FRIDAY - DECEMBER 10, 2004 - ISSUE NO. 142 | ||
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging and Paging, It is my pleasure to introduce a new family of products this week from Payment Guardian Inc. The product that I find most interesting is the one that operates over a paging system. Intended for car dealers who sell vehicles to people with less-than-perfect credit, this device gets installed in a car, truck, recreational vehicle, or heavy equipment. When it comes time for the monthly payment to be made, a reminder can be triggered through the unit using a voice announcement that has been stored there. Of course any language can be recorded. If the payment does not arrive on time then the vehicle's starter system gets disabled. This is much better than just turning off the motor while it is running as some have done in the past, thus avoiding serious legal and safety issues. Once the payment has been made, an over-the-air command can be sent, resetting the device. Several different programming options are available for extending the "deadline" or for emergency override for temporary use of the vehicle. I have agreed to help Payment Guardian find new dealers. This is a good business opportunity that should be of interest to paging companies who want to increase their revenue in this ever-increasingly-difficult market. If you are interested, I suggest that we discuss this possibility. It would not be very difficult to buy just one unit and install it in your own car for a trial. The current product operates on 900 MHz with POCSAG encoding. Please note that this same product can be used to disable stolen cars. I would like to extend a special invitation, to my friends and readers in Latin America, to consider representing Payment Guardian™ in your countries. Of course, readers in other countries are also welcome to inquire about becoming dealers—including the USA. A friend was showing me his new Treo™ 650 this week. This is truly an amazing device.
He brought up last week's newsletter on the Internet and it was rendered (reduced in size) very well on the color display screen and the text was surprisingly readable. Incredible! The information reported last week on pager safety approvals is being re-checked for accuracy. Findings will be posted here when available. And now on to this week's Wireless Messaging news and views. | Promoting Wireless Messaging, Telemetry, and Paging.
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon Eastern US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major paging and wireless data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers, so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the paging, and wireless data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my website. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) |
WIRELESS NEWS | |||
Mobile phone users double since 2000 REUTERS Posted online: Friday, December 10, 2004 at 1059 hours IST GENEVA, DEC 10: Mobile phone subscribers around the globe totaled nearly 1.5 billion by the middle of this year, about one quarter of the world's population, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said on Thursday. The figure reflected a sharp surge in the mobile telephony business, especially in developing countries, over the first half of the decade, with subscribers doubling since 2000, according to the United Nations agency's annual report. The ITU said the number of Internet users—around 400 million in the year 2000—had grown to nearly 700 million by the middle of this year, slowing down after the rapid surge in the second half of the 1990s. Source: The Financial Express Former Metrocall Shareholders Withdraw Requests for Appraisal Rights 3-Dec-2004 Alexandria, VA, Friday, December 3, 2004 — USA Mobility, Inc. (NASDAQ: USMO) announced today that all of the former stockholders of Metrocall Holdings, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of USA Mobility, who had previously demanded and not withdrawn requests for appraisal of their Metrocall shares in connection with the recently completed merger of Metrocall and Arch Wireless, Inc., have withdrawn their requests for appraisal. These former Metrocall stockholders owned collectively approximately 8.04% of the fully-diluted common stock of Metrocall at the time of the merger. As a consequence of the withdrawals, these former Metrocall stockholders will be entitled to receive common stock of USA Mobility in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement between Metrocall and Arch. Source: USA Mobility Nokia: 2 billion cell phone users by 2006 Published: December 9, 2004, 9:28 AM PS Nokia has upped its predictions for the growth of the global mobile phone market after calculating that adoption is accelerating more quickly than previously thought in some of the world's largest countries. Ilkka Lakaniemi, an economist at Nokia's network division, said Wednesday that the Finnish manufacturer estimates there will be more than 2 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide by 2006--compared with around 1.6 billion subscriptions today. Previously, Nokia had forecast that this milestone would not be hit until 2008. Nokia's new optimism, which comes after some tough years for mobile manufacturers and