they are and what time it is. Ineffect, the Internet will provide electroniceducation opportunities “for anyone, atanytime, and anywhere” in the world.

5.2 Pros and Cons of E-Education

Similar to the case of a coin having twosides, E-Education through the Internet hasboth advantages and disadvantages.

5.2.1 Advantages

• Teachers and students cancommunicate through the Internet on aregular basis even though they are indifferent places and different time zones.

• Students can review their lessons attheir convenience since the materials arekept in either the database or the students’computers.

• Information available on the Internetsupports self-paced learning. Thisinformation is also updated on a regularbasis.

• E-education from virtual classroomsare an educational alternative for the studentsto choose based on their preferences.

• E-education through the Internetwidens students’ knowledge becausediscussion on a variety of topics fromacademics, professionals and other expertsare widely available on the Internet.

• E-education for youth helps to buildup strong family tie because parents have toparticipate in the youth’s education. Further,

education through the Internet providessafety for the children in the sense that allcourses can be taken at home.

5.2.2 Disadvantages

• There is no class schedule foreducation through the Internet and thestudents have to set the timetable bythemselves. Hence, their success or failuredepends on their own determination.

• Students need to have an Internetaccount in order to take Internet-basedclasses. If their account is expired, theycannot access the lessons.

• Although many activities areavailable in the virtual classroom, they aredisorganized. Searching for a particularpiece of information on the Internet is timeconsuming. In addition, students may bedeviated by other attention gutters while theyare surfing the Internet.

• All activities in the virtual classroommay be done via the monitor without actualhuman interaction and may create boredominstead of joy and interest.

5.3 Website for E-Education

Education at the level of kindergarten tohigh school in the US is called “K-12”,where “K” stands for “kindergarten” and“12” for “grade 12” which is the highestlevel in high school. The use of the Internetin this level is a powerful option. TheInternet Society, the leader of developingand promoting the Internet, realized theacademic importance of the Internet and hasbeen providing a K-12 course in its trainingprograms at every one of the annualconferences. It also provides strong supporton the use of the electronic education viaInternet

On the Internet, there are numerous webpages for this level of education. Those webpages include school homepages,

Figure 20. InternetHomeSchool.com

educational-aid web pages, knowledge-for-children web pages, and resource web pagesas well as actual teaching and learningthrough the Internet.

K-12 school websites also include sitesfor out-of-school children, sites for giftedand talented children, and sites for ordinarychildren. Teaching-and-learning-aid websitesusually contain games and otherentertainment, for example, vocabularygames, mathematical games and comics.These kinds of websites make school lessonsmore attractive and comprehensible as wellas stimulate children’s interest in the lessons.Samples of knowledge-for-children Webpages are websites of museums, zoos, andorganizations such as NASA. All thewebsites mentioned are not only for childrenbut also for their parents because they aredesigned to have parents involved in thelearning process. The purpose of parents’involvement is to build up family tie.

5.3.1 Internet Home School

The website <www.InternetHomeSchool.com> as shown in Figure 20 wasdesigned for parents to be responsible fortheir children’s learning. The first step to getstarted is to take the online English andMathematics assessment tests. Students candownload communications freeware fromthe Internet or directly download from theschool’s website. Those communicationfreeware could be AOL Instant Messager,ICQ, Microsoft Net Meeting, mIRC, AdobeAcrobat Reader, etc.

Parents and students will communicatewith the school’s staffs via chatroom, whichis available within the school website.Parents and students could assess this serviceby one click at the chat’s link. For securityreasons, the users have to enter usernamesand passwords to enter the chat room.

Once access to the online system hasbeen granted, the student has to attendclasses every school day, the same as in anyphysical school. He has to sign in as shownin Figure 14 to inform the teacher that he isbeginning his daily activities. During thissession, the teacher may issue any additionalinstructions and assignments.

Parents will take care of their children’sdaily activities by following strategiesprepared by the school to structure the timestudents spend daily on each subject. In eachweek, each student is required to hand in onewritten assignment such as answers to thequiz in each subject, using Internet means ofcommunication such as e-mail. Each studentshould contact the online teacher to makearrangements for completing this task everyweek.

