| FRIDAY - JULY 13, 2007 - ISSUE NO. 269 |
Dear Friends of Wireless Messaging, I am very sorry to announce the passing of a friend and paging colleague — Brooks Marsden of GTES. He died on last Wednesday morning. Brooks was a nice guy and an asset to the paging industry. We will miss him. An obituary follows. Brooks was only 59 years old. I am finishing this issue of the newsletter in the early-morning hours on Friday since I must attend the funeral of my wife's cousin later today. She was a great lady — just 63 years old, but looked much younger. She was in her home watching TV last Friday night when an 18-year-old habitual criminal broke into her home, hit her over the head and then stabbed her. Neighbors came over and found her dead the next day. This is not the sort of thing you expect to happen in a peaceful little midwestern town like Springfield, Illinois. It was only the second homicide this year in our town. Unfortunately it was someone who was like a sister to my wife and a friend to me. Back to Business Well, Rex Lee at Nighthawk Systems must be really smart. He has sent me a letter about how the largely untapped opportunity of Telemetry Over Paging can revitalize our industry. Don't miss his Letter to the Editor at the end of this issue. 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.  | |||||||||||
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OBITUARY Brooks Marsden Family-Placed Death Notice Mr. Phillips Brooks Marsden, III , age 59 of Alpharetta, died July 11, 2007. Mr. Marsden graduated form Andover High School in Andover, MA in 1966. He went on to attend and graduate from Ohio University in Athens, OH in 1970. He was a member of Alpharetta First United Methodist Church and had served as a volunteer with Alpharetta Fire Department. He enjoyed a successful career as an executive in the Communications industry. He was preceded in death by his father, Phillips Brooks Marsden, Jr. He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Diane Faber Marsden of Alpharetta; daughters, Jennifer and Eric Bottorff of Red Lodge, MT. and Stephanie Marsden of Clemson, SC; son, Jonathan Cody Marsden of Littleton, CO; mother, Marjorie Marsden of North Andover, MA; sisters, Lynn Marsden-Atlass of Wynnewood, PA. And Daphne Marsden-Kelley and her husband Paul of Westford, MA; brother, David Marsden and his wife Honour Mack of Portland, ME; nieces and nephews also survive. Funeral services will be held Saturday, July 14, 2007 at 12:00 PM at the Alpharetta First United Methodist Church. Dr. Don Martin officiating. The family request that contributions be made to the Alpharetta First United Methodist Church Building Fund, 69 N. Main St., Alpharetta, Ga. 30004 or to the NASCAR Foundation, One Wachovia Center, 301 South College St., Suite 3900, Charlotte, NC, 28202. The family will receive friends on Friday from 6 to 9 PM at Northside Chapel Funeral Directors and Crematory, Roswell/Alpharetta, 770/645-1414. www.northsidechapel.com |
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Brooks Marsden — Vice President, Sales — Sherloc GTES Location Service
Brooks Marsden joined GTES bringing with him over 20 years of experience in communications technology sales. Prior to joining GTES Brooks held a number of sales and management positions at Glenayre Electronics. His last position with Glenayre was as Vice President of Sales for the Americas. During his tenure at Glenayre Brooks led a select team that developed sales for campus two-way systems and location services.
Source: Sherloc — Management
| AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS |
AAPC to send representatives to the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO) Convention in August. APCO is the world’s largest organization dedicated to public safety communications, their members consist of emergency call centers, law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, fire departments, forestry services, and others who work with communications systems that safeguard the world’s citizens. AAPC will be sharing a booth with one of our vendor members, Critical Response Systems to help promote the benefits of utilizing paging technology to this targeted audience. AAPC working with you to advance your business and the paging industry!
