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  • AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless to Build National Mobile Commerce Network

    AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless have announced the formation of a joint venture chartered with building ISIS, a national mobile commerce network that aims to "fundamentally transform how people shop, pay and save."

    Isis’ initial focus will be on building a mobile payment network that utilizes mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases. By utilizing smartphone and near-field communication (NFC) technology to modernize the payments process, Isis intends to deliver new levels of competition and value to consumers and merchants.

    Thew company expects to introduce its service in key geographic markets during the next 18 months.

    Michael Abbott has been named as Chief Executive Officer of Isis. Formerly with GE Capital, Abbott is a veteran financial services executive with extensive experience in the payment and technology industries. "We plan to create a mobile wallet that ultimately eliminates the need for consumers to carry cash, credit and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes," Abbott said.

    Founding members, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, collectively provide wireless services to more than 200 million consumers who will have access to the Isis service. Isis is working with Discover Financial Services’ payment network, currently accepted at more than seven million merchant locations nationwide, to develop an extensive mobile payment infrastructure for the joint venture.

    Barclaycard US, part of Barclays PLC, is expected to be the first issuer on the network, offering multiple mobile payment products to meet the needs of every customer.

    How It Works

    The new venture will enable contactless mobile payment and commerce services using near-field communication technology. NFC uses short-range, high frequency wireless technology to enable the encrypted exchange of information between devices at a short distance. The new system is being designed and built to include strong security and privacy safeguards.

  • Teneo Partners with Veloxum for First VMware Platform Optimisation in UK

    Teneo, an infrastructure optimisation specialist, has announced a partnership with Veloxum, a global infrastructure utilisation solutions vendor. Veloxum’s ACO offering enables VMware platforms users to analyse and optimise all elements of their platform including the server capacity, networking, physical storage and interaction with clients.

    Many UK organisations have invested heavily in virtualisation projects with the promise of cost savings presented as part of a return on investment (ROI) model. To realise these savings, server platforms need to be continuously ‘tuned’ to suit the applications they are running, and without this continual optimisation it can be difficult for organisations to achieve these results.

    Veloxum ACO is presented as a server specialist “in a box”, which pro-actively ‘tunes’ server settings continuously to ensure optimum performance. Through automating this process, organisations benefit from using a Veloxum appliance which can optimise processes within three minutes from cold, compared to using a specialist server engineer who could take up to three days for a single review of server configurations.

    Once analysis of a server is complete, Veloxum ACO uses patent-pending algorithms to calculate the optimum server configuration settings that will improve all aspects of performance. Veloxum then implements and logs these new optimal configurations, and acts as a continuous ‘tune-up’ service to configure elements automatically without requiring any user intervention or specialist skills. Veloxum works across a range of applications and platforms, to help fine tune settings for MS SharePoint, Outlook, Exchange, VMware, Citrix, Oracle and more.

    Veloxum allows organisations to increase guest to host density – to run a greater number of VMware instances without increasing physical server capacity. This can lead to dramatic cost savings in terms of deferred capital expenditure on new hardware and reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the areas of support, maintenance, powering and cooling requirements. Veloxum customers typically see a ROI period of less than 6 months.

    Piers Carey    , chief executive officer, Teneo, commented: “Teneo has an enviable track record of building partner relationships with global solution providers who can offer game-changing solutions for our customers’ networks and IT infrastructures. Our strong relationship with Riverbed puts us at the forefront of the WAN optimisation market. Veloxum takes the same concepts into the server market and increases the scale of our data centre solution. Veloxum is unique in what it does – examining configuration settings across all elements of a client’s VMware platform and continually fine-tuning these settings to deliver dramatic improvements in efficiency and dramatic cost savings. Veloxum offers a solution that ticks all the boxes – quick deployment, guaranteed performance improvements and fast return on investment.”

    Kevin Cornell, chief executive officer, Veloxum, said: “Teneo is an excellent partner for Veloxum as we know that Teneo has the experience and capability to understand how Veloxum can help VMware users and to successfully implement our ACO solution. Teneo has a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic for working with vendors who are offering cutting-edge technology to solve customers’ network and infrastructure issues. We look forward to introducing Veloxum solutions to Teneo customers.”