For <www.InternetHomeSchool.com>,the Internet is supplemented by the physicaltextbooks which are sent to the students andparents. After the student receives atextbook, his parents must acquire apassword to access the secured section of the

Figure 21. Signing in atInternetHomeSchool.com

school’s website containing answer keys todaily assignment and weekly examination.This is the point where parents are involvedin their children’s education, because theparents will have to check daily assignmentsand weekly test for correctness and reportany deficiencies in the student’s ability toperform work activities to the school everyweek. Parents are responsible for reportingthe weekly grade of the assignment in theelectronic “Grade Book”.

When all of the work from a ten-weekquarter is completed and graded, parents willbe given another password for downloadingthe final examinations covering what studenthad learned in the first 10 weeks. If thestudent scores on each exam are at least70%, he can continue to the next section ofthe curriculum. If the score is below 70%,the student is required to repeat a part of thelearning process again.

After graduation, the student can applyfor a community college or university (whichsupport <www.InternetHomeSchool.com>)for credit in the college level courses.However, the student must be at least 15years of age and has earned at least B+average in the virtual learning.

Tuition for the Internet Home School is400 US dollars which includes 150 USdollars for textbooks and 250 US dollars forregistration fees.

5.3.2 4K12.Com

Another example of K-12 distancelearning website is <www.4K12.com> asshown in Figure 22. This website is anInternet educational school offering Internet-based education for students worldwide. Allcourses would be distributed throughstreaming audio and video, e-mail, videoconferencing, electronic collaboration, netmeetings, and computer simulations.

The web <www.4K12.com> representsglobal Internet education for the 21st centurysince this on-line school applied moderntechnology to provide education for childrenall over the world. Student worldwide mayattend the school for English languagelesson, advanced technology training as wellas using the job placement service. Othercourses as well as tutoring and courses forgifted and talented students are also offered.

Over 1,400 courses in 17 languages willbe available by June 2000. Teachers will beavailable 24 hours a day and 7 days a weekto assist students. About 140,000 studentsworldwide, on the first comes first servebasis, have registered for the inauguralsession to start in June 2000. Tuition foreach course in <www.4K12.com> is 21.99US dollars a month for unlimited access.Another option of payment is annual tuitionat 265 US dollars a year. The onlyrequirement to attend the school is to haveaccess to the Internet.

Similar to <www.InternetHomeSchool.com> and <www.4K12.com>, thereis many other K-12 on-line schoolssuch as <www.Cyberschool.4j.lane.edu>,<www.cyberhi.org>, and <www.laurelsprings.com>. CyberSchool offersInternet-based instruction for grade 7-12,Cyber High School for high school, andLaurael Springs School for kindergarten tohigh school.

Figure 22. 4K12.com

5.3.3 Gridlink Online Education System

Located in the United Kingdom,Gridlink is a virtual school that offers on-lineeducational service for students who are notreceiving a full-time school educationbecause of chronic sickness, recovering fromillness/injury, special needs, school-phobics,and children whose parents prefer homeeducation. Gridlink online education systemscurriculum is a full-time curriculum usingUK National Curriculum standards exactlythe same as in traditional schools. Theschool offers on-line instruction up to 50weeks a year for students aged 8-16 yearsold.

The educational services offered byGrindlink Online Education Systems arebased on the latest computer and Internettechnology, and educational software.Academic programs are adjusted to suit eachstudent, and educational interaction withteachers. The Internet school address is<atschool.eduweb.co.uk/ctrh/home.html> asshown Figure 23.

5.3.4 Virtual School for the Gifted

The Virtual School for the Gifted is at<www.vsg.edu.au> as shown in Figure 24.It is specially designed for the giftedchildren. The gifted children are quicklearners and have specific educational needs

that are not generally or adequately cateredfor in traditional classrooms. Gifted studentsoften exhibit an advanced capacity toachieve at higher than average levels. Theyhave multiple, specialized, and uniqueinterests. They may have an advancedability to conceptualize. They may haveintense and long-range concentration ontopics of interest. They may have a sense ofhumor and pleasure in thinking divergently.They may have curiosity and interest in theunusual and independence in learning. Theymay have a higher sense of self-awareness,sensitivity, and idealism. Because of suchcharacteristics, these student’s learning needscan present difficulties in the traditionalclassroom. Boredom and a lack ofappropriate challenge can turn off studentswith considerable potential.

Virtual School for the Gifted areexclusively designed based on theories in thefield of gifted education. Students have tostudy and do their assignments for eachcourse at least 3 hours per week in eachsemester.

5.3.5 Virtual University

The website <www.vu.org> as shown inFigure 25 is a non-profit organizationfounded in the 1960’s under the realizationthat “knowledge is the mortar of a free

Figure 23. Gridlink OnlineEducation Systems Home Page.

Figure 24 Virtual School for the Gifted.

society and lifelong learning is the key topersonal success, happiness, and well being.”As of the year 200, Virtual University is aworldwide learning community and thelargest educational portal on the Internet.The original tasks of Virtual Universityinvolved in the Free Clinic movement andhelped establish bi-coastal counselingcenters, a “safe house” for teen runaways, asuicide prevention hotline, and drugeducation workshops. In the 1970's, theschool established the Discovery Center inLos Angeles, hosting free classes on self-help and public service topics attended bythousands of adult learners who came fromall over the West Coast to participate.

When the Internet became widelyavailable in 1980’s, Virtual Universitydecided to start virtual classes using bulletinboards. Later, one of the founders wrote asoftware program called Digital Professor,one of the first usage of Internet Telephonyfor educational purposes and a finalist inEducom's 1992 “Software Innovation

As of the beginning of the year 2000,over a half-million people from 128countries have attended classes at VirtualUniversity. The school has been featured onmany well-known news television programsand publications around the world. Courses

offered at the Virtual University include theInternet, Writing and Arts, self improvement,etc.

5.3.6 The University of London Internet-Based Program

The website <www.lon.ac.uk/external>,as shown in Figure 26, is the virtual campusof the University of London, which is afederation of 17 separately incorporated,self-governing, directly-funded colleges,together with a range of central academicactivities. It offers distance learning andindependent study at all levels ofundergraduate and postgraduate degrees andcollectively ensures the standards of theUniversity's degrees and are research-basedhigher education institutions committed toundergraduate and postgraduate teaching ofthe highest quality in a researchenvironment. Services provided for externalstudents include the University Library,Careers Service, Intercollegiate Halls ofResidence, Accommodation Office and theUniversity of London Union.

In addition to receiving the samestandard of work as that of a regular or aninternal student, an external student mayapply to the external program withoutconcerning about quotas for entry and willpay lower fees than students on conventionaluniversity courses. Although most courses

Figure 25. Virtual University

Figure 26. The University of LondonInternet-Based Program.

are via the Internet, students in such area asMSc in Dental Public Health are required toattend an intensive course in the UK for twoor three weeks each year. Taking allexaminations is also required the students tocontact a physical, local centers of theschool, which are available worldwide andthe center list is posted on the University’swebsite. However, students in musical andmodern language programs are required totake the examination in a London campus.

The virtual campus of the University ofLondon has 26,000 students, in addition to102,000 students of the physical campuses.

5.3.7 Michigan Virtual University

Michigan Virtual University (MUV) is aname used at Michigan State University(MSU) to refer to course and instructionalprograms offered through the Internet. TheVirtual University is designed to fulfill needsof students’ learning without the time andplace constrains of traditional universityprograms.

A variety of courses are offered at MUVsuch as Introduction to the Internet,Administration, Research, and MassCommunications, etc.

MSU degree candidates may register forVirtual University courses through regularenrollment. Besides, the MSU student willbe given password for searching specialdocuments exclusively provided for MUVstudents.

Students may register for non-creditcourses through toll-free numbers but thisoption is only applied for US residences. Ifstudents face difficulties in enrollment, theycan contact the Virtual University 24 hours.The university’s Internet address iswww.vu.msu.edu as shown in Figure 27.

5.3.8 University of California ExtensionOnline

The website <learn.berkeley.edu>, asshown in Figure 28, a collaboration betweenUC Berkeley Extension, the continuingeducation part of University of CaliforniaBerkeley, and UC Extension's statewidedistance learning division, the Center forMedia and Independent Learning. It wasdesigned based on its successful AOL(America On Line, the largest ISP in theworld) campus to give people an opportunityto continue their education and update theirskills. The University of CaliforniaExtension Online assures the same high-quality curriculum contents and instructorsapproved by the University of California asother UC Extension classes.

UC Extension offers several certificateprograms and professional sequences yetdoes not offer degrees. However, creditfrom college-level UC Extension courses is

Figure 27. Michigan Virtual University.

Figure 28. University of CaliforniaExtension Online.

accepted at the University of California andother accredited institutions.

