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FRIDAY - JANUARY 23, 2004 - ISSUE NO. 95 | ||
Dear Wireless Colleagues and other Friends, Rumors that Cingular would eventually sell or shut down its Mobitex network have been going around for quite a while. This week there is a news clip saying they are cutting jobs in their Mobitex business unit. No specifics were given. More news this week on the possibility of an AT&T Wireless merger or acquisition. There are two important legal issues that affect paging this week. The first is that the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is forcing the FCC to reconsider their ruling making our friends at Mountain Communications pay Qwest Communications a bunch of money for trumped-up telephone interconnect charges. The court called the FCC's action "arbitrary and capricious." Vic Jackson wrote an exclusive guest-editorial opinion for us and he calls it a "Big Win for wireless at the DC Court of Appeals." His article follows. The other issue is a "pleading" to the FCC, by our friends at ASAP Paging in Texas, to rule on a similar issue where a local telephone company is trying to price them right out of business. A Public Order from the FCC is reprinted below and it contains instructions about how we can all file comments on this issue. I urge you to read it carefully, and if you want to help out ASAP Paging and our paging industry in general, go ahead and file your comments. I know ASAP Paging—these are good people and they need our help. The nice thing about being an American is that we are all entitled to express our opinions to our government, and if they don't do what we want them to, we elect a different political party and then try again. It may not be a perfect system, but is sure beats the ones where you can't even express your ideas and opinions without going to jail—or worse. |
A new issue of the Paging and Wireless Data 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 just 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) | |
The Paging and Telephone Answering industries would never have amounted to much in this country had it not been for some high-principled individuals who said "we are not going to stand for this" and fought for their rights (and ours) to connect private equipment to the public telephone network.
Here is your chance to do something to help save paging—what's left of it. Remind the FCC that the paging industry supplies an important service to millions of people and tell them that continued overcharging by the telephone companies will put us all out of business. What am I saying, "will?" I haven't had a regular job in over two years. It has already happened to me. I have come across an outstanding article on one of my favorite topics, Remote Monitoring and Control via wireless. The author is Marv Serhan, the Vice President of Business Development for Satellite Security Systems, Inc, a San Diego company involved in monitoring, tracking, and control of fixed and mobile assets. I am very pleased to reprint this article in its entirety, with the permission of both its author and its publisher. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Here is a news clip that I missed when it came out last October:
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PAGING AND WIRELESS DATA NEWS CLIPS FROM THE WEB | |||||||||||
Cingular cuts jobs in Mobitex division Jan. 16, 2004 1:13 PM EST Cingular Wireless is cutting jobs in its Mobitex business, although the carrier declined to provide specifics. Cingular said it is cutting a "minimal" number of jobs in its Cingular Interactive division, which runs its slower-speed Mobitex data-only network. Cingular said the job cuts will be achieved through attrition or placing employees in other roles within the company. Cingular declined to provide a current headcount for its Cingular Interactive business or a percentage of jobs cut. "Like any major company, Cingular often reviews its regional operations and business units performance to make adjustments as necessary," said Jennifer Bowcock, director of Cingular's media relations. "These adjustments can include a variety of actions, including reducing the number of jobs." Bowcock said Cingular has no plans for companywide layoffs. In other Mobitex news, the board of the Mobitex Operators Association decided that the organization would revert back to a volunteer staffing structure. Jack Barse, formerly the group's paid executive director, was replaced by Kevin Swann, sales and marketing director for CML Microcircuits in the United Kingdom, who will serve as the MOA's chairman of the board. Charles Nelson, president of Cingular Interactive, is an MOA board member. Barse said the MOA will continue its work to promote Mobitex networks worldwide. The group was previously a volunteer organization. Mobitex is a data-only network supporting speeds of around 20 kilobits per second. Cingular said its Mobitex network covers 93 percent of the urban business population in the United States and provides good in-building coverage and device battery life. Although Cingular Interactive does not