    Veloxum was established in 2007 and is based in California. For Teneo, Veloxum adds to a growing list of best-of-breed IT infrastructure, network and application optimisation vendor partners that it serves in the UK.

  • JVC Announces World's First THX 3D Certified Home Theater Projectors

    Four new JVC home theater projectors are the world’s first to gain THX 3D Display Certification. The four projectors, announced at CEDIA Expo in September while undergoing THX testing, will be available later this month.

    The new THX 3D Certified projectors are the Reference Series DLA-RS60 and DLA-RS50, to be marketed by JVC’s Professional Products Company, and the Procision Series DLA-X9 and DLA-X7, to be available through JVC U.S.A.

    JVC informed that during the THX 3D certification process, more than 400 laboratory tests are conducted, evaluating color accuracy, cross-talk, viewing angles and video processing "to ensure the high quality 3D and 2D display performance that home theater enthusiasts demand."

    The JVC projectors have simple, one button solutions for optimized playback of 3D and 2D movies – THX Cinema Mode to ensure that color reproduction, luminance, blacks, gamma and video processing matches what the filmmaker intended, and THX 3D Cinema Mode, which extends this same level of accuracy for 3D broadcasts and Blu-ray Discs.

    Acording to the company, THX 3D Cinema Mode is designed to deliver highly accurate color in 3D, while minimizing sources of cross-talk and flicker. For further fine-tuning, all THX Modes on JVC projectors can be accessed by THX Professional Calibrators.

    For 3D content, each projector includes two HDMI 1.4a ports and supports side-by-side (broadcast), frame packing (Blu-ray Disc), and above-below 3D transmissions. An external 3D Signal Emitter (PK-EM1) syncs the projected image with JVC’s Active Shutter 3D Glasses (PK-AG1). The external 3D signal emitter ensures solid signal transmission to the 3D glasses for a superior 3D experience, no matter what type of screen is used or how the home theater has been configured, as the company claims.

    The new flagship projectors, the DLA-RS60 and DLA-X9, are built using hand-selected, hand-tested components and provide a 100,000:1 native contrast ratio. For 3D display, both models come with two pairs of 3D glasses along with a PK-EM1 3D Signal Emitter.

    The DLA-RS50 and DLA-X7 offer 70,000:1 native contrast ratio and are compatible with JVC’s PK-AG1 Active Shutter 3D Glasses and PK-EM1 3D Signal Emitter (sold separately) for 3D presentations.

    All four projectors feature three 0.7" 1920 x 1080 D-ILA devices and are designed around JVC’s third generation D-ILA High Dynamic Range optical engine that is optimized to provide exceptional native contrast ratios without a dynamic iris to artificially enhance contrast specifications. A directed light integration system and wire grid polarizer ensures optimum light uniformity and minimal crosstalk in the light path. A 4-step lamp aperture is combined with a 16-step lens aperture to allow more precise management of lamp output, which further improves black level and native contrast.

    With a new short arc gap, lamp brightness has been increased from earlier JVC models to 1,300 ANSI lumens. To reduce motion blur, JVC’s double-speed 120Hz Clear Motion Drive technology uses a newly developed LSI for frame interpolation black frame insertion.

    These same four models also include a new seven-axis color management system (R, G, B, C, M, Y and orange) that allows precise color tuning, especially in skin tones, and a choice of color profiles, including Adobe RGB, DCI and sRGB/HDTV. They have also been designed for ISF certification and will include an ISF C3 mode for professional calibration. Ninety-nine screen correction modes match the projector to 99 specific types of projection screens.

  • Freescale Introduces Comprehensive Solution for Multi-Service Business Gateways

    Freescale has introduced a comprehensive silicon and software solution for the rapid creation of multi-service business gateway (MSBG) equipment combining services such as data, security, voice and fax.

    Based on the QorIQ P1020 processor, the solution integrates Freescale’s VortiQa Security Application Software and D2 Technologies’ embedded vPort VoIP software, as well as virtualization support from Green Hills Software.

