Dear friends of Wireless Messaging and Paging,

Merry Christmas.

I had expected that there would not be much news this week because so many people take vacation time during the holidays, but that was not the case this year. There are several items of interest.

Interest in the Payment Guardian, the wireless starter-interrupt system, remains strong. We are in the process of setting up many new dealers. As I mentioned last week, there has been more reader response about this product than any other in the history of this newsletter. Please call me for more information on this business opportunity.

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.)

RIM revenues rise

By Tony Smith
Published Wednesday 22nd December 2004 10:46 GMT

Blackberry maker Research in Motion this week raised its performance expectations for the coming couple of quarters despite the prospect of its failure to defend itself against patent holder NTP's legal action.

Driving RIM's revised forecast were figures for the company third quarter of fiscal 2005. In the three months to 27 November 2004, RIM realised revenues of $365.9m, up 18 per cent on the previous quarter's $310.2m and 138 per cent on Q3 2004's $153.9m.

Net income for the period was $90.4m (46 cents a share), up 28.1 per cent on Q2's $70.6m (36 cents a share) and 454.6 per cent higher than Q3 2004's figure, $16.3m (ten cents a share).

Q3 2005's figure would have been higher still had RIM not set aside $24.6m to cover litigation expenses, it said. Fighting the legal battle with NTP cost the company a further 12 cents a share's worth of earnings.

RIM's revenues continue to be driven by sales of its Blackberry handhelds, which accounted for 71 per cent of the company's sales during the quarter, up slightly on Q2's share. Of the rest of RIM's Q3 revenue, 17 per cent came from service deals, seven per cent from software licences and five per cent from other sources.

During November this year, RIM announced its user-base had risen beyond 2m individuals. By the end of the quarter, the tally had grown to 2,044,000, up 387,000 on the previous quarter.

Looking ahead, RIM said it now expects the current quarter, Q4 FY2005, to yield sales in the region of $390-410m, up 6.6-12.1 per cent sequentially, both lower than the previous quarter-on-quarter jump. Despite that, Q4 earnings will fall between 54 cents and 48 cents, the company said, higher than previously forecast.

Q1 FY2006 will deliver 51-57 cents per share in earnings on sales of between $430m and $455m, RIM said. Without litigation expenses, the two quarters' incomes would come to 60-67 cents and 64-71 cents per share, respectively.

At the end of Q3, RIM had $1.64bn in cash and investments, up from $1.59bn at the end of the Q2.

Source: TheRegister

Space Data Applauds FCC Decision To Bring Competitive Wireless Services To Airline Passengers

Washington; December 15, 2004

The Federal Communications Commission today adopted a proposal that opens the way for the provision of competitive, reasonable priced, advanced wireless services to millions of in-flight airline passengers. Gerald Knoblach, chairman and CEO of Space Data Corporation praised the FCC decision, noting, "The Commission's decision ensures that competition will finally be introduced into this service and correctly left to the market the decision as to which competing technologies will be offered to consumers."

Knoblach explained that Space Data's SkySite® platform operates at 100,000 feet and "at that altitude an airplane flying at 30,000 feet looks similar to a busload of passengers on the ground. We are able to provide service to both equally. The Commission's decision will now allow novel technologies like Space Data's to compete for the air-to-ground spectrum at auction."

The Commission considered several competing proposals in addition to Space Data's, including proposals by Verizon, Aircell, and Boeing. Space Data recommended the combinatorial bidding approach adopted by the Commission that will allow either two exclusive licenses or two shared licenses to be purchased at auction. "We believe the Commission chose the spectrum assignment plan that best fosters competition and innovation," said Knoblach. "The Commission's plan is flexible and anticipates the inevitable improvements in technology that will be made in the near term and will make possible even more efficient use of limited amounts of spectrum. They are to be congratulated on their foresight."

Space Data operates a system of balloon-borne SkySite platforms that currently provide two-way data communications service throughout the south-central United States. The SkySite platforms are approved by both the FCC and the Federal Aviation Administration and are currently providing telemetry services to the energy industry. SkySite platforms supporting voice services have also been successfully flown under a development contract with the US military.

The spectrum proposal adopted today by the FCC will auction 4 MHz of spectrum that can be divided into two shared 3 MHz licenses or two exclusive licenses of 3 MHz and 1 MHz to provide air-to-ground communications. This spectrum allocation will become available in an upcoming auction. Space Data plans to bid in that auction. "We are confident that advances in the processing power of phones and the ever increasing data rates of transmission will make either license a valuable resource for the traveling public," said Knoblach.