Courses that the University of CaliforniaExtension Online offers include Businessand Management, Computer Science andEngineering, Natural Sciences, etc. Likeother Internet-based courses, those at theUniversity of California Extension Onlinecan be completed at the student’sconvenience via services available on theInternet such as online course materials, webmessage board, e-mail, and group discussionthrough real-time communication. Eventhough most course materials are availableonline, textbooks and physical examinationremain important in studying at theUniversity of California Extension Online.The students have to study based on theirtextbooks and take each final examinationunder supervision of selected proctors.

5.3.9 California Virtual University

In 1996, the governor and academicleaders of the State of California originatedthe idea of setting up California VirtualUniversity to offer distance education toCalifornians and foreigners. It has beenagreed that California has more foreignstudents than any other states in theUS. California Virtual University wasestablished in 1997 with the website<www.california.edu> as shown in Figure29. More than 2,000 online courses offeredby accredited public and private Californiauniversities may be taken by studentsanywhere on the World Wide Web.

5.4 Life-Long Learning fromE-Education

In addition to formal education availableon the Internet, all kinds of informaleducation or life-long learning are alsoreadily available. Examples such asfreeENGLISH.Com, HouseNet.Com,ThaiGrocer.Com, E-Zoo, and an electronicmuseum are discussed in this Section

5.4.1 freeENGLISH.Com

This website, <www.freeenglish.com>as shown in Figure 30, was started based onthe idea of the company named“eduverse.com”, to provide high-qualityEnglish resource for students and educators.Lessons on this website are provided freebecause it is supported by income frombanner advertisement, in the same mannerthat TV commercials make televisionprograms available free. The premium-quality educational programs and games onthis website are designed by experts in thefield of language training. To take thelessons with freeENGLISH.com, studentshave to register, download a software called“ENGLISH PRO Web Edition”, anddownload each English lesson. It isrecommended that the student use only oneaccount because the proctor will track thestudent’s progress by using the e-mailaddress given on the registration form.

Figure 29. California Virtual University.

5.4.2 HouseNet.Com

The HouseNet website, www.housenet.com as shown in Figure 31, is an award-winning web site that is the ultimate resourceon home, garden, and today's lifestyle. Itprovides free advice and how-to knowledgethat thousands of home enthusiasts havebeen exploring from its archive. It iscomposed of six major sections which arehome improvement, home decorating, lawnand garden, sewing ideas, real estate, andsmart savings. The origin of this website isback to 1991 as Homeline BBS, a computerbulletin board system, started by veteranhome writers. The initial purpose was toshare the knowledge of home repair andremodeling to other people online. TheHouseNet web has been moved to theInternet since 1994 and on AOL since 1995.With over 400,000 visitors a month, theHouseNet website was ranked as “Best of theWeb”, top 100 sites for 1998, byYahoo.Com.

5.4.3 ThaiGrocer.Com

This American-based Thai grocerycybershop was established in 1998, claimedto be the first and complete Thai grocerystore on the Internet. It physical office islocated in Chicago, USA. ThaiGrocer, or<www.thaigrocer.com> as shown in Figure32, offers Thai cooking lessons and Thaifood product via E-Commerce. ThaiGrocerdivides its cooking school into three sectionswhich are the main page, the basic school,and the advanced school. The main pageprovides articles and features such as TheStory about Thai Food, Amazing Thai Herbsand Spices, Learning Thai Language aroundDinning Table, etc. The basic schoolpresents information about utensils used inThai cuisine and the advanced school givessample daily menu. The cooking informationavailable on this website is similar to that onany cooking book which is composed of arecipe and an instruction. The grocery storeoffers a variety of products for cooking Thaifood such as chilly and curry paste, spicesand herbs, sauces and condiments, etc.

5.4.5 The Virtual Museum of TraditionalJapanese Arts

Kodansha International Ltd. producesthe website <www.jinjapan.org/museum/index.html> as shown in Figure 33 for theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Virtualmuseum provides a variety of great arts in

Figure 30. freeEnglish.com

Figure 31. HouseNet.com

Figure 32. ThaiGrocer.com

Japan. The visitors who are interested inartworks can take this advantage to explorethis website at anytime. It contains varietiesof Fine Arts, Craft, Performing Arts,Pastimes, Martial Arts, etc. In each category,the visitors will find some more sub-categories inside. In addition to arts, thiswebsite also provides the history of Japan forthe visitors who are interested in how Japanwas originated.