operators, is based on growth rates in several of the world's most populous countries. "For the first time in history, mobile phones offer people in countries like China, India and Brazil access to telecommunications services that they did not previously have," Lakaniemi said. India currently has more than 43 million mobile phone subscribers, and its mobile market has been growing at a rate of over 50 percent in the last few years. Last week, Nokia announced plans to open a new manufacturing plant in India as part of its effort to meet growing demand for mobile devices in the country. Lakaniemi explained that because mobile phones have now been in use for around 15 years, enough data exists for economists such as himself to calculate their value to individuals and businesses. Nokia said that companies that embrace mobility can expect to see productivity jump by as much as 6 percent. Nokia also is tracking the extent to which mobile phones are overtaking landlines in terms of total voice traffic. The company believes that by 2007, the two will be neck and neck--as they are already in Finland, according to Lakaniemi. In the United Kingdom today, fixed networks have just over a 70 percent share of all voice traffic, Nokia said. By 2008, that number will have fallen to below 60 percent, the device maker estimated. Source: c|net News.Com
Congress passes E911 bill Published on Dec. 9, 2004 Legislation the Senate passed this week would create a national program office coordinating implementation of emergency 911 systems nationwide. The Ensuring Needed Help Arrives Near Callers Employing (ENHANCE) 911 Act of 2004 was bundled with two other telecommunications bills and approved Dec. 8 about 10:55 p.m., said Steve Seitz, government affairs director at the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), which had been ardently pushing for passage. The bill's main focus is creation of the E911 Implementation Coordination Office, which would develop, collect and share information about implementation practices, procedures and technology as well as help with plans and grants. Ideas for the national office stem from a 2002 Federal Communications Commission-sanctioned study conducted by Dale Hatfield, an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who in earlier congressional testimony, said federal leadership could help ease funding and implementation problems for local agencies. Officials at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will operate the joint program office, but many details still have to be worked out. The tricky part is funding the office, Seitz said. "Our thought is there's enough discretionary money between Commerce and DOT that they should be able to start the office," he said. The House passed the bill Nov. 20. Now that the Senate has approved it, the legislation goes to President Bush for his signature. Proponents of the measure describe it as one building block in helping modernize an outdated 911 telecommunications infrastructure. Enhanced 911 (E911) service has become a major issue on Capitol Hill in recent years. In early 2003, several Senate and House lawmakers formed a congressional E911 Caucus to raise awareness among their colleagues about the issue. Members of NENA and other groups have also lobbied for greater attention to the issue. "NENA never gave up on passing the legislation this year," Bill McMurray, the group's president, said in a statement. "We knew the stakes are far too great." Creation of the new office comes at the right time, Seitz said. It will be crucial in considering how next-generation technologies, such as voice over IP, instant messaging, Short Message Service messaging and Wi-Fi, are being used in society and to integrate them into the 911 infrastructure. "I think we see that has to be brought in right away," Seitz said. "The timing for government on this, if you consider all the other new technologies voice over IP and on down the line, couldn't be better. Now the question is can we take advantage of it." Source: FCW.COM Real Telecom hopes to thrive by renovating pager services, shifting focus In a technology-mad country where people use their mobile phones to pay credit-card bills, play music and watch television, the pager, a simple wireless device that alerts the wearer to messages, is a crude relic. However, Real Telecom Corp., Korea's sole survivor in the pager market, expects not only to keep afloat but to thrive by shifting its focus to corporate customers and selling data services. “We are currently making a transition from a network operator to a content developer with non-voice applications increasingly becoming the focus of competition in telecommunications," said Baek Kwang-jo, chief executive of Real Telecom, which has 99.3 percent of the local pager market. “With the local telematics market opening up and the information-technology industry readying mobile broadcasting services, we see new opportunities to develop and sell data services on-demand to companies in the automotive and telecommunications sector." Started in 1982 by the state-run Korean Mobile Telecommunications Service, now SK Telecom Co., paging services were a booming business in the mid to late-1990s and played a significant role in expanding the country's