Ubiquitous technology seen as Korea's best opportunity to lead global market In 2004, under the title "IT839," the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) phased in a new growth strategy of nurturing eight new services, three infrastructures and nine hardware-related businesses. The eight new services are: WiBro, DMB, home networks, Telematics, RFID-based, WCDMA, terrestrial DTV, and Internet telephony (VoIP) services and the three infrastructures are BcN, U-Sensor network and next-generation Internet protocol. The nine hardware-related businesses are next-generation mobile communications devices, digital TV/broadcasting devices, home network devices, IT SoC, next-generation PC, embedded SW, DC and SW solutions, telematics devices and intelligent service robots. In 2006, however, it streamlined the long-term plan, rearranging its portfolio - adding new prominent growth phases like IT services and soft infraware and BCS to the lineup - and renamed the plan "u- IT839." The new u-IT839 plan is expected to increase production by an annual average of 14.2 percent during the 2006-2010 period and create additional value of 266 trillion won during the cited period, a ministry spokesman said. The ministry plans to pursue the u- IT839 strategy by activating the market, strengthening software, parts and materials, actively coping with convergence between industries, and securing global leadership, he said. As a result of the implementation of the IT839 strategy since 2004, the WiBro (wireless broadband) system and the DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) transmission and reception system were successfully developed for the first time in the world and have been promoted as international standards. At the same time, the ministry has focused on the development of key IT components in the fields, including nextgeneration FTTH (fiber to the home) Internet, home network and nextgeneration PC. In addition, the foundation for futuristic infrastructures such as broadband convergence network, ubiquitous sensor network and IPv6 have been laid to prepare for a ubiquitous society. The ministry also helped prepare the best environment for introduction of the new services such as WiBro, DMB, telematics and Internet telephony services, thus providing a new growth momentum for the sluggish telecom market. On the other hand, efforts have been made to address the increasing adverse effects of the Internet. The ministry shortened the initial response time to Internet security breaches such as cyber terrorism to less than half an hour and reduced the average number of spam mails received per day from 50 in 2003 to 26.7 in early 2005. The IT industry in Korea has been faced with many challenges, including the slowdown in domestic and global economies, technology gap with advanced countries, fierce competition from developing countries such as China, and saturation of domestic demands. To advance informatization across the country, it is necessary to deal with the negative effects of informatization, such as privacy infringements, hacking and viruses and to bridge the digital divide. On the back of the achievements over the past two years, the IT839 strategy will be carried out as planned under the goal to increase per capita gross domestic product (GDP) to $20,000. First of all, pilot projects in the fields with huge ripple effects such as three cutting-edge infrastructures and telematics services will be launched. The pilot projects will develop service models, test and verify technologies and encourage investment from the private sector. At the same time, frameworks for the launch of new services such as operator selection, revision of regulations and technology development will be completed to create demands for related industries. In an effort to effectively implement the IT839 strategy, the government is focusing on technology development and standardization for new services while taking necessary measures to resolve the aggravating imbalance in the parts trade.