ITU Digital World 2020: Global ICT community impressed with Vietnam’s solutions

ITU'S ANNUAL EVENT CHANGED ITS NAME FORTHE FIRST TIME FOLLOWING VIETNAM'S INITIATIVE

In the afternoon of December 19th, 2019, in a media briefing on the ITU Digital World 2020 chaired by Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam, after 50 years in its history, the ITU Telecom World has its name changed as "ITU Digital World 2020" starting 2020. Vietnam was the host country of ITU Digital World 2020.

The name change of the ITU Telecom World started from Vietnam's initiative in the 2019 exhibition in Budapest (Hungary). The 2019 initiative was highly accepted and appreciated by ITU members. The new name was seen as appropriate for the transformation of telecommunications infrastructure to become the backbone for digital economy, digital society and the fourth industrial revolution.

According to the initial plan, the ITU Digital World 2020 was expected to be organized from 6-9 September, 2020 at the National Conference Center in Hanoi. However, under the impact of the COVID-19, the largest event of the global ICT community was changed into an online event delivered via technology platforms. Taking place from October 20th to 22nd, 2020, the ITU Digital World 2020 was held online for the first time, hosted by Vietnam. 

The ITU Digital World 2020 is a series of events, including the ITU member country Ministerial Roundtables, seminars on digital world development and exhibitions with online showcases. Without the excitement of the air with crowded people and colorful decorations like traditional exhibitions, the virtual event brought a unique interactive experience.

Therefore, the online exhibition was considered an important highlight of ITU Digital World 2020. It allowed national pavilions to showcase the digital transformation achievements of the countries while 2D or 3D online booths (virtual booths), introduced products, services and solutions of organizations and businesses from member countries.

This ITU Digital World event brought together more than 50 countries, with nearly 200 exhibition booths displaying digital products, services, and solutions. Taking place online, the exhibition allowed companies to interact directly with visitors where they were located.

Vietnam's technology giants including Viettel, VNPT, FPT, VSmart, Bkav, CMC, etc. participated in the exhibition with 3D simulations.

Thanks to the technology, the event has continued on for about a month instead of coming to an end in less than a week like a traditional one. The interested agencies, organizations and individuals could visit and learn about the most advanced digital products and services.

THE "MAKE IN VIETNAM" ONLINE EXHIBITION PLATFORM WAS BUILT IN JUST 1 MONTH

3D booths were supported with many modern 3D technologies as well as intuitive visual images and videos. Visitors can use tablets, mobile phones and even new devices such as virtual reality glasses (AR/VR) to enjoy the most exciting experience.

Thanks to this platform, visitors can explore objects and materials in 3D spaces by zooming in and out the information and exhibits. They can also have the experience of the exhibition layout, as well as hear the automatic narration of each area. It is worth noting that these booths were all deployed on the "Make in Vietnam" platform built by Viettel within just 1 month. The 3D Platform online exhibition platform was customized by Viettel engineers and has created the first 3D booths at ITU Digital World 2020. 

The 3D Platform includes many components designed with modular design following a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that includes components such as Load Balancer, Web application server, DB Server, Media Storage, etc. The platform uses the latest technologies such as Nginx, PHP-FPM, NodeJS, NoSQL MongoDB databases, etc. to ensure high performance.

The design of the 3D Platform allowed fully dynamic web-based configuration of components so that the booth owners could design and configure their own booth as desired, from banners, logos, background to product information, and introduction videos. "The 3D booths use panorama image technology (which is similar to Google Street View) to allow viewing experiences with virtual reality (VR) glasses, video-based interaction, and automatic narration for the reality like experience", said a representative from Viettel.

In addition, the platform's infrastructure was built on the main cloud server cluster located in the Viettel data center. These were backed up with CMC and FPT server clusters that were available in case of an emergency, ensuring the good service that millions of visitors accessed the event across the globe.

In addition to connecting with foreign platforms, the Ministerial Roundtables and seminars were all streamed online on the portal through Viettel's live streaming servers, supporting up to 300,000 views simultaneously.

