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Tag: biztalk

  • MWC 2011: Digital Watermarking from Digimarc

    Digimarc is a provider of enabling technologies that create digital identities for all forms of media and many everyday objects.

    The embedded digital IDs are imperceptible to humans, but not to computers, networks and devices like mobile phones, which can now use cameras and microphones as sensory inputs to "see, hear and understand" the world around them within the context of their environment.

    At the Mobile World Congress the company launched the Digimarc Discover Online Services Portal (OSP), completing the Digimarc Discover Platform which now includes easy embedding of digital watermarks into magazines, newspapers, and other print publications to create many new media experiences on smartphones.

    The Digimarc Discover OSP is a web-based service for newspaper and magazine publishers, marketers, and advertisers to link articles and advertisements to enhanced content, interactive ads and many other multi-sensory experiences.

    Digital watermarks embedded via the OSP can easily be detected by consumers using the Digimarc Discover mobile application available for download from iTunes or the Android Market, as well as a number of third party mobile applications that include the Digimarc Discover feature, such as Clic2C, Winkcode, Print2Web, eMotion Mobile, and iClic.

    In Barcelona, we talked to Bruce Davis, Chairman and CEO of Digimarc.

  • MWC 2011: Nano-Coating Technology from P2i

    At Mobile World Congres in Barcelona we spoke to Dr Stephen Coulson, Chief Technical Officer at P2i, the world leader in liquid-repellent nano-coating technology.

    The company announced at the show that Aridion, its nano-coating technology for consumer electronics, will soon be available to high-volume mobile handset manufacturers with the launch of the first high-capacity Aridion processing machine.

    The Aridion 400 applies an invisible nanoscopic polymer layer to fully-assembled handsets using a special pulsed ionized gas (plasma), which is created at room temperature within a vacuum chamber. The plasma penetrates the phone – both internally and externally – dramatically lowering its surface energy, so that when liquids come into contact with it, they form beads and simply roll off. The result is a dramatic reduction in corrosion and electrochemical migration, even after shower, salt-fog and water submersion testing.

    The machine can treat up to 1,000 phones in a single process run.

    According to the company, in mobile phone testing, specifically shower conditions, Aridion treated devices have been proven to improve battery life and operate continuously, significantly out-performing untreated devices. The technology also reduces staining over longer periods of handling compared with untreated materials.

  • MWC 2011: Solar Power Solutions from Intivation

    At this year’s Mobile World Congress Intivation has announced that they have partnered with Umeox to unveil the world’s first solar powered smartphone: Apollo. It runs on Android 2.2, has a touch screen and all the bells and whistles, and still comes at a super affordable price. This was one of the attractions of the show.

    The company also announced their third-generation SunBoost technology platform, and the Smart Cell as part of it.

    For the last couple of years Intivation have been developing and testing their proprietary technology and they are working to create a new market segment of solar powered portable electronic devices.

    Based in Amsterdam (HQ), Hong Kong, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro, the company develops and markets highly innovative, proprietary SunBoost technology that increases the power output of solar cells making a solar powered device that works.

    Intivation partners with some of the world’s leading ODMs, and has broad experience integrating solar power solutions in portable consumer electronics.

    At the Mobile World Congress we talked to Paul Naastepad, the company’s CEO.


    Related articles
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  • Mobile Technology for Social Change: Interview with Katrin Verclas, Co-Founder of MobileActive.org

    MobileActive.org is a global network of people using mobile technology for social impact. They are committed to increasing the effectiveness of NGOs around the world who recognize that the 4.5 billion mobile phones provide unprecedented opportunities for organizing, communications, and service and information delivery.

    Smartphone.Biz-news.com spoke with Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org; she was one of the speakers at Mobile Monday workshop @ Lift10 that took place last month in Geneva, Switzerland.

    Katrin explained to us what MobileActive.org is: “Our core resources, which are available to any organization that is interested in using mobile technology in their work, include our blog where we regularly report and feature case studies on latest issues and trends on innovative uses of mobile technology in areas as diverse as poverty alleviation, providing health diagnosis, improving elections, reuniting families after a natural disaster, advocacy and fundraising, mobile journalism or human rights reporting, and more.

    Katrin Verclas

    “We also publish How-To Guides and strategic tool-kits geared towards NGOs and civil society practitioners wanting to use mobile phones in their work, as well as maintain the m-Directory on our website, which is a comprehensive database of information on projects, programs and mobile tech tools for social change,” she said.

    And, because it’s important to engage & share experiences offline as well as online, MobileActive.org frequently organizes events, workshops and mobile camps focused on mobile technology for social good. These "M4Change camps" happen in various cities across the world.

    Katrin said that one of the most meaningful ways they play a role is by “connecting people and organizations that have experience and know-how with others who are seeking to do similar work.”

    “By maintaining a deep awareness and knowledge of what different projects and programs are being implemented around the world, MobileActive.org functions as the connector or facilitator – bringing together the appropriate people who may be helpful to one another.

    “For example, if there is a project to help young people find employment in India through SMS alert messages, and we know that a similar project is underway in Morocco, MobileActive.org will facilitate an introduction and bring those groups together to share experiences and expertise, as well as lessons and challenges learned which can help avoid redundancy and "re-inventing the wheel" in a world of scarce resources,” she said.

    MobileActive.org was founded in 2005 when 40 activists from various parts the world convened in Toronto for the first time ever to explore the use of mobile technology for social change. