Newham Council is supporting the development of a cross sector telematics (*1) partnership known as Newham Online. This partnership involves the Council, Computer Access, GPT, University of East London, Newham College of Further Education, Newham Recorder, Aston Charities Trust and most other organisations using telematics at the local level (Appendix 1). The development of a Newham Gateway and Extranet has been identified as the top priority by the partnership.

The project will: -

This project will co-ordinate the development of the Newham Gateway and Extranet, tasks that will require input and support from all the Newham Online partners. The Gateway will provide easy access to local information and services and will also provide access to the Newham extranet and the public information and online communication and development space it will provide. The Newham Gateway and Extranet are the foundations upon which Newham Online will create a digital city in the years to come.

With respect to the Newham Gateway the main work is the co-ordination of the information flows and networks needed to obtain, structure, present and maintain the information content. Much of this relates to obtaining commitment and understanding from people and organisations as well as persuading the technology to deliver what is intended.

The development of the extranet will be based on the linking of existing networks, the development of an appropriate shared network security system and providing public access. The work that we plan to undertake is groundbreaking as far as the UK is concerned and will be guided and supported by GPT a signed up partner to the project, the UK's leading supplier of telecommunications equipment and a world leader in communications service integration.

(*1) Telematics is a term used to describe the combined use of information and communication technologies.

From a marketing perspective Newham is a poor area and this results in reluctance by the private sector to invest in the local communications infrastructure. A trailing edge infrastructure decreases the attractiveness of the area for inward investment, provides few opportunities for local business and offers fewer opportunities for local people to gain jobs or skills in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. The Newham Gateway and Extranet are two key elements within a wider strategy aimed at using telematics as a tool to break this cycle of deprivation in Newham.

A Gateway is a term used to describe a site on the World Wide Web that exists primarily to provide simplified access to information about topics that is distributed over a number of different sites. At the most basic level they are little more than organised lists of links to resources, at a more advanced level they provide considerable added value to the source information. A good example of a gateway site can be seen at www.open.gov.uk. A very different example of a gateway site that indexes information for Northern Ireland and supports online trade is offered by www.globalgateway.com

The Newham Gateway will act as a showcase for and index of Newham generated content. It will also provide an entrance point to a network that will link local information providers and which will include online resources reserved for people who live, work or study in Newham.

The extranet is a much wider project of which the Newham Gateway is a key element, it is a network of networks that share common security conventions in order to make life easier for users. The extranet will use Internet protocols to create a virtual private network. There are many opportunities that arise from this development including establishing a facility to ensure that local traffic is routed locally, taking as a model the UK based LINX system that ensures UK internet traffic is not routed via the USA (www.linx.com). Other developments could include local caching systems to ensure that unnecessary consumption of Internet bandwidth is avoided and that quicker response times are achieved. There is also the possibility of organising bulk purchase of Internet connectivity thereby making considerable savings for the partnership members.

The extranet will include all services and information provided by the partners in Newham Online as well as whatever resources we manage to secure for use by local people to develop their own home pages, clubs, online business and shops. The domain Newham.net has been registered for use once the extranet is established. Conventions within the extranet make life easier and more productive for users. The intent is that most local users of the Internet will choose to spend a considerable proportion of their online time within the Newham extranet and will establish a locally based community and market within cyberspace. The extranet will link to wider networks such as the ELLV Teleregion, so as to market local services.

The project will consist of a research and initial development phase that will cover the period from Jan '98 to December '98 and a deployment and development phase from Jan '99 to Dec. '99.

The Newham Gateway and Extranet will primarily benefit those who live, work and study in Newham though it will also benefit those visiting the area, trading in it or providing services within it. The mapping of a "digital Newham" onto the geographical Newham represents our conviction of the importance of locality in the development of telematics and leverages the existing investment and expertise of Newham Council. Of course Newham is not an island in the real world or the virtual. It is a key element of our plans that the Newham extranet will be embedded within the East London and Lee Valley Teleregion, a future Metropolitan Area Network and the wider Internet.