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| AAPC BULLETIN |
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
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Cell phone ban for young drivers approved in Oregon July 10, 2007 A bill that would enable law enforcement in Oregon to pull over the state’s youngest drivers for using cell phones is headed to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s desk. The House and Senate reached agreement on a bill – HB2872 – that would prohibit drivers under 18 from using any cell phone, pager or BlackBerry-type device while at the wheel. Police could only ticket offenders for chatting on the phone after pulling them over for another traffic offense. Senators had sought to allow for primary enforcement of the restriction. Opponents objected to that effort saying it could lead to racial profiling. Rep. Greg Macpherson, D-Lake Oswego, the bill’s author, said the intent of the legislation is to make sure new drivers stay off their cell phones. Violators would face up to $90 fines. At least a dozen states already ban or restrict young drivers from using cell phones. Currently, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York have the only statewide laws restricting hand-held cell phone use for all drivers. In 2008, California and Washington are slated to implement their own rule. No state prohibits hands-free usage for all drivers. |
Source: Landline Magazine The Business Magazine for Professional Truckers
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| 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 |
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BEFORE THE
To: The Commission, en banc
COMMENTS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS (AAPC), by its attorney, respectfully submits its comments to the Federal Communications Commission in response to the Commission’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in the captioned proceeding, FCC 07-22, released April 2, 2007 and published at 72 Fed. Reg. 31782 (June 8, 2007). As its comments, AAPC respectfully states: The FNPRM follows promulgation by the Commission, in the same order, of stringent new regulations directed at carrier handling of individually identifiable Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI), information that primarily includes customer call data and related service information. The new regulations are not, however, confined to call record details and similarly sensitive CPNI, but instead impose sweeping new requirements on all carriers that in large part are indiscriminately applicable to both sensitive and non-sensitive CPNI. In the FNPRM portion of the order, moreover, the Commission inquires whether it should go even further in its regulation of CPNI. More specifically, the Commission inquires whether it should extend a password protection regimen to non-call detail CPNI as well as call-detail CPNI; whether it should require audit trails for customer contacts and CPNI disclosure; whether it should regulate the physical safeguards employed by carriers when transferring or allowing access to CPNI by joint venture partners and independent contractors, such as requiring encryption, logs, etc.; whether it should regulate data retention practices of carriers; and whether the Commission should mandate carrier practices in erasing, or allowing customers to erase, personal information stored in mobile communications devices prior to discarding such devices. AAPC is the national trade association representing the interests of paging carriers throughout the United States. AAPC’s members include a majority of the nationwide paging operators licensed under Parts 22, 24 and 90 of the Commission’s rules; a representative cross-section of operators of regional and local paging systems licensed by the Commission; as well as equipment suppliers and other vendors to the carrier industry. Paging carriers are classified as Commercial Mobile Radio Service providers pursuant to Section 20.9 of the Commission’s rules and as telecommunications carriers pursuant to Section 3(44) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. §153(44). Paging carriers thus are subject to the CPNI regulations, notwithstanding that they do not record or store call record information. AAPC participated in the proceedings which resulted in the new CPNI regulations, requesting that any new or modified regulations adopted by the Commission to enhance the protection afforded for CPNI be appropriately tailored to address the underlying problems it identifies. AAPC further requested that the Commission not impose new reporting or other requirements on paging carriers or other groups that generally do not compile significant amounts of individually identifiable CPNI. Unfortunately, AAPC’s request was essentially ignored in the order adopting the new regulations, despite the fact that the order explicitly acknowledges at the outset that it “is directly responsive to the actions of data brokers, or pretexters, to obtain unauthorized access to CPNI.” (Order & FNPRM at ¶2). The only reported instances of unauthorized access to CPNI by data brokers or pretexters are for call record