Dear Friends of Wireless Messaging,

Customer Appreciation

The list of advertisers that make this newsletter possible is getting shorter, so I want to take this opportunity to thank the following companies for their support.

• AAPC
• Daviscomms USA
• Canamex Communications
• UCOM/NE Paging
• Preferred Wireless
• FleetTALK Management
• Leavitt Communications
• GTES
• United Communications
• Critical Response Systems
• Prism Paging
• Ira Wiesenfeld, PE
• CVC Paging
• Hark Technologies
• Unication Co., Ltd.
• WiPath Communications
• Swissphone NA
• Easy Solutions

When you talk to any of the above, please mention that you saw their ad in the newsletter.

Several companies have expressed an interest in advertising here in the newsletter. If you would like to have more information about the various possibilities, please click here.

Now on to more news and views.

Wireless Messaging News
Emergency Radio Communications Wireless Messaging Critical Messaging Telemetry Paging VoIP Wi-Fi WiMAX Location-Based Services	WIRELESS MESSAGING

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.

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 readers' 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.

Editorial Opinion pieces present the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of AAPC, its publisher, or its sponsors.

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, and Vic Jackson are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects. Click here  for a summary of their qualifications and experience. They collaborate on consulting assignments, and share the work according to their individual expertise and their schedules.

If you would like to have information about advertising in this newsletter, please click here.

American Association of Paging Carriers

Join us at Enterprise Wireless 2009 for the tools, insights, technology updates and inspiration you need to move into 2010.

Know what's important about the new FCC administration. See the latest in wireless technology for government and enterprise users

• Meet with the major wireless sales and service providers across the U.S.
• Hear from high profile experts as they share their perspectives on how to drive success in your business.
• Optimize your competitive edge.

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The Westin Buckhead, a 5-star resort in the heart of Atlanta, is offering EW 2009 attendees a discounted $179 rate for reservations made before October 16, 2009.

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Thanks to our Gold Vendor!

Prism Paging

Thanks to our Silver Vendors!
Recurrent Software Solutions, Inc.	Unication USA

Thanks to our Bronze Vendors!

• Commtech Wireless
• Critical Response Systems, Inc.
• Hark Technologies
• Inilex
• ISC Technologies
• Microspace Communications Corporation
• Minilec Services, Inc.
• Multitone Electronics
• United Communications Corporation

Advertiser Index

Zetron's Paging and Remote Monitoring Solutions

The Model 640 DAPT-XTRA Paging Terminal is a cost effective solution for small to medium-sized systems and private organizations offering a paging service based on bureau-type operator paging and/or direct telephone access. The 640 supports up to 1,500 users with up to 4 telephone lines. It also supports voice paging, voice prompts, talkback paging, and alphanumeric paging.

Zetron's Remote Monitoring equipment provides monitoring and notification of unusual conditions and status changes. Messages are automatically transmitted over a radio or a public address system. Notification can be sent via speaker or radio announcement, telephone, cellular phone, or paging.

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Public safety communications still a work in progress, Chertoff says

By Rutrell Yasin
Sep 04, 2009

Eight years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, there has been significant progress made toward improving first-responder communications, but there is still a lot of distance to cover, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff told public safety officials today.

Increased funding to state and local governments, advances in radio technology and the release of the Homeland Security Department’s National Emergency Communications Plan, which outlines a strategy to improve public safety communications throughout the nation, have all contributed to more effective communications among various jurisdictions, Chertoff said.

However, Chertoff expressed disappointment that the issue of designating more radio spectrum for public safety use has not been resolved and that more jurisdictions have not adopted governance and a standardized language for law enforcement and public safety personnel across the country to describe events and incidents during an emergency.

Chertoff, now chairman and managing principal of the Chertoff Group, spoke on a panel about tactical communications and interoperability among firefighters, law enforcement, public officials and other first responders at the National Press Club in Washington. John Vaughan, senior vice president of public safety communications for Harris Corp. joined him on the panel.

Chertoff said that he is not one to say that there hasn't been progress. However, “I will say it is disappointing that we haven’t reached a decision point on the dedicated spectrum and haven’t moved forward on interoperability and basic interoperability in some parts of the country,” he said.

“Training remains a critical element,” Chertoff added. "There are still too many responders who even if they get the equipment wouldn't know how to use it.”