Finally, the security technologies based on the Cloudrity solution helped to prevent malicious malware attacks, and denial of service attacks were overseen by 24/7 monitoring by SOC and the network security experts from Viettel. "All of these solutions are researched and developed in-house by Viettel and certified by the Authority Information Security (under the Ministry of Information and Communications) before deployment", added the representative of Viettel. 

 The "Make in Vietnam" 3D Platform system is a platform that meets not only the requirements of the offline exhibitions but also being superior to the recently held online conferences. At GSMA online exhibition in Shanghai, the organizers allowed registration and seminars through online and networking. ASEAN's Connect Tech Show held in Singapore featured 3D technologies, but the organizers had to integrate the products from many technology partners to create a platform. In contrast, for ITU Digital World 2020 hosted by Vietnam, the platform developed by Viettel allows exhibitors to be able to design 3D booths themselves.

During the deployment of the 3D Platform system to serve ITU Digital World 2020, Viettel encountered many challenges and complexities because the deadline was only a month. Moreover, many participating parties kept changing their requirements and asked to complete in a short time to meet the schedule. Viettel experts also faced significant time difference between Switzerland (where ITU HQ office is located) and Vietnam.

VIETNAMESE TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTES TO ADDRESSING GLOBAL PROBLEMS

Sharing with the media and press on the sidelines of the general rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the ITU Digital World 2020 on the morning of 20 October 2020, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam stated that due to complications caused by COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Nam proactively proposed to organize the event in the online format. This was the first time Vietnam hosted the Digital World Exhibition and Conference, but it was also the first time in the 50 years of ITU's history that virtual reality technology was brought into the booths.

The Digital World Conference and Exhibition (ITU Digital World) 2020 is a global event, co-organized by the World Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Viet Nam, officially taking place from October 20th to 22nd, 2020. The event includes Ministerial Roundtables, Forum Sessions associated with the development of the digital world, Virtual Exhibitions with national pavilions of countries and exhibitions of leading corporations in the world.

The Digital World Exhibition and Conference 2020 is of great significance, contributing to enhancing the country's status and affirming the role of Vietnam as one of the fast and dynamic developing countries in telecommunications and information technology. The country is also an active and good standing member of the ITU.

This is an opportunity to promote and expand markets for Vietnamese businesses withpartners around the world. Concurrently, it provides an introduction to a dynamic and developing Vietnam, which is proactively and actively integrating into the international playground. In particular, the Conference was attended by many ministers of ITU membercountries, leaders of international organizations, regulators, leading organizations and experts on ICT and digital economy.

"Vietnam wanted to highlight the proactive, pioneering, and leading role of our technology in the international sphere. We proactively proposed to hold an online conference as Vietnam was seeking to positively change the world's view of the role of Vietnamese technology, while using such capabilities to bring a more engaging and enjoyable experience to participants", shared Deputy Minister Phan Tam.

AttheopeningsessionofITUDigitalWorld2020on20October,theMinisterofInformationandCommunicationsNguyenManhHungsaidthatin2020,after50yearsofbeingheldinmanydifferentcountries,theWorldTelecommunicationExhibitioncametoVietnamandstartedanew"life".Itwasrebornwithanewmissionandanewname,tobecometheDigitalWorldExhibition.ThisisaVietnameseinitiative,highlyappreciatedbytheITUanditsmembercountries.

Thenewnamereflectsthepowerfulsynergyoftelecommunications,informationtechnologyanddigitaltechnology.Theworldwillbemoreadaptable,moreresilient, with a better balance between the material and spiritual life, where globalization will be promoted through the contributions of each nation, as well as of all countries. Future development and growth will rely heavily on technology and innovation. All of that would be driven by digital technology. The Annual Digital World Exhibition therefore promotes the development and application of such digital technologies.

Digital infrastructure with "Make in Vietnam" digital products and platforms is ready for digital economy and digital society; to support a digital Vietnam. Importantly, Vietnamese technologies do not only address Vietnamese problems but also contribute to solving global problems. The foundations for this Online Exhibition and the technological solutions for the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, such as Bluezone, Ncovi, etc. are outstanding examples.

Technology businesses in Viet Nam and over the world have joined forces to build many digital platforms to support online exhibitions and seminars. This is the determination of the global ICT community in transforming to a digital environment. It is also the determination of Vietnam in digital transformation.

The Phuong