Generic Services – make VirtuHalls© happen
To make the VirtuHalls possible, a Generic Services layer is deployed. This is part of the VirtuHalls© contract. The portals and channels in the above paragraphs can not be provided without investments in generic services. When we closed the contract for VirtuHalls© the existence of these generic services was uncertain. Therefore the VirtuHalls© consortium agreed to bring them about. The following information has been gathered in an Interoperability Report (restricted), which was one of the deliverables of the VirtuHalls© project. Since that report was not created on the basis of the latest versions of the portals, we deviate from the report when describing the technology used.

"Enhanced Internet"

Enhanced Internet access in city-wide Intranet environments (including broadband access for end-users of interconnected city Intranets).

This generic service is mostly for information and communication services. They are targeted at all usergroups except companies. The services are for use over better than ISDN (possibly in a public kiosks). "Enhanced Internet" applications are fully functional on open (Web) sites. Access is sometimes open, but can also be with passwords or pairs of secrets. The information is free. Read the evidence reports for more about the technology we deployed. And check out examples like Residentie.Net, Dibis, and housing in Vienna.

There are recurring tasks, and they could be automated by intelligent agents. User-feedback can be acquired. User-profiling is not an option.

The trans-european consulting of information across cities is possible. The "Enhanced Internet" can be migrated and instanced in another City and used through several access cases. No ancillary providers are foreseen, besides the current providers.

"Enhanced TV"

An interactive channel on a new digital platform for radio- and TV distribution through settop boxes. Mediakabel invested heavily in making this new platform work. Check out their offline demo. Killer application so far is TV Mail. Read the evidence reports for more about the technology we deployed.

We even had a temporary test with an Enhanced TV application allows a user to choose a camera view from 4 live TV feeds. Also the user can call up background information on the TV screen. This application can be applied to allow views different camera angles in soccer/formula 1/golf matches. Or f.e. view backgrounds of politicians in live televised debates.

The use of Enhanced TV in VirtuHalls© is a contractual obligation, but has an important plus-value for the consortium. Through this deployment an extra content layer in "flat" TV channels, and an extra mode of access to European citizens is allowed.

This generic service is mostly for information and communication services. Important is the entertainment value. That should not be mistaken for "Enhanced TV is not a serious part of VirtuHalls©". Entertainment applications can be killer focuses for European user attention, and draw users to other information, communication and transaction functions.

They are targeted at citizens, pupils of schools, SMEs and cultural organisations. The access, of course, is "OpenTV and Viaccess". By definition access is on the cable network, which is some kind of Intranet. Access is by means of a smart card. The content is organised as full interaction (like Internet browsing), but also streaming, multi-protocol (f.e. TCP/IP capsule for DVB), and combinations of the above.

Fees are acquired through subscriptions by period (monthly subscription), subscription by events (access to special events at separate fees), and bundling (with other subscriptions). Payment is based on indirect links to banks and indirect links to the service which can be organised through the smartcard and/or issued password. The information is streaming video and other technologies typical for the set-top box mode.

There are no recurring tasks. User-feedback can be acquired. User-profiling is not an option.

The trans-european consulting of information across cities is possible (but only through special links, so it is possible, however unlikely). The "Enhanced TV" can be migrated and instanced in another City. Because of its nature different access cases are no option. No ancillary providers are foreseen, besides the current providers.

"Conversion technology"

Applications will be necessary to convert the information between platforms (Intranet, interactive Teletext, video layers, digital radio and TV, etc.). The conversion technology allows cross-platform application of the same investment. The "informed citizen" (Residentie.Net) application has become available over interactive teletext. It is important for Casema to make the treshold to interactive applications as low as possible. As virtually all its users have a touchtone telephone and a TV equipped with teletext, it was a logical step to create a solution to allow Web access (to Residentie.Net) over interactive teletext. More tools are in the making, investments go into Teletext2WAP solutions and even Teletext2database solutions. Read the evidence reports for more about the technology we deployed.

This generic service is mostly for communication services. They are targeted at citizens, pupils of schools and cultural organisations. The access, of course, is "Teletext and telephone". By definition access is on the cable network, which is some kind of Intranet. Access is free. The content is organised as full interaction (like Internet browsing). The return is not seen as commercial.

Information on intelligent agents does not apply.

The trans-european consulting of information across cities is possible (but only through special links, it is not currently used for commercial or socio-economic purposes). The "Conversion technology" can be migrated and instanced in another City. Because of its nature different access cases are no option. No ancillary providers are foreseen, besides the current providers.

"Surf the Happy Waves"

Free Internet access for defined groups of VirtuHalls© users, either by ordinary modems, or through CATV modems. There are two applications that have strong links with this happy application: Enhanced TV and France Telecom's FT Portal. The broad characteristics of "Surf the Happy Waves" (which is an integral part of the VirtuHalls© contract) are reported in the regular "Interoperability Reports". See the Casema Portal in The Hague for examples of "Surf the Happy Waves". Read the evidence reports for more about the technology we deployed.