telecommunication sector beyond fixed-line telephony. Pager subscriptions reached their peak in 1997 with more than 15 million customers nationwide. That was a time when numerical messages such as 8282 (meaning "hurry up") or 1212 ("buy me a drink") were a part of common language. Television soap operas overflowed with scenes of young couples exchanging new pagers without telling each other the numbers as a symbol of loyalty, a banal act back then. But the pager market quickly diminished in the following years with the expansion of cheaper-than-ever mobile-phone services that also started to allow text messaging. The number of pager customers dropped to 9.18 million in 1998, 3.30 million in 1999 and 450,000 in 2000. According to the Ministry of Information and Communication, there were just 50,808 pager subscribers nationwide as of August, with 50,493 of them belonging to Real Telecom, currently the only service provider taking on new subscribers. Real Telecom, which inherited SK Telecom's paging service and network in 2001, saw its revenue drop to 18 billion won last year from 24 billion won in 2002, and expects 13 billion won this year due to the decline of customers. Baek said his company is getting about 1,000 new subscribers for its paging services every month. It's impossible to define a trend or marketing point, however, with customers signing up for random reasons but not for necessity. Real Telecom charges a fixed rate of 8,000 won per month for basic paging services. “Paging is not a critical method of personal communication anymore. We aren't expecting growth in over-all customers as the number of people signing off from their old paging services still exceeds the volume of new subscribers," said Baek. “Korea's mobile-phone billing system, which charges for sent calls but not receiving, has killed us off. Now there isn't any Korean manufacturer producing pagers for the domestic market and what we supply is equipment through on-demand orders." Among Real Telecom's 50,000-plus customers, about half of them are registered to its "Q-Stock" realtime stock information service, which generated about 60 percent of the revenue last year. And half of the remaining 25,000 customers are mostly medical workers, military servicemen and other people with professions that do not allow mobile-phone communications at the workplace. The company is targeting similar demand at high-tech and chemical manufacturing facilities. With the company relying on nearly 80 percent of its revenue from wireless communication, despite the overall dwindling number of subscribers, Baek believes Real Telecom must strengthen its corporate marketing to sustain growth in the future. In May, the company introduced "Real Traffic," which broadcasts real-time traffic information to wireless receivers in vehicles. Real Telecom minted partnerships with several local transportation companies last year to deliver the content. The traffic information is collected through global-positioning devices in more than 5,000 taxies and buses and sensors installed at the tollgates of major highways. Real Telecom is developing the traffic information services as its main pitch to corporate clients in the automotive, telecommunication and logistics sectors. Mobile-phone operator KT Freetel Co., the second-largest carrier, has provided Real Telecom's traffic information content through its "Kways" car navigation service since August. Real Telecom also sells its services to local broadcasters KBS and SBS for their radio traffic updates. The company is currently in talks with Internet portals to deliver their traffic information to on-line search engines. Baek hopes the company will benefit from a fast growing market in telematics, the wireless communication systems used in automobiles with global-positioning tracking ability. Hyudai Motor Co., Korea's largest car maker, is marketing their "Mozen" navigation services in alliance with mobile-phone operator LG Telecom Ltd. Smaller car makers such as GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. and Ssangyong Motor Co. are expected to unveil their own telematics services next year. The Ministry of Information and Communication predicts the local telematics market size to approach 1.5 trillion won next year. Real Telecom is also talking with mobile-phone operators and broadcasters to provide their traffic information content for use in conjunction with mobile broadcast services. Mobile broadcasting, dubbed here as digital multimedia broadcasting, is designed to deliver video, audio and data by satellite or land-based transmission facilities to wireless devices such as mobile phones. The industry is preparing for commercial launch next year, with SK Telecom, fixed-line giant KT Corp. and television broadcasters leading the competition. "Traffic information will be the killer content for the data channels in digital multimedia broadcasting, although it's hard to predict when the mobile broadcasting services will have nationwide coverage." "The code-division multiple access network has proven to be inefficient in delivering real-time information," said Baek. Source: The Korea Herald Nextel-Sprint Would Top Business Market In Wireless 12.09.04, 9:42 AM ET Standard & Poor's Equity Research reiterated a "strong buy" on Nextel Communications and said shares may move higher on a report that the company may combine with Sprint. The two combined could achieve a larger share in the U.S. wireless industry being market leaders Cingular and Verizon Wireless, and would have "a leading share of the business market," the research firm said. A marker to watch is whether Nextel selects code division multiple access, or CDMA, the same third-generation, or 3G, platform as Sprint's, S&P Equity Research said. Cingular is a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. Source: Forbes.com | |||
