| FRIDAY - JULY 6, 2007 - ISSUE NO. 268 |
Dear Friends of Wireless Messaging, I have received more very interesting information about the life and career of my friend Froike Biegun who passed away recently. Thanks to the speed and ease of international e-mail, friends and relatives of Mr. Biegun have helped me create an obituary with more details. It follows in the next section. I have been reading a lot about the release of the new Apple iPhone. So far there are no official sales results for the first week on the market but I have seen several estimates of over 700,000 units. This is fascinating to an ex-marketing guy like me. I commented last week about how unlikely it would be for a company from outside of the wireless industry, to enter a such a highly competitive and mature market like the cellphone market and take it over by storm — take it away from the world's leading technology companies like Motorola, Sony/Ericsson, Nokia and others. I have been using a Macintosh computer for about 17 years now, so I was happy to see this happen. I have a friend who has a buyer for 1,000 tracking devices consisting of ReFLEX50 transceivers and GPS receivers. Can anyone out there help us with this project? Send me an e-mail if you can. 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.) Anyone wanting to help support The Wireless Messaging Newsletter can do so by clicking on the PayPal DONATE button above.
| |||||||||||
OBITUARY 1 The Technical Genius of the Israeli Secret Service
4X4AF — Ephraim Biegun, nicknamed Froike, was known from his youth as a technical genius. His classmates in the fifth grade, at the Tel-Aviv School, remember Froike as the one who established an amateur radio station called “Voice of the Moon.” When he completed his military service with the Communications Corps, Iesar Har-El, the head of the Israeli Secret Service4, sent him for an education program in the United States — to learn about modern technology. When he returned, Froike served between the years of 1954 and 1957 in the technical unit of the Israeli Secret Service. Avraham Shalom, also the former head of the Israeli Secret Service, says that “Froike has done things that until then we had only read about in the books.” In 1957 Froike started engineering studies in London, and during the years of 1960 to 1970 was the head of the technical department of the Israeli Secret Service. In Yossi Melman and Eitan Haber's book, “The Spies,”5 they describe how the technical unit in 1961 cracked a radio broadcast from the Romanian Intelligence Service to their agent in Haifa. Baruch Nir, the former head of the Jewish department in the Israeli Secret Service, says that once when a problem had arisen that required a technical solution, Froike showed up the next day with a smile on his face, saying, “I have an idea.”
In 1966 Froike won the award for Israel National Security. Naty Rotem, head of the security department, recalls how he helped him when dealing with the terror that threatened the passengers of El-Al, their airplanes, and Israeli embassies abroad. During the years 1970-1977 Froike was the consul for science affairs in New York, as a representative of the Science Connections Bureau (SCAB). This was a loaded era: The Yom Kippur war and the “re-evaluation” of the Israeli-American relationship. 1 This is a translation of an article written in Hebrew by Uri Dromi and published in the Haaretz Daily Newspaper in Israel. The corrections and additions that were made, were approved by Froike's son, Amos Biegun abiegun@counterp.com. 2 Now a Motorola affiliated company. 3 Silent key refers to an amateur radio operator who has deceased. The term is frequently abbreviated 4 The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, often referred to as The Mossad (meaning The Institute), is Israel's intelligence agency and is responsible for intelligence collection, counter-terrorism, covert operations such as paramilitary activities, and the facilitation of aliyah where it is banned. It is one of the main Intelligence Community entities in Israel (along with Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security)), but its director reports directly to the Prime Minister. Its role and function is like that of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the USA, the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in the United Kingdom, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in Canada and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in Australia. “Mossad” is usually preceded by the definite article "the," though in common usage this is sometimes dropped.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosad) 5 Yediot Ahronot Publications — a book in Hebrew by Eitan Haber and Yossi Melman called Hameraglim (“The Spies”).
|
| AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS |
Join AAPC and receive these excellent benefits:
Vendor members receive these additional benefits:
Join AAPC Now! Click here for an application.