About Space Data Corporation: Space Data offers communications services by utilizing its patented balloon-based SkySite® technology. Although unique to the telecom industry, weather services around the globe have, for more than 60 years, used a similar platform to transmit critical atmospheric data to ground-based weather stations. Space Data is the first to adapt this rugged, all weather technology to commercial wireless communications. The SkySite network is delivering dependable, clear, two-way signals over hundreds of miles—ideal for reaching even the most remote areas. Operating at 100,000 feet, a single SkySite unit can provide service to an area the size of Oklahoma. For additional information on Space Data Corporation, please visit www.spacedata.net.

Contact:
Tim Ayers
202-857-9734
tim@ayersassociates.net.

Phones in flight: The story is data, not chatter

Published: December 21, 2004, 10:09 AM PST
By Joe Sharkey
The New York Times

Conventional wisdom has it that once federal authorities approve the use of cell phones on commercial flights, an airplane cabin will quickly resemble an Amtrak train car, simmering with hostility between those who want peace and quiet and those who bray their way from Penn Station in New York to Union Station in Washington.

Here are three little words to consider on the subject: not so fast.

As regulatory authorities seek comment and study the technological and safety implications, no one expects the existing ban on using cell phones on commercial flights to be eased for at least two years, if ever. More important, it appears there is not a great deal of support for in-flight cell phone chatter among business travelers, whom most airlines regard as their most valuable customers. Leisure travelers are even less enamored.

"Our research indicates that among business travelers, only 13 percent want to use their mobile phones on an airplane for conversation, and less than 10 percent of leisure travelers want to," said Henry H. Harteveldt, airline analyst at Forrester Research.

That does not mean there is not wide support for the decision by the Federal Communications Commission last week to seek formal public comment on easing the ban on in-flight use of wireless devices such as cell phones. In fact, there is overwhelming support for changing the rules to allow the use of wireless communications devices in the air, Harteveldt said. It just does not manifest itself as a vote of approval for "suffering through some blabbermouth on a transcontinental yak-fest," he said.

Instead, airline passengers mostly want the ability to stay in touch by text-messaging—using cell phones, wireless communications devices like BlackBerrys and other personal digital devices, or laptop Internet connections.

"The story here is data, not voice," Harteveldt said. "The real interest and opportunities lie in using our mobile phones or BlackBerrys for text messaging, e-mail and even the Internet."

It has become "very, very clear that people want silent communications" on an airplane, he said.

Travel industry and communications specialists cite several reasons for the desire to discourage cell phone voice communications on airplanes. Unlike train trips, flights tend to be long. Space is cramped. Tolerance of cell phone louts is waning in general. And increasing numbers of business travelers say telephone chatting in close proximity to strangers raises serious privacy issues.

Lawyers at big law firms, for example, are spending more time in the air as legal services increasingly become a global industry, much as accounting did years ago, said Paul Metselaar, chief executive of the Ovation Travel Group, an international travel management company. Law firms account for 70 percent of Ovation's revenue, he said.

"The increased usage of cell phones, if it happens, will enable them to do more work on planes, but it has a potential concomitant effect because privacy is a huge issue for our clients," he said. "Where, say, you're working on a multibillion-dollar deal, the issues of confidentiality are going to present themselves. I mean, they're already concerned about people looking over their shoulders when they're using their laptops."

While relaxing the ban would increase productivity and billable hours, he said, the real demand is for access to e-mail and the Internet, whether on a laptop or on a handheld device like a BlackBerry. BlackBerrys, introduced to the market six years ago by Research in Motion, a telecommunications company based in Canada, and similar handheld wireless devices sold by competitors allow users to receive and reply to e-mail and surf the Web, and can even act as telephones. In the first 10 months of this year, the number of subscribers to BlackBerrys—which avid users fondly call CrackBerrys—doubled, to 2 million.

"Our clients love CrackBerrys—they're addicts," Metselaar said.

The matter before the FCC is only part of the overall issue of wireless communications on planes. The main concern of the FCC, which regulates broadcast communications, is sorting out matters like the potential for interference with ground-based communications networks. Assuming the FCC eventually gave clearance, the Federal Aviation Administration would still need to certify that in-flight wireless communications do not interfere with aircraft navigational systems, and that remains an open question.

Last July, the biggest domestic carrier, American Airlines, tested voice and text mobile communications on a single flight, in a project with Qualcomm, the wireless communications company. The test, conducted under the supervision of the FCC, the FAA and other regulatory agencies, showed that passengers could successfully make and receive calls, American said.

While American and other airlines have not yet conducted detailed studies on what in-flight mobile communications customers want, "the text-messaging side is very, very important," said Billy Sanez, an American spokesman. An in-flight mobile communications system "has to have a connection—not just basically tying two strings together to talk on the phone, but being able to use your BlackBerry or your PDA to download e-mail or send text," he said.