provide subscriber numbers, those in the industry estimate the carrier’s Mobitex subscriber base to be around 800,000, about 400,000 of which are BlackBerry wireless e-mail users from Research In Motion Ltd. Rumors that Cingular will eventually sell or shut down its Mobitex network have long circulated in the industry, especially due to the carrier's GPRS and EDGE network buildouts. Further, other wireless carriers have withdrawn from a similar data-only network technology, CDPD. AT&T Wireless Services Inc. plans to shut down its CDPD network this year, while Verizon Wireless plans to shut down its CDPD network by the end of next year. Both AT&T Wireless and Verizon are working to move their CDPD customers to newer, faster network technologies. Source: RCR Wireless News Cingular Steps Up AT&T Wireless Courting Tue January 20, 2004 07:22 PM PHILADELPHIA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cingular Wireless has made an overture to buy smaller rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc., but the No. 3 U.S. wireless telephone company is likely to set up a formal process to collect bids from several suitors, sources close to the situation said on Tuesday. Cingular outlined its all-cash proposal to AT&T Wireless officials before a scheduled two-day meeting of that company's board that began on Monday but thus far has yet to put an offer in writing, one source said. The proposal, which was likely to be slightly richer than AT&T Wireless's current market capitalization of about $27 billion, was more of an enticement to step up talks and to edge out rivals who have shown preliminary interest, the source said. "There's a preliminary valuation floating around. But that's more of a lure to get serious on talks rather than a hard and fast offer," said the source, who declined to disclose that valuation. Shares of AT&T Wireless closed up 4 percent, hitting a level not seen since early 2002. Sources were divided on the firmness of a Cingular offer. A person familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier in the day that Cingular had made a formal offer, but that source could not be immediately reached later in the day to clarify those comments. Enough carriers have expressed interest in the company — including Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Nextel Communications Inc. — that AT&T Wireless' board is likely to set a deadline when formal bids could be submitted for consideration, several sources said. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that NTT Docomo, which already owns 16 percent of AT&T Wireless, also outlined a bid for the company. The Japanese company sketched out other scenarios, as well, such as what role it would play if another company bought AT&T Wireless, the newspaper reported. NTT Docomo must grant its blessing for any other carrier to acquire more than 15 percent of AT&T Wireless, according to regulatory filings. An acquisition of AT&T Wireless would set in motion long-awaited consolidation in the crowded U.S. wireless industry, which has seen slowing subscriber growth and cutthroat competition among the six national companies. Source: Reuters
On Friday, January 16, 2004, the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision in Mountain Communications, Inc. versus the Federal Communications Commission (No. 02-1255) in which the Court declared that a major portion of the FCC’s July 25, 2002 Order in Mountain Communications, Inc. versus Qwest Communications International, Inc. (FCC 02-220) was "arbitrary and capricious." In their 2002 decision the FCC ordered Mountain to pay Qwest for what Qwest described as "dedicated toll facilities" that delivered calls from Walsenburg and Colorado Springs, Colorado to Mountain's point of interconnection with Qwest in Pueblo, Colorado. In June 2000, the FCC had ruled in a similar situation involving TSR Wireless and Qwest that TSR did not have to pay for similar trunk facilities. The DC Court decision means that the FCC must re-consider their Mountain vs Qwest Order and conform it to the Court's decision. Mountain Communications is a small paging and telecommunications carrier located in Pueblo, Colorado, but this dispute involved all paging and cellular carriers in the USA. If the FCC's decision in the Mountain case had not been reversed, the landline local telephone companies would have collectively been able to bill millions of dollars per month in facility charges for the, so called, "dedicated toll facilities" that in reality are simply part of the landline telephone local networks. Vic Jackson's e-mail address: Another report : RCR Wireless News FCC PUBLIC NOTICE [reprint] DA 04-92 PLEADING CYCLE ESTABLISHED FOR PETITION OF ASAP PAGING, INC. FOR PREEMPTION OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS CONCERNING RETAIL RATING OF LOCAL CALLS TO CMRS CARRIERS WC Docket No. 04-6 COMMENTS DUE: March 23, 2004 On December 22, 3003, ASAP Paging, Inc. (ASAP) filed a petition requesting that the Commission preempt an order of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (Texas Commission), certain provisions of the