The project will have a real world base in the St. Luke's Social Enterprise Centre in Canning Town. Basing the office premises of Newham Online within the poorest area of the borough provides evidence of our commitment that these technologies should support social inclusion rather than provide yet another barrier. There are other advantages to the position including the fact that the Centre has an appropriate communications infrastructure, is very near the site of the new International Exhibition Centre and is at the focus of Health and Education Action areas. It is within the Objective 2 area.

Although the Newham Gateway and Extranet will by definition benefit the whole of the borough those parts of the project that provide specific free support and services to local firms in online trading and promotion will be restricted to those based in the Objective 2 area.

Newham Online's Steering Committee will oversee the project on behalf of the partnership. The Project Manager will be Richard Steel, head of Newham Council's IT services department and Vice Chair of Newham Online. The work required to implement the work plan will be carried out mainly by personnel employed by, and students associated with, the partner organisations. The work of these project teams will be co-ordinated by Richard Stubbs in the role of Project Co-ordinator and Executive Director of Newham Online.

The planning and management of the project will be primarily conducted online using a project web site and mailing list established for the purpose. Regular Steering Committee meetings will supplement the online project management.

The Newham Online partners are committed to providing the resources needed to deliver this project and all will be responsible for provision of information and contacts however additional contributions are being made by the following:-

Marketing and promotion of the project fits into Newham Online's outline marketing strategy. Initial work is focussed on key organisational users of telematics in Newham. Research and development for this is being carried out by two MBA students from the University of East London, production of promotional materials will be carried out by Newham Council's Design Department and the NetandBeyond.

Promotion and marketing to the business market will rely initially on word of mouth recommendation using existing networks based around Newham Chamber of Commerce, UEL and Newham College of Further Education. We will also ensure that all the Pathway Partnerships are fully informed of our intentions. We will use the offer of ten free interactive trading sites (see below) as a focus for more public promotion to the business market and once these have started to be established follow up with promotion of the further 190 sites.

In terms of the general public until such time as the gateway and extranet are up and running we will limit promotion to an attempt to build up a local index of eMail users and to develop a local user network. General publicity will be provided through the Newham Recorder and the Newham News.

For an initiative of this type online promotion and marketing is important and this will be a key responsibility of all partner organisations. In addition we will continue to promote our work through the UK Communities Online network so as to maintain our national profile in this area.

The partners in Newham Online recognise that the Council has a leading role in promoting, implementing and interpreting the principles upon which the partnership is based and this bid is made by the Council in order to assist the partnership in its development. The Newham Gateway will be developed jointly by the Newham Online partners who will ensure that information on all the key telematics projects that they are involved in is made available via the Gateway.

The Newham Gateway and Extranet project has synergy with all other local telematics projects in that it aims to provide local people with a first point of access to all local services and information as well as sign-posting key external sources. It also aims to provide a shop window for Newham to the rest of the world. The project will build on the development of the East London and Lee Valley Teleregion providing a model for how local extranets will link with regional ones, in addition the Newham Gateway will be enhanced by linking to similar geographically based gateways across the region..

The opportunity to develop local expertise and products based on the broadband technology offered by the Teleregion will be a focus for applications development.. The Newham Gateway will link into the IBIS teleregion project and the ELLV GIS property database. Finally the Teleregion will link with the UKERNA SuperJanet Network thereby greatly enhancing the national access to the Newham Gateway. A further network development that will be explored will be linking the Extranet and the Teleregion to GPT's Fibreway broadband network.

Other EU projects that have synergy with this project are ATTACH, INTEGRA and ADAPT. The Attach kiosks will provide a public access route to the extranet.

The key non EU project that has synergy with this initiative is the range of telematics projects being undertaken by LBN including the development of the Council intranet, Local Service Centres, AddressPoint and the Customer database. The Gateway and extranet will be developed so as to enable an individual to locate the services that they want from the supplier they want whether that be the public, private, academic or voluntary sector. As the main service provider it is appropriate that the Council takes a lead in supporting the development of this integrated approach.

The Borough's SRB projects will be kept informed of developments and used as a means of publicising and promoting the initiative. It is anticipated that various SRB's will back local telematics projects that will be developed within the context offered by the extranet and gateway.