Right now, many users of Internet-capable cell phones, BlackBerrys and comparable devices download e-mail just before a flight, use in-flight time to compose replies with the transmitter turned off, and then transmit their text messages after the plane lands. The FCC decision last week was "just a very small step" toward allowing those devices, along with voice telephones, to be used in flight, said Gary Shapiro, the president of the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group.

In the interim, as more travelers use transmission-capable devices on planes, the group has issued guidelines for manufacturers to help airlines detect the illegal use of any device during flight. The guidelines, now being adopted by manufacturers, call for a clearly visible, uniform icon to be displayed on such devices, so "flight attendants can quickly see when someone's device is receiving or emitting a signal," Shapiro said.

Shapiro said he believed that the commotion over cell phones on airplanes was overblown. "The media has gotten this story totally wrong, being focused on the fact of how obnoxious it will be to listen to someone on a telephone when you're stuck flying in this pile of tin," he said.

Unless airlines come up with ways to segregate annoying cell phone chatterers—which is considered highly unlikely—he said he did not think in-fight voice communications had much of a future. "Frankly, I don't think it will ever happen," he said, adding:

"As a guy who flies at least once a week, I can tell you that the intensity of emotion on this issue of allowing people to talk on telephones in flight is great," he said. "People are never going to accept that, but what they do want is the ability to use their personal digital assistants, their BlackBerrys and telephones and other related products, to be able to get and receive information" while the plane is aloft.

Source: c|net News.Com

Rumor Mill: Will T-Mobile bid for Nextel?

Merger mania isn't over yet. Insiders at Banc of America are now speculating that T-Mobile will make a play to acquire Nextel. This latest merger rumor suggests that T-Mobile may make a counter-offer for Nextel, in part because the carrier desperately needs more spectrum. By acquiring Nextel, T-Mobile would be better positioned to continue its play as a nationwide carrier. T-Mobile also needs more business clients. Integrating Nextel's network with T-Mobile's might be trickier than integrating it with Sprint's, especially since T-Mobile has no immediate plans to transition to 3G. T-Mobile has yet to comment on the rumor.

The rumor mill has been hot since the Sprint, Nextel story first broke. Earlier this month, some suggested that Vodafone might make a play for either Sprint or Nextel, but the company quickly came out to dismiss those rumors. Then The Wall Street Journal reported that Vodafone had given its blessing to Verizon Wireless for a bid to acquire Sprint. Vodafone also quickly denied that report. Last week, insiders were guessing that Verizon might make a play to acquire Sprint, while yesterday some insiders suggested that Verizon might make a bid to acquire either Alltel or US Cellular.

Source: FierceWireless Newsletter 12-21-04

4-5-04   ICOM of America, Inc. v. Rapid 2 Way

Case no. 03 CIV 0078

In this case, the Plaintiff, ICOM of America, claimed the Defendant owed $114,000 to Plaintiff on an account for products sold and shipped to Defendant.  Plaintiff sold Defendant hundreds of hand-held radios and accessories. Defendant, Rapid 2 Way, purchased these radios for rent and sale in its business.  Defendant acknowledged that it owed money to Plaintiff on account, however Defendant claimed the Plaintiff supplied it with substandard and defective radios causing damage to Defendant’s business. Defendant claimed Plaintiff committed fraud in its representations regarding the radios.

The Plaintiff was represented by Kenneth Baker, Esq., and Michael Slodov, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio.  The Defendant was represented by Bruce Hall, Esq., of Medina, Ohio and Gregory Beck, Esq., of North Canton, Ohio.

Verdict: After a thirteen day trial, the jury awarded the Plaintiff $92,915.95 on its claim on the account and attorney fees.  The jury awarded the Defendant $579,131.83 on its claim of breach of contract and breach of warranty. The jury awarded the Defendant $774,321.50 on its claim of fraud. The jury further awarded $1,045,837 in punitive damages along with attorney fees.

Source: Medina County Ohio Common Pleas Court

Dear Brad,

Wireless Innovations, Inc. regrets to inform you that we will no longer be representing Advantra or Advantra products from this point forward.  We are deeply sorry that this decision may cause our customers difficulty going forward.  As competitive ReFLEX products come to the market, we will let you know.

We still represent Nokia and Telit OEM GSM radio modules, RoyalTek OEM and consumer GPS products, MobileMark and Radiall/Larsen Antennas, Telegartner Connectors and will be adding new products in the new year.

Sincerely,

Tammy Decker

Wireless Innovations, Inc.
102A West Main Street
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Phone: (717) 591-2630
Fax: (717)591-1838

My name is Beth Boone.  I am a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in crisis counseling and a co-founder of Boone Cellular Companions, LLC. (BCC)

I am writing to ask for your assistance with a survey concerning an important topic that impacts many of us, especially women.  Only your individual opinion is being requested.  In return, one dollar will be donated to the charity of your choice for each person who completes our on-line survey by January 16, 2005.