READER'S COMMENTS | |||
From: pagerpro@gmail.com Brad, I just want to let you know how happy I am with the excellent service we received from Minilec Service, Inc. I decided to try them after seeing their ads in your newsletter, am am extremely pleased with the repair work done, the pricing and excellent customer service. Thanks, | |||
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Paging Training Course Specially designed course for sales, marketing, and administration personnel. Engineers will only be admitted with a note signed by their mothers, promising that they will just listen and not disrupt the class. (This is supposed to be funny!) This is a one-day training course on paging that can be conducted at your place of business. Please take a look at the course outline to see if you think this might be beneficial in your employees: Paging training course outline. I would be happy to customize the content to meet your specific requirements. Although it touches on several "technical" topics, it is definitely not a technical course. I used to teach the sales and marketing people at Motorola Paging and they appreciated an atmosphere where they could ask technical questions without being made to feel like a dummy and without getting a long convoluted overly-technical answer that left them more confused than before. A good learning environment is one that is non-threatening. Let me know if you would like to receive a quotation, or if you would like to have any additional information. | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Download Mr. Mercer's resumé. | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Intelligent Paging & Mobile Data Products Selective is a developer and manufacturer of highly innovative paging receiver/decoders and mobile data equipment including the PDT2000 Paging Data Terminal, THE MOST INTELLIGENT PAGING RECEIVER IN THE MARKET. The PDT2000 is a large display pager designed for desktop or in-vehicle mounting and is widely used by emergency services and in onsite paging systems for forklift dispatch etc. All of the following capabilities are standard features of the PDT2000 and of our other paging data receivers:
Our mobile data equipment includes a range of intelligent Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) which may be interfaced to a variety of wireless networks including GPRS & CDMA cellular. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and GPS solutions, Dispatch & Messaging software. We offer mobile communications dealers and systems integrators a “fast to market” job dispatch and job management capability with the inbuilt job processing system which may be interfaced to a variety of CAD & JMS platforms. Specialised local area paging systems, paging interception and message reprocessing software, field force automation and mobile dispatch solutions. We do custom product development and export worldwide.
I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | TGA Technologies
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ReFLEX Two-Way Paging/Data Messaging Systems Technical Services support for existing paging systems SIMULCAST SYSTEMS ARE OUR SPECIALTY!! call (217) 221-9500 or e-mail sales@AdvancedRF.biz 301 Oak St., Suite 2-46A, Quincy, IL 62301 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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PAGING TECHNICIAN Mark Hood mehood@cox.net Telephone: 757-588-0537 Paging Field Engineer/Electronic technician in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. Download resumé here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Remember that old word “Residuals”? The EE Group is actively seeking Dealers with sales/ service/installation capabilities to promote the latest wireless AVL, SCADA and data products from Telegauge Systems, Inc. This innovative program requires NO inventory and NO billing by your facility; you just sell it and sign up the end user to collect the commissions. Now the real reason to choose the EE Group and Telegauge over the host of others; we pay you permanent residual income every month on your airtime sales forever. Airtime commissions range up to 12% per month based on prior sales and you buy all equipment direct from the factory at 2-tiered wholesale prices as well for great margins. Telegauge builds fully 2-way overt and covert (hidden) GPS based Automatic Vehicle Location, SCADA, remote management, telemetry and data systems routed via cellular and satellite that are delivered to the end user via the Internet or direct to the desktop. Applications are both ‘canned’ and custom depending upon the customers needs. We even have full dispatch systems including credit