information, information that paging carriers simply do not have. Accordingly, AAPC respectfully submits that the short answer to the questions posed in the FNPRM is that the Commission should not adopt any new regulations at this time. Instead, at a minimum, the Commission should pause and assess the impact of its new regimen on the underlying problems before considering any additional regulations. The customer base of paging carriers at this point overwhelmingly consists of commercial enterprises rather than individuals; and the individually identifiable CPNI maintained by paging carriers, e.g., name, contact, address and telephone number, consists, with at most limited exception, of information that is readily and prominently displayed in the local Yellow Pages directory. Moreover, because the customers are commercial enterprises, their incentives are precisely the opposite of the Commission’s premise in adopting its CPNI regulations. That is, rather than desiring to keep the collected information private, as the CPNI regulations presume, commercial customers pay to advertise the information to the public. None of this supports adopting new or more sweeping CPNI regulations. Even to the limited extent paging carriers may collect sensitive CPNI, such as Social Security Numbers, their situation is no different than any other business that extends credit to customers; and they must likewise comply with the myriad state and federal regulations generally applicable to such activities. The fact that paging carriers happen to be engaged in telecommunications, rather than some other commercial endeavor, does not warrant separate or more stringent treatment of this limited segment of CPNI than is applicable to non-telecommunications businesses generally that collect like information from their customers. Similarly misguided and unnecessary, in AAPC’s view, would be new regulations applicable to erasing customer information stored on paging devices. One-way paging devices do not have significant customer information in storage, by virtue of the fact that they are receivers rather than generators of messages; and the messages themselves can be readily erased by the customer before disposing of the device. All such stored information is routinely erased in any event as part of the refurbishment process. Two-way pagers do have the capability of generating messages, and thus do have the capability of storing some information such as address book entries. Again, however, these entries typically are telephone numbers or email addresses that are publicized to others, in order to facilitate communications with the customer, rather than sensitive information that needs special protection. Like messages stored on one-way pagers, all such information can be readily erased by the customer and is routinely erased during refurbishment. Additional regulations in this area would be unwarranted. Finally, AAPC would remind the Commission that the impetus for this proceeding, as the order itself acknowledges, is to be “directly responsive to the actions of data brokers, or pretexters, to obtain unauthorized access to CPNI.” (Order & FNPRM at ¶2). Since paging carriers do not collect the type of sensitive information sought by data brokers, and thus have not been victimized by such entities, there is no justification for broadening the CPNI regulatory regimen as it applies to paging carriers.
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Source: AAPC
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GTES, LLC
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
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| BLOOSTON, MORDKOFSKY, DICKENS, DUFFY & PRENDERGAST, LLP |
BloostonLaw Telecom Update Martin Apparently Supports Google’s Open Access Plan For 700 MHz Band Auction FCC Chairman Kevin Martin apparently has bought into Google’s “open access” concept for the upcoming 700 MHz auction. Open access—a euphemism for “wireless Carterfone”—essentially means that carriers would have less control over the handsets and handset features they provide to customers, and that they would not be able to block certain features from being used on their networks. After gleaning stories from Dow Jones, USA Today, and RCR, as well as reading Google’s most recent ex parte filing, we think it is possible that Chairman Martin is circulating a draft order that substantially backs Google’s proposals (BloostonLaw Telecom Update, May 23 and 30). According to the press reports, Martin is proposing that an open access requirement be attached to two 11 MHz blocks (probably the C-blocks, TV channels 60-61 and 65-66) that could be cobbled together into a national license. If so, the open access requirement would inhibit large wireless carriers such as AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless from aggressively pursuing that spectrum because they want to control the handsets they offer, according to Dow Jones. On the other hand, these carriers could take the “open access” or “wireless Carterfone” issue to court, if the FCC adopts such rules. At present, everything is uncertain. More specifically, according to Google, “open access” means:
Dow Jones also reports that Martin’s proposal effectively forecloses options for Frontline Wireless, which had hoped to combine some spectrum it acquired through the auction with some that will be controlled by public safety to build a broadband wireless network for use by both public safety and commercial operators (BloostonLaw Telecom Update, March 7). Despite Frontline’s high-powered backers—former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, former NTIA head Janice Obuchowski, and early wireless entrepreneur Haynes Griffin—the draft order apparently will not give Frontline what it wants. But the order will apparently fulfill part of Frontline's wish list by including a chunk of 10 megahertz of nationally licensed spectrum (probably the D block) that would sit adjacent to spectrum already earmarked for control by public safety, according to Dow Jones. The newswire said the rules state that whoever controls that spectrum will be obliged to work with public safety to provide the country's first responders with wireless broadband service. The licensee would be able to charge public safety entities for access to the network. But without a series of other conditions that Frontline had hoped would be attached to the spectrum, Martin, in effect, paved the way for one of the large incumbent providers of broadband service, most likely Verizon or AT&T, to take control of the spectrum, Dow Jones said. It added that the rest of the spectrum would be divided into smaller regional and local licenses that could be bid for by a variety of companies. Martin likely will have the support of Commissioner Deborah Tate, but he will need at least one more vote for the rules to be adopted. And it is not clear what, if any, changes he would have to make in order to get that vote. Google’s filing: In its July 9 ex parte filing, Google said it “remains keenly interested in participating in the auction. Whether we ultimately bid, and do so successfully, we are also considering various post-auction business arrangements, such as joint partnerships and anchor tenancy.” Although it is not clear what Google means by the phrase “anchor tenancy,” it is clear that the company intends to bid in the auction or participate in some post-auction arrangement. Further, Google noted that as a member of the Coalition for 4G in America, it previously endorsed the creation of a 22 MHz block of paired spectrum in the Upper 700 MHz band on a Regional Economic Area Grouping (REAG) basis (which Chairman Martin’s draft rules apparently include). However, Google now says that “a 22 MHz REAG block, by itself, likely will not be sufficient” to facilitate new market entry. That objective can only be achieved through open applications, open devices, open services, open networks—i.e., open access. The reason is simple. Even with “deep pockets,” a Web-based software applications company like Google has little pertinent experience in the wireless market and no legacy business models to protect. Incumbent carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless have embedded national networks of towers, backhaul, customers, retail outlets, advertising, and far more ready cash blow at hand, and the willingness to spend it in furtherance of existing business plans. Thus, the spectrum simply has more economic value and overall usefulness to incumbents like Verizon and AT&T than to a would-be new entrant like Google. Under Google’s plan, there would be two “orders” of competition. So-called “first order” or “network layer” competition would be provided by facilities-based market entrants, while “second order” or “applications and content layer” competition would be derived from numerous Web-based entities that subsequently use a licensee’s spectrum in novel ways. These new entrants have no business models to promote or protect, and typically are more willing to embrace wholesale arrangements and partnerships. Access to open platforms would allow multi-layer activities, such as software applications providers, content providers, device makers, Web-based entities, simple resellers, and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). CTIA opposes plan: The wireless industry strongly criticized the Martin’s draft proposal as "Silicon Valley welfare" for wealthy companies such as Google. The industry argued that these companies could bid for the spectrum themselves if they wanted access for their customers. "Crafting special rules for a company with a market cap of $170 billion to address problems that don't exist in our competitive market makes absolutely no sense whatsoever," said Steve Largent, president of CTIA-The Wireless Association. The conditions could make the spectrum less attractive, costing taxpayers, he said. “The bottom line is that the American taxpayer is at serious risk of losing billions of dollars because one of the wealthiest companies in the world has apparently convinced policymakers that they require special auction rules that tailor- fit their business plan,” Largent added. “Contrary to what was reported in the media, many wireless providers are offering Wi-Fi-enabled devices, and consumers are purchasing and using those devices across the country, not just at company-branded hotspots. In fact, wireless consumers today have access to more than 700 different wireless handsets,” Largent said. |