At the national level the development has synergy with the DTI supported UK Communities Online initiative. Newham is one of the national test-bed sites adopted by UK Communities Online, which will ensure that the lessons learnt in Newham will be speedily made available for other locally focussed telematics initiatives in the UK.

As described below the project is closely associated with the national, private sector led, Internet Gateway initiative which is applying for support under ESPRIT.

GPT, the main private sector partner, is the leading telecommunications supplier in the UK and is a British company with a turnover in access of £1 billion that operates in 130 countries. (www.gpt.co.uk) GPT is the world leader in SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy systems), a leader in smart card technology and a leader in communications service integration. GPT has committed to working with the Newham Online partnership as its UK pilot aimed at understanding the potential for community networking (a local telematics infrastructure supporting local applications) in a high density urban environment. GPT will assist the Newham Online partnership through provision of technical expertise, business planning, legal advice and marketing. It has allocated a member of staff to co-ordinate GPT's input into the project. Except for its direct financial contribution to the costs of co-ordination the value of GPT's contribution to the project has not been quantified in this application.

Internet Gateway, a company developing a national gateway service in collaboration with the AA and Experian, is working in close association with this initiative as it is interested in how a leading edge local gateway can fit into its proposed national gateway. This national initiative would help focus national and international attention on the Newham Gateway. Internet Gateway is offering national contacts and technical advice. It is currently considering locating in Newham.

The NetandBeyond is a small local company that runs a cybercafe, networking and web design business. It is an enthusiastic Newham Online partner and is offering multimedia development, technical support and online promotion.

The above contributions are being offered freely and do not appear in the project costings. No decision has been made as to the provider of the online trading system but this is a real cost within the project. The estimate included is based on a quote given by Digitrade a local company specialising in supplying and tailoring the industry leading Intertrade system.

Given the backing of the UK's leading telecommunications company we are confident of our technical capability. Hence the main risk to delivery of the Newham Extranet is it taking longer than anticipated to secure agreement of common standards by the partners. This risk is reduced by establishing the extranet with agreement of the main partners only and then offering access to others on the basis that they adopt the standards already agreed.

Some of the major potential benefits of establishing the Extranet, such as reduced costs and high local use, are only indirect outputs of the development project and hence are not delivery risks of the project but of any networking company that is created as a result.

Establishment of the Newham Gateway is not so much a technical problem as a "political" one in that it requires agreement of all the partners. The risk is that there is a significant disagreement within the wider partnership as to implementation of the Gateway. Nevertheless the project can be delivered at various degrees of complexity and given the existing commitments of the Newham Online partners it is hard to see the project not being achieved.

There is a significant risk associated with the online trading aspect of the project. As has been explained previously the Gateway and Extranet are essential elements in creating an online community and market place. It follows that as these will have only just been put in place at the point that the free interactive trading is launched it is improbable that there will be a commercial benefit to companies in the short term. The risk is that insufficient companies are willing to suffer the short term costs needed to come to terms with electronic trading. There is also a danger of them becoming disillusioned as a result of unrealistic expectations. These risks will be reduced by being very clear about the costs and likely benefits at the beginning, reducing costs to the companies and arranging offline publicity and promotion as a result of a company's participation.

The Newham Online partnership intends that by the year 2005 Newham will be recognised as the leading UK centre for information and communication technologies in terms of both its commercial exploitation and its use to benefit the local community. The Newham Gateway and Extranet are key elements in Newham Online's strategy.

The Newham Gateway and Extranet project aims to create the conditions in which existing economic activity may be sustained, developed and expanded by making it easier for local people to buy goods and services locally. It will achieve this through developing an online space that is easy to use, secure and trusted in which people will be able to find information, communicate, learn, have fun, experiment and trade. The project will raise awareness of the Information Society and encourage and support increased uptake and commercial application of advanced telematics by SMEs through provision of a supportive environment and the development of an online local market place. It will help SMEs to protect and develop their local markets whilst acquiring the skills needed to compete in the information age.

Newham Online's unique cross sector telematics development will attract, support and sustain increased investment particularly by companies in the technology and media industries. The involvement of the schools, youth service, college, university, TEC, voluntary sector training organisations, and adult education in the partnership will make it easier for local people to locate sources of training and expertise that meets their needs.

