Page 1 2 Page 1 2| FRIDAY - AUGUST 11, 2006 - ISSUE NO. 224 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging, This has been a very interesting week. For one year, since Hurricane Katrina, I have been harping on the value of Paging Technology for alerting and informing the public. When the Independent Panel was appointed by the FCC and there were no representatives from the Paging Industry on it, I started my quest by writing to the FCC Chairman and then to the Chair of the Independent Panel. Eventually I got their attention. Finally, Bruce Deer, President of the AAPC and SkyTel, as well as Vince Kelly, President of USA Mobility were able to give oral and written testimonies to a Panel Hearing held in Jackson, Mississippi. They both did an outstanding job of representing the US Paging Industry. When the Panel completed its recommendations to the FCC, we were all very pleased that Paging was mentioned several times in their report—in a positive light—and that the Panel recommended that early responders have pagers as, at least, a backup device. To their credit, the FCC responded very quickly and published a “Notice of Proposed Rule Making" (NPRM), which is the first step in making new communications regulations. So that brings us up to this past Monday, which was the deadline for filing official comments on the FCC's proposed actions. I am very pleased and proud to report that several excellent comments and notices were presented about Paging. Out of 135 documents listed on the FCC web site, I found eight that dealt with Paging. I have listed them below so you can read them all—if you are interested. The comments from the AAPC task force and those from USA Mobility are especially well-written. I highly recommend them both, as well as those that my colleague Ron Mercer and I submitted. Recommendations of the Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks
Oops, I missed one (thank you James Dabbs):
The other big news this week comes from USA Mobility and their Investors' Conference held on Wednesday in Manhattan. Everyone should be pleased to see that their subscriber erosion continues to lessen—quarter by quarter: USMO Year-Over-Year Subscriber Change By Quarter
I have published two of the 63 pages in their excellent Investor Presentation, immediately following. You can download the complete presentation with the following link. We all look forward to these because they give us a good report on what's going on with about 60% of the US Subscriber Paging Market. USA Mobility Investor Conference At the end of this page is an article about three Comverse Technology executives who have been charged with mail, securities, and wire fraud. I hope these jerks get very long prison terms. They are all a bunch of crooks—this is not news to some of us Voice Mail industry insiders. Dear All, Due to some unforeseen circumstances the EMMA board has decided to reschedule and relocate the EMMA conference that was planned for Prague in October. The conference will now take place in Budapest on 15 to 17 November 2006. Details will follow shortly. We apologise for any inconvenience. Regards, Derek Banner, Now on to more news and views. |
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 central 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 web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. 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.) MORE PAGES Below please find the latest news from OtterBox. If you have questions or for more information, please contact Kristin Golliher at (480) 668-3954 or via e-mail at: kristin.golliher@otterbox.com. Travel Warning: Are You Prepared to Check Your Technology and Valuables? Fort Collins, COLO.—The recent events of plotted terrorist attacks on airliners between the United Kingdom and the United States has caused increased airport security. Officials determined that even everyday items such as toothpaste and shampoo have become material for terrorist plots. What does this mean for travelers? Airline passengers have been requested to place carry on items in clear plastic bags and soon may be required to check valuables such as laptops, PDAs, cell phones, iPods and personal items like shampoos, cosmetics and liquid bottles. Click Here to read more... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: USA Mobility Investor Conference August 9, 2006
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| COMMENTS TO THE FCC ON THE HURRICANE KATRINA PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS |
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, DC 20554
| In the Matter of | ) | |
| ) | ||
| Recommendations of the Independent Panel | ) | EB Docket No. 06-119 |
| Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on | ) | |
| Communications Networks | ) | |
| To: The Commission, en banc |
COMMENTS ON REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
Brad Dye and Ron Mercer are consultants with many years of experience with wireless communications technology who are currently active in the development of communications systems for Homeland Security and other applications. Based on this experience, Brad Dye and Ron Mercer respectfully submit their comments to the Federal Communications Commission in response to the Commission’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).1
Background
Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in late August 2005 causing extraordinary damage to the communications facilities in the region. In January 2006 Chairman Martin established an Independent Panel (the “Katrina Panel”) to study the impact of the hurricane on all sectors of the telecommunications and media industries and to make recommendations concerning ways to improve disaster preparedness with particular emphasis on the communications facilities available to first responders such as police, fire fighters and emergency medical personnel.