Texas Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA), and certain Texas Commission substantive rules. ASAP states that, on April 1, 2002, CenturyTel of San Marcos, Inc. (CenturyTel), an incumbent LEC, changed its switch translations so that end-users attempting to dial ASAP customers were required to dial 1+ and assessed intraLATA toll charges by CenturyTel. ASAP filed a complaint with the Texas Commission asking it to order CenturyTel to stop requiring its users to dial 1+ and pay toll charges in order to reach ASAP NXXs in rate centers that are "local" to the San Marcos rate center. The Texas Commission issued an order dated October 9, 2003, denying the relief requested by ASAP Paging. According to the petition, the Texas Commission ruled that CenturyTel can require its end-users to dial 1+ and pay retail rated toll charges when they call a number that ASAP obtained from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator and associated with rate centers that are "local" to the San Marcos rate center. The Texas Commission found that the physical location of the CMRS customer at the time of the call is determinative for retail rating purposes. Because CMRS customers are mobile and their physical location cannot be readily determined for retail rating purposes, the Texas Commission decided to use ASAP's switch site as a proxy for the customer's physical location. Given that ASAP's switch was located, outside the local calling area that includes San Marcos, the Texas Commission found that CenturyTel could require 1+ dialing and impose toll charges for calls to ASAP's customers. ASAP requests that this Commission preempt the Texas Commission order dated October 9, 3003 in PUC Docket No. 25673 because the order: (1) deprives ASAP and consumers of several rights related to CMRS that are guaranteed by federal law; (2) confuses the essential distinctions between retail rating and wholesale carrier compensation; (3) misconstrues the character of expanded local calling service (ELCS) and the duties of incumbent LECs servicing an ELCS area; and (4) errs in its conclusions concerning state regulatory authority over the service that ASAP provides to its Internet service provider customers. ASAP also seeks preemption of certain provisions of the Texas Public Utility Regulatory Act and Texas Commission substantive rules that address the creation of ELCS because their application in the order cannot be reconciled with prevailing federal law. ASAP requests that the Commission require the Texas Commission and CenturyTel to "honor federal law as it pertains to retail rated local calling to CMRS users with numbers that are 'local' to the landline user." ASAP also seeks an order preempting the Texas Commission’s attempt to require ASAP to submit to state regulation for an interstate service. Interested parties may file comments on or before March 23, 2004, and reply comments on or before April 23, 2004. Comments may be filed using the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) or by filing paper copies. Comments filed through the ECFS can be sent as an electronic file via the Internet to http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. Generally, only one copy of an electronic submission must be filed. In completing the transmittal screen, commenters should include their full name, U.S. Postal Service mailing address, and the applicable docket or rulemaking number. Parties may also submit an electronic comment by Internet e-mail. To get filing instructions for e-mail comments, commenters should send an e-mail to ecfs@fcc.gov, and should include the following words in the body of the message, "get form." A sample form and directions will be sent in reply. Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and four copies of each filing. Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by commercial overnight courier, or by first-class or overnight U.S. Postal Service mail (although we continue to experience delays in receiving U.S. Postal Service mail). The Commission's contractor, Natek, Inc., will receive hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission's Secretary at 236 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Suite 110, Washington, D.C. 20002. The filing hours at this location are 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. All hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes must be disposed of before entering the building. Commercial overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743. U.S. Postal Service first-class mail, Express Mail, and Priority Mail should be addressed to 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20554. All filings must be addressed to the Commission's Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission. Parties are strongly encouraged to file comments electronically using the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). Parties are also requested to send a courtesy copy of their comments via e-mail to victoria.schlesinger@fcc.gov. Two (2) copies of the comments and reply comments should also be sent to Chief, Pricing Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW, Room 