— OVERVIEW —
Boone Cellular Companions (BCC) is a start-up company based in Plano, Texas.  I decided to start BCC because I thought there was too little being done, outside of nonprofit organizations, that would help individuals who are traumatized by sexual assault and physical abuse crimes.  My work with traumatized individuals heightened my awareness of the need not just for treatments after the fact, but for some type of preventative measures.  Many people—women, children, and men, too—are affected by crimes that happen in one-on-one situations in which there is no opportunity to get help.  Some happen with strangers, some in dating situations, and some between acquaintances or others they have trusted.  Because of the complicated nature of these crimes, and the stigma attached to them, many victims never report them, therefore it is difficult to counter the problem through the criminal justice system.  Compounding the difficulties, those who do find the courage to report them are often not believed for lack of evidence corroborating their stories.  That is true whether the report is made to law enforcement, or to friends—and even family, unfortunately.

We have developed a prototype product and service that addresses these one-on-one situations. Our founders have financed the development up to this point, and we are in the process of seeking additional funds from angel investors to launch the service in June 2005. In the aftermath of the dot-com era, investors are understandably very cautious toward totally new product ideas. They want to be assured that a product is something people will buy and not just a nifty engineering gadget. This is where your input is important.

— SURVEY —
Please read about the BCC offering and give your opinion about whether it is something that you might buy for yourself or a loved one by answering a few brief survey questions at http://boonecellularcompanions.com/Survey.htm.

When you are finished, please pass this survey request to someone else you believe would be willing to help and generate an extra dollar for a family-service charity.

Thank you,
Beth

Beth Boone
Boone Cellular Companions, LLC
1513 Faringdon Drive
Plano, TX  75075
972-509-1788 work
972-346-6311 fax
Beth.Boone@BooneCellularCompanions.com
www.boonecellularcompanions.com

TAPS—Texas Association of Paging Services

TAPS is looking for partners on 152.480 MHz. Our association currently uses Echostar, formerly Spacecom, for distribution of our data and a large percentage of our members use the satellite to key their TXs. We have a CommOneSystems Gateway at the uplink in Chicago with a back-up running 24/7. Our data is live on two different satellites at all times in case of a failure of one of them and covers the North American Continent. Our paging coverage area on 152.480 MHz currently encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Kansas. The TAPS paging coverage is available to members of our Network on 152.480 MHz for $0.005 a transmitter (per capcode per month), broken down by state or regions of states and members receive a credit towards their bill for each transmitter which they provide to our coverage. Members are able to use the satellite for their own use, for their own frequencies, by paying only for the data which they transmit, we track the data on a per bit basis and what ever percentage of the total data sent by each user is billed back to them as a percentage of the total satellite bill, (ex: if 6% of the data is the members', the member is billed for 6% of the cost of the sat plus 10% for overhead. If you are on 152.480 MHz or just need a satellite for keying your own TXs on your frequency we have the solution for you.

TAPS—Texas Association of Paging Services
Contact Ted Gaetjen tedasap@asapchoice.com
800-460-7243

System Operation
Payment Guardian™ is the only patented, low-cost system that truly saves your company’s time, money and manpower! This technologically advanced -wireless payment-assurance system is easy to operate from virtually anywhere in the world using the online System Control Center.

Payment Guardian requires absolutely no customer interaction and integrated seamlessly into the vehicles electrical system and is not visible to the customer, decreasing the possibility of tampering.

Unlike other similar products on the market, Payment Guardian™ requires no keypads or input devices, eliminating the hassle of having to generate codes and giving those codes to the customer each and every payment cycle. With Payment Guardian?, lenders no longer have to rely on customers to enter codes into a keypad correctly.

With Payment Guardian, only non paying customers require use of the system. Once the system has been activated in the customer’s vehicle—each time the ignition is turned to the OFF position, Payment Guardian reminds the customer that payment has not yet been received or insurance is not current and provides them with specific instructions to contact the leinholder immediately. If the reminder is ignored, you can simply activate Payment Guardian’s Starter Interrupt feature allowing no one to start the vehicle until the system is reset.

Payment Guardian’s system control center has been designed to meet the different need of individual lenders and dealers that want a total customized solution to manage their systems, providing you with 3 different ways to use the systems features. This enables you to instantly activate system features, schedule activations to occur at a preset time or completely automate the systems features, allow you to just manage your systems with just a click of the mouse.

System Features

Audible Voice Reminder
Payment Guardian is designed to meet most states right to cure laws. Each time the ignition is turned to the OFF position, Payment Guardian reminds the customer that payment has not yet been received or insurance is not current and provides them with specific instructions to contact the leinholder immediately. As an option, we can also provide you with a customized message, in any language or gender, to fit your specific needs.

Starter Interrupt
If the customer ignores the voice warning and chooses not to respond, you can simply activate Payment Guardian’s Starter Interrupt feature allowing no one to start the vehicle until the system is reset.

Emergency Override
Payment Guardian’s override feature enables the customer to start the vehicle for an additional 2 days in cases of emergency, eliminating potential liability.

Vehicle Finder
Payment Guardian can also be interfaced into the vehicle’s horn, allowing the customer or repossession agent to easily locate the vehicle if needed. This feature also may aid local police in the recovery of the vehicle if stolen. Once this feature has been triggered, the horn will sound for 30 minutes, or until turned off.

Door Unlock
Payment Guardian gives you the optional ability to connect the system to vehicles with power door locks which enables you to remotely unlock the doors if ever needed. This provides a tremendous advantage in the event of customers locking themselves out of the vehicle as well as aiding in repossession.

For more information, please contact Brad Dye.

Save $$$$$$$

Satellite Uplinking Service

• Reduce your monthly Satellite expense!
• Lower than average industry costs
• Increase your system reliability
• Completely redundant hardware
• Access to knowledgeable technical staff 24/7

Technical Support
Glenayre Transmitters & Terminals

• Paging terminal upgrades, relocations, troubleshooting, emergency repair & training
• Transmitter installation & maintenance
• Experienced former Glenayre Technicians and Engineers
• Satisfaction Guaranteed

Call or write today to learn more
Alan Carle
Director of Engineering
888-854-2697 x272
acarle@ucom.com

SECOND TERM SUPPORTER

Newsletter repair prices—starting at:

• $4.50 labor for numeric or alphanumeric pagers
• $6.50 labor for 2-way pagers
• $9.50 labor for cellular phones

**Special pricing on cellular and pager refurbishment**

Motorola Authorized Service Center for Paging and Cellular.

Ask for Special Newsletter Pricing.

Please call: (800) 222-6075 ext. 306 for pricing.

CONTACT
E-mail:	info@minilec.com  CLICK HERE
	Minilec Service, Inc. 9207 Deering Ave., Suite A Chatsworth, CA 91311

• ISO 9001 - 2000 certified manufacturing facility.
• THE High-Quality RF design and Contract Manufacturer of choice.
• Do you have a product or product component that you would like to have manufactured?
• Would you like to have us design and manufacture a product just for you?
• Would you like to know firsthand that your contract manufacturer is one of the leading providers of service with the highest degree of quality in mind?

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.

TMR w/BNC Telemetry	We offer full product support (ODM/OEM) for our worldwide customers, including a complete design center, research facilities, proto-typing, field services, contract manufacturing, commodity sourcing, and distribution.
In addition to both Numeric and Alphanumeric pagers, we have designed, engineered and manufactured 1-way Telemetry devices, paging receivers, 2-way paging (ReFLEX) telemetry devices, DECT phones/devices and PDA accessories.	Bravo 800 Alphanumeric

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.

Prism Message Gateway Systems
Modular and Configurable

Your Choice of Options

• Radio Paging Terminals
• Voicemail Systems
• Email and Network Text Messaging Systems
• Digital Trunk Switching Systems
• Digital Trunk and Voicemail Concentrators
• Remote Network Encoders
• TNPP Network Routers

Popular Choice for Domestic and International

• Commercial Paging Carriers
• Private Paging Systems
• Hospitals
• Public Safety
• Federal, State and Local Government
• Industrial Paging
• Energy Companies – Load Management

Logical Choice

• Replace Outdated, UNLICENSED Paging Terminals
• Eliminate Outrageously High Support Costs
• Add New Paging System with ALL THE FEATURES
• Provide Your Customers With Features They Want
• Designed and Supported by Industry Experts

Go ahead . . . be choosy . . . choose Prism Systems International

CONTACT

Prism Systems International, Inc. 300 Colonial Center Parkway, Suite 100 Roswell, Georgia 30076 USA

Telephone: 678-353-3366

Internet: www.prismpaging.com CLICK HERE

E-mail: info@prismpaging.com CLICK HERE

SECOND TERM SUPPORTER

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. CLICK HERE

Signal Pro Test Equipment For Sale

This equipment is used for monitoring, optimizing, and capturing paging data which includes full messages, capcodes, times, frame information, and other technical data.

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:

• FLEX or POCSAG decoding
• POCSAG encoding and transmitter control
• Parallel printer output
• Serial inputs & outputs
• Relay control (1-256 or more)
• PC interfacing and message management
• Message interception & logging
• Remote control
• Cross band repeating & paging coverage infill
• LED sign control
• Message printing etc.

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.