    Designed to help OEMs speed and simplify the development of MSBG equipment, the Freescale solution also works with the P1020 and other QorIQ products to serve as a reference design for a range of additional applications such as unified threat management (UTM) appliances, secured routers, IPS/IDS appliances, VPN routers and secured switches.

     "This flexibility helps to extend R&D value and shorten time to market. Since the QorIQ family scales from single to many cores, the solution addresses a broad range of performance and energy efficiency requirements," as the company claims.

    Acording to Freescale, their QorIQ processors deliver "ultra-high" performance to enable the flexibility and scalability to run a large number of services simultaneously. Products based on the MSBG solution can run security applications on one core while running office applications on a second core, giving service providers the flexibility to easily add or subtract office features.

    “Freescale’s MSBG solution brings together the elements a small office needs to function – e-mail, fax, print, conference, WLAN and other capabilities – and then integrates those elements with traditional security and gateway functionality,” said Sathyan Iyengar, vice president of Software Products for the Freescale Networking and Multimedia Group. “Our suite of pre-integrated office services is optimized to take advantage of multicore technology. It helps hardware providers speed time to market and enables a more cost-effective and flexible business model.”

    D2 Technologies’ embedded vPort software allows the solution to deliver the high voice quality, efficiently tuned system implementation and broad OS support necessary for manufacturers to incorporate state-of-the-art VoIP capabilities in their MSBG products.

    “The introduction of the joint Freescale-D2 MSBG solution to the market is timely, as an increasing number of small- to medium-size businesses are choosing to deploy a single, integrated device to replace legacy equipment,” said Doug Makishima, chief operating officer for D2 Technologies. “Additionally, market studies are showing a steady increase in the SMB market’s migration to VoIP technology. OEMs and ODMs looking for a rapid and cost-effective way to tap into these trends now have a solution based on multicore processors that shortens the development cycle for high-performance and economical offerings.”

    Freescale’s MSBG solution includes:

    * The QorIQ P1020 processor, which provides cost and performance scalability to support different product SKUs and multiple users; the low-power operation of the QorIQ product also enables simplified, fanless thermal design for higher reliability and low system-cost end products
    * VortiQa software with Stateful Packet Inspection Firewall and NAT
    * VortiQa performance optimized IPsec Virtual Private Network (VPN) with Quality of Service (QoS) and Traffic Management (TM)
    * D2 Technologies optimized voice features such as G.711, G.729AB, G.726 Voice Compression, G.168 Echo Cancellation, Packet Loss Compensation, Tone Detect/Generate and Jitter Buffer
    * D2 Technologies advanced telephony features such as 3-Party Conferencing, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting/Caller ID, Call Return, and Speed Dial

  • Sofialys and MARMARA Strengthen Their Mobile Marketing Collaboration

    Sofialys, France-based mobile advertising and marketing specialist has announced that it is renewing its mobile marketing collaboration with one of the TUI group’s French brands, Marmara. The two companies have been working together for 2 years in order to develop a "highly effective mobile marketing strategy and innovative operations."

    Sofialys therefore initiated an end2end mobile strategy for the brand with the aim of driving customer acquisition and brand awareness. This took the form of developing mobile push campaigns, a loyalty programme, mobile display campaigns, the creation of a mobile site, online buzz marketing and now, the new Marmara iPhone application.

    Olivier Roche, E-commerce director at MARMARA commented: “It is crucial for a brand such as ours to leverage the potential of any new media capable of boosting brand awareness and acquisition and using mobile media is an extension of our online activities. However, we needed to rely on a partner with strong expertise and the Sofialys team continuously demonstrates not only its ability to be creative but also reliable when it comes to delivering results.”

    The companies said they are now working on new forms and formats of mobile marketing messages and leveraging new opportunities, such as those offered by the iPad and other mobile platforms.

    According to Mokhtar Bouchelaghem, CEO of Sofialys, “Our continuing collaboration with Marmara demonstrates the strength of our relationship and their level of satisfaction with our execution of their mobile strategies. We are very excited to have recently developed and launched their iPhone application and look forward to providing Marmara with our cutting-edge mobile marketing solutions for a long time to come.”