5-A221, Washington, D.C. 20554. Parties shall also serve one copy with Qualex International, Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW, Room CY-B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, (202) 863-2893, or via e-mail to <qualexint@aol.com>. Documents in WC Docket No. 04-6, including the ASAP Paging Petition, are available for public inspection and copying during business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th St. SW, Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. The documents may also be purchased from Qualex International, telephone (202) 863-2893, facsimile (202) 863-2898. This matter shall be treated as a "permit-but-disclose" proceeding in accordance with the Commission's ex parte rules. Persons making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that memoranda summarizing the presentations must contain summaries of the substance of the presentations and not merely a listing of the subjects discussed. More than a one or two sentence description of the views and arguments presented generally is required. Other rules pertaining to oral and written ex parte presentations in permit-but-disclose proceedings are set forth in section 1.1206(b) of the Commission's rules. For further information, contact Victoria Schlesinger of the Pricing Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau at (202) 418-7353. - FCC -
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Motorola Introduces Two New Pagers Ideal for Health Care, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and Utilities Markets Motorola's newest one-way pagers—the Advisor II pager and the LS355 pager—are ideal for users in demanding business environments who need a convenient and cost effective way to stay in touch. Both the Advisor II pager and the LS355 pager were developed for use in hospitals and medical facilities, manufacturing environments, utilities, hospitality applications, campus settings, and for businesses that own and operate their own paging systems.
Both the Advisor II pager and the LS355 pager are available in POCSAG, UHF or VHF models and ship with a one-year standard warranty. As part of the continued support of these pagers, Motorola offers a two-year Express Service Plus program. This feature provides hardware repair coverage for two years beyond the standard one-year warranty for a total of three years of pager repair coverage. Both pagers are available through Motorola Authorized Resellers. MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © Motorola, Inc. 2003. |
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Paging Training Course Specially Designed for Sales, Marketing, and Administration employees. 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. 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 fast and reliable alarming system is an indisputable prerequisite for emergency fire and rescue services to respond successfully and efficiently. State-of-the-art paging enables groups as well as individuals to be alerted. The Quattrino Voice and Memo two tone pagers are suitable for everyone, even for those working in an emergency during severe weather conditions. Continual further development of previous popular models has resulted in a practical, reliable and user-friendly device, innovatively housed with ergonomic operating controls. Design elements include a very long standby function and weather proofing to the European IP54 specifications. I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Swissphone. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | Advanced RF Communications offers a complete line of products and services to support your new or existing paging system. Our RF and System engineering team utilizes the latest technologies and techniques to deliver reliable high-speed digital data messaging or tone/voice paging for local or wide area simulcast one-way or two-way paging systems. Advanced RF Communications is a proud sponsor of the: American Association of Paging Carriers Our System design and installation services integrate all the "boxes" and deliver fully operational one or two-way paging "system". We can also "tune-up" that existing paging system with our diagnostic and troubleshooting services to restore System performance that has deteriorated over time.
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Need a good paging engineer? Jason Loefer is looking for a job. Download his resumé here. | |||||||||||||||||
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![]() AAPC’s Mission Statement Defines Purpose
Our industry must move forward together or we will perish individually. If you want to get involved, please click here. Come and join us! The AAPC "newsroom" is a great source of information. The AAPC also hosts the Paging Technical Committee site. There is a lot of good paging industry information here. Click on the logo above to get a membership application. | Zetron Simulcast System 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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Prism Systems International, Inc.
