By: Jenise Ferlance, SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Much fun, excitement and technology filled the Independence Square today (June 10) as the Caribbean Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Roadshow hosted an ‘ICT Village’.

The ICT Village was an exposition of ICT products, services and educational fora, and businesses in the realm of information and communication technology were able to showcase some of their products and services.

Some of the businesses that were on display included Advanced Vocational Educational Center (AVEC), which demonstrated the use of the Smart Board; Dancebeat Records, which displayed a variety of CDs that can be found on their website www.caribbeandownload.com.

LIME and Digicel both showcased a number of cellular phones up for sale, and persons were able to learn more about the services they provide, while Techsperts displayed some of their products that are available and persons with computers that needed repairing were able to get free assistance.

Presentations were made by ICT’s Business Development and Operations Manager Rodney Taylor and Trinidad’s Mobomess Managing Director Akhenaton LaBorde.

Taylor’s presentation was entitled ‘Cool Tech Tools’. In it he explained the significance and uses of a number of websites including www.googleearth.com, a world map where one can locate any geographical location; www.youtube.com, a website where persons can share or search for a wide array of music videos, movie clips, documentaries and educational videos; www.box.net where documents, media and all contents are stored online, so that they can be accessed, managed and shared from anywhere; www.skype.com, a free place to video chat with friends and loved ones.

LaBorde’s presentation was called ‘Power is in your hands’, and he explained some of the powerful applications that a BlackBerry Smartphone is capable of doing, most of which are unknown to many users.

Musical entertainment and refreshments were provided throughout the day and lots of giveaways were to the public’s avail.

Speaking with Rodney Taylor, he expressed that he was very pleased with the turnout of both the participants and the public, and that the ICT Village was a major success.

Chris Herbert of the National ICT Centre explained that, at first, he was very much concerned about how successful the ICT Village would be as many persons do not appear to have much interest in technology. However, his concern turned into amazement upon seeing the vast amount of people who not only showed up to view the products on display, but they also showed interest in learning about them.

Apart from the ICT Village, the Roadshow, under the theme “Harnessing the power of Innovation: the engine for ICT-enabled development”, provides a week of free technology training and educational activities as well as expert workshops.

Other upcoming events include an Internet Governance Workshop that will be held on June 14-15, where a wide range of schools, private and public sector personnel as well as civil society groups are expected to participate. Community outreach programmes throughout the Federation have also been promised.

The Roadshow will be travelling to Nevis on June 15.

The Roadshow is coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), in cooperation with the European Union-funded ICT for Education, Diversification and Competitiveness (ICT4EDC) programme and supported by the government of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The CTU is a regional inter-governmental organisation based in Trinidad and Tobago. It has designed the Caribbean ICT Roadshow specifically to educate, raise public awareness and establish strategic programmes to foster innovative and beneficial use of information and communication technology to Caribbean citizens.

The British Virgin Islands launched its Internet Exchange Point (BVIX) on 2nd June 2011. It is the first British Overseas Caribbean territory to establish an IXP.

• The Government's demonstrated political will

• The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority's shepherding of the process and

• Stakeholders who were committed to the process.

Also on hand for the occasion was Mr. Bevil Wooding, Internet Specialist from Packet Clearing House which provided equipment, technical and policy advice for the IXP.

The Secretary General offered sincere congratulations to the IXP partners for collaborating on a matter of mutual benefit with implications for national development. It demonstrates that competitors in the same space can work together in the national interest.

Communities across the Federation to benefit from Week of Technology Events

Basseterre, St Kitts. 23 May 2011.

The Federation of St Kitts and Nevis in June becomes the next country to benefit from the innovative use of information and communication technology (ICT) through the Caribbean Telecommunications Union’s ICT Roadshow. The St Kits & Nevis leg of the Caribbean ICT Roadshow kicks off from June 10, with an ICT Village at Independence Square, Basseterre. The initiative, which promotes business, education and community opportunities using the Internet and technology tools, is expected to provide a week of free training, expert workshops and special educational activities for citizens.

The Roadshow is coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), in collaboration with its members and partner organizations and institutions. The CTU is hosting the event with the support of the European Union funded ICT for Education, Diversification and Competitiveness (ICT4EDC) program and under the auspices of the Government of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Speaking at the media launch for the event, CTU Secretary General, Ms. Bernadette Lewis stated “The Roadshow is meeting a dire need for greater understanding of information and communication technologies and how they can positively impact lives in the region.” She noted that the activities were an important part of the CTU’s ongoing program to create greater public awareness of the value and positive role technology can play in the development of Caribbean society.

Minister with responsibility for ICT, Mr. Glen Phillip shared that the program aligns well with the mandate of the Government to deliver innovative ICT-based solutions for the people of St Kitts and Nevis.

The Roadshow continues through the week of June 14 – 17 with special workshops, free technology training and community outreach programmes across the Federation. According to the Program Director for the event, Mr. Bevil Wooding, “Our intention is the showcase the ICT innovators and innovations taking place in St. Kitts and Nevis and also to demonstrate the opportunities available through technology.”

The St Kitts and Nevis ICT Roadshow will be co-staged with the Diplo Internet Governance Workshop on June 14^th and 15^th. A wide cross section of organisations including schools, private and public sector entities, and civil society groups are expected to participate.  Activities over the Roadshow will include fora for entrepreneurs, parents, educators, policy makers, small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), ICT Innovators, youth.

#   #   #

About Caribbean ICT Roadshow

The Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) is a regional inter-governmental organization based in Trinidad and Tobago. The CTU has designed the Caribbean ICT Roadshow specifically to educate, raise public awareness and establish strategic programmes to foster innovative and beneficial use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Caribbean. The Caribbean ICT Roadshow places a strong emphasis on meaningful and practical activities that deliver tangible benefits to Caribbean citizens.  The CTU works in partnership with its member states, Caribbean Governments, organisations, institutions and individuals with an interest in ICT innovation and regional development.

For more information, please contact the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, Roadshow Secretariat at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (868) 627-0281, or visit the official website at www.connectedcaribbean.com, You can also join the Roadshow on Facebook and Twitter.

ST GEORGES, GRENADA, 17^th May 2011 – Grenada is now better positioned to take advantage of the revolution in technology and truly move toward the establishment of a knowledge based economy. This, according to Senator Arley Gill at the launch of the Grenada’s Internet Exchange Point, GREX, the first such facility in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Speaking at the Grenada leg of the Caribbean ICT Roadshow hosted by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), Minister Gill, who has responsibility for Information and Communication Technology in Grenada, noted that the establishment of IXPs is essential to encouraging national development and technology-based economic growth. He described the Internet Exchange Point (IXP) as a facility that allows for the free exchange, or “peering”, of domestic Internet traffic between Internet service Providers (ISPs).

GREX allows ISPs in Grenada to interconnect directly, locally, at no cost, rather than by purchasing expensive transit services from foreign ISPs. Grenada’s ISPs who take advantage of interconnection, or “peering” at GREX to deliver their local traffic, will reduce the portion of their Internet traffic which must be delivered via their out-of-country transit providers.

“Establishing an Internet Exchange Point in Grenada is expected to bring several benefits for our Government as well as for our citizens and business community”, stated Minister Gill.

The Grenada Internet Exchange Point (GREX) is a major achievement for the Caribbean island state of just over 100,000 residents. Several speakers at the GREX launch explained that over the next several months consumers could expect to the roll-out of new services and improved quality for high-bandwidth applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing, online video and audio streaming and gaming.

Dr. Spencer Thomas, Chairman of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) and a central figure in facilitating the process stated, “The NTRC sees the role of the Regulator as fostering investment and growth in the telecommunications sector.” He added, “We believe that encouraging development of Internet-based services, accelerating the development of Caribbean content and reaping social benefits from technology is dependent on reducing Internet connectivity and bandwidth costs and improving quality of service to all citizens. GREX is a key component to achieving our goals.”

Dr. Thomas commended local Internet Service Providers LIME and Columbus Communications for working together to make the GREX initiative possible. He also singled out for praise Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the CTU and Bevil Wooding, an international expert with the US-based non-profit organization Packet Clearing House (PCH), for their role in the process. CTU and PCH have embarked on a region wide campaign to raise awareness and provide support for building national IXPs and developing critical Internet resources.

“The initiative to establish IXPs in the Caribbean has found ready support from regional Governments and ISPs who are recognizing that IXPs must be deployed across the Caribbean if we are to develop the kind of domestic Internet economy necessary to spark new levels of indigenous innovation, local content creation and industry growth,” explained Wooding.

Mr. Bevil Wooding, a feature speaker at the event, described IXPs as an internationally recognized mechanism for achieving cost and service gains and ICT sector growth. He shared that building an IXP is a technically trivial exercise, however, building the level of trust and collaboration requires new levels of cooperation between the stakeholders.

Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the CTU, was strong in her commendation for the historic launch. She stated “The absence of IXPs in the Caribbean leads to the depletion of scarce foreign reserves from economies and societies in the region that can ill afford this hemorrhage.”

She reiterated her organisation’s long-term commitment to regional development, stating, “Through the CTU’s Caribbean ICT Roadshow we are working with ISPs and industry stakeholders to identify new opportunities for technological innovation across the Caribbean.”