card swipe and billing if needed. Finally, the prices on the product are guaranteed to be the LOWEST in the industry at under $600 retail for the equipment and from $6 to $30 on the monthly airtime with most customers in the $15 range. Note too that the price is the same for cellular OR satellite world wide coverage and no one else has this exclusive capability. Telegauge provides the product, software, airtime, billing and final information from a single source and you can be a BIG part of it. You stock NOTHING, just collect the checks. We are paid by the manufacturer to support YOU and unlike other factories; we never bid against you, restrict you or take your deal. We help you with demo equipment, brochures, information, sales assistance, web advertising and user name/passwords for the website so that you don’t even need to buy anything to start up fast. Contact us for a no-obligation CD of all the presentation and training material, price spreadsheets and information at: EEGroup@EEonTheWeb.com or for fast action call for a link to the Dealers Only page: 310-534-4456 and mention that you found out about it via Brad Dye’s Newsletter. You have nothing to lose and some great residual income to gain. Call or e-mail NOW. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() AAPC Mission Statement To represent paging carriers throughout the United States to ensure the success of our industry by:
Our industry must move forward together or we will perish individually. AAPC links: | High-speed simulcast paging with protocols such as POCSAG and FLEX™ requires microsecond accuracy to synchronize the transmission of digital paging signals. ![]() Zetron's Simulcast System uses GPS timing information to ensure that the broadcasted transmissions between the nodes of the Simulcast System and associated transmitters are synchronized to very tight tolerances. This system is ideal for public or private paging system operators that use multiple transmitters and wish to create new paging systems or to build out existing systems into new regions. For more information about Zetron's High Speed Simulcast Paging System, the Model 600 and Model 620, go to: www.zetron.com/paging.
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www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. New Product Development New Hardware Platform
Continued Support Programs GTES Partner Program CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS | ![]() Wireless Communication Solutions The Hark ISI-400LX is a hardware device that encapsulates serial data into TCP/IP for transmission over the Internet. It can also be configured to convert incoming TAP messages from the serial port and send them over the Internet to paging providers in email (SMTP) or Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) format. The ISI-400LX with the optional external modem can connect to a secondary dial-up ISP when a failure on the ethernet port is detected. This device is the perfect companion for the Hark Gateway products. An ISI can be located at a remote location for receiving TAP, TNPP, or Billing traffic using a local ISP eliminating long distance phone charges. System Features & Benefits:
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Daviscomms USA Inc. is your direct connection to Daviscomms (S) Pte Ltd., the leading pager manufacturer in the world with many years experience in Engineering, Design, and Manufacturing of highly-reliable, premium-quality FLEX and POCSAG Alphanumeric and Numeric pagers. Daviscomms offers unparalleled quality, features and functions. We perform our own stringent quality testing as well as certification by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to meet all of their standards. All of our paging products meet FCC and IC Standards for use in the USA and Canada. Our manufacturing facility, located in Malaysia, is a 40,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility. Customers, globally, choose Daviscomms for our QUALITY, RELIABILITY, ON-TIME DELIVERY, COMPETITIVE PRICING and our TOTAL COMMITMENT to providing the best value for their needs.
At Daviscomms, we are proud to provide our customers with end-to-end manufacturing solutions while delivering superior quality and support. Daviscomms is at the forefront of the industry with its commitment to leading-edge technology, cost-effective manufacturing and the highest degree of customer service. Daviscomms delivers low cost, high volume manufacturing solutions to our customers. We help maximize time-to-market objectives while minimizing procurement, materials management, and manufacturing costs. For information about our contract manufacturing services or our Bravo-branded line of numeric and alphanumeric pagers, please call Bob Popow, our Director of Operations for the Americas, 480-515-2344. (Scottsdale, Arizona) or visit our website www.daviscommsusa.com.
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DX Radio Systems, Inc. manufactures high quality, high specification type communications products. The following is a list of products that DX Radio Systems, Inc. manufactures or supplies as a single supplied product and can be included as part of a turnkey system:
Performance that is tough to find anywhere at a price you can afford.