| ![]() Wireless Communication Solutions Hark Systems has provided the wireless industry with innovative products for over 20 years. The Omega family of products continues that tradition. The Omega Gateway performs the function of a TAP Concentrator, a TNPP Router, and an Internet Paging Gateway. This allows the paging operator with TAP and TNPP connections to their paging network to offer e-mail and Internet based paging services. Any message coming in via any supported protocol (SMTP, SNPP, TAP, TNPP, HTTP) can be converted to another protocol and sent. Pages can also be sent to e-mail boxes for safe keeping. Subscribers can log on with a web browser and view stored alpha messages. The TNPP router function has the most extensive routing and filtering capabilities in the market today. The Internet Gateway also has extensive anti-SPAM and other selective filtering options to protect your system. The Gateway is available as a turnkey system or software only. The Omega Unified Messaging Platform gives you the competitive edge by offering the ability to bundle a variety of services that can include Voicemail, FAXmail and e-mail as part of customized subscriber packages. Subscribers can view faxes, listen to voicemails, and modify features using a common browser. System administration can also be performed remotely as well as locally. This robust set of features allows the system operator to build a profit center with low initial expense and expand as needed
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![]() ISC Technologies is the industry leader in the pre-owned Paging equipment marketplace. We specialize in purchasing, reconditioning, reconfiguring and sales of quality paging infrastructure. We can customize and configure equipment at a fraction of the cost of new. All equipment carries a standard warranty to insure your trouble free operation. At ISC Technologies we service what we sell and more. Our factory-trained technicians repair most Quintron, Glenayre, Motorola, and Skydata equipment. All of our repairs are done on a Time and Material basis, saving you money over flat rate repair. From vacuum tubes to surface mount equipment, we are ready to handle your repair needs quickly and cost effectively.
Web: www.4isctech.com | |||||||||||||||||
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. |
RTS Wireless ADVX System Programming Concepts, Inc. provides authorized RTS ADVX Wireless Gateway Support & Enhancements. Our RTS lab includes source code control, development tools, and test beds for all deployed RTS systems. Call now to sign-up for our first class support of your aging RTS system. More info ... PCI (www.programmingconcepts.com) has been in business for 24 years providing custom application programming for medium to large businesses. PCI's primary business segments include web enabled application development, financial industry systems, telephony (IVR, CTI, and Wireless), Secure Enterprise Instant Messaging System, Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (MS-CRM) Applications, and a wide variety of commercial applications. Contact Sales sales@programmingconcepts.com | ||||||||||||||||
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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BONUS — ARTICLE REPRINT — REMOTE MONITORING & CONTROL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
REMOTE MONITORING & CONTROL SERVICE BUREAU; AN END-TO-END SOLUTION Marvin T. Serhan, CEM ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION WHAT IS A SERVICE BUREAU MONITORING & CONTROL SOLUTION? Table 1: Monitoring & Control Applications
HOW IS DATA COLLECTED AND FORWARDED TO THE DATA CENTER? Figure 1: Monitoring & Control System Architecture (Source S3) Wireless communication technology has expanded the reach of the M&CS Service Bureau approach. Data collection and remote monitoring of customer meters is possible through use of a family of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) that interface with low earth orbit satellites, terrestrial 2-way paging systems or private RF networks. Please see Figure 2, which illustrates examples of 2-way paging RTUs. Once collected, information from an RTU is sent over one of several data communications networks (satellite or terrestrial) and then via the Internet to the Service Bureau Data Center, where it is unbundled and formatted for compliance with a customer's database. The information can be displayed in a variety of client-defined formats that include graphs, tables, raw data, FTP, E-mail, or text pager services. If applicable, the information from the database can also be formatted for input into a Utility's existing MV-90 system through FTP transfers in the appropriate file format. If customers own their data collection hardware or MV-90 systems, they can FTP data to the Service Bureau and have information immediately accessed and replayed to their customers anywhere in the world. The Internet has no geographic boundaries. Essentially, Customer flexibility in communications options (wireless or wireline) when combined with the Internet have changed the rules for accessing and distributing data, and the Service Bureau M&CS serves as the vehicle to facilitate that process. For control applications, the information flow begins with the customer via the Internet and continues to the Data Center, then via the communication network, to the RTU, which sends a control message to the site. Figure 2: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A SERVICE BUREAU APPROACH?