5.4.6 Electronic Zoo

The website <netvet.wustl.edu/e-zoo.htm> as shown in Figure 34 is a part ofthe <netvet.wustl.edu> which was originatedin 1993 to make information about animaland veterinary medicine available on theInternet as well as to help people and theiranimals in the spirit of academic interest intelecommunications for the veterinaryprofession. In the early stage of this non-profit website, it was supported by theArgus/University of MichiganClearinghouse, the W3 Virtual LibraryConsortium, GNN, the Whole InternetCatalog, Point Communications, McKinleyGroup, Internet World, NetGuide, .netMagazine, Microsoft Network, CompuServe,Prodigy, and the many others

6. E-Government

Commercial enterprises increasinglyusing Internet to reach out to their customersand business partners providing dramaticimprovements in levels of service andconvenience. Such developments in thecommercial world lead to the question ofwhether governments have yet to realize thefull benefits from the Internet. Somegovernments have taken this initiative. Inaddition to potential improvements in thedelivery of Government services, some seethe Internet as possibly having much widerand deeper effects on society and evenaffecting the nature of democracy.

The term “Electronic Government or E-Government” in a broad sense describes theuse of Internet to support the workings ofgovernments and public administration.Usually, there are three main effectsexpected as follows:

• There is the use of the Internet toimprove the efficiency and effectiveness ofthe ‘executive functions’ of governmentincluding the delivery of public services.

• The Internet open up newpossibilities for governments to be moretransparent to the citizens and businesses,giving access to a greater range of the

Figure 33. The Virtual Museum ofTraditional Japanese Arts.

Figure 34. Electronic Zoo.

information collected and generated bygovernment.

• The adaptation of the Internet mayenable fundamental changes in therelationships between the citizen and thestate, and between nation states, withimplications for the democratic process andstructures of government.

Electronic government services are seenas having a potential role in improving fourkey areas:

• speed of carrying out transactions;• convenience/access;• flexibility in options and hours of

service;• empowerment (bring services closer

to the public and allowing them tochoose how/when to carry outtransactions).

E-government has multiple dimensions,each dimension demands leadership,strategy, cross-coordination, and know-how,all combined with a technology strategy totake vision to reality.

Some Example of E-government will begiven in this Section.

6.1 Taiwan

The Taiwanese government has beenpromoting computerization of its services formany years. The project of an onlinegovernment was designated in 1997 and oneof project is to put 13 public services onlinein a “full service window.” Among theservices would be household registration,which encompasses voter registration, landtax and schooling matters and businessregistration. By the end of this year, Taiwanwill hopefully have an “E-government”.Citizens will be able to identify themselves

online so that government agencies can openthe relevant files and deal with the inquiry.E-commerce for government is anotherstrategy the government plans to embrace.Government procurement will be doneonline. Suppliers will be paid electronically.Moreover, the government plans to put all itspublications online and the GovernmentInformation Office already publishes anEnglish - language electronic newspaperevery weekday.

6.2 Malaysia

Malaysian government has establishedan automated office system designed byMicrosoft. This new product called theGeneric Office Environment (GOE) willallow government users to collaborate,access and manage information in moremeaningful way. The GOE is a part of “E-government”, a flagship application forPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad'sMultimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project.The aim of e-government is to create acompletely paperless environment for thenew federal administrative center built inPutrajaya, which Malysia hopes to attractglobal technology companies to test anddevelop new products and services. On July,1999 an Intelligent City, Cyberjaya, whatopened by Prime Minister MahathirMohamad. Cyberjaya is one the flagship ofthe MSC project

7. Concluding Remarks

This paper present a brief history ofcomputerization and Internet in Thailand,Education in Thailand, Pros and Cons of E-Education, Website for E-Education, Life-Long Learning from E-Education, E-Government with example from Taiwan andMalaysia, E-Commerce starting with history

of Internet in Business, Opportunities in E-Commerce, E-Commerce Market Statistics,Examples Successful E-Commerce cases.The dam blocking the Internet has beenbroken. The Internet water from behind thedam is flooding everywhere. Therefore, to

survive, everyone will have to learn to swimor learn to use the Internet. If you are notplanning to use the Internet in education,government, and commerce, you areplanning to be out of education, governmentand commerce.

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