The general aims of the Newham Gateway are to:-

Newham Online is investigating the benefits of establishing a network management company to act as both an internet service provider and an independent service provider (as defined by Oftel).

Newham Online has agreed the following objectives for its work in this area:-

The development of the Net in the US supported the development of local online services and local connectivity as it was based on a myriad of local Internet Service Providers. This pattern will not be repeated in the UK unless it is actively promoted, as the economic and technical reasons for the US pattern of development do not apply.

It can be argued that for the UK the deployment of telematics is equivalent to building roads for import penetration from US warehouses to individual consumers with credit cards and set top boxes. Given US dominance in hardware, software and online commerce this is not easy to ridicule and the threat that online companies such as amazon.com pose to local trading is already real.

In order to counter the threat posed to local markets by US companies that are experienced users of eCommerce the UK needs to develop online commerce at a local level. This will require the development of the physical infrastructure, the ability to use it and the desire to use it. The intention of this project is to create an online space that most local people will choose to use thereby fulfilling a necessary role in the development of a local online market.

A web site is much cheaper to run than shop premises and has a far wider potential market. The online store can have 7 days a week 24 hours access - it will always be open when a customer wants to buy. Customers can easily find what they want and complete the online forms necessary to purchase it thus cutting out a whole range of service requirements whilst at the same time increasing the convenience for the customer. Indeed the costs per transaction are normally a matter of pennies. Marketing is improved by the ability to build up customer profiles and target particular sub sectors for eMail offers, such promotions have a negligible cost. If the business is computerised it is possible to cut costs further by integrating inventory, accounting and shipping software thus cutting down further on administration. An online shop allows a producer to sell direct to a customer rather than using an intermediary which can be of benefit to companies that are higher up the supply chain, though at a cost to local retailers.

An example of the comparative costs of transacting business in different ways is given by a Datamonitor report on the insurance business. Marketing expense to sales ratio are as follows:- agency sales force (21%), direct marketing (18%), direct response (10%) and Internet (5%).

A recent analysis of extranet projects conducted by IBM found that the average return on investment for such projects was 117%.

The main reason the Council is supporting the Newham Online development is that it plans to use the Internet as a means of providing cheaper and more responsive Council services to local residents. The strategy is that the Borough's intranet is used to support officers working in six local service centres. Officers in these Centres will be able to access information on all services offered by the Council and will be able to access information held by the Council about specific individuals and their transactions with the Council. Subsequently it is intended that individuals will be able to use public access points and the extranet to gain this information for themselves without the need to visit a Centre.

The Newham Online strategy has synergy with the Council's strategy in that its implementation will get far more local people to use telematics for local benefit than would otherwise happen. Success will result in a greater percentage of people willing and able to use online technologies to access local services offered by the Council and others. This should result in less duplication, cheaper and more responsive services. See Appendix 3 for details on Newham Council's IT developments.

Newham Online's cross sector approach aims to create a digital city in which people can learn, find out information, communicate, have fun and do business. Until a critical mass of local online users is achieved local online trading will be primarily about learning and positioning rather than profit. No Newham based SME is currently trading on the Internet though a very few have basic web sites. There is no local online consumer market and, as far as we are aware, no local Internet based supply chain networks. The Newham Gateway and Extranet is a first step towards creating these markets.

Newham Online's Steering Committee is responsible for directing the project. The Steering Committee has approved the project brief and during the course of the project shall receive bi-monthly reports from the Project Manager. It will manage stage boundaries, exceptions to agreed plans, oversee quality issues, agree the end of project report and make recommendations on follow up activity.

The Project Manager will oversee the staged progress of the project, compare performance against plan, approve expenditure and oversee the work of the Project Co-ordinator. He will make bi-monthly reports on progress to the Steering Committee and ensure that an end of Project report is produced and that all necessary records are retained safely. The Project Co-ordinator will be responsible for the day to day running of the project, ensuring that the Project Teams carry out tasks according to plan. He will give regular progress reports on the achievements of the Project Teams to the Project Manager.