|
| AAPC BULLETIN |
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
| ||||||
Mark Dunaway Named President and COO of Verso Steven Odom Reassumes CEO Position ATLANTA, July 5, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Verso Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSO), a global provider of next generation network solutions, announced today that Chairman of the Board Steven Odom has reassumed the position of Chief Executive Officer and that Mark Dunaway, a current Verso board member, has been named President and Chief Operating Officer. Steven Odom will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board, and Mark Dunaway will continue to serve as a member of the Verso board. Montgomery Bannerman, who has been serving as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Verso board, has resigned from these positions. Steve Odom previously served as Verso's CEO from 2000 to 2005 during which time he transformed Verso from a service company to a company that provides the proprietary products for end-to-end solutions of next generation communication technologies. He has more than 30 years experience launching and growing successful technology related companies and now has the full responsibility for the execution of Verso's business strategy. Mark Dunaway has over three decades experience in growing and leading telecommunications and industrial companies and has served on the Verso board since 2005. Most of his career has been in the telecommunications sector including 25 years in the wireless sector. Prior to accepting the President and Chief Operating Officer position at Verso, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Composite Materials Technology. Dunaway has successfully founded several startups in his career and has also acquired a number of companies. Most recently, Dunaway co-founded Criterion Partners and Growth Strategies Group. Mr. Dunaway was a founder of Preferred Networks, a wireless network and services business. He also co-founded two national wireless companies where he served as CEO. Both companies grew to more than $100 million in revenues and were later sold to Bell Atlantic Corporation. He also served as President of British Telecom's pager subsidiary in North America and later founded The Beeper Company, a national company which was later sold to Arch Communications Group. He co-founded Friend Technologies in San Francisco, California which was later sold to a public technology company in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, Mr. Dunaway has served as a board member for several telecommunications and technology companies. "Mark has the operating capabilities and experience that we need to run our day to day sales and operations," said Steven Odom, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "He has been our most active outside board member and comes into the company with two years of Verso experience under his belt." "Second quarter revenues were similar to first quarter revenues, which was a disappointment to us. We recently became aware of operational issues which caused us to miss our second quarter revenue growth target. This is a company with great products, a strong pipeline and impressive people, which should be generating higher revenues and cash flow," stated Mark Dunaway. "I am very excited about taking on a full time role at the company and realizing the potential of the company's assets." About Verso Technologies Forward-Looking Statements CONTACT: Verso Technologies, Inc. |
Source: CNN Money
Wireless Messaging Software
| Newsletter repair prices—starting at:
**Special pricing on cellular and pager refurbishment**
Ask for Special Newsletter Pricing. Please call: (800) 222-6075 ext. 306 for pricing.
|
 The Best in Paging Is Also the Biggest!
Zetron’s Model 2700:
Contact Zetron today to discuss your paging needs.
| SATELLITE CONTROL FOR PAGING SYSTEMS $500.00 FLAT RATE TAPS—Texas Association of Paging Services 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 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 $.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 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 will provide the gateways in Chicago, with Internet backbone and bandwidth on our satellite channel for $ 500.00 (for your system) a month. Contact Ted Gaetjen @ 1-800-460-7243 or tedasap@asapchoice.com |
Daviscomms – Product Examples
For information call 480-515-2344 or visit our website |
| NRG™ batteries by Motorola* |
| ||||||||||||||
‘UnpluggedCity’ pulling out of Springs SkyTel says wireless Internet test didn't prove profitable; no plans to sell to city By WAYNE HEILMAN SkyTel Corp. said Thursday it will pull the plug July 31 on its 18-month test offering wireless high-speed Internet access in two Colorado Springs neighborhoods. The Mississippi-based company will instead focus on its core wireless messaging business, said Angie Yang, a SkyTel spokeswoman in California. SkyTel shut down its only other test site in May in Lexington, Ky., and agreed to sell that network to the city of Lexington for $10. The wireless broadband service “just wasn't working out as a business proposition,” Yang said. “If business had been good enough, we might have been able to continue, but it doesn't make any sense to keep operating a non-core business that isn't profitable.” The company has no plans to sell its Colorado Springs networks to city government as it offered to do in Lexington, Yang said. SkyTel is “considering our options” about what it will do with equipment used to provide the service in the Springs, she said. Ron Cousar, director of the city’s Internal Support Services Department, said the city wouldn't be interested in buying the network. He said city officials have not been notified of SkyTel’s plans to shut down the network or its plans for the equipment. SkyTel began selling its “UnpluggedCity” wireless Internet service in February 2006 for $24.99 a month in downtown Colorado Springs and near Chapel Hills Mall. The pilot program was to last a year and determine whether the service could eventually be profitable. Exactly one year after the test began, Indianapolis-based Bell Industries Inc. bought Sky-Tel for $23 million from telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc. SkyTel’s lease on streetlight poles with Colorado Springs Utilities will expire in October. The company leases space on the poles, traffic signal arms and city buildings for transmitters that operate the network. Any computer with a wireless card, standard on most laptops, can connect to the network from homes, vehicles, parks and other locations. The move comes as city officials are soliciting bids with a July 24 deadline to build a citywide wireless network. City officials have sent out bid packages to more than 20 companies considering submitting bids, including EarthLink Inc. and Time Warner Cable. About 175 cities and counties have such networks covering all or parts of their territories, according to a March survey by MuniWireless.com. But governments are finding Wi-Fi projects costing more and drawing less interest than expected. |
Source: The Colorado Springs Gazette
| NEWS FLASH — SATELLITE FAILURES
DON’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT SATELLITE OUTAGE Allow us to uplink your paging data to two separate satellites for complete redundancy! CVC owns and operates two separate earth stations and specializes in uplink services for paging carriers. Join our list of satisfied uplink customers.
For inquires please call or e-mail Stephan Suker at 800-696-6474 or steves@cvcpaging.com | New ReFLEX Telemetry Module
Download the complete specification here. CONTACT: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Want to help the newsletter? Become a SPONSOR Promote your company's image with one of these posters.
For more details, and pricing on the various advertising options please click here | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intelligent Solutions for Paging & Wireless Data Wipath develops and manufactures a wide range if highly unique and innovative hardware and software solutions in paging and mobile data. Talk to us about your special project. If we haven’t already done it we probably can.
I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for WiPath Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. |
SEE WEB FOR COMPLETE LIST:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Emergency Responders Back RoIP For Interoperability A nonprofit group that promotes emergency systems is hoping to tap into radio over Internet Protocol systems in the same way that the U.S. military does. By K.C. Jones A national alliance of emergency responders wants to use radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP) to solve interoperability problems. Comcare, a nonprofit group that promotes emergency systems, procedures, tools, and training, on Monday announced that its members want RoIP to link disparate radio and telephone communications systems. The group, with more than 100 organizational members, said that the U.S. military uses RoIP for seamless communications and it is a cost-effective solution to communications problems that have hindered emergency response. "RoIP means that we no longer have to buy an expensive new radio system for every organization to get interoperability," RoxAnn Brown, director of Nashville, Tenn., Emergency Communications Center and Comcare director, said in a prepared statement. "We have a fast, flexible interoperability solution for all organizations involved in emergency response, separate from the critical, but more complicated and expensive, issues of delivering new radio systems to first responders." Brown hosted a series of Webinars with about 400 U.S. emergency responders and private technology companies in the last two months. Comcare said that RoIP solutions convert a wide variety of over-the-air and wired communications protocols into voice over IP, and then manage connections and call groups dynamically, depending on the emergency. "Our RoIP network joins 42 federal, state, local, tribal, transit, and utility agencies that we need to rely on to be able to communicate together in the event of an emergency, and we've connected them without changing out their existing radio equipment," said Patti Morris, grant administrator for the Olympic Public Safety Communications Alliance Network, or Opscan. "We are the first project in the United States to deploy this magnitude of a RoIP network, and we've been named by Homeland Security as the best example of a rural interoperability solution capable of connecting local agencies in an affordable manner." Opscan is located in a remote part of Washington state. The Department of Homeland Security issued a Safecom grant so Opscan could connect radio and telephone systems for public safety and other groups. "Our local transit agency, which covers the entire peninsula, has been connected to our RoIP network since February, and they've gone from 5% coverage to 90% coverage," Morris said in a prepared statement. "This project started when one of our deputies lost his life when he was unable to call for backup because of limited communications capabilities. With our RoIP network we firmly believe that no other emergency responder will lose his or her life because we have not provided them with a reliable means of communication." Brown said that RoIP harnesses the power of the Internet, which transmits data to remote corners of the world. "With Radio over IP, the advantage is that we can expand the types of devices we use -- not just connecting public safety radios, but any device that a responder might want to use at any given location," she said. "Plus, RoIP allows responders to extend the reach of public safety radios and other devices outside their usual geographic boundaries to include any authorized party." Comcare director David Aylward said that all RoIP solutions are based on international VoIP standards, making them easy to use. He urged the federal government to recognize the technology in its grant programs, including a plan in the departments of Commerce and Homeland Security to spend $1 billion on interoperability. "Today we're talking primarily about voice interoperability, but we can use the same transport, technology, and core services to enhance situational awareness using data sources as well as enabling voice conversations, and we can get this done in the near future," he said. |
Source: InformationWeek
|
| |||||||||||
For $1.5 Billion, New York Plans a Much-Delayed Overhaul of 911 July 3, 2007
After years of delays, and some notable failures, the city’s 911 call system is getting a $1.5 billion overhaul that will include a backup center and will, for the first time, consolidate operators and dispatchers from all of the emergency services in two centers, according to aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Under the plan, Police Department workers will take emergency calls, as they do now. But rather than transfer fire and medical calls to fire and medical operators — forcing callers to repeat themselves — the police operators will send computer messages to dispatchers from those agencies. Financing for the project will be spread over at least three years, officials said, and will include $8 million in federal funds. Remaking 911 is not a new idea. City officials have tried and failed to modernize the 911 system even as other cities like Chicago and Los Angeles have finished major upgrades. Mayor Bloomberg — who laid out his vision for fixing the system in 2004 — visited the Chicago 911 center last October. Now, administration officials say, a new 911 call center in Brooklyn’s MetroTech Center is nearly finished, and city lawyers are preparing to go to court to seize 8.9 acres of land in the Bronx as the site for a second center. Vendors are also working to integrate 911’s three computer systems. The plan calls for operators and dispatchers for all the city’s emergency agencies to be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder by March 2009 in the new call center on the third floor of 11 MetroTech. Ground would be broken on the second full-service center in the Bronx by July 1, 2009, well into the last year of Mr. Bloomberg’s second term. When both are up and running, the two centers will share the load of the city’s 911 calls, with each taking about half of them. Mayor Bloomberg sees the new system as a priority, one that could be a large part of his legacy, according to an April memo from Edward Skyler, the deputy mayor for administration. Getting much of it done now, the memo stressed, will guarantee its completion under the next mayor. “Achieving these goals will make it very difficult for a future administration to cancel this project, and, conversely, not achieving them will put this vital public-safety initiative at risk,” according to the Skyler memo, which sets firm timelines for the project. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta support the plan, their spokesmen said yesterday. The city’s 911 system — which handled 11 million calls last year — is fragmented and uncoordinated and relies on antiquated technology. It has been knocked out several times, collapsing, for example, for 67 minutes on Super Bowl Sunday in 1999. It faltered three more times that year, and it shut down for two hours in parts of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens in 2004. On Sept. 11, 2001, the city’s 911 operators were sitting in Downtown Brooklyn, across the East River from the World Trade Center, and Bloomberg administration officials have wanted to locate a second call center far apart from the first. The idea of a backup 911 center was conceived at the start of the 1990s. But important deadlines were missed. After the 1999 breakdown, Howard Safir, who was then police commissioner, said it could take two more years to build a backup site. Work began on a site next to Police Headquarters in the fall of 2001, but was abandoned months later during the budget shortfall that followed the terrorist attacks. Jerome M. Hauer, director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management from 1996 to 2000, praised the “consolidation of communication and dispatch functions” in the new plan but warned of dangers “if it becomes a police monopoly on decisions on who goes to what jobs.” One plan for a dispatch system was canceled in 1998 due to delays and disputes with the vendor. This time, one emergency communications expert said, officials will have to be vigilant in holding the technology contactor's “feet to the fire.” “If they get a bad contractor, then they will get fleeced,” said R.P. Eddy, a senior fellow for counter-terrorism at the Manhattan Institute who has been a leader in a national initiative to enhance 911 phone systems. Hewlett-Packard has been hired as the plan’s technology contractor. Paul J. Cosgrove, the commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, said that a second contractor, Gartner, had been hired to monitor the first one. “We are absolutely riding herd on them,” Mr. Cosgrove said. The timeline — workers side-by-side by March 2009; the Bronx building’s groundbreaking by July 2009 — is tight, city officials concede. Any move to condemn the Bronx land, at 1200 Waters Place, and seize it through eminent domain must come after environmental impact studies and public hearings. Those would stretch into the fall of 2008. Years of court battles could follow. “They condemn it, we get lawyers to oppose it, it goes to a judge to set a price,” said Martin J. McLaughlin, a spokesman for the site’s current owner, the Simone Development Company. He said the company obtained the 8.9 acres when it paid the state about $6 million for a 42.8-acre parcel of undeveloped land in 2003. “This thing could go on,” he said. Still, city officials and Mr. McLaughlin agree that a sale can be negotiated. In an interview, Mr. Skyler said the city’s timeline factors in any potential condemnation proceedings, which he said would be “an open-and-shut case.” David J. Rosenzweig, a veteran fire dispatcher and the president of the dispatchers’ 200-member union, was highly critical of the plans. He said the second center might not be ready until 2012, which would leave the first center running without the appropriate kind of backup for too long. While he said that the 911 system is “overburdened,” he was adamant that allowing workers from one agency to handle all calls would cause additional delays. “This is simple — this is not going to work,” Mr. Rosenzweig said. “Generic or unified call takers are not going to work.” But Mr. Skyler warned of the consequences if the city does not act. “This is a complex and ambitious project,” he said. “But not undertaking it means keeping a 20th-century system at a time when the city needs to be prepared for every eventuality.” City officials say the new system will reduce emergency response times because callers to 911 will not have to provide the same details multiple times, as they sometimes do now. That system can cause delays of seconds or minutes — or send too many or the wrong kind of responders to crime scenes, fires or medical emergencies. The new plan will allow the city to better “coordinate multi-agency responses to emergencies,” according to Mr. Skyler’s memo. Each of the two call centers also will have an evacuation plan under the new system, including provisions for emergency transportation to the sister location. The new system will use phones known in the industry as “soft phones” because they are embedded in computers, and “everything is fully redundant, so if a line gets cut, there are no single points of failure in the system,” Mr. Cosgrove said. He said there are also plans to feed images from street cameras into the 911 call centers. Greg R. Sheehan, a spokesman for PowerPhone, a 911 training and technology provider, said city officials “are trying to streamline their operations, and it is certainly in line with what we are seeing nationally.” “I think it’s doable,” he said of the city’s plan. “It’s an initiative that will pay dividends in New York, as they are coming at it from the point of improving services to the citizens.” |
Source: The New York Times
GTES has recently made the strategic decision to expanding its development activities to include wireless location technologies; a market that researchers forecast could reach $3.6 billion by 2010. In support of this new strategic direction, GTES has developed SHERLOC™ a complete one-stop wireless location service, providing the flexibility of being protocol neutral and network agnostic. Targeted at business customers who need to track their high-value shipments or better manage their service or delivery fleets, SHERLOC™ is a hosted application that combines configuration flexibility with ease of use. GTES is offering SHERLOC™ services both directly and through authorized resellers. If your company has an interest in finding out how location services can enhance your revenue stream, and has the contacts and expertise to make you successful in the location marketplace, please contact us for further information at www.sherlocgps.com and select “Reseller Opportunities,” or call us at 770-754-1666 for more information. www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the Paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. Continued Support Programs CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS
|
 Prism Message Gateway Systems Your Choice of Options
Popular Choice for Domestic and International
Logical Choice
Go ahead . . . be choosy . . . choose Prism Systems International
Streaming Video from the |
We at Unication have listened and delivered.
About Unication Co., Ltd.
|
|
| BLOOSTON, MORDKOFSKY, DICKENS, DUFFY & PRENDERGAST, LLP |
BloostonLaw Private Users Update FCC Declines To Extend Analog Cellular Sunset Date The FCC has denied a petition by the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC) and ADT Security Services, Inc. (ADT), seeking an extension of the requirement that all cellular licensees provide analog (or AMPS) cellular service. This requirement will sunset on February 18, 2008. While cellular licensees may continue to provide AMPS compatible service after that date, the two largest cellular carriers have already announced that they will shut down their AMPS service shortly after the sunset. The FCC said the record demonstrates that the five-year sunset of the requirement has achieved the Commission’s goals of facilitating the migration of deaf and hard of hearing and emergency-only users from analog to digital handsets and that, on balance, the public interest would not be served by extending the requirement beyond February 18, 2008. The alarm industry requested an extension last fall because approximately a million alarm customers had AMPS alarm radio devices installed in their premises, and the industry has determined that it will not be able to upgrade all of these customers to digital by February 2008. Newspaper reports have also indicated that hundreds of thousands of GM Onstar customers will be left with vehicles that have built-in AMPS radios that cannot be upgraded. The alarm industry had proposed to exempt rural carriers from any extension. The FCC indicated that alarm companies should not provide digital radios to new customers until all analog radios are replaced, even though many new customers require a radio link due to the use of VoIP or cellular as their primary phone service. The FCC also indicated that the alarm industry can meet the AMPS sunset deadline by replacing only those alarm radios that serve as the customer's sole link to the alarm central station. The alarm industry had provided information indicating that this approach was not workable, because telephone lines can be cut or damaged at the time when it is most urgent to send the alarm signal — during a break-in, fire or other emergency. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain all AMPS alarm radios until they can be replaced. However, the FCC focused only on “primary” AMPS radios. The FCC took the opportunity to remind cellular carriers that they must maintain the viability of their current AMPS service and coverage until the sunset date, at the risk of enforcement action for failing to do so. The FCC also took related actions to ensure the continuity of wireless cove rage to affected consumers following sunset of the analog service requirement and to ensure that interested parties are fully informed of next year’s sunset. The FCC is requiring all cellular licensees to notify any remaining analog service subscribers of the analog sunset. At a minimum, licensees must notify each analog-only subscriber of their intention to discontinue analog service at least twice before such discontinuance (by a billing insert, for example). In addition, the FCC seeks to reduce the financial, administrative, and technical burdens that would be associated with filing a revised Cellular Geographic Service Area (CGSA) determination when a carrier decommissions analog service, while also ensuring that consumers will be afforded comparable