Achieving interoperability will require investment and effort because with every advance in technology there is a corresponding burden on government to keep up with what’s going on, he said. This means agencies and industry should look at more migratory technology that connects older systems with emerging technology. This might also entail a new business model in which organizations don’t buy technology and keep it until it is obsolete. Rather, users pay for a service and as equipment changes over time they swap it out and pay for use of the product rather than the product itself.

Sometimes technology can hamper effective communications. For example, an increase in cell phone use can cripple E-911 service during a disaster or incident.

“Really, it is the use of voice-over-internet, wireless and wired networks that present enormous challenges to E-911 dispatchers,” said Harris’ Vaughan. “You can see a solution with certain technology called GPS [Global Positioning Systems]."

GPS has to be tied into voice over IP so that cell phones are tagged with a geo-location to identify where a person who needs help is located, he said. But that infrastructure involves privacy issues--another concern that still needs to be resolved, he said.

The potential of emerging cyber attacks can also have an impact on local and regional governments, and there is a question of what role their emergency management agencies should play.

When it comes to planning for emergencies that might stem from cyber attacks on infrastructure, Chertoff acknowledged that “the role of state and local authorities is less clear.” He added that “the federal government and a band of private sector groups” still need to develop an emergency response plan “on a national level” that factored in the possibility of a cyber attack.

Wyatt Kash contributed to this story.

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PAGING & WIRELESS
NETWORK PLANNERS LLC
WIRELESS SPECIALISTS

www.pagingplanners.com
rmercer@pagingplanners.com

R.H. (Ron) Mercer Consultant 217 First Street South East Northport, NY 11731
Cell Phone: 631-786-9359

Wireless Industry Management Specialist

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Skype, eBay divorce: what went wrong

by Jeff Bertolucci
PC World
Sep 2, 2009 8:00 am

Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from PCWorld.com.

The future looked bright in September 2005 when eBay announced it was buying Internet telephony company Skype Technologies for $2.6 billion. But after four years of unfulfilled expectations, the marriage between the online auction giant and the upstart VoIP provider came to an end Tuesday when eBay said it was unloading Skype to a group of private investors for $1.9 billion.

Bad Partners

Why did the merger fail? When eBay bought Skype, it had hoped the VoIP service would improve communications between its customers. Buyers could talk easily with sellers about items they were interested in; in turn, sellers could build relationships with customers via the power of VoIP chats.

But the Skype-eBay integration never panned out. The main reason: For most eBay users, email is good enough. Buyers and sellers don't really need a voice call to seal a deal.

"I'm a fairly regular eBay user, and there are ways of interacting without using voice over IP," says blogger and tech journalist Tom Keating, who writes the VoIP & Gadgets Blog for TMCNet. "I think people like the anonymity of eBay. Talking is a great thing. You can communicate and ask more details about the product. But people prefer anonymity, and they don't necessarily want to talk with the person on the other end."

Andy Abramson, a marketing consultant and Internet telephony guru who writes the VoIP Watch blog, agrees. The eBay ecosystem, he says, consists of three groups: buyers, sellers, and third-party operators that ship products. "Those three [groups] were built around a bunch of customers who never wanted to talk to anybody," Abramson says. With eBay, "you don't have to talk to your customers. You have to email them. Skype is all about talking or chatting."

The eBay-Skype marriage suffered from other problems too. First, the culture clash between the two companies was too great to overcome. "eBay is an extremely conservative, bank-like culture," says Abramson. "Skype was out to be the democratization of voice. They were out to be the leveler of the playing field, and they've done that." In addition, Skype went through several management teams during its four-year eBay period--a lack of consistency that didn't help matters at all.

Skype's Future?

Now that Skype is free of eBay, where will it go from here? Keating sees Skype making a play for the business VoIP market, where competition is fierce. Abramson believes the company will focus on bringing advanced video conferencing services to consumers, and on expanding its presence in the mobile VoIP market.

GE Healthcare pushes for licensed spectrum

By Lynnette Luna
FierceBroadbandWireless
September 3, 2009

The FCC will consider allocating licensed spectrum for Medical Body Area Networks, otherwise known as MBANs, that will enable wireless monitoring of hospital patients.

GE Healthcare asked the FCC last year to set up rules for MBANs. It wants the commission to allocate spectrum in the 2360 MHz to 2400 Mhz band for use by low-power medical devices that are short in range. GE Healthcare aims to create a system that would replace wired solutions to monitor vital signs, respiration and electrocardiogram readings. GE is developing prototypes of the new wireless sensors.

GE argues that licensed spectrum is needed for such networks to protect these networks from interference from unlicensed radio devices such as WiFi and Bluetooth. For the band that GE wants, only two licensed stakeholders exist and the bands aren't used often, GE argues.

The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for establishing rules for MBANs on June 29, and set the period for accepting comments to begin Aug. 30.

Shorts: Continua and IHE; Pages for pulses

Monday - August 31st, 2009 - 02:23pm EST by Brian Dolan

Continua teams with IHE Continua has teamed up with the IHE to work on “standards harmonization” for device interoperability. Continua’s Executive Director Rick Cnossen: “The Continua Health Alliance appreciates the opportunity HITSP has afforded to work with IHE to provide a harmonized approach for the Remote Patient Monitoring Use Case with an open architecture, international, standards-based solution. This will facilitate an ecosystem of connected technologies, devices, and services that provide a compelling way to meet the challenges of increased access, improve outcomes for patients, and ultimately reduce overall healthcare costs.” More

iPhone : EHR as Platform is to? Remember when the iPhone platform was suggested as a model for EHR development? This commentator points out where that suggestion falls flat. More

More on A&D Medical’s Continua-certification from a while back: “By producing both the blood-pressure monitor and the weighing scales, we have shown that the technology is adaptable - the scales are low-power devices that only take a reading infrequently, unlike the monitor,” Cambridge Consultants’ Paul Williamson said. “The intention is that these are the first of many devices, giving people access to services at home without having to manage a cumbersome PC interface. With Bluetooth capability, the device becomes part of the everyday routine, while for healthcare providers there is a huge gain in being able to collect such data.” More

Good news for pager companies? “Now your heart can page you.” Or so claims one recent headline describing another wireless remote cardiac monitoring system being used in a clinical trial. The implant sends a “page” to a dedicated handheld device the user carriers with them. Now, if only everyone had a pager in their pocket… Hmm. More

St. Jude Medical announced that its Merlin.net Patient Care Network has launched in Europe. The system bills itself as a “secure, Internet-based remote care system for patients with implanted medical devices.” Transmissions from the device include patient-initiated ones and automatic follow-ups. St. Jude said the wireless monitoring system enables physicians to compile a more complete patient record by porting data directly from a cardiac device into an EHR. More

In other wireless cardiac monitoring news for Europe: KG, a wireless remote monitoring technologies company known for its implantable cardiac devices, announced that data from its TRUST trial was recently presented to the European Society of Cardiology Congress. The data found positive outcomes associated with use of KG’s Biotronik home monitoring that included a “safe reduction” in the number of in-office follow-up visits for patients. More

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NEWS FLASH — SATELLITE FAILURES

• January 11, 1997—Telstar 401 suffers a short in the satellite circuitry—TOTAL LOSS May 19, 1998—Galaxy 4 control processor causes loss of fixed orbit—TOTAL LOSS September 19, 2003—Telstar 4 suffers loss of its primary power bus—TOTAL LOSS March 17, 2004—PAS-6 suffers loss of power—TOTAL LOSS
• January 14, 2005—Intelsat 804 suffers electrical power system anomaly—TOTAL LOSS

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Texting, Social Media For Emergency Communications

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 September 2009, 06:02 CDT

Text messaging, twittering and the use of social networking Web sites could help families stay in touch amid disasters that have knocked out traditional communication methods, the Safe America Foundation reported on Tuesday.

The Atlanta-based national safety group is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on a campaign known as "Drill Down for Safety”, which seeks to increase public awareness of communication options during an emergency.

"In an emergency traditional phone lines may be down and traditional methods of communication may not be working," Safe America Foundation spokeswoman Carla Shaw told the Associated Press.

"We want people to rehearse what would you do, and what other forms of communication would you have at your disposal."

Drill participants should pre-load emergency messages on their cell phones and pre-load relevant communication Web sites, Shaw advised, so the tools are accessible during an emergency. Families should also discuss ahead of time how to best utilize these tools, including which types of signals to look for during an emergency, she said.

From September 11 through mid October, some 200,000 people are expected to participate in drills of alternative emergency communication tools, the AP reported. Participants include those who pledged to practice disaster communication on Safe America's Web site, along with employees of companies such as UPS, Motorola and Office Depot that plan to hold safety drills and training sessions.

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 SEE WEB FOR COMPLETE LIST:
www.preferredwireless.com/equipment CLICK HERE

Too Much To List • Call or E-Mail

Preferred Wireless Rick McMichael 888-429-4171 rickm@preferredwireless.com CLICK HERE www.preferredwireless.com/equipment OR HERE