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MORE NEWS |
Wireless network smashes world speed record 18:20 09 December 04 A new world record has been set for transmitting data across a wireless network, claim researchers in Germany. A team at Siemens Communications research laboratory in Munich, have transmitted one gigabit (one billion bits) of data per second across their mobile network. By contrast, the average wireless computer network can send only around 50 megabits (50 million bits) of data per second. The researchers used three transmitting and four receiving antennas and a technique for boosting the amount of data that can be sent wirelessly, called Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), to set their record. "With our experimental system, we've been able to demonstrate how powerful [multiple] antennas can be in combination with OFDM," says Christoph Caselitz, president of the Mobile Networks Division at Siemens Communications. Caselitz estimates that wireless networks will be expected to cope with 10 times as much data by 2015. Avoiding interference "Future mobile communications systems will have to utilize the frequency band as efficiently as possible," Caselitz adds. This means using the lowest possible transmit power to keep phone devices from running down, he explains. Frequency-division multiplexing involves simultaneously sending multiple signals over different frequencies between two points. The technique can be prone to interference between different signals. But OFDM splits carrier signals into smaller sub-units which are synchronized to reduce interference. The technique has already been implemented in some wireless computer networks and digital television broadcasting systems. Recombining smaller signals in real time, however, requires considerable computing power. So the Siemens team developed new computer algorithms in order to send more data using existing hardware. The speedy OFDM network was developed in cooperation with the Heinrich Hertz Institute and the Institute for Applied Radio System Technology, both in Germany. It will be demonstrated at the 3GSM World Congress in February, 2005. Source: NewScientist.com Hackers target wireless systems Is your wireless computer network dangerously promiscuous? By their very design, wireless devices are constantly sending out signals called "probes" indicating that they are available and seeking to "hook up" with a nearby access point. In turn, every access point-which serves as a gateway into the Internet or to an internal computer network-transmits "beacons" inviting probes to link up. Because wireless networking is designed to be simple to install and easy to use, the devices don’t automatically distinguish between an authorized user and an intruder. And with the exploding use of wireless networks, laptops and other electronic devices, evidence is growing that some amateur and professional hackers are taking advantage of the technology’s inherent openness to break into once-secure corporate computer systems. In September, three young men pleaded guilty to hacking at a Lowe’s Cos. store in Southfield, Mich. Without even entering the store, the men were able to link to a wireless network of bar-code readers and get onto the corporate computer system. Then they installed a program designed to capture credit-card information as shoppers checked out. A spokeswoman for Lowe’s says no customer information was lost, and adds that the system has been made secure. One of the men was sentenced to 12½ years in prison-a record for computer hacking, according to the Justice Department. Other corporate network administrators report similar problems. Steve Lewack, a computer technician at a Columbus, Ga., hospital, was trying out new security software when he noticed signs of an intruder using the hospital’s wireless network. A salesman for a supplier was sitting in the hospital’s cafeteria and using his laptop to scan e-mails sent to the purchasing department, in an apparent effort to find new business. "It was a wake-up call that made it clear we needed a full-time monitoring system," says Lewack of the 2002 incident. He has since persuaded the hospital to buy the AirDefense Inc. program that detected the intruder. Not long ago, nearly all corporate computer networks were limited to hard-wired connections with desktop PCs. Although many employees had laptops, they generally connected via modems and phone lines, which are easy to secure. But wireless computing, both at home and at the office, is soaring. Market-researcher IDC estimates that next year 27.7 million wireless network devices will be shipped world-wide, up 44% from 19.2 million this year-and a big jump from just 4.5 million in 2002. Most are used in homes or by small businesses, but corporations increasingly are going wireless as well. Spurred by the technology’s popularity and low cost, laptop makers equipped some 79% of their products sold this year with built-in wireless connections, and that number will rise to nearly 100% next year, according to Instat/MDR, a market researcher. In addition, a growing number of other devices, ranging from nurse’s carts at hospitals to machine tools on factory floors, use wireless links to communicate with central computer systems. Wireless networks can be protected with passwords, and transmissions can be encrypted to prevent eavesdroppers from reading the signals. But many buyers never figure out how to change the password from the default configuration. On a technology-oriented Web site called Slashdot.org, a user posted an easy way to get access to unprotected