CONTACT
Postal Address:	Selective Communications Group PO Box 8798 Symonds St. Auckland, New Zealand
Street Address:	3/2 Haultain St. Eden Tce Auckland, New Zealand
Web site:	www.selective.co.nz CLICK HERE
E-mail:	info@selective.co.nz CLICK HERE
Phone:	+64-9-3021142
Fax:	+64-9-3021148
THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. CLICK HERE

If you see someone in the field (like salespeople, technicians, and delivery people) using paper forms, their company could probably save a pile of money, and get much better timeliness, accuracy and efficiency, by using converting to Outr.Net's Wireless Forms. Custom applications for as little as $995, delivered in just a few days.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. CLICK

Advertise Here

Your company's logo and product promotion can appear right here for 6 months. It only costs $500 for a full-size ad in 26 issues—that's $19.23 an issue. (6 month minimum run.)

Details about the various advertising plans can be read here.  CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Complete Technical Services For The
Communications and Electronics Industries
Design • Installation • Maintenance • Training

Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.
Consulting Engineer
Registered Professional Engineer

The Electronic Entities Group

www.EEonTheWeb.com

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:

• Identifying issues of common concern to its members
• Providing an effective forum for the discussion and progression of issues relating to the industry
• Monitoring and addressing regulatory and legal matters as a unified organization
• Providing research into and development of our industry and its current and prospective markets
• Providing education and resources to address the challenges and trends affecting our operating environments
• Encouraging and maintaining high standards of ethics and services
• Championing the industry and representing paging carriers with a positive voice

Our industry must move forward together or we will perish individually.

AAPC links:

• Newsroom
• Paging Technical Committee
• Printed Newsletter archive
• Dues
• Membership application
• E-mail (more information)

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. CLICK HERE

CONTACT

Zetron, Inc. P.O. Box 97004 Redmond, WA 98073-9704 USA

Tel: 425-820-6363

Fax: 425-820-7031

E-mail: zetron@zetron.com CLICK HERE

THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

www.gtesinc.com
Your Professional Services Partner

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
New Data Protocol Support
Small Campus Two-Way Systems
Location LSP
Hosted Two Way Support

Please call GTES Sales at 770-754-1666 for more information on the above.

Continued Support Programs

GTES Partner Program
Product Sales
On-Site Services
Software Development
Product Training

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:

• Hardware Based
• Uses Embedded Linux as the Multitasking OS
• Secure access for Configuration and Maintenance
• Converts Serial TAP message to SNPP or SMTP
• Converts Serial Data to TCP/IP and TCP/IP back to Serial
• Connects to Internet using 10Base-T Network
• Connects to Internet using Modem and PPP
• Dial Backup to another ISP or Modem
• Can be Configured to use 1 to 4 Serial Ports

CONTACT

Hark Systems, Inc. 2675 Lake Park Drive N. Charleston, SC 29406

Tel: +1 800-367-4275 or 843-764-1560 ext. 8104

Fax: +1 843-764-3692

E-mail: leanne@harksystems.com CLICK

Web: http://www.harksystems.com CLICK

THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

VOIP: A New Day Is Dawning

By Caron Carlson
December 6, 2004

From the time the technology was technically possible, VOIP has held second-class status in telecommunications, unable to deliver a call with the reliability, quality and security of plain old telephone service. Equipment vendors have coddled it, carriers have dismissed it, and users have mostly waited to see if it could ever deliver the promising mix of low-cost calling and advanced convergence features.

How things have changed.

Today, voice over IP, a beneficiary of improving technology and changing attitudes, is emerging as one of the top IT concerns for business. Two-thirds of the Global 2000 are expected to implement VOIP by 2006, according to Deloitte Services LP analysts. There are some 400 pure-play VOIP providers in North America, and IP options are now available in every major network equipment vendor's product line. Even the stalwarts of POTS—the RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Companies)—are offering VOIP.

With so many VOIP options available from so many providers, the question for many enterprises, large and small, is shifting from how to do it to finding reasons to do it. And the answers may vary, depending on whom you ask.

For the past few years, VOIP suppliers have championed running voice traffic on a packet-switched network, primarily as a way to lower costs. Most long-distance toll charges can be eliminated with VOIP, and operating expenses can be reduced, mainly because moving, adding or changing phones does not require hours of labor or using the telephone maintenance contract.

The initial capital cost of IP gear is not low, however, nor is the cost of expertise needed to administer the new technology.

Even hosted VOIP offerings, requiring little or no capital outlay and providing full management, often do not result in major bottom-line savings.

More recently, VOIP suppliers have extolled the virtues of efficiency, convenience and functionality to promote IP telephony deployment. Converging voice and data traffic is the swiftest path to implementing emerging applications, such as unified messaging, instant messaging, collaboration and presence awareness, across the enterprise, the suppliers said.

