Wherever I travel in the world today, government and business leaders are interested in technology. They want to know how it can help their country compete in the fast-approaching information age. They wonder how they will develop the infrastructure. And they worry about how it will change their local cultures. No one has easy answers for all these questions, and many countries (including the United States) are struggling to formulate an overall approach.

This week I will be traveling in Southeast Asia, and it's exciting to see the hard thinking and long-term planning that countries are doing to put technology at the heart of their efforts to become fully developed nations.

One of the many great things about the IT industry is that it does not create a win-lose situation. If Singapore develops faster than other countries, it doesn't mean that they "win" and everyone else "loses," only that the region will be stronger when they all catch up. IT will make the entire region stronger. In fact, I think countries throughout the region can learn much from one another, and they will all benefit. A connected economy reaches critical mass only when
everyone is connected.

Like many other emerging economies in the region, Thailand has moved from an agricultural to industrial base in the last 20 years. The country's leadership, despite the current short-term regional economic downturn, is starting to do the planning necessary to get to another, bigger transition by developing high-productivity information-based industries for the next century.

Although Thailand is in earlier stages of development compared to some of its regional neighbors, I think they are showing great progress through the research done on Software Park, and more recently in the protection of Intellectual Property rights. This is a good time for
Thailand to think about what it wants to achieve and how technology can be used to the benefit of the population.

During my trip, I'll be talking a lot about two approaches that I have called the "digital nervous system" and the "Web lifestyle." These are ways to use technology to create greater efficiencies in government operations, to serve citizens better, to improve and broaden education, and to help businesses compete globally.

The digital nervous system is my term for how governments and business can use technology to provide better and richer information for everyone. For countries as a whole, it helps to improve the way people live, learn and work. Providing better and faster services, publishing information for citizens, providing access to knowledge from all over the world - these are all benefits of a digital nervous system.

A clear example that we have seen in a Malaysian organization is Tenaga Nasional Berhad's Customer Service Division's (CSD) Call Management Center (CMC). Using MS Exchange, CSD has built a power outage reporting and tracking system that is accessible nationwide. This results in closer supervision by experienced engineers and the management team, thereby ensuring customers' complaints are attended to on a timely basis.

The Web lifestyle is the same technology seen from the consumer or citizen's side-conducting business with governments and private firms online, quickly and easily, from work or home.

Today, 85 interactive applications are available on Singapore One, ranging from leisure and travel services to education (including interactive language courses) to a variety of specialty shopping venues. The National Computer Board sees the Internet as a way to create electronic "discount malls" that provides custom services to consumers without the high costs of shop space - since land is at a premium in Singapore. Already, at least one store accepts electronic orders and delivers groceries directly to customers.

If Thailand can use the combination of PCs, the Internet, and email technologies appropriately, the country will have an efficient "digital nervous system" behind the scenes to handle internal government transactions and external transactions with citizens efficiently. Citizens will be able to adopt the "Web lifestyle" to conduct business with the government without having to visit many different government offices.

I anticipate that over time, these initiatives will help to stimulate local business and enable local businesses to compete in the region and worldwide. They apply not just to large businesses or high- technology businesses. They can help small businesses become much more efficient and productive, and expand - without having to invest substantially - to reach new customers. They can help farmers to get information quickly on weather, commodity prices, and technical research on agriculture, to improve crops and get better prices.

Governments need to ensure that intellectual property is protected on the Internet, and I am very happy to see that Thailand has taken a step in doing this by establishing an Intellectual Property Court to raise awareness of legal software use. This is very important if you are to expect international companies to invest in Thailand.

If the law does not protect interesting and useful content from plagiarism and other unauthorized uses, authors will be unwilling to provide it. Consumers and users need to understand that the protection of intellectual property benefits everyone. It means that a local community whose livelihood is derived from developing intellectual property can thrive.

Governments also must let innovation flourish without heavy government regulation. Unlike the telecommunications and broadcast industries, which are limited by the number of frequencies available in each region, the Internet provides unlimited opportunities for content providers, and the cost of delivering content is relatively low.

Telecommunications deregulation is another important action to bring down costs and improve capabilities by fostering competition. Governments also need to ensure that private information can be protected. Smart cards are the best answer to this problem for citizen-type services. Users need some way to securely identify themselves when they are trying to access data such as information on benefits or taxes, or to receive benefits. At the same time, citizens are concerned that too much information about them could be placed on a single card.

Businesses and citizens also need to be able to send financial transactions across the Internet securely. Buyers want to be sure no one but the seller can get to the credit-card information, for instance, and sellers want to be sure the buyers are who they claim they to be, before shipping an order. Every country must ensure that proper encryption standards are in place to protect the confidentiality of a wide range of financial, commercial and personal data traveling through an open network, and that the servers where the information is stored are secure from break-in.

Local companies that develop this expertise will be able to take advantage of the Microsoft business model. Because we provide a software platform, our success requires a diverse local work force - hardware, software, service and support companies. This means the community is served by many competitive local providers, rather than just one.

In addition to providing a broad platform that fosters a vibrant marketplace, we also have a role to play in helping develop the skills of the third-party community. We look forward to working with business and government in Thailand to further these goals. I am excited over Thailand's progress.