The Ten Major Projects of Taipeiand Better Living –The Taipei Cloud Computing Industrial Park
Work on the Taipei Cloud Computing Industrial Park (台北市云端产业园区), one of the Ten Major Projects of Taipei (台北新十大建设), was recently launched. The comprehensive blueprint covers everything from infrastructure to software services, raising intelligent living, industry, and talent to the next level.
Creating the Taipei Cloud Computing Industrial Park
Most of the dramatic and moving 3D scenes from director Ang Lee’s (李安) movie Life of Pi showing the main character floating adrift on the ocean were shot in Taiwan, and a key driver in the behind-the-scenes computer animation involved was Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom (中华电信). The tiger Richard Parker’s snarls and roars, swaying whiskers, and fur moving in synchronicity with its body movements are all so lifelike that viewers could easily forget he’s a 3D special effect. The lead 3D effects company for the film was Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), which has studios around the globe. To improve efficiency and lower costs, it wanted to integrate its worldwide array of studios as a single platform, and turned to Chunghwa Telecom as facilitator because of its exceptional cloud computing platform.
Realizing the tremendous value that cloud computing can bring to industry and cultural-creativity, the Taipei City Government began planning for the Taipei Cloud Computing Industrial Park in June last year. Recently the land on which the Neihu Flower Market (内湖花市) now stands was chosen for the site, framed by Ruiguang Road (瑞光路), Gangqian Road (港墘路), Zhouzi Street (洲子街), and Lane 393 of Ruiguang Road (瑞光路393巷). It is to be a BOT high-quality investment initiative, with three objectives.
The first is to establish a cloud computing industry center fulfilling such functions as providing infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). Figuratively, IaaS is like a house providing protection from the wind and rain and, inside, providing water, electricity, and air-conditioning. PaaS is like a table or desk, and SaaS is the various innovative services that have been created, placed on the tabletop. Examples of these are Facebook and the countless Apps now available.
The second objective is to set up an innovation incubator and exchange center, enabling industry interchange and incubation of innovative ideas, and promoting industry upgrading and transformation. The third objective is to establish a cloud computing personnel training center, for the cultivation of the professional talent required by the industry. Completion of the park is scheduled for 2017, and once in operation it’s expected to generate upwards of NT$40 billion in annual output value, promote the use of cloud computing services by 210,000 enterprises, and create 4,000 jobs.
Taipei City Mayor Hau Lungbin (郝龙斌) has said that Taipei is seeking perfection in its online network infrastructure. For example, the Fiber to the Home (光纤到府) initiative will achieve 80% coverage by 2015; homes can enjoy 100M Internet connections, and the Taipei Free service provides free wireless online connections throughout the city. The city of Taipei is an IT, finance, and service industry hub, with many large-scale enterprises and with 210,000 small and mid-sized businesses, and with the advent of the information age, business demand for data storage, online services, and Internet commerce will steadily increase. By setting up the Cloud Computing Industrial Park the Taipei City Government aims to create a high-quality environment so that all enterprises can share in the effort and the benefits. The city also has numerous universities, colleges, and research institutions nurturing capable personnel, all of whom will also play a role in the development of the local cloud computing industry.
Mayor Hau has also said that Taiwan’s culture, art, and popular music are second to none in the Chinese-speaking world, and that the Taipei Cloud Computing Industrial Park will coordinate with the local film, television, and music industries, nurturing talent and providing a dynamic spark and engendering deep-running “Taiwan currents.” The plan is to set up film, television, and music industry parks in Neihu, Dazhi (大直) and Beitou (北投), on a BOT basis. These parks, the mayor has said, will stimulate the integration of industry resources and nurture talent. The expectation is that this will enhance the international competitiveness of Taiwanese works, production teams, and performers.
The Discovery Center of Taipei and Plum Garden Discover Cloud Computing
Feeling lazy, but still want to get out and about to take in an interesting exhibition? Your answer – cloud virtual-reality navigation systems have been launched for both the Discovery Center of Taipei (台北探索馆) and Plum Garden (梅庭), a Taipei City heritage site. Taipei City Government’s Department of Information and Tourism (观光传播局) has established virtual-reality navigation services in Chinese, English, Spanish, Japanese and Korean, on-line and accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Just get your fingers moving, hook up to the Internet, and immerse yourself in the stimulating Discovery Center of Taipei and Plum Garden environments.
The Discovery Center of Taipei is spread over four floors. The first level features a large, eye-catching gauze screen on which video images are shown, the second is dedicated to a regular rotation of special exhibitions, the third helps visitors to understand the city, and the fourth takes visitors on a walkabout through Taipei historical time, witnessing the history of Taipei’s development. With the assistance of the cloud computing tour, you can enter the virtual Dialogue with Time Hall (时空对话厅; on the fourth floor of the Center) without leaving home. Click “Life Outside the City” and explore the lives of ordinary people who lived outside the old city walls, hunt for a small temple and draw divination lots, trying your luck online!
Plum Garden was built toward the end of the 1930s. It later served as the summer villa of Yu Youren (于右任), known as the master of cursive calligraphy during his time. Built in Japanese style, the basement has a bomb shelter, and the gypsum-plaster walls protect against fire, dust, mildew, bacteria, and humidity. The cloud computing tour service welcomes you to explore, among many other Yu Youren masterpieces, his “Din Tai Fung Oil Shop” (鼎泰丰油行) inscription. Today’s famous Din Tai Fung (鼎泰丰) restaurant chain started as an oil shop, morphing with changing economic times into today’s famed Chinese dumpling restaurant. The inscription has hung in the entrance to the Xinyi Road outlet of the restaurant for over 40 years, and is one of its most treasured assets.
The cloud has already become a portal for gazing at real life, and the Cloud Guide System of the Discovery Center of Taipei and Plum Garden (互动探索、数码梅庭云端导览系统) gives unlimited access to knowledge without the constraints of time or location. The Taipei Cloud Computing Industrial Park is painting a giant blueprint of industry, and allowing the financial, sci-tech, cultural-creative, and film/TV/music industries a share in the benefits. The park will offer the best hardware and the most dynamic human-resource training, and along with the creation of user-friendly software services, will turn the city into Taiwan’s Silicon Valley.
Cloud Guide System of the Discovery Center of Taipei and Plum Garden website: http://vr.taipeitravel.net
台北市云端产业园区
(discover taipei)