IP Communications

In may 2001, I was contracted to configure an IP based communication system for a company in Yuyao near Ningbo. I have implemented an email, online telephone, chatting and instant messaging systems.

Afterwards, I was enthusiastic about the Internet-based communication technologies. Over the next half a year or so, I have explored most technologies and products in this area, incl.:

1) online telephone - computer to computer, computer to telephone, telephone to computer and telephone to telephone.

2) online fax services, same combinations as the above

3) email systems esp. for voice and video transmissions

4) online chatting, incl. text based, voice enabled and with image transmission

5) SMS - short message services, message exchange between websites, handys and other mobile devices

At that there were still some companies providing with free services in some of the above areas. But now they all charge you.

Technologies of web-based telephone, fax and instant messages were my particular interests. By web-based telephone it is meant that you may talk to a guy by simply clicking the telephone number on his website.

Multimedia

Another area of my enthusiasms was the multimedia technologies. Here again took me more than a year to study and practices.

Back to 1999, I have already studied the VRML language for creating 3D images. And now, I have studied not only the 3D with its hundreds of products suppliers but also the real stream technologies developed by Microsoft (Windows Media), RealNetworks (RealMedia), Apple, IBM, Sun and other companies. I was able to turn a piece of video to real stream to be forecasted in the servers and to publish them on the Net.

PLC

PLC - Power Line Communications technologies was not known to me before joining the Zhoonghui Aeronautics company. This technology enables people to use the power lines or electric wires to connect to the Internet. Where there is power line there is Internet connection. What you need is to have a special modem and a computer. Plugin your modem into your power line plugs, turn on your computer, you are ready to surf on the Internet at as fast as 1 MB/s, same as ADSL. Prices: also the same as ADSL.

The technologies were not mature yet, in Europe, America, Japan and China as well. Commercialization has not yet started, probably because of the radio interferences the the power lines and the digital communications and other electric appliances at home. Probably because from the protest of the old, communication companies. I don't know exactly. From my side I see a bright future of the technologies. If this comes true, then Internet and Network will become much easier and cheaper, monopoly will be virtually impossible.

I was also planning to contact the service operators and modem manufacturers in Europe for joint operation and manufacturing in China. Of course I was also planning to work with local power utilities to execute the plan. In fact, some companies and research institutes under the former China State Power in China have been carrying out researches and tests for years and they are very successful. For example, the Fujian Electric Power Research Institute has already prototyped a modem with satisfactory tests in Beijing.

MIS - ERP, CRM, WebOA

MIS - Management Information System - is a very broad concept for information technology applications in all forms of entities, not just manufacturing companies. It is understood as using information technologies to improve the productivity, to improve the quality and efficiency and to reduce the cost.

Many companies have implemented as first step an OA based either on Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino via corporate Intranet or Extranet. Later people are more and more using simpler technologies such as ASP/Exchange Server/IIS to configure an OA either web-based or internal. Many IT service providers worked out specific solution packages for specific industries or government. These systems are basically a front end and a database server in the back. Information communications are realized mostly via HTTP, FTP over the net. No thinking was giving to integrate with other information systems like MRP II, ERP, CRM, SCM, EAM (Enterprise Asset Management)

I used to try to enter into this market while still in Shanghai. But I found they are too complicated for me. Before my business is getting big enough, it's impossible even to act as a solution provider, not talking about a developer. Nevertheless, learning some basics is still useful if later we need such a system or if we are planning to go into this field.

As to CRM, SCM (Supply Chain Management) and SRM (Supply Relations Management) there was a possibility. I had several years in marketing and sales, the these systems are less complicated than ERP, esp. they don't have the supplicated accounting modules and manufacturing modules. I can provide services like technical support, training, after-sales, localization and maintenance. However, my contacts with relevant vendors yielded nothing serious.

Databases

Oracle on Windows platform was my focus of database studies. As Oracle was rather a complex system, and runs only in a network environment for the agents, I purchased another computer in May 2000 to test the Oracle operation. I have gatherers some experiences in installation, Oracle Enterprise Manager, some programming and data manipulation, but I am not an experienced administrator nor a developer.

Linux and other Unix family OSs

I began to test Linux of various types (Redhat, Turbo, Redflag, Susan etc), FreeBSD, SCO Unix already in Shanghai but not so successful mainly because of the computer monitor resolution problems. Although capable of installing a Redhat 6.5, I was unable to adjust the screen resolution so that the characters were illegible. I forgot the tries and I could only retake my tests after purchasing my new computer which has no resolution problems with the Redhat 7.0 version.

Entering the Linux world things are getting more difficult but more interesting as well.

Software are not started up by double-clicking like the Windows executables. Installations of software is different too. You have to learn the commands for almost every operation. That's funny and more interesting than always double-clicking in Windows.

Now you have to configure a Java operation environment, a web server environment, a JSP/Servlet engines of various brands, various programming environment for PHP, Perl, Python, even ASP, a Microsoft technology but Linux-enabled by two developer. By integrating several packages you may run ASP codes under Apache server, the most popular servers for treating HTTP information exchange.

Under Linux, more and more companies are developing software for coding Java such as the Linux version of JBuilder of Borland. People are also developing applications which can handle Microsoft Office documents. StarOffice of Sun, HamOffice of a Korean companies. And There are even tools which make you run Windows-based software directly from Linux. I tried the wine but it was not so successful. These technologies are still under development and there's probably a long way to go before we can easily run Windows software from Linux.

The most excite aspect of using Linux than Windows is the sources of free software available in the Internet. Virtually all software for programming and entertainment are freely downloadable from the Internet. I don't need to go to the pirating CD shops and I have no needs to buy any books. In fact, I have never bought any IT books ever since March 2000. before that I have spent RMB 2000 on IT books alone. And most possibly I wouldn't buy any of them in the future too. Of course, with Internet, it's also reducing my bills in purchasing other books. But accessing the Internet is not cheap either. It costs me now 90 RMB a month, that's about 2 good books.

I am still working on Linux and on Java. Hopefully one day I will become a real Java expert. In my view, a Java expert is better than a President. I enjoy a private life and with some expertises I hope I can feel satisfied with my life easily. I am now not so ambitious as 3 years ago and much less than 20 years earlier.