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 |
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• 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 |
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Troubles and Change at Motorola By Teresa von Fuchs Motorola has warned that Q2 results may be worse than expected. The company said it is likely to post an operating loss due to poor mobile device sales in Asia and Europe. Extending that gloomy prediction, the company said it doesn't expect its mobile device unit to be profitable at all this year. The phone maker has warned, since the beginning of this year, that the first half of 2007 will be "rocky." However, news that the company doesn't expect to recover at all this year doesn't look good for the embattled CEO Ed Zander. In fact, shares of the No. 2 cell phone maker rose 3% this morning on rumors that Zander will be forced to step down. Though Zander survived ousting attempts early this year from investor Carl Icahn, a new campaign could be in the works from shareholder Eric Jackson. Jackson published a statement online titled, "Motorola Plan B," and says he is working on building up a support campaign among institutional shareholders. Jackson has had some success in the activist shareholder role after he had then-Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel apologize to shareholders at the company's annual meeting. Semel was replaced a week later. Jackson has staked his disappointments with the company's performance on Zander, saying in a statement, "His past performance and the currently articulated strategy for a turnaround are neither sufficient or acceptable." Motorola has made no official reply to Jackson's comments. The company did though announce a management change, Stu Reed, currently executive vice president of its integrated supply chain organization, has been named president of the mobile devices division. Reed will replace Ron Garriques, who oversaw the company's wildly popular RAZR launch, but left soon after the handset's success began to wane. Reed joined Motorola in 2005, after spending 20 years at IBM. |
Source: Wireless Week
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
From: kknapp@insightbb.com
Subject: Brooks Marsden
Date: July 11, 2007 9:45:23 AM CDT
To: Brad@braddye.com
Brad:
I did not know if you knew but Brooks Marsden passed away this morning after a very short illness. Services will be in Alpharetta, GA. this Saturday. The communications industry has lost one of the great visionaries. He could always see where we needed to go, what we needed in new equipment once we got there, and he set about trying to move the industry to get there. He will be missed.
Thought you would want to know.
Ken Knapp
T: 217-224-8286
E-Mail: kknapp@insightbb.com
From: Timhall67@aol.com
Subject: Brooks Marsden Information
Date: July 11, 2007 10:54:54 AM CDT
To: brad@braddye.com
Brad,
Good morning. I wanted to follow up on the details for Brooks. Brooks passed away this morning and here are the details of his services.
Visitation — Friday (Time being confirmed)
Northside Chapel Funeral Directors
Roswell, GA
www.northsidechapel.com/
Services — Saturday 12:00 PM
Alpharetta First United Methodist Church
Alpharetta, GA
www.afumc.org
Thank you.
Tim Hall
770-598-4442
From: tmcnaught@ucom.com
Subject: Brooks Marsden
Date: July 12, 2007 11:50:52 AM CDT
To: brad@braddye.com
Reply-To: tmcnaught@ucom.com
Brad,
You should know that Brooks Marsden, a dear friend of mine and to many in the industry, passed Wednesday after a brief illness. As you probably know, he spent many years with Glenayre and more recently with GTES.
Brooks went above and beyond was required of him as a vendor and a friend. Because of his influence, NEP is a better company. Many of us will remember Brooks for his contagious smile, love of life, family and friends. He played a key role in the success of the companies he worked for, the companies he sold to and the people he touched.
I am certain, Brooks will be missed by many inside and outside our industry.
Sadly,
Ted McNaught
And now for some happy news . . . and a report from my good friend, Jerry Vargas.
From: cjerryvargas@mac.com
Subject: My iPhone Review
Date: July 12, 2007 11:03:58 AM CDT
To: brad@braddye.com
Hello Brad:
The exchange of email massages have originated my review. I call it "A week of iPhone-mania."
As an iPod, it is a 4G or 8G Nano, in capacity, that plays video. The controls are similar to the iTunes controls when you double-click on a video, creating its own separate window, with "soft" controls. These work so much better than the click-wheel. Navigating is much faster, and searching for music is a snap, and you can do it by artist, song, playlist, etc.
While playing, you can be at cover flow mode, and it is easy to navigate that way also. If you disconnect the earphones, the speaker comes on, I liked that. While using the iPod functions, you can check email, browse the internet with Safari, text message people, check stocks (Apple at $132, ha!), etc.