Project teams will be established by the Project Co-ordinator in the areas of organisational development, infrastructure development, content development and user development.

Michael Mulquin is the Chair of the Newham Online partnership. He is employed as Executive Director of UK Communities Online a national non-profit body that exists to demonstrate how the new information and communication technologies can be harnessed for the benefit of all by focusing on locality. UKCO is a partner in the Government's IT for all initiative and is backed by IBM. Michael is in touch with a wide range of locally focussed telematics initiative both in the UK and internationally and can help ensure that the Newham Gateway and Extranet are developed using the best current thinking of this network.

In terms of committee experience Michael served three years as a trustee of the National Urban Forum and helped establish both the Pan London Community Regeneration Consortium and the London Regeneration Network.

Michael is a resident of Newham and has worked in the borough for nearly 10 years.

Richard started his IT career in computer operations for a merchant bank. During his 24 years in the industry he has gained extensive experience in IT management including Operations, Communications, Technical Support and Bureau Services.

Currently, he is Head of IT Contract Services for the London Borough of Newham, where he has been instrumental in the development of CCS (Computing and Communications Services). CCS, "IT Department of the Year 1997", was the first local government organisation to gain ISO 9001 certification (includes TickIT) for all of its services. It has led the field in the development of corporate IT services, has operated its own PC hardware and software dealerships for over five years and is a Microsoft "Solutions Provider".

Although Richard’s major role is that of corporate IT Contracts Manager for Newham Council, in the last 2 ½ years, a significant amount of his time has been occupied in co-ordinating Newham’s involvement in Public Information Services projects. He is Technical Co-ordinator of the ATTACH Community Access system, a member of the East London & Lee Valley Teleregion Advisory Group and Vice-Chair of Newham Online. Richard also plays a leading role in the Council’s pursuit of an ambitious "Local Service Strategy" which incorporates Document Image Processing/ Corporate Integrated Database and Data Warehouse.

Project Co-ordinator - Richard Stubbs

Richard Stubbs is the initiator and project co-ordinator of the Newham Online partnership and has been working part time for the project since its inaugural meeting in October '97. Richard has lived and worked in Newham for over 20 years and has an extensive background in community and economic development and has specialised in promoting partnership initiatives with the private sector. Richard has also worked for five years as a computer consultant and has experience in a wide range of software applications. From '95-'98 he worked part time with the Custom House and Canning Town Community Renewal Project where he played a leading role in the development of a £2.3 million refurbishment of a grade 2 listed building to provide a social enterprise centre. Richard was one of the initiators of the DTI backed UK Communities Online (www.communities.org.uk), is Chair of UK Citizen's Online Democracy (www.democracy.org.uk) and is a member of the UK Futures Group (www.futures.org.uk)

The project brief outlines quality and effectiveness measures for the various key stages of the project and these will be developed further prior to commencement of each stage and will be agreed by the Steering Committee. Completion reports on the various stages will identify any problem areas with respect to meeting quality or effectiveness targets. The final project report will include an independent assessment of quality and effectiveness and highlight the lesson learned.

The project workplan is broken down into four sections. Organisational development covers project organisation and the development of a networking company. Infrastructure development covers the physical development of the network and the deployment of network based software applications that result in the creation of the Newham Extranet. Content development covers the organisation and structuring of content and the processes necessary to develop the Newham Gateway. User development covers the processes necessary to ensure that users are involved at all stages of the development of the project.

Marketing to key organisational users of telematics (Jan '98 - Dec '98)

This phase of the marketing plan aims to secure commitment to Newham Online's from all key organisational users of telematics operating in Newham. A basic level of commitment is evidenced by participation of a representative of the organisation in Newham Online mailing lists and meetings. In addition formal organisational commitment to Newham Online's vision, commitment and values statement will be sought from Newham based bodies. The numbers of organisations involved and their relevance to Newham Online's objectives will measure effectiveness. Quality will be measured by a survey of the views of these organisations as to the relevance of Newham Online to their organisation at Dec '98 at Dec '99.