Table 2 below helps to illustrate various other value propositions as related to energy use. These same value statements can apply to any utility or environmental application particularly those covering a wide geographic region. Table 2: Challenges, Solutions, and Value
A Service Bureau M&CS can be implemented and brought on line quickly primarily because it is a hosted system maintained and upgraded by the vendor, with no special customer software required. Information can be accessible quickly wherever Internet access is available, across county, state or national boundaries. The Service Bureau M&CS offers many significant advantages particularly in a global economy, where customers are constantly seeking a competitive advantage. Table 3 provides an overview of some of the key attributes of a well-designed and fully functional Service Bureau M&CS. Table 3: Service Bureau and Remote Terminal Unit Features, Functions & Benefits
WHAT VISUAL TOOLS CAN THE SERVICE BUREAU M&CS PROVIDE TO THE CUSTOMER? ![]() In addition to the graphical, tabular and alarm reports noted above, the Service Bureau's data center offers a powerful data analysis system that is flexible and can produce reports and information tailored to a specific customer's operational needs. Couple the near M&CS real-time information delivery system with threshold alarming and equipment control functionality and a customer now has the means to oversee and manage a corporate-wide monitoring and control system that affords a unique advantage in a highly competitive global economy. In addition to tabular and graphical representations of data, a 2-D or 3-D representation of the geographic region in which the data is being recorded often adds meaning and an element of situational awareness that often is missed in merely reviewing other graphical representations of the data. As an example, Figure 7 offers a 2-D visual of an Arizona school system instrumented to record not only energy interval data, but also power outage notification. The RTU hardware is tied to the US government's Global Positioning System (GPS). As such, when an outage occurs or an out-of tolerance condition develops, the threshold alarm can be quantified and visualized based upon a geospatial display. From a command and control perspective, this feature provides a rapid means of directing field-service personnel to proceed to a precise location (latitude/longitude with street address) and to correct the problem in a timely manner. Customers are pleased and rapid correction of the problem re-starts meters and revenue for utilities. Figure 7: 2-Dimentional Representation Enhances Enterprise-wide Visualization (Source S3) Table 4 offers a snapshot of the Units of Measure available through the processing power of a Service Bureau, which collects energy, gas, water, wastewater, or environmental data and presents that information to customers in formats that meet their operational and administrative requirements. Table 4: Service Bureau Presentation Units of Measurement
CONCLUSION The Service Bureau M&CS approach provides the technology that can collect, aggregate and report utility performance data on any number of locations and allow utility specialists or corporate operations managers to make business decisions quickly when considerable cost savings or operational improvements are feasible. This approach to operational oversight and management enables corporations to function more efficiently and enhances their bottom line. The Service Bureau Monitoring and Control Solution provides a cost-effective and rapidly deployable option to establish a corporate-wide operational oversight program. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Satellite Security Systems. Inc. REFERENCE:
Reproduced from: "Strategic Planning for Energy and the Environment," Vol. 22, No. 4. 2003, page 51-63, with the publisher's permission. |
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![]() ProfitPlus by Netflow—the software that streamlines pager billing and system maintenance. ProfitPlus interfaces to your Zetron terminals allowing easy changes to pager settings and billable services. Zetron Interface: Multiple Zetron Series 2000 terminals supported. Default pager settings. Terminal/phone number association. Future activation/deactivation dates. Easy group maintenance. Automatic Billing Records: Point of Sale transaction automatically enters pager airtime into monthly billing cycle. Contract pricing. Recurring and one-time billing capabilities. Tracking: Agent commissions. Phone number inventory/analysis. Product inventory transfer from stockroom to sales locations to customer. Capcode usage reports. Duplicate capcode detection.
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Transmitters
Motorola PURC UHF RF Trays & UHF 110W PAs, tested and ready to ship. Motorola PURC Advanced Control Units, tested and ready to ship.