So, you are listening to a song or playing a video, and the phone rings. The sound mutes (song or video), and the phone functions become active. You get a selection to answer or decline, and the contact information is displayed. After the call is over, the music or video returns playing at the same position it was before.
Just as in iTunes, you have the choice to select what to Sync, manually or auto, etc. A great feature was that by syncing contacts, all of the information became part of the iPhone, so there was no need to add contacts on the phone. The option is there, but, why do it?
Switching between ring and vibrate is done via a button on the side. Unlike the RAZR, you cannot accidentally go from ring to vibrate. Once you switch, a translucent symbol appears on the screen indicating the mode, and then it goes away. To silence the ring, while ringing (or vibrating) push a button on the top. Easy as pie. The earphone include a built-in mic, and it works well, I have been told.
EDGE browsing is so so slow, but Wi-Fi is pretty darned good. It detects Wi-Fi networks, and gives you the choice to select them, and free ones are always a good thing. You can open Word and PDF docs and read them with the iPhone (might strain your eyesight if done too much; I am not taking chances).
The camera quality is very good, no flash (or flash function), and the photos become part of the iPhoto listing on the iPhone. Ring tones included are cute, and I do not know if I could add my own.
Typing is finger-licking good (yes, pathetic pun, sue me). The key (another pun?) is to position the finger on the right spot, meaning, aim for the center of the key, and all is fine. I continued to try to hit the bottom of the keys, and got the wrong letter or number. After a few days it became easier, and I can do two thumbs typing. The software suggests words, and if it is the right one, hitting space selects it and you can go on, and it is very efficient, but not annoying, as it does not suggest words all of the time, only when the spelling is not correct! Also, hitting the keys (touching maybe?) highlights the letter making it bigger, which is great confirmation. Works really well.
A couple of issues. I could not get a bluetooth Motorola earpiece to work. It syncs, but that was it. Could be a Moto issue, or operator issue. Obviously, I have not read the manual, which it is not really necessary, as it is pretty much standard with most of Apple offerings (not needing a manual, I mean). Also, I could not get a picture sent via SMS, and the option was to email it. I could have "e-mail it" to a long cell phone address, and that would have worked for sure. Begin to type the recipient's name, and the contact information shows up to allow your selection among the similar spelled names or contacts. Sweet indeed.
My recommendation is to BUY one, or more, as the experience is worth it. For people that buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks for $4 or so, the price should not be an issue.
In summary, it is more Mac than Phone.
The best feature is that all the women in the office want to hold it, touch it and play with it. And that is NEVER a bad thing!
Take care,
Jerry
From: rlee@nighthawksystems.com
Subject: Telemetry Sales Growing "Yes On Paging"- From Rex
Date: July 11, 2007 11:16:50 AM CDT
To: brad@braddye.com
Brad,
I just attended the annual meeting for the Electric Cities of Alabama (ECA)* in beautiful Gulf Shores, Alabama. The meeting was very informative and the focus was on energy conservation and efficiency. The big buzz was load shedding for air conditioning and remote electric connect and disconnect. We just revived a load shedding program with the help of Tim Jones (MPW/SoutherNet Carriers). The program — once fully up and running — will include 5,000 Nighthawk load shedding devices for 11 municipally-owned utilities in Alabama. The program caught the eye of The Electric Cities of Alabama that consists of 30 plus municipally owned utilities. The total opportunity for the load shedding program could be over 20,000 devices. Consequently — thanks to the help Tim Jones provided in deploying the RF — the utilities are now interested in remote electric disconnect/connect devices. I will be visiting each city in Alabama that is participating in the program over the next 90 days — promoting the telemetry applications that can be deployed on paging, including the utility applications and emergency notification applications which are very important to Alabama since they are vulnerable to tornados and hurricanes. I would like to thank Tim Jones for his help in reviving this opportunity as well as Dell Baker, AMEA consultant and Sylacauga Board Member.