Project web site - (Jan '98 ongoing)

Establishment and ongoing maintenance and enhancement of web site to support the work of the project partners. Effectiveness will be measured by the degree to which partners contribute material to the web site and use it to support their Newham Online involvement. Quality measured by survey of the views of these organisations as to the relevance of the web site to their involvement in Newham Online as at Dec '98 and Dec '99.

Project Mailing lists (Jan '98 ongoing)

Establishment and ongoing management of mailing lists to support the work of project partners. Effectiveness will be measured by degree to which partners use the lists to support their Newham Online involvement. Quality measured by survey of the views of these organisations as to the relevance of the mailing lists to their involvement in Newham Online as at Dec '98 at Dec '99.

Partners' Conference (July '98)

Promotion of public awareness and for project partners to re-affirm their commitment to the strategy. Effectiveness measured by number of people and organisations attending as a percentage of those already involved. Quality assessed by survey of participants.

Marketing strategy and materials (May '98 - Sept '98)

Development of a strategy for Newham Online's marketing and development of an identity that can include the network company, the gateway, a content development project, a user network, a digital city, a campaign and an organisation. It is likely that the various aspects of Newham Online will have separate identities but there is a need for a common theme to identify them as all being part of the same initiative.

Review of legislative issues (July - Aug '98)

Review of potential legislative barriers to establishment of a local ISP and Independent Service Provider involving the Council and other key partners. To include a review of the legalities relating to the installation of networks between buildings linked by cable, wireless or otherwise. Identify options for a legal framework for such a company. Production of a report for consideration by Newham Online partners. Effectiveness and quality reviewed by reference to Oftel and in December '99

Local ISP & independent service provider business plan (Sept - Oct '98)

Development of business plan for establishment of company to develop and manage the Newham extranet. If it is assessed that there are better options for managing the extranet than creating a new company then this will be stated and full details of the best alternative provided. Production of a report for consideration by Newham Online partners. Effectiveness gauged by key partners agreeing to form such a company or by agreeing to follow the alternative suggested.

Project Launch Conference (Oct '98)

Public meeting held to widen understanding and awareness of Newham Online's proposals. Will focus on the Objective 2 funded Gateway and extranet project. Effectiveness measured by number of people and different organisations attending as a percentage of those already involved also be quality of newspaper coverage of event. Quality assessed by survey of participants.

Establish networking company or implement alternative (Jan '99)

Legal registration of company. Note that the partners may decide an alternative means for managing the extranet in which case the networking company may not be registered.

Project report including impact assessment (Jan - Mar 2000)

The development of the Newham Online project will be independently monitored and a report on its impact will be produced by March 2000.

Network audit (July - Aug '98)

Identification of existing network capability, usage and security. Review of network based software applications. Production of a report on this for consideration by Newham Online partners. Effectiveness and quality reviewed in Dec '99.

Network development plan (Sept - Oct '98)

Identification of options for upgrading and integrating local TELEMATICS networks at both hardware and software level. Identify preferred development options. Production of a report for consideration by Newham Online partners. Effectiveness and quality reviewed in December '99

Newham extranet - setup (Oct '98 - Dec '98)

Implementation of essential pre launch plans as identified in Network development plan. Aim is to provide core functionality identified as an essential pre-requisite to launch. Effectiveness and quality assessed by capability of system to support deployment phase.

Newham extranet deployment and development (Jan '99 onwards)

Launch and deployment of newham.net extranet. Development of network aware software applications to support the applications and content development plan. Effectiveness gauged by the number of Newham Online partners joining the extranet by Dec '99. Effectiveness and quality also assessed by survey of partners in December '99. Effectiveness gauged by percentage of internet users in Newham who are aware of and have used the Newham extranet by Dec. '99.

Information and communications audit (April - Aug '98)

Identification of all key organisational users of TELEMATICS in Newham through advertisement, research and through word of mouth. Production of a report for consideration by Newham Online. Effectiveness assessed in December '99 through reviewing those identified in intervening period.

Applications and content development plan (Sept '98)

Creation of a plan for deployment of network applications over the extranet taking into account the critical mass of users required, the capability of the extranet to support the application and the demand for the proposed service by content providers. The effectiveness of the plan will be reviewed in the light of experience of its implementation in the period to Dec. '99

Applications and content development (Oct '98 - onwards)

Development and deployment of applications identified within the development plan. This process will be co-ordinated by Newham Online. Procedures for measuring quality and effectiveness will be built into the development plan for each separate project.

Gateway site interface design (June '98 - Sept '98)

A requirement specification for the Gateway will be produced. Mock-ups of the gateway site will be produced and tested on potential users. A version will be selected for development. Quality and effectiveness of the selected version will be assessed initially by the user feedback.

Gateway site prototype development (Oct '98 - Dec '98)

A prototype will be developed and tested. It will utilise the information gathered in the information and communications audit and take into account the applications and content development plan. Quality and effectiveness will be assessed by information provider and user feedback at the launch of the site.

Newham Gateway site launch and development (Jan '99 onwards)

A basic version of the site will be launched and will be a continuing focus for development. It will be integrated into the extranet to which it will act as the point of entry. Effectiveness of the Newham Gateway site will be gauged by percentage of internet users in Newham who are aware of, have used and regularly use the Newham Gateway site by Dec. '99. Quality will be assessed by an information provider and user survey in Dec '99

10 local companies using interactive online trading (July - Mar '99)

Ten local companies will be selected to provide practical examples of local interactive online trading and supported in its deployment. The companies will be chosen according to their enthusiasm and to ensure a wide range of types of business. The companies will not be chosen so as to maximise the amount of local online trading as this would probably result is a far less diverse group of companies being chosen. The companies will form a trading precinct within the Newham extranet. A report on the experiment will be produced in Mar '99 along with proposals for further local development of online trading. The effectiveness of this aspect of the project will be measured by the degree to which it increases local awareness of online trading opportunities and through the views of the companies concerned as assessed at Dec '98 and Dec '99.

200 local companies online (Jan '99 - Dec '99)

A marketing campaign will be used to promote online trading and a free web presence within the extranet will be provided to a further 180 local companies. Where appropriate these companies will be encouraged to join those trading in the precinct and given the necessary information to enable them to do so however they will have to pay the standard commercial price for this service (probably around £1,500 if consultancy is included). Mailing lists will be established to support contacts between local companies and to encourage regular use of eMail. Effectiveness and quality will be assessed by survey in Dec. '99.

Identify individual users (June '98 - ongoing)

Advertise in local papers and ask internet users who live, work or study in Newham to register their details with Newham Online, a means for this to be done online will be developed.

User mailing lists (June '98)

Provide a means for users to network amongst themselves and to contribute to the development of the Newham Online initiative.

User needs, testing and feedback (July '98 - ongoing)

Involve users in assessing their needs and priorities for services, involve them in the testing of Newham Online services, provide a means for public and private user feedback on such services.

The Newham Gateway and Extranet are being designed to be economically self -sustaining. The preparation of a business plan with respect to the management and service opportunities arising from the extranet is a key element of the funded project. The intention is that the networking company will run services that create profits that will be used to improve both access and content. The market for online services will grow independent of any efforts made by Newham Online however we intend to recycle the profits created by this market growth so as to invest in infrastructure, content development and people.

It is premature to detail the network services that will be developed and offered however the value of a network increases as the network grows. The partnership intends to offer access that is free at the point of use to individual users and not for profit organisations but aims to charge a commercial rate to "for profit" companies and to charge at cost to public sector bodies. The overall intention is to create a jointly owned, profitable enterprise that will re-invest locally.

It is probable that the networking company will hold licences and own the switches and routers that will underpin the deployment of the extranet. In addition to the value created through the extranet there are market opportunities with respect to telephony over TCP/IP, resale of Internet access, online shopping malls, utility bulk purchase and bill settlement.

The Newham Gateway will provide the prime advertising location in virtual Newham. It will be the point of access to the extranet so it will be visited every time someone uses any of the extranet services. Once the extranet is deployed it should be possible to pay for ongoing maintenance and development of the Gateway site through advertising revenue. An alternative model that will be explored is whether the Gateway can be funded via surpluses made by the Networking Company thereby avoiding the need for reliance on advertising income.