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Supports both current and future radio paging network needs. Offers both analog (2-tone, 5/6-tone, Quick-Call I and II) formats with voice and digital (Golay, POCSAG and FLEX™) paging formats. Can be tailored to meet special operating requirements of your organization. Features redundant AC and DC power supplies, plug-in hard disk drives, standard MS Windows 2000 operating system, voice prompts, caller password screening, direct connection to your dispatch console and more. You can use common time source for logging. Supports PURC transmitter control or can be connected to existing transmitter control system. Redundancy option with geographic separation is available to provide additional protection for critical message control points. Let us discuss your specific needs. Other PMG models are available with more features and capacities. Also inquire about TGA’s Special Network Application Platform (SNAP)* featuring e-mail messaging inbound and outbound with Web Site Hosting, and don't forget:
* TGA SNAP is a trademark of TGA Technologies, Inc. | Developers and Manufacturers of Paging and Mobile Data Equipment Selective is a developer and manufacturer of intelligent paging receiver/decoders and mobile data equipment. The PDT2000 Paging Data Terminal is a large display pager designed for desktop or in-vehicle mounting and it, along with our range of other Paging Data Receivers provide a significant message processing capability. The PDT and PDR range have multiple uses and capabilities including:
Our mobile data equipment includes a range of Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) which may be interfaced to a variety of wireless networks including trunked and conventional radio, paging, GPRS & CDMA cellular, Mobitex etc. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and GPS solutions, Dispatch & Messaging software. Local area paging systems, paging interception and message reprocessing software, field force automation and mobile dispatch solutions. We export worldwide.
I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | |||||||||||||||||||
![]() TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS PAGING EQUIPMENT EMERGENCY TRANSCEIVER SEA AIR AND LAND COMMUNICATIONS LTD I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for SALCOM. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A Call For Help With Paging History A late comer claims to have invented Wireless E-mail in 1991. We all know that the paging community was doing this in the mid to late 80s and I need your help to prove this. I am looking for the following:
Please look in your storeroom or your basement and see if you have any of these items. It would be very helpful if you could assist me in showing that wireless e-mail was being used before 1991.
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Satellite Uplinking Service
Glenayre Technical Support
Call or write today to learn more Alan Carle, Dir of Engineering 888 854 2697 x272 or | CUSTOM APPLICATIONS
Outr.Net has a web page on Wireless Forms for Timeports at: http://www.outr.net/overnight_pw.htm Their latest newsletter is: "Business Development in Mobile Data" Please call me so we can discuss your need or your idea. Or contact me by e-mail for additional information. |
PAGING AND WIRELESS DATA NEWS CLIPS FROM THE WEB | |
Worm Advisory—W32.Beagle.A@mm Discovered on: January 18, 2004 W32.Beagle.A@mm is a mass-mailing worm that accesses remote Web sites and sends e-mail to any addresses it finds using its own SMTP engine. The e-mail has the following characteristics: Subject: Hi The worm will only work until January 28, 2004. Symantec Security Response has developed a removal tool to clean the infections of W32.Beagle.A@mm. Some customers have reported that Trojan.Mitglieder.C has been discovered on computers infected with W32.Beagle.A@mm. Also Known As: I-Worm.Bagle [Kaspersky], WORM_BAGLE.A [Trend], W32/Bagle-A [Sophos], W32/Bagle@MM [McAfee], Win32.Bagle.A [Computer Associates] Type: Worm Infection Length: 15,872 bytes Systems Affected: Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Systems Not Affected: DOS, Linux, Macintosh, OS/2, UNIX, Windows 3.x Source: Symantec Security Response |
UNTIL NEXT WEEK | ||||||||||||||||||||
A big "thank you" too all those who contributed to this week's newsletter and for the new advertisers. I hope you have a great weekend. Please tell someone about the newsletter. Let's keep paging alive.
FLEX, ReFLEX, FLEXsuite, and InFLEXion, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola, Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||||
THE PAGING INFORMATION RESOURCE |