I would also like to mention we have had a huge success with El Paso Electric in the deployment of close to 1,000 remote electric disconnect/connect devices on WCTP-web-enabled application called “UtilityWebConnect” that we developed with American Messaging. Because of the Web application El Paso Electric is poised to order several thousand more devices over the coming year. American Messaging was pivotal in the deployment of new Nighthawk “Green Applications” for energy conservation and diesel-emissions control for Daimler Chrysler and Verizon Wireless. I would like to thank Roy Pottle and Dave Anderson for their support of telemetry. We have had similar success with small carriers in rural areas of the country — such as Password Inc, in Idaho State — in helping us deploy a program with Avista Utility and Redi-Call in Smyrna, Delaware for Smyrna Utility. I would like to thank Randy Murray of Redi-Call and Rod Bacon of Password, Inc. Both of these new programs have started out with small initial orders of about 300 devices but both utilities are committed to programs that will produce over 1,000 devices in these markets over the coming year. My point here is that these types of opportunities are out there in every carriers market. I would like the carrier executives and small carrier owners to ask themselves, when was the last time they received consistent orders for paging devices in increments of hundreds if not thousand unit orders?
The biggest question I get from these new customers is “How long is paging going to be around?” My answer to them is: “As a manufacturer we are agnostic to the wireless interface and have CDMA, ReFLEX, and Spread Spectrum interface capabilities along with paging so we are nimble in the market place to provide telemetry services on multiple networks, however paging for simple telemetry applications is the most dependable form of wireless today. Paging will be around as long as the carriers continue to support new markets such as telemetry and focus on markets such as first responders”. I thought the paging carriers would love to hear, that every time we talk about deploying on other wireless networks like CDMA the customer ends up talking their way back to paging due to the reliability, cost, and the simplicity of the networks. This could not be more true with utilities, first responders & mission-critical energy conservation markets (“Green” Applications”). If carriers would devote more resources in terms of sales and marketing to this growing segment they would find that they could make nice profits on equipment sales plus recurring revenue on airtime and recurring revenue on Web Applications — both existing and yet to be developed. They would also find out that they do not have to buy down the equipment to make a sale so profits could be made up-front instead of depreciation of equipment investment over the term of the account.
As I have been doing for 24 plus years in wireless (10 plus of those years in wireless automation) I will keep waving the paging flag as the first choice for wireless automation. The only thing I see that may kill this opportunity is complacently on the part of the paging carriers who keep rationalizing networks to “right size” the business to meet the paging subscriber market instead of trying to cultivate new markets in the M2M segment where virgin markets remain a great opportunity. I realize the carriers have to cut costs to make profits on recurring revenues but sooner or later they are going to have to start selling new products into new revenue streams otherwise they will find that they will be down to a few towers & personnel per market as the subscriber markets continue to decline. As for Nighthawk we are positioned to reluctantly move our technology to other wireless mediums if the paging industry continues to decline, not because there are not any new markets out there to cultivate but through complacency on the part of carriers to make investments into new market segments such as telemetry/M2M. I will continue to highlight these successes as they may spur some motivation for the carriers to try new things utilizing their networks such as the carriers I mentioned in this letter. Keep the faith Brad and keep fighting the good fight.
Regards,
Rex M. Lee,
VP Business Development/GM
Nighthawk Systems, Inc.
10715 Gulfdale, # 200
San Antonio, TX 78216
(210) 341.4811 Direct
(210) 341.2011 Fax
OTC-BB NIHK
www.nighthawksystems.com
rlee@nighthawksystems.com
* Electric Cities of Alabama (ECA) is a coalition of the state’s municipally owned electric utilities. Alabama’s electric cities span the state from the Tennessee Valley region in the north to the Gulf and Wiregrass regions of the south. They serve approximately one million customers in 36 cities.
| UNTIL NEXT WEEK |
That's all for this week folks.
With best regards, 73 DE K9IQY | Brad Dye, Editor |  |  |
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