New innovations supported by Flow Trinidad

Already the envy of its Caribbean neighbours with its electricity bill, Trinidad's information technology sector is also moving ahead.

New technology was unveiled at Flow's inaugural world expo last weekend in Port-of-Spain.

Among the more popular exhibits was the My Future, which presented technology not yet ready for the general public.

Flow showcased the evolution of video phones. Other than just being able to see who you're talking to, you will be able to access the Internet and all your social-networking sites.

Flow representatives admitted that they were still trying to find out all the capabilities of the phone but, once that was done, it would be available.

Another major draw for the 'techies' was the next wave of Internet protocol televisions (IPTVs), which are sets that can facilitate the delivery of multi-definition content via a broadband lineout. In the near future of IPTV, users will be able to put all the information stored on their various gadgets, for example, their iPod, XBox or Playstation, and put them on the same platform; your Flow set-up box. The new set-up box enables the various gadgets to com-municate with each other and share files, with all that information represented on your television screen. The more modern IPTVs will be more application friendly.

There will be further improvements to the digital video recorder offerings, for instance, the ability to record different programmes in two separate rooms at the same time. Three dimensional (3-D) television sets, already available in more developed countries, will also be coming to Trinidad shores by year-end, according to Flow's president and chief operating officer for the southern Caribbean, John Reid.

Triple A launched

Also looking to the future, Flow launched its Aim, Aspire and Achieve Programme (Triple A) before the start of the Flow's World expo in Trinidad on Friday. Flow will provide free Internet, wi-fi and cable access to schools across the island. It will also partner with interest groups to equip 10 primary schools and homework centres with Internet and cable TV services to support online and video-based techniques.

These innovations are typical for a market that has embraced the telecoms provider. Flow's coverage in Trinidad is at 70 per cent and Flow's mainstream Internet access runs at 100 megabytes per second, best in the region by far.