    Related news
    MWC 2010: Interview with Julien Oudart of Sofialys

  • IPsmarx Announces Completion of Interoperability Testing with 360networks

    IPsmarx has announced a referral arrangement with 360networks, a full service wholesale provider of Private Line Transport, VoIP, IP, and Local Access (T1/DS3) services on its wholly-owned fiber optic backbone. Through this arrangement IPsmarx will recommend 360networks’ IP and Toll Free Origination services to complement IPsmarx Class 5 and IP-PBX Solutions.

    According to IPsmarx, following the successful completion of interoperability testing between the two companies, IPsmarx’ existing entrepreneurial and calling card operator customers can now utilize 360networks’ Wholesale VoIP Origination services to "grow into new markets, offer more services and decrease the initial investment to get started."

    Steve Cardwell, vice president of sales at 360networks, stated, “We are excited to have completed interoperability testing with IPsmarx so their customers can now easily deploy our wholesale VoIP services in conjunction with IPsmarx’ award-winning solutions.”

    “This interoperability relationship with 360networks furthers our mission to fully support our clients as they enter the VoIP market,” says Andrea Lopez, Technical Sales Representative for IPsmarx. “Giving our clients many options for DID providers and termination suppliers allows them to expand their businesses and become more competitive.”

    According to IPsmarx, their solutions are "modular, scalable and flexible." This gives clients the opportunity to customize solutions to their needs or offer multiple services from one platform. IPsmarx helps service providers minimize the risks of entering a new market by providing security, technical training, support and a reliable billing platform.

    Meeting IPsmarx’ specifications, 360networks is compatible with IPsmarx’ SIP Based Calling Card solution that helps entrepreneurs and existing calling card operators manage and grow a successful calling card business. Features include; a variety of recharge options, home services to set up customer accounts and an E-store site to sell services on-line. Service providers can also offer a Class 5 Solution which provides value-added services to become a residential IP phone service company with features such as conferencing, voicemail and calling packages.

    The IPsmarx Multi-Tenant IP-PBX Platform empowers VoIP Providers to deliver robust VoIP services to their SMB and enterprise clients. With abundant features and streamlined customer management, IPsmarx’ IP-PBX Platform integrates billing, call routing, and e-commerce into one unified solution.

  • iSuppli: Wireless Carriers See Tiers as Key to Rising Profits

    T-Mobile’s move to offer tiered pricing based on bandwidth usage represents the latest development in the wireless industry’s attempt to cash in on exploding demand for mobile data demand, according to iSuppli. Global mobile data traffic is expected to nearly double each year through 2014.

    “We believe that strong execution of a tiered pricing model will translate to significant increases in market capitalization for wireless carriers,” said Steve Mather, principal analyst, wireless, for iSuppli.

    “Rapidly rising demand for wireless data access represents the biggest opportunity of the decade for wireless carriers,” Mather said. “iSuppli’s discussions with leading wireless carriers indicates that tiered pricing, like that offered by AT&T and T-Mobile, represents one of the best tactics to monetize growing demand to access their pipes. Tiered pricing will allow these companies to find data consumption sweet spots, enabling them to segment users into various pricing and data cap buckets, and to prompt upgrades as mobile services become even more a part of consumer’s lives. The flexibility of adjusting both the price and the cap is particularly compelling.”

    For carriers, the stakes are enormous as they try to regain their share value and profitability. “iSuppli’s analysis of the top 15 wireless carriers worldwide indicates operating margins have dwindled to 20 percent in 2010, down from 22 percent just three years ago,” Mather said. “With the rise of data usage and the arrival of tiered pricing programs, we expect margins to rise over the two years from their summer 2010 lows.”


    T-Mobile’s first tiered pricing offer became available in the United States on Nov. 3.

    The first tier is a promotional offer with a two-year contract, priced at $10 per month for 200Mbytes of data. The next tier charges $15 per month on a month-to-month basis, with no contract. Moving up, the next tier charges $30 per month for unlimited data. Finally, tethering costs an additional $15 per month.