Linksys wireless networks made by Cisco Systems Inc. "Anyone can connect" with full administrative control by logging in with the default password and browser setting published in Linksys manuals, the person wrote. A Linksys spokeswoman says, "We encourage our users to change their passwords and implement all their security features." What’s more, the most widely used wireless encryption standard can be cracked with programs available at no charge on hacker Web sites. A new encryption standard is about to be released, but many existing devices won’t be able to use it. Many company computer chiefs are aware of the problem. Most are careful to maintain password-protected and encrypted communications. Others use special software to monitor wireless access, such as that made by AirDefense or Boston-based Newbury Networks Inc. Some forbid use of wireless networks inside company walls, just as the Defense Department does in classified areas. But wireless technology has a way of sneaking in anyway. Employees who have gotten used to the convenience of wireless networks at home sometimes surreptitiously create networks in their offices so they can carry their laptops into conference rooms and stay connected. Such unauthorized use can circumvent corporate firewalls. Joshua Lackey, an "ethical hacker" who works for International Business Machines Corp. tracking security threats, says another company’s network was shut down this year by a virus that didn't come over the Internet or through e-mail. IBM’s consultants concluded that a computer in a passing car may have accidentally linked up with the company’s wireless network and transmitted the virus. The incident, says Lackey, was a "drive-by virus infection." Anil Khatod, president of Atlanta-based AirDefense, says one of his large customers discovered a breach created by its team of outside auditors. Working in a conference room with just one high-speed connection to the corporate network, the auditors had installed a wireless router so they could all be online. That inadvertently put sensitive financial information out in the air. He isn't aware of any problems that developed from the event. When employees take laptops on the road, other risks arise. Ryan Crum, senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s security division, says one danger is employees who use a home wireless network sometimes forget to turn off the wireless feature on their laptop when they leave. "If you’re in a hotel, and plug into a wire, your machine is still looking for access points," Crum says. "You don’t know you’ve connected to someone in the next room." He says such a connection could enable another person to scan e-mails or files on the hard disk. "If you have a bunch of competitors at a convention, you could see what your competitors have," he says. Technology is making it easier for would-be hackers. A new $69 device called a QueTec 4-in-1 card can turn any laptop into both a wireless transmitter and a wireless access point. So a hacker equipped with such a device could sit quietly at, say, an airport departure lounge equipped with a public wireless "hotspot." When an unsuspecting traveler tries to connect to the hotspot, the hacker could intercept the transmission, mimic the hotspot’s screen, and collect credit card and password information-a process known as phishing. And then there is corporate vandalism. Paul Funk, president of Funk Software Inc., Cambridge, Mass., says a hacker recently broke into a computer-store chain’s wireless network that connected PCs on display. Funk, whose company makes software to control network access, says the hacker apparently just guessed at the wireless password, then "brought down a number of stores" by instructing a central computers to run a "remote configuration utility" in the operating system that shut down several servers. Source: Portsmouth [NH] Herald National Business News from The Wall Street Journal |
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WI-FI / WIMAX / WIRELESS BROADBAND NEWS | |
Wi-Fi for everyone? Not so fast December 6, 2004, 7:05 AM PT Commentary—Pennsylvania has been hit by a torrent of criticism over a new law restricting cities from offering Internet access. The law, signed by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell last week, says that a municipality generally "may not provide to the public for compensation" any kind of Internet service. This has alarmed Philadelphia, which dreams of blanketing 135 square miles of downtown with Wi-Fi signals. Many no doubt find the principles behind Pennsylvania's legislation to be entirely sensible. Their argument: Governments should not be in the business of providing Internet service. The reason for that stance should be familiar to anyone who's waited in line at the local DMV. Whether local, state or federal, government agencies aren't terribly responsive to what "customers" want. Plus, they're prone to wasting tax dollars. Wireless service is no exception. In the case of Pennsylvania, advocacy groups have predictably attacked the law. Jeff Chester, a Washington, D.C., activist, circulated a statement warning that the state is "prohibiting any city in Pennsylvania from establishing its own Internet service." That's simply false, and Chester backed away from that claim in a subsequent e-mail exchange with me. In reality, the new law lets cities and townships offer free Internet service of any kind. The law's restriction only kicks in when they provide Internet service "for compensation"—that is, a fee that subscribers would be required to pay. Translated: Philadelphia may be the city of