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  • Blu-ray Players To Become Leading Connected Device


    Nearly two-thirds of US viewers want to watch Internet-based streaming video on their home HDTV, according to research.

    The results endorse the growing trend for set manufacturers’ to launch internet-connected HDTVs, as was evidenced at last month’s CES.

    In-Stat’s consumer survey reveals that 64 per cent of US respondents are "somewhat, very or extremely interested" in watching net-based streaming video on their household TV.

    However, the study found that few home network users currently have permanent connections between their consumer electronics devices and their home networks.

    Those that are most commonly connected are game consoles.

    However, the report said that as more connected devices become available it is Blue-ray DVD players/ recorders that will emerge as the leading connected device.

    Joyce Putscher, In-Stat analyst, said the primary reasons that more devices are not connected to home networks are:

    • consumer awareness/knowledge
    • availability of network-capable CE products on retail shelves
    • prices of network-capable CE products
    • competition with non-network-capable CE products (like docking stations)
    • lack of perceived need by some consumers


    Among the other findings were the following:

    • Almost 43% of the Windows PCs used in North American homes in June 2008 had Media Center functionality, up from 32% in 2007.
    • The worldwide media server-capable device market is estimated at $50 billion in 2008.
    • A proliferating set of competitors are offering a range of Digital Media Adapter/Player/Receiver (DMA/DMP/DMR) devices, including Apple, Cisco, Denon, Hewlett-Packard, Roku, Samsung, and many others.

  • WD Launches 2TB Hard Drive


    WD has announced the first 2 terabyte (TB) hard drive – the world’s highest capacity drive.

    The device is the latest addition to WD’s environmentally friendly Caviar Green hard drive family.

    This new 3.5-inch platform is based on WD’s 500 GB/platter technology (with 400 Gb/in2 areal density) with 32 MB cache, producing drives with capacities of up to 2 TB.

    Mark Geenen, president of Trend Focus, said there were some in the industry who wondered if the end consumer would buy a 1 TB drive.

    He said that already some 10 per cent of 3.5-inch hard drive sales are at the 1 TB level or higher.

    They served demand from video applications and expanding consumer media libraries.

    "The 2 TB hard drives will continue to satisfy end user’s insatiable desire to store more data on ever larger hard drives," he said.

    External storage solutions are a common place for extreme-capacity drives to help consumers manage these media libraries.
    The WD Caviar Green 2 TB will be available later this month at select resellers and distributors for Euro 299.00.

    This week, WD also reported revenue of USD $1.8 billion, on shipments of approximately 35.5 million units and net income of USD $14 million, or $0.06 per share, for its fiscal second quarter ended 26 December, 2008.

    The company’s results include charges of USD $113 million associated with the restructuring plan announced on 17 December.

    Excluding the restructuring charges and the related tax benefit of USD $4 million, non-GAAP net income was USD $123 million or $0.55 per share.

  • BCS Develops New Qualification For Data Centres


    The British Computer Society (BCS) is to develop a new qualification for data centre operators.

    It follows the publication of the EU Code of Conduct for data centres and BCS’ recent work to encourage the IT industry to address the issues of energy cost, power consumption and carbon emissions.

    The qualification will set an international standard for IT professionals in understanding energy efficiency irrespective of what discipline they practice within the industry.

    It will take the form of a one hour examination following a three-day practitioner course based on understanding and implementing the EU Code of Conduct for data centre operators.

    Pete Bayley, BCS director of qualifications, said: "With estimates that a data centre can account for 25 per cent of the total IT cost to a ‘typical’ company, many businesses are examining how they can make their centres more efficient both in terms of costs and carbon emissions to comply with the new EU Code of Conduct."

    The new qualification is part of the ongoing programme of work the BCS is delivering to industry through its carbon footprint working group and data centre specialist group.

    This programme addresses the needs of organisation in understanding their energy use and implementing an holistic approach to energy accounting and management.

    Bayley said he believed the qualification and training would be of interest not only to almost all subject matter experts within the field of IT but also IT procurement where the best practices form an independent set of measures by which energy efficiency claims can be usefully assessed and compared.

    Liam Newcombe, secretary of the data centre specialist group said: "After almost 18 months working with worldwide industry representatives, academics and government bodies to develop the EU code of conduct as an independent, effective and trusted standard, BCS is taking up the challenge of providing education and qualifications to support its delivery and implementation."

    The qualification will be available from summer 2009 and will complement the BCS Foundation Certificate in Green IT which will be launched in April 2009

  • SSDs and Video Capture Are Fastest Growing NAND Flash Applications


    NAND flash revenue in two key applications – Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Video Capture from Digital Video Cameras (DVCs) – will see compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of over 100 per cent through 2012, according to In-Stat.

    The analysts said this will overcome some of the weaknesses in other segments of the NAND flash market and drive overall growth to 30 per cent CAGR.

    Jim McGregor, In-Stat analyst, said the top four applications for NAND flash will remain MP3 players and PMPs, mobile handsets, after-market cards, and USB Flash Drives.

    He said they will command a combined market share of over 80 per cent over the next couple of years.

    "This percentage will drop to about 70 per cent by 2012, as solid state drives (SSDs) and video capture from digital video cameras (DVCs), grow in mportance," he said.

    Among the NAND Flash market share leaders, including Samsung, Toshiba and Hynix, all lost market share in 2007.