"IP is driving opportunities for different business models," said Jorge Blanco, vice president in the Enterprise Communications Group at Avaya Inc. "If the customers are going to make the transition, they want to end up with new applications."

Next year, makers of IP PBXes and other IP communications gear will continue working on improving operational issues, such as reliability, security and QOS (quality of service), while luring customers with the prospect of exciting new applications.

For its part, Avaya will focus on improving "enterprise survivability," Blanco said. The Basking Ridge, N.J., manufacturer plans to integrate SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)—the signaling protocol for Internet-based conferencing, telephony, presence and other applications—into more products and build encryption capabilities deeper within the network.

"The technology, we believe, has now crossed beyond the early adoption," Blanco said. "2005 is a year of lots of maturity." But according to Deloitte Services, in New York, most migrations are being driven by the potential cost reductions associated with VOIP.

That disconnect between business needs and suppliers' marketing strategies has slowed some VOIP deployments, according to Lisa Pierce, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc., in Cambridge, Mass.

"It's very disjointed," Pierce said. "Unfortunately, suppliers still think customers should adapt to them. They're not looking at the user perspective. They're coming at it from the technology perspective."

To help companies ease into VOIP, vendors such as Avaya and Nortel Networks Corp. offer hybrid IP telephony systems that let customers upgrade incrementally to convergence and leverage their investments in existing equipment.

Unlike the anticipated wave of VOIP deployments, where cost reduction is seen as a key factor, early VOIP adopters were driven more often by a combination of circumstances, including owning phone systems near the end of their life cycles; embarking on so-called greenfield deployments, which require building infrastructure from scratch; and engaging in business processes closely tied to integrated voice and data, such as call centers.

In 1999, these circumstances came together for CDW Corp. The technology consulting company (by definition, an early adopter) was expanding from its headquarters in Vernon Hills, Ill., and setting up additional call centers in the Chicago area. The company was not prepared to dump its existing infrastructure so it deployed a hybrid system from Avaya, said K.C. Tomsheck, director of IT operations for CDW.

Today, the company, with about 37,000 employees, runs all interoffice calls over VOIP, and some of its small sales offices and home offices use Avaya IP softphones. Yet CDW has retained its old handsets in the main offices.

"We just couldn't see spending the money to replace all those phones," Tomsheck said.

No less important than leveraging the embedded investment were the risk of the system going down and concerns about security. Both issues caused CDW to put the brakes on an immediate, complete transformation to VOIP, Tomsheck said.

"You hope you have your network secured, but if any kind of virus or worm breaks in, if it's creating more traffic than everything else needs, then calls are not going to get through. It's just a risk we haven't been able to absorb so far," he said.

In North America, Avaya closely battles Nortel, Mitel Networks Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. in shipping IP PBXes, according to Infonetics Research Inc., in Woburn, Mass. Revenue from pure IP systems rose 11 percent from the first to second quarter this year, primarily on account of Cisco, according to Infonetics' research.

For the village of Lombard, Ill., which completed a deployment of IP telephony equipment from Cisco this summer, security was a major concern. Working with Greenwich Technology Partners Inc., the village of 42,000 residents installed Cisco switches, dual Call Managers, Unity voice mail and approximately 240 IP telephones. The network connects the Village Hall and the police, fire, public works and water works departments.

To defend against Internet-based attacks, Lombard installed Cisco's PIX firewalls and Security Agent intrusion prevention technology. Like Avaya, Cisco is adding encryption to more of its products, including Call Manager, which works with a limited number of Cisco phones.

"IP phones are secure as long as you do your due diligence to make them that way," said Jerry Kaczorowski, business development manager at New York-based GTP, adding that staying up-to-date with patches is critical. "Patch management is a big thing. Most of the exploits go after buffer overflows," Kaczorowski said.

In Lombard, deploying a pure IP system from scratch made sense. The village's equipment was about 10 years old and becoming increasingly difficult to manage, with PBX systems from three different vendors installed throughout the municipal complex. The aging phone system did not support automated voice mail, caller ID or Enhanced 911, which have come to be considered critical in large organizations.

"We wanted to get down to one system," said Lombard's IT manager, Larry McGhinnis. "Nobody knew where any of the [voice] cabling was or where any of these connections were going."

The main benefits of the new system are efficiency, manageability and new functions, but there are expected cost savings as well from centralizing moves, from adds and changes and from eliminating lines that were not being used, McGhinnis said. Employees have a variety of new features at their fingertips, including auto-attendant, and they can view directories on the IP phones and check voice mail over the Internet.

While moving confidently into VOIP, both CDW and the village of Lombard faced the age-old challenge of ensuring that calls moving over the data network offer the reliability and QOS that employees were accustomed to. For CDW, the greatest challenge was determining the necessary amount of bandwidth and figuring out how to balance voice and data traffic, Tomsheck said, recalling "a little bit of experimenting and tweaking it as you go."

But convergence, for all its promise, is not easy to accomplish, said Forrester's Pierce. Suppliers need to provide better tools for network monitoring and management, and traffic balancing remains a major challenge to VOIP, she said.

"I think everybody is still trying to feel their way. It gets complicated very quickly," Pierce said.

Over the next year, companies such as Avaya will work to break down some of those complexities. Avaya plans to offer enhanced remote monitoring diagnostics for VOIP traffic and proactive monitoring services, Blanco said.

With companies relying on the packet network for phone calls, monitoring becomes increasingly critical, as well as increasingly complex.

"Now we have to watch switches, we have to watch routers, interconnects with the carriers," Blanco said, adding that Avaya also needs to provide the tools to let enterprises do such monitoring themselves.

The best news for IP equipment makers is that one key motivator for migrating to IP—aging gear—will hit most large enterprises over the next couple of years as the major network upgrades made prior to the year 2000 begin to near the end of their life cycles.

However, as the market for VOIP gear grows, so does the pool of suppliers eager to fill the need. Makers of IP telephony systems face increased competition from technology companies, such as Microsoft Corp., that historically served a separate niche.

Source: eWeek.com

TOWERS FOR SALE
New, never installed, complete with hardware.
Please call or e-mail with questions.

TOO MUCH TO LIST • CALL OR E-MAIL

Rick McMichael 888-429-4171 rmcm@preferredwireless.com CLICK

THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

Too Soon For WiMAX, IDC Says

Dec 20, 2004

TechwebNews.com via NewsEdge Corporation:

An IDC report cautions wireless networking and broadband silicon suppliers against being overly optimistic about WiMAX. The high-speed wireless technology presents a potential opportunity, but "it is still too early for communications IC vendors to commit to this technology," the market research firm said.

However, several vendors are already moving aggressively in the field including Intel, Fujitsu Microelectronics America, and Wi-LAN Inc.

"Until major service providers make a firm commitment to deploy WiMAX, only a niche market opportunity exists through 2008," IDC stated, adding that there is a question "whether or not there is room for WiMAX to coexist among numerous other wired and wireless networking technologies."

IDC maintains WiMAX could represent a cheaper alternative to T-1 lines for wireless hotspot backhaul, but it questions whether there will be enough volumes involved to justify network investment. The market research firm said WiMAX chipsets can enable the technology in laptop PCs in 2007.

Support for WiMax spec heating up

By Patrick Mannion

EE Times
Dec 20, 2004

Manhasset, N.Y.—Wavesat Inc.'s launch last week of a WiMax-capable baseband chip, coinciding with the entry of Ericsson and Sprint into the WiMax Forum, point to 2005 as a seminal year in the development of broadband wireless solutions based on the WiMax specification.

Targeting a range of applications from basestation backhaul to last-mile broadband access, WiMax has seen its support broaden from an Intel-backed initiative to an industry-wide forum whose membership is a who's who of telecommunications.

"When I took over in mid-January, the forum had 50 members; now it has 185 fully paid members and 37 waiting," said Frank Draper, vice president of sales and marketing for Wavesat (Montreal) and director of membership for the WiMax Forum. When Ericsson announced last week that it had become a principal member of the forum, it said it would make WiMax part of a public Ethernet offering and a complement to DSL.

Though Sprint had not publicly announced its membership in the forum by press time, Draper said it had joined.

For its part, Wavesat announced last week that it was shipping the first WiMax-capable baseband chip, which Draper said can meet all the profile requirements that will be part of WiMax. Based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard, the WiMax specification focuses on a select set of profiles within that standard and sets up compliance and interoperability criteria.

The WiMax Forum expects to finalize the Protocol Implementation and Conformance Statement defining specification parameters within the next few weeks that will lay the groundwork for a certification process, Draper said.

A plugfest is expected in July. "Interoperability tests are then scheduled for the September/October time frame," Draper said.

For its DM256 baseband chip, Wavesat worked with Agere Systems Inc. on the 5.8-GHz RF front end and with RFMagic Inc. on the 3.5-GHz RF portion. The DM256 is Wavesat's sixth-generation OFDM chip and is manufactured using a 0.18-micron process from Atmel Corp.

Source: CommsDesign

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. If you missed my Christmas card, please click on the link to the left. Just one more newsletter is scheduled for this year. Between now and next Friday would be a good time to reflect on the events of 2004 and send in your thoughts to share with the rest of our readers.

With best regards,	Brad Dye WIRELESS DATA CONSULTANT		WIRELESS DATA
	Voice:
	Fax:
	E–mail:	brad@braddye.com
	Web:	Consulting page MAY I HELP YOU?
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