brotherly love, but it's no example of municipal munificence. The law contains a second important section. This section allows municipal governments to go ahead with their plan if they have "submitted a written request" to the local telephone company--and if that company declines to offer the service. Philadelphia has inked a deal with Verizon to let the city's wireless project proceed. Lessons from Australia's airlines The guiding spirit behind the law is that the proper role of government should be carefully circumscribed to providing what private companies can't. Police, courts and roads arguably fall into that category. Wireless service doesn't. Critics maintain that when governments try to compete with the private sector, they tend to botch things up and waste taxpayers' money. Economist David Davies once compared a private airline, Ansett Australian National Airways, to a government carrier that flew very similar routes on the same type of aircraft and charged identical passenger and freight rates set by the government. Davies published his conclusions in the 1971 Journal of Law and Economics. The private airline was more than twice as productive in carrying freight, he discovered, and transported 20 percent more passengers per employee. This shouldn't come as a surprise. When managers of an enterprise are spending tax money, they don't perform as efficiently. "Without private investors behind the project, there's no hard-nosed, self-interested check on how wisely the enterprise is operated," says Don Boudreaux, chairman of the economics department at George Mason University. "This fact is true no matter how worthy the enterprise and how smart and experienced the managers." The Internet's commercial history is in part the story of entrepreneurs who tried to make their fortunes by supplying connectivity for a profit. Some, such as Digex's Doug Humphrey, succeeded magnificently. Others, such as Broadband West's Jim Selby in Aspen, Colo., saw their start-ups go bankrupt because they misjudged customer wants or weren't as capable managers as their competitors. The profit motive encourages investment. Governments muscling their way in short-circuits this useful process. It requires taxpayers to pay for mistakes, rather than investors who have voluntarily chosen to put their own money at risk. It also creates a powerful incentive for city bureaucrats to squeeze out local businesses that might be viewed as potential rivals--a squeeze that could come in the form of onerous taxes or oppressive regulatory requirements. While having private firms provide Internet access is no guarantee privacy will be protected, it's probably a better option than having governments do it. In July 2000, a courageous attorney for Earthlink, Robert Corn-Revere, was the first person to reveal details about the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system. Earthlink fought the FBI in court on privacy grounds. Does anyone think Philadelphia would be that bold? Not that I'm defending the way the Pennsylvania law is worded. It spans dozens of pages that address unrelated topics in ways that may or may not be wise. Even the relatively small section dealing with municipal Internet service unfairly favors Verizon over cable companies and other Internet providers--a testament to Verizon's masterful lobbying, not its cogent policy making. Elected officials in Philly making a secret deal with Verizon is unseemly. But I'll make one prediction you can take to the bank: If other states agree that the broad principles behind this law are sound, they will follow Pennsylvania's lead Source: ZD Net Broadband Wireless Provider Weighs in With WiMAX Platform December 09, 2004 Another broadband wireless provider " nex-G Systems Pte Ltd. " has weighed in with a WiMAX platform even as the WiMAX Forum labors to finalize specifications for the broadband technology. The Singapore-based company said on Thursday that its WiMAX platform called Horizon is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard and incorporates early 802.16e mobility features. "The Horizon Base Station, with up to 16 sectors, is a resilient, telco-class solution capable of supporting simultaneous connection for up to 16,000 subscribers," the firm stated. "With its flexible architecture, nex-G customers can take advantage of open frequencies from 600 MHz through 6 GHz as the platform is deployed." The company said its Horizon family is frequency and radio chipset agnostic and will be able to be used with new IEEE 802.16 WiMAX technologies as they are announced and upgraded. The nex-G portfolio includes base stations, backhaul solutions, and carrier class outdoor subscriber units, the company said. WiMAX has captured the imagination of the wireless industry, because it can cover wide tracks of geography at a low cost. Although WiMAX standards haven't yet been finalized, some equipment providers are marketing "pre-WiMAX" systems that they say can easily be upgraded as specifications are decided upon. Source: InformationWeek |
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I hope everyone enjoyed this issue. It was good to read about some of the positive things being done in South Korea with paging. Let's keep paging going with more innovative products and services in both the one-way and the two-way arenas. You can share your ideas here for the good of the whole paging community. I think most of us in the paging business have realized that our true competitor is not another paging company but it is another wireless technology. What do you think?
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