    Smaller share competitors, Micron and Intel, each gained share.

    The In-Stat report forecasts that worldwide NAND flash revenues are likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.7 per cent from 2007-2012 to reach USD $61 billion.

    Worldwide NOR flash revenues will increase at a 6 per cent CAGR from 2007 through 2012.

  • Verizon To Close VoiceWing VoIP Service


    Verizon is to shut its VoIP service VoiceWing on 31 March.

    Existing VoiceWing VoIP service customers have been contacted by Verizon Communications to inform them that it is withdrawing the offering from the end of March.

    The company does not report how many VoiceWing subscribers it has on its books.

    VoiceWing is likely to be replaced by a new venture, FiOS Digital Voice.

    Verizon recently launched ‘The Hub‘, a multifunction touch-screen home phone that connects to a broadband line.

    It also has plans to introduce a new VoIP package utilising its own fibre-optic connections.

    VoiceWing was launched five years ago by rebranding DeltaThree. It was set up to compete with Vonage.

    DeltaThree, which ran the back-end services for VoiceWing, has also been a victim of the times and has been running out of cash. It was recently delisted from Nasdaq.

  • SpiriTel wins EURO 1.1m VoIP contract


    SpiriTel has announced that it has won a network services and hosted VoIP contract with a major European hotel group.

    The business communications service provider said the value of the three year contract is expected to exceed £1 million.

    Under the terms of the agreement SpiriTel will provide integrated network services across all of the group’s UK estate of 21 hotels and its head office.

    The hosted VoIP solution is a managed service which includes the provision of teleworking facilities for field based staff.

    The deal is SpiriTel’s second significant cross sale contract win this month.

    Earlier this month, the Company signed an agreement with another international hotel group, under which SpiriTel replaced BT as the provider of a private UK voice network.

    The two deals take the total value of cross sales orders since the company’s April 2008 year end to over £3 million, according to a company statement.

    Alastair Mills, CEO of SpiriTel said: "I am delighted to have secured another significant contract win for SpiriTel which provides further evidence of the viability of our integrated model in a challenging economic climate."

  • Snom To Reveal First Touchscreen VoIP Handset


    Snom Technology is to unveil the world’s first touchscreen VoIP handset at this year’s CeBIT tradeshow.

    Called the snom 870, the German VoIP telephone maker said the device has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

    This allows users to easily connect calls and set up telephone conferences.

    The latter are set up by dragging and dropping the button icons of contacts onto the relevant area of the display.

    Snom will also be exhibiting its entire VoIP product suite at CeBIT, which runs from 3-8 March in Hannover.

    This includes the MeetingPoint model, snom’s first VoIP conference handset.

  • eBay To Sell Skype?


    Skype’s future as an eBay company is looking increasingly unsure as speculation mounts over its possible sale.

    eBay’s chief executive, John Donahoe, has done nothing to ease expectations of a sell-off. Last week he told analysts that "synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal" and that it is "a great standalone business".

    This follows his comments early last year when he said the company would be reassessed and sold if it did not benefit eBay or Skype.

    Analysts point to the lack of a logical integration between the telephony service and the auction site.

    Names being touted as potential buyers, include Google, which has shown interest in Skype in the past, and US telecoms giants AT&T and Verizon.

    eBay purchased Skype for USD $2.6bn purchase of Skype in 2005.

    In the auction company’s financial results for the last quarter of 2008, revenue fell 7 per cent to USD $2.04bn, below market expectations.

    Skype has seen revenues rise by 26 per cent.

    Skype is also said to be preparing new applications for its VoIP software which could be introduced at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Spain.

    These are expected to involve a dedicated application for Apple’s iPhone, a similar app for the BlackBerry Storm and via an update to Windows Mobile 6.5 itself.

    This month, the company introduced Skype lite, a no-frills client meant for Android-powered devices and the many mobile phones that are capable of running Java applications.

  • AdMob Strengthens Position With $ 12.5m Funding


    The mobile ad network AdMob has raised USD $12.5 million in a further round of venture funding.

    The new investment is its third round of funding, which now totals USD $28.2 million.

    Chief executive Omar Hamoui said the new funds will be used to make investments to ensure AdMob comes out of this "challenging economic environment" in a strong position.

    The San Mateo, California-based company has made a number of announcements recently.

    These include offering, first iPhone-customized ads and metrics, and then earlier this week a similar service for Google’s Android smartphone.

    The new funding comes from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

  • Blackberry Offered As Pay-As-You-Go


    Orange UK is to offer a pay-as-you-go Blackberry – the first carrier in Europe to launch a PAYG RIM device.

    The move underlines RIM’s intention to re-position itself as a provider of handsets that appeal to the consumer market as well as its traditional enterprise stronghold.

    The smartphone will be an exclusive indigo-colored BlackBerry 8120 that will cost £145.

    An estimated two-thirds of UK mobile customers use PAYG.

    To take up the Orange offer customers must take out one of the operator’s existing PAYG Animal packages before taking a PAYG BlackBerry Internet Service for just £5 per month, on a monthly rolling subscription.

    This will give them access to email, messaging and the web.

    An Orange statement said the new offering was a result of the growing demand for a BlackBerry smartphone with PAYG service.

    The BlackBerry Pearl 8120 has a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and media player.