The Katrina Panel issued its Report and Recommendations to the Commission (the “Report”) on June 12, 2006. In its report, the Panel found paging systems “more reliable” during the disaster than voice/cellular systems.2 In view of this finding, the Commission initiated this proceeding to address and implement the Panel’s recommendations and, to this end, the Commission has solicited public comments concerning what actions it can take to address the Katrina Panel’s recommendations and the following comments are in response to that solicitation.
In recent months, several paging industry experts have presented testimony documenting the performance of paging systems in disaster situations. In general, paging system performance, particularly the performance of two-way paging systems based on the ReFLEX protocol, have been found to be superior to that demonstrated by most other communications systems.3
In summary, the numerous explanations for this superior performance include:
Comments on the Panel’s Recommendations
Pursuant to its review, the Panel recommended paging technology as an alternate communications channel for organizations to use in contacting their “key players” during emergencies and as an “effective back-up” solution for existing public safety communications systems. We commend the Panel for its diligent and thorough review of the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and we are in general agreement with its findings and recommendations.
We do, however, wish to offer several additional comments:
Public vs. Private System Considerations:
Many of the performance observations referred to above are based upon the experiences of subscribers to two-way paging systems that are operated by service providing organizations and marketed on a monthly subscription basis to the general public (Carrier Provided nPCS Public Systems). The technology used in these public systems is virtually identical to that which would be used in private systems and therefore most of the advantages listed above would accrue to either public or private implementations. Private systems, however, demonstrate several unique attributes including:
Accordingly, while subscription to carrier provided public services could, in certain cases, provide the two-way paging communications required by first responder organizations, there would be instances where a dedicated system operated by a public safety entity is absolutely required.
Summary and Recommendations
Two-way paging has demonstrated compelling benefits in terms of functionality, geographic coverage, in-building penetration, and the ability to support reliable delivery in difficult environments. It is positioned to be extremely helpful to emergency personnel for public safety and other homeland security applications through its wireless instant messaging, broadcast messaging, e-mail, and location-based capabilities. The inherent strengths of two-way paging features and functionality can provide an excellent means of communication as a primary or backup system for emergency personnel and homeland security.
Similarly, the beneficial characteristics of one-way paging technology would be advantageous in the Emergency Alerting System (EAS) that the Commission is currently reviewing.
It is our firm belief that Paging is the BEST technology to use when it is necessary to alert many people in a short time.
We can use a proven technology that is already deployed coast-to-coast. One-way paging is by far the fastest, least costly, and most reliable way that we have to warn millions of people about impending danger. We know that no telephone—neither cellular nor wireline—will work when everyone tries to use them at the same time. We also know that one-way radio paging systems work very well when it is necessary to send a message to everyone on the system at the same time. Technically, we call it “group call to a common capcode.” It's easy for one-way paging. No other technology can do that. Traditional broadcast radio and television come the closest, but their ability to network and cover the whole country is limited, complex, and costly. Even “reverse-911” systems, that claim to be able to call out from a 911 call center to alert everyone in a given area using regular telephones, make no sense when it is necessary to notify over one million people in one minute. Paging can do it while other technologies are still thinking about it.
We also believe that:
Brad Dye and Ron Mercer stand ready to assist the Commission in any way deemed necessary.
| Respectfully submitted, | |
| Brad Dye — K9IQY Wireless Messaging Consultant P.O. Box 266 Fairfield, IL 62837 Telephone: 618-842-3842 E-mail: brad@braddye.com Web: http://www.BradDye.com | |
| Ron Mercer Telecommunications Consultant 217 First Street East Northport, NY 11731 E-mail: ronofglobal@yahoo.com Web: http://www.braddye.com/mercer.html | |
| Dated: August 7, 2006 |
1 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, EB Docket. No. 06-119, 71 Fed. Reg. 38564 (July 7, 2006) (Notice).
2 Page 10 of the “Report.”
3 Please refer to reference appendix.
References:
“Wireless Messaging for Homeland Security” Dr. Peter Kapsales, March 2004. (http://braddye.com/homeland_security.html)
“Message to the Wireless Messaging Newsletter” from Carter C. Blumeyer, Communication Specialist, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue, August 30, 2005 2:49:53 PM CDT.
(http://braddye.com/newsletters/n2sep2005.html#blumeyer)
“Fully Interoperable First Responder Alerting System Based on ReFLEX Two-Way Messaging Technology”
Barrett M. Kanne October 2004. (http://braddye.com/responder.html)
“The ReFLEX™ Advantage In Homeland Security/First Responder Applications”
Ron Mercer Version 2.0—December 5, 2005. (http://www.braddye.com/reflex_advantage.html)
“Mission Critical Paging and Messaging Capabilities,”
USA Mobility, Inc. September 21, 2005. (http://braddye.com/usmo.html)
Application of County of Monroe, New York to Operate a Public Safety Talkback Paging System on 900 MHz Frequencies in Rochester, New York, File No. 0001897038.
Waiver request filed by the City of Richmond, Virginia, which seeks to operate a regional public safety two-way paging system on 900 MHz band Narrowband PCS (NPCS) Channel 16 (frequencies 930.65 - 930.70 MHz and 901.8125 - 901.8250 MHz).
“Improvement of network reliability and public safety communications in times of crisis”
AAPC/USA Mobility, September 23, 2005.
(http://braddye.com/newsletters/n14oct2005.html#letter)
ReFLEX is a registered trademark of Motorola, Inc.
| Example of Home/Office/School alerting device like the one being used in Israel. |  |  |
Comments filed with the FCC on August 7, 2006
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3 at Comverse Charged in Stock Options Case
New York Times
Published August 10. 2006 3:30AM
Perhaps, in hindsight, naming a company account after “Phantom of the Opera” was not a good idea.
Describing a brazen scheme to manipulate the granting of options, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged three former executives of Comverse Technology with mail, securities and wire fraud yesterday. The three executives, prosecutors said, used fictitious employees to create a secret slush fund of options to be distributed to favored employees.
Two of the executives, David Kreinberg, the former chief financial officer, and William F. Sorin, the former general counsel, were arraigned yesterday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where they were released on $1 million bail each, secured by their homes.
But the third, the former chief executive, Jacob Alexander, 54, who had built Comverse, a communications software maker based in New York, into a $1 billion market leader, did not appear in court and is believed to have fled the country to either Germany or Israel, according to a person briefed on the investigation.
Mr. Alexander, known as Kobi, is a highly regarded executive in Israel, where he once owned a stake in a Tel Aviv professional basketball team and where Comverse has extensive business operations. In late July, he wired $57 million to an account in Israel, according to Justice Department court filings. Millions of dollars more are believed to remain in Mr. Alexander’s Citigroup Smith Barney accounts in the United States, which prosecutors have asked to be frozen. Yesterday, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The criminal case against the Comverse executives, who all resigned from the company in May, is the second involving the manipulation of stock options. Last month, federal prosecutors in San Francisco charged the former chief executive of Brocade Communications Systems and its former head of human resources with securities fraud.
The Comverse case is the first to be brought by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil complaint against the three men yesterday.
“In what can only be called an abuse of corporate power, these executives, through fraud and deceit, rewarded themselves and their friends at the expense of the investing public,” said James W. Burrus Jr., the acting assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at a news conference in Washington yesterday.
Mr. Burrus said that the F.B.I. was investigating 45 cases involving the backdating of options. More than 80 companies nationwide are now under investigation over their options practices by the S.E.C. or by federal prosecutors in San Francisco, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Lawyers for Mr. Alexander, of New York, and Mr. Kreinberg, 41, of Teaneck, N.J., declined to comment on the charges. A call to a lawyer for Mr. Sorin, 56, who lives in New York, was not returned.
Prosecutors contend that the three men devised a complex scheme to backdate every company-wide grant of options between 1998 and 2001 to days when Comverse’s stock was trading at lower prices.
Options give an employee the right to buy a stock at some point in the future at the price of the stock on the day it was granted, commonly referred to as the strike price. The lower the strike price, the more an option is worth to the recipient. By dating the options back to a time when the stock was trading at a lower price, the recipient receives even bigger profits.
But it was the top executives themselves who profited most from the scheme, prosecutors said.
Between 1991 and 2005, Mr. Alexander made profits of $138 million on options he exercised and stock he sold, prosecutors said. About $6.4 million of that profit was a result of backdated options, prosecutors say.
Likewise, Mr. Kreinberg exercised options and sold shares for profits of about $13 million and Mr. Sorin for about $14 million, according to court filings. Around $1 million of the profits for each of the men came from backdating, prosecutors said.
“Each of the former executives realized substantial personal gains from the exercise of the illegally backdated option grants and the subsequent sell of Comverse common stock,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, the director of enforcement at the S.E.C. “Collectively, they realized millions.”
The criminal charges are a very public fall from grace for Mr. Alexander, who is credited with turning Comverse — once a penny stock on the verge of failure — into a market leader in voice-messaging software with global operations and annual revenues of more than $1 billion. Comverse has said it would have to restate financial results dating back to 2001 and possibly even further.
Described by several former employees as a meticulous, intelligent man, Mr. Alexander is portrayed in the criminal complaint as someone who paid attention to the smallest detail at the company. (“How many C.E.O.’s do you know who reads every word of the footnotes?’’ he told an employee, according to the complaint.) Mr. Alexander held a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a master’s degree in finance from New York University.
The other two men had sterling credentials as well. Mr. Kreinberg was previously a senior manager at Deloitte & Touche, the company’s outside auditor, and Mr. Sorin was a Harvard-educated lawyer who, colleagues said, has a fondness for stride, a type of piano jazz that flourished in the 1920’s. Mr. Sorin was general counsel from the company’s inception in the 1980’s through 2003.
According to court filings, the backdating of options began when an assistant who is unnamed in the court filings took on the job of compiling lists of employees for whom stock option grants were being proposed, for consideration by the board’s compensation committee. The assistant kept a record of the employee names, option awards and dates in a spreadsheet through a software program called Equity Edge.
It was around this time that Shaula Yemini, Mr. Alexander’s sister, joined the board and became a member of the compensation committee. (Mr. Alexander’s father, Zvi Alexander, was a board member for several years but did not sit on the compensation committee.)
According to information provided to the government by the assistant, Mr. Alexander or Mr. Kreinberg instructed the assistant at various times to insert earlier dates — when Comverse’s stock was trading a lower price — as the dates the stock options had been granted, although that was not true. Mr. Sorin would then place calls to members of the compensation committee to discuss the number of options that were to be awarded.
Two long-serving members of the committee told prosecutors they assumed that the option grants were dated on the date of the telephone calls. In fact, the calls came after the dates of the grants, prosecutors say.
Around 1999, Mr. Alexander and Mr. Kreinberg instructed the assistant to create a secret account for options that the two could give to employees at Mr. Alexander’s discretion, as incentives for recruitment and retention.
The assistant, who had recently watched “Phantom of the Opera,” named the account “I.M. Fanton,” in an altered rendering of “phantom,” according to court documents. (Later, the assistant renamed the account “Fargo,” apparently after the movie of that name.)
Mr. Alexander and Mr. Kreinberg told the assistant to put dozens of fictitious names on the list of employees proposed to receive options grants, awarding the fake employees about 5,000 options each to avoid attracting the compensation committee’s attention, according to the complaint.
After the compensation committee approved the list, the assistant aggregated at least 200,000 options into the Fanton/Fargo account.
Over time, options from the slush fund account were transferred to real employees. In August 2000, the complaint said, the assistant was told to transfer 48,000 options from the account to a top executive in Israel because the executive was unhappy with the level of compensation.
The options, as is typical, had a four-year vesting period, meaning they could be exchanged for stock after four years. But Mr. Alexander told the assistant to make the options exerciseable immediately.
The Israeli executive, who is not identified in the court documents, exercised the options the next day when the stock was trading at nearly double the exercise price and immediately sold the stock for an “instant $2 million profit,” the court documents say. The same executive received another $2 million windfall four months later.
When questions about the company’s options practices began to arise, the three executives scrambled to hide the account from the board, a special committee formed to investigate the practice and the firm’s outside auditor.
“When the story they delivered began to fall apart, they began to make admissions about their conduct, yet tried to justify their unlawful behavior,” the complaint says.
Mr. Kreinberg, the former chief financial officer, even tampered with evidence as the special committee was being formed to investigate the options backdating, prosecutors said. Using the assistant’s password, Mr. Kreinberg gained access to the options database and altered dates, the complaint said.
In conversations with lawyers for Comverse, Mr. Alexander tried to justify the backdating and the creation of the slush fund account by saying he had to do it to retain people and that everyone in Silicon Valley was doing the same, according to the complaint.
Source: StarNewsOnline.com (Wilmington, NC)
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