digital service. Accordingly, the FCC will permit licensees, in lieu of making a revised CGSA showing, to certify that the discontinuance of AMPS service will not result in any loss of wireless coverage throughout the carrier’s CGSA. If a licensee cannot so certify, it must file a revised determination, and any area no longer covered by a CGSA would be forfeited and available for immediate reassignment by the Commission under its cellular unserved area rules. The FCC also seeks to ensure that the public is well prepared for the analog sunset, and directed the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, in conjunction with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, to commence a public outreach campaign to ensure that consumers, public safety groups, and other interested parties are prepared for the analog sunset. FCC Acts To Strengthen Emergency Alert System The FCC has adopted a Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) to strengthen the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The Order promotes the development of fully digital Next Generation technologies and delivery systems. The Order requires EAS participants to accept messages using Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), the groundwork for Next Generation EAS delivery systems, no later than 180 days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announces its adoption of standards in each case. The use of CAP will help to ensure the efficient and rapid transmission of EAS alerts to the American public in a variety of formats (including text, audio and video) and via different means (broadcast, cable, satellite, and other networks) and to promote the development of Next Generation EAS. One result of these developments will be enhanced access to EAS alerts and warnings for persons with disabilities and for non-English speakers. The FNPRM seeks comment on how best to deliver EAS alerts as well as broader emergency and public safety information to these groups, and commits to adoption of a final order within six months. In light of the examination of these issues in the FNPRM, the Order leaves open the issues raised in a petition filed by several groups representing non-English speaking persons. The Commission directs the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to convene a meeting – or series of meetings – as soon as possible on providing emergency information to non- English speakers. The stakeholders should submit into the record a progress report on these discussions within 30 days of the Order’s release. The Order also requires terrestrial EAS participants to transmit state and locally targeted EAS alerts that are originated by governors or their designees. The FNPRM seeks comment on whether participants should be required to deliver EAS alerts originated by local, county, tribal, or other state governmental entities. In addition, the Order expands the EAS system by requiring participation by wireline video providers. Finally, the Order states the Commission’s intention to ensure that the EAS network is prepared to operate as intended. The Further Notice seeks comment on several possible means for achieving that goal, including additional testing, station certification, and post hoc assessments of how well the system worked after an EAS warning has been triggered. At our deadline, the text of the EB Docket No. 04-296 Order and FNPRM had not been released. |
Source: Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy and Prendergast, LLP
For additional information, contact Hal Mordkofsky at 202-828-5520 or halmor@bloostonlaw.com
| EUROPEAN MOBILE MESSAGING ASSOCIATION |
|
| EUROPEAN MOBILE MESSAGING ASSOCIATION |
CUSTOM APPLICATIONS
Please call me so we can discuss your need or your idea. Or contact me by e-mail for more information |
Advertise Here
|
|
• FIREHOUSES • SCHOOLS • PUBLIC FACILITIES • GOVERNMENT FACILITIES • EMERGENCY ROOMS • WHAT DO FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES, WISPS, HAVE IN COMMON? THEY ALL USE NIGHTHAWK. Nighthawk Systems Inc. manufactures low cost and reliable remote control products for fire house alerting, volunteer alerting, activation of warning signs and sirens, and a number of applications for public safety. The Company manufactures the EA1 and the FAS-8 which have been designed specifically for these applications. Both products are paging based and will work with any public or private paging network. They are available in all VHF, UHF, and 900 MHz paging frequencies. The products can serve as the primary notification system or an excellent, low-cost backup to existing systems.
The EA1 is the solution for remotely activating public warning signage. Examples include tornado sirens, flash flood warnings, fire danger, Amber Alert, icy roads, etc. The EA1 can also send text messages to scrolling signs. This can occur in conjunction with the activation of audible alarms and visual strobes. This is ideal for public notification in buildings, schools, hotels, factories, etc. The group call feature allows for any number of signs or flashing lights to be activated at the same time over a wide geographic area. In addition, the EA1 Emergency Alert is the perfect solution for low cost yet highly effective alerting of volunteer fire fighters in their home. When activated the EA1 will emit an audible alarm and activate the power outlet on the units faceplate. A common setup is to simply place the EA1 on a table and plug a lamp into the faceplate. When paged from dispatch or any touch tone phone the EA1 will awaken the fire fighter to a lit room. As an option the EA1 can be ordered with a serial cable, allowing for attachment of a serial printer. When paged the alphanumeric message will be printed out at the same time the alarm sounds and the outlet is activated. The EA1 is an ideal complement to alphanumeric belt pagers common to volunteers.
The FAS-8 is designed for activating one or more relays in a firehouse and if desired, printing the alphanumeric message to a serial printer. For this application the FAS-8 is set to activate upon receiving the proper paging cap code sent from 911 dispatch. Up to eight different devices can be activated all with individual time functions. The most common devices to turn on include the PA amplifier, audible wake up alarm, and house lights. The most common device turned off is the stove. The FAS-8 can accept up to 8 different cap codes and have separate relay and time functions per cap code. This allows for different alerting to be accomplished at the same physical location depending upon which cap code is sent. This can be very helpful when fire crews and medical crews are housed in the same building.
Put the innovative technology of Nighthawk to work for you. For more information on any of our products or services, please contact us. Nighthawk Systems, Inc. Phone: 877-764-4484 |
Please click here to e-mail Ayrewave. | |||||||
|
| ||||||||
Download Mr. Mercer's resumé. | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
Complete Technical Services For The Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.
| ||||||||
Apple up on iPhone sale expectations Thu Jul 5, 2007 12:52 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Apple Inc. <AAPL.O> rose more than 3 percent on Thursday as investors bet on strong demand for its media-playing iPhone, almost a week after its U.S. launch, and speculation mounted over plans to sell the device in Europe. Analyst estimates for iPhone sales in its first weekend run as high as 700,000 units and investors are expecting that momentum to continue. AT&T Inc. <T.N>, the exclusive U.S. provider for the phone, said it had virtually sold out of the device in that time, though neither company has provided sales data. "The stock is obviously anticipating very very strong sales for the iPhone and very good follow-through sales," said Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest Securities. "The stock isn't going to be a one-month wonder." Apple has said it will start selling iPhones in Europe this year and in Asia in 2008, but gave no further details. European media reports this week have said Apple may be close to deals with carriers in France, Germany and Britain, a three-country strategy that would mimic the launch of its popular iTunes online music store in Europe in 2004. Apple shares have increased more than 50 percent since the company unveiled in January the cell phone that combines Web browsing with the music and video playing capabilities of its best-selling iPod device. "People are anticipating strong sales to continue through next year," said Hargreaves. "If you don't believe that's true then definitely the stock is expensive. we're kind of on the side that the momentum will continue." Hargreaves has a 12-month price target of $130 for the shares. That does yet not include full expectations for events such as widening iPhone distribution to electronics retailers including Best Buy <BBY.N>. Hargreaves said he expects Best Buy to start selling the phone in time for back-to-school shoppers. Investors are also keeping close watch for news on how quickly Apple is able to replenish stocks of the phone and indicators of its financial impact. Research firm iSuppli said on Tuesday the phone would generate a 55 percent profit margin, after hardware and manufacturing costs. In Europe, wireless operators including Vodafone Group Plc <VOD.L>, T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE> and Orange, owned by France Telecom <FTE.PA> have been cited as potential iPhone partners. Telefonica's <TEF.MC> 02 said on Thursday that it had not signed a deal with Apple after reports that it was poised to clinch the first European agreement in what would be a blow to Vodafone, which operates in multiple countries. "It would be a somewhat of a disappointment" if Vodafone did not reach a deal with Apple since it is such a large carrier size, Hargreaves said. Apple shares were up $3.18, or 2.5 percent, to $130.35 on Nasdaq in the early afternoon, after trading as high as $131.75 earlier in the session. AT&T shares were down 31 cents to $41.19 on the New York Stock Exchange. |
Source: Reuters
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
From: Barry Kanne <pager@mindspring.com>
Date: July 1, 2007 4:39:25 PM CDT
To: Brad Dye <brad@braddye.com>
Subject: Fwd: Hurricane preparedness from OnStar and American Red Cross
You may find this interesting - Barry
Begin forwarded message:
From: OnStar Subscriber Services
Date: June 29, 2007 2:08:04 PM EDT
To: pager@mindspring.com
Subject: Hurricane preparedness from OnStar and American Red Cross
Reply-To: OnStar Subscriber ServicesDear Mr. Kanne,
To help you manage this hurricane season, OnStar and the American Red Cross have partnered to provide OnStar subscribers with disaster relief information and assistance.
OnStar Crisis Assist is a tool that can help you before, during, and after a hurricane.
Just push your red Emergency button or blue OnStar button for specially trained Crisis Assist Advisors who will work to:
- Connect you to loved ones
- Provide evacuation routes
- Pinpoint your location to help emergency responders get there more quickly
- Provide real-time crisis information and directions if you need food, water, medical supplies, or a hospital
- Help find the appropriate shelter or hotel for you, your loved ones, and even your pets
- Help you register for the Red Cross Safe and Well website
Click here to download and print hurricane preparation tips and to learn more about OnStar Crisis Assist.
Through OnStar Crisis Assist, we will do our very best to help keep you out of harm's way, summon help if you need it, and be there when it matters most.
Sincerely,
Your OnStar Crisis Assist Team
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: OnStar services require vehicle electrical system (including battery), wireless service, and GPS satellite signals to be available and operating for features to function properly. OnStar acts as a link to existing emergency service providers. Subscription Service Agreement required. Call 1.888.4.ONSTAR (1.888.466.7827) or visit onstar.com for OnStar's Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and system limitations and details. Additional information can be found in the OnStar Owner's Guide. Not all OnStar features are available on all vehicles.
From: C. Jerry Vargas cjerryvargas@mac.com
Subject: Funny or Sad?
Date: July 1, 2007 3:24:15 PM CDT
From: Stephen Oshinsky
Subject: Voice-to-text
Date: June 29, 2007 1:57:18 PM CDT
To: Jonathan E. Brickman jeb@joshuacorps.org
Cc: brad@braddye.com
Please look at www.spinvox.com and www.simulscribe.com.
I think you'll see solutions for getting your voice mails translated to text and sent to your wireless device.
Stephen M. Oshinsky
Director, Systems Architecture
601-460-3449 
From: Stephen Oshinsky
Subject: from the newsletter
Date: June 29, 2007 2:20:18 PM CDT
To: brad@braddye.com
On another article in your newsletter, an anonymous writer suggested that 2-way pagers should have capability to send/receive SMS. SkyTel has had this service for years.
Stephen M. Oshinsky
Director, Systems Architecture
601-460-3449
From: Paul Cassel paul@ve3sy.com
Subject: RE: Wireless Messaging Newsletter for Paul Cassel
Date: June 29, 2007 12:52:33 PM CDT
To: brad@braddye.com
Cc: vern@othertel.com, Paul@ve3sy.com
Hi Brad,
Sad, sad news in your newsletter as I read of the passing of my friend Froike. I met Froike back in the late 90s as a result of developing a Hebrew version of the DataPage paging software for the Tandy 100 developed by Vern Norman and myself.
Froike had a great sense of humour and would call on a Sunday morning and rib me for not being at work on a working day. The other bit of Yiddish humour was when he came over to visit me. I had invited him to dinner and so asked him as delicately as I could think of — “Froike, do you have any dietary restrictions?” He immediately shot back — “do all Catholics eat fish on Friday?” I almost fell off the chair laughing.
I still have a Tandy 100 running DataPage in Hebrew. I will now cherish it even more.
73,
Paul
| UNTIL NEXT WEEK |
That's all for this week folks.
With best regards, 73 DE K9IQY | Brad Dye, Editor |  |  |
| Skype: braddye Telephone: 217-787-2346 E–mail: brad@braddye.com Wireless Consulting page Paging Information Home Page |  | WIRELESS  MESSAGING |
| THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK |
|
| Anyone wanting to help support The Wireless Messaging Newsletter can do so by clicking on the PayPal DONATE button to the left. |
 | This newsletter is brought to you by the generous support of our advertisers and the courtesy of iland Internet Solutions Corporation. For more information about the web-hosting services available from iland Internet Solutions Corporation, please click on their logo to the left. |
| THE WIRELESS MESSAGING NEWSLETTER AND THE PAGING INFORMATION RESOURCE |
3 
In 1978 Froike chose to retire and establish Beeper Communications LTD. Eli Mor, then the Vice President, tells that Froike, as was customary in the Israeli Secret Service, insisted on applying a double backup to each system, something that wasn't profitable, but contributed to the to the credibility of the company. Froike provided free pagers to people who were waiting for transplants and other unfortunate Israelis. Amos and Yael were born from his marriage to Rina Akselrod. His friends from the service and Beeper Communications describe him as a friend without limits, seated in his office leaning back with both feet on the desk and always with a smile on his face. When Froike became ill with cancer his friends acquired an experimental medicine that prolonged his life for seven months.
. The key in the term refers to a telegraph key, the instrument that all early amateur radio operators, as well as many contemporary amateur radio operators, have used to send Morse code. The term 
Membership Benefits: 
Stopwatch 
CLICK HERE 
CLICK HERE 
ICOM 
ATM300 
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: 