    T-Mobile also launched of a variety of Android-powered smart phones with retail prices less than $100 to complement its new service plans.

    The move follows in the footsteps of the tiered program offered by industry benchmark AT&T for the Apple Inc. iPhone and iPad. AT&T charges $15 per month for 200Mbytes, $25 per month for 2Gbytes and tethering for an incremental $20 per month.

    Verizon is also experimenting with a promotional offer of $15 per month for 150Mbytes, $30 per month for unlimited data to phone and $15 per month for 2Gbytes of tethering. It also is charging $20 per month for the phone to be used as a multi-line tethering hotspot.

    “Wireless carriers are intent on spurring incremental data usage among their subscribers,” Mather said. “This strategy centers on enticing more consumers to adopt mobile data access as part of life’s necessities. Two tactics to encourage more data consumption are to experiment with tiered pricing, and to heavily market data-hungry devices.”

    Tiers put carriers back in control of their pipe’s capacity, with a newfound capability to monetize the increasingly essential mobile data demands.

  • ESPN Announces Results of Comprehensive 3D Study

    ESPN Research + Analytics unveiled a studies on 3D TV. Compiling results from more than 1,000 testing sessions and 2,700 lab hours, ESPN has concluded that fans are comfortable with the medium and even enjoy it more than programming in HD.

    The research was conducted by Dr. Duane Varan, professor of New Media at Murdoch University, during ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at the Disney Media and Ad Lab in Austin, Texas.

    The research employed an experimental design approach including the use of perception analyzers, eye gaze and electrodermal activity. The study focused on a multitude of topics including overall viewing enjoyment, fatigue and novelty effects, technology differences, production issues and advertising impact. In all over 700 measures were processed during the testing. The Ad Lab used five different 3D manufacturers in its testing.

    “The results from this comprehensive research project support what we have said time and time again – fans have a higher level of enjoyment when viewing 3D. Plus, for advertisers, this study provides good news on the level of fan engagement when viewing 3D ads,” said Artie Bulgrin, senior vice president of ESPN Research + Analytics. “This study will help us continue to develop ESPN 3D as an industry leader for event-based 3D viewing.”

    Key Findings:

    3D TV ads can be more effective

    * In testing the Ad Lab showed viewers the same ads in 2D and 3D. 3D ads produced significantly higher scores across all ad performance metrics – generally maintaining a higher level of arousal than the 2D counterpart.
    * Participants showed better recall of the ad in 3D:
    – Cued recall went from 68% to 83%
    – On average, purchase intent increased from 49% to 83%
    – Ad liking went from 67% to 84%

    Fans enjoy 3D

    * The results showed a higher level of viewer enjoyment, engagement with the telecast and a stronger sense of presence with the 3D telecasts.
    – Enjoyment increased from 65% to 70% in 3D while presence went from 42% to 69%

    Passive vs. Active

    * With all things equal, there were no major differences between passive and active 3D TV sets for overall impact however, passive glasses were rated as more comfortable and less distracting by participants.

    Depth Perception

    * The study found that there were no adverse effects on depth perception (stereopsis).
    * It appeared that there is an acclimation effect whereby participants adjust to 3D over time under normal use.

    True 3D vs. 2D

    * Participants showed much more favorable responses to true 3D images than to 2D.

    Related news
    3D TV Not Growing as Fast as TV Makers Expected in 2010
    Blu-ray Player Shipments to Exceed 62.5 Million in 2011
    NVIDIA Demonstrates Streaming 3D Video Using Microsoft Silverlight

  • Apple Takes the Lead in the US Smartphone Market with a 26% Share

    In Q3 2010, the worldwide smartphone market grew an impressive 95% over the same quarter a year ago to 80.9 million shipped units, according to Canalys.

    Nokia retained its leadership position, albeit by a diminished margin, with a 33% share of the market. Apple’s healthy performance this quarter saw it achieve a 17% share worldwide, a little ahead of RIM, which held a 15% share this quarter.

    In the world’s largest smart phone market, the US, Apple ousted RIM from the top spot, seizing a 26% share as iPhone shipments continued unabated. RIM has also launched its latest generation smart phone, the Torch, though it only saw half a quarter’s shipments in the US.

    But the plethora of smart phones running the Open Handset Alliance’s (OHA’s) Android platform meant that Canalys’ final published country-level data shows that it took the lead in the US market by operating system, with a 44% share.

    As well as the positive picture in the US, Canalys’ detailed country level smart phone research has consistently highlighted the importance of, and differences in, ‘emerging markets’. For example, in what are now being called the ‘BRIIC’ countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and mainland China), smart phone shipments increased by 112% year-on-year, faster than the market overall, and each country individually saw strong growth. Nokia was the leading vendor in all five BRIIC markets in Q3 2010, benefiting from its global reach and channel relationships.

    According to Canalys, once again this quarter, it was devices running the Android platform that proved the greatest driver of growth in the worldwide market, up 1,309% year-on-year from 1.4 million in Q3 2009 to more than 20.0 million units in Q3 2010, forming a quarter of the market share. “With Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world,2 said Canalys Senior Analyst Pete Cunningham.

    Driven by Nokia, the Symbian Foundation retained its position as the leading smart phone OS vendor worldwide. Of the 56 named countries that Canalys tracks, it is still the number one OS vendor in 37 of them because of Nokia’s dominance, plus in Japan, where its position is supported by Fujitsu and Sharp. According to the report, the launch of Nokia’s new range of Symbian devices, particularly the N8, will give a boost to its holiday season shipments, and the outlook into 2011 remains positive as Nokia aims to push Symbian devices further into the mid-tier of the market to attract mass-market volumes.

    Devices running Microsoft’s OS accounted for just 3% of worldwide smart phone shipments in Q3 2010, though with the launch of Windows Phone 7 devices, the outlook for the fourth quarter and beyond is significantly improved. “Windows Phone 7 is streets ahead of earlier iterations and provides a vastly improved user experience that will pleasantly surprise many people when they come to use it. The integration of Microsoft service assets, such as Xbox Live, Bing, Zune and Office, greatly strengthens the proposition and we are confident that the initial array of products will perform well,” said Chris Jones, Canalys Principal Analyst.

    Related news
    Gartner: Android to Become No. 2 Worldwide Mobile OS in 2010
    Mobile Navigation Users Increased 57% in H1-2010 to 44 million
    Smartphone and Tablet Sales Ignite Advanced LCD Market in 2010

  • Pinger Aims to Bring Free Voip to iPod Touch and iPhone

    Pinger, a startup based in San Jose, California, aims to challenge Skype (and others) by offering free voice calls. They are doing so by piggybacking voip on their hugely popular TextFree application, which allows sending free text SMS messages.

    TextFree is unusual in that each user gets its own phone number, thus the 8 million TextFree users are in fact 8 million phone numbers (putting Pinger in the Top 10 US mobile carriers). For comparison, Q3 2010 Pinger distributed 1.7 million phone numbers, AT&T distributed 1.6 in the same time span.

    Their current revenue model is ad-based, showing ads while the user is composing her message. As an indicator of profitability, the startup has already been backed up by venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others by raising more than $11 million.

    Pinger is currently serving 1.2 billion ads and sent 4 billion messages each month and is only expected to raise its numbers. As Pinger’s target audience is between 16 and 26, advertisers are already eager to participate to set buying habits and brand loyalty as these users turn into adults.

    For phone calls, users will have a limited amount of free monthly minutes, which they can increase by downloading other apps, completing 3rd party offers (a model coming from social media games) or by credit card payment. Pinger says that they are aiming to offer a worldwide service, disrupting the mobile industry and profiting from the huge markups phone carriers apply in their prices. Time will tell if they are able to make it.

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    fringOut’s “Almost-Free Calls” Coming to Android
    Skype Now Available for Android Phones
    Ooma Introduces New Mobile App Calling Plan Option
    Acrobits Releases Groundwire, the First Business Caliber SIP Client
     

    Ruben Berenguel blogs in mostlymaths.net about productivity, time management and a little programming while he finishes his PhD in Mathematics. Don’t miss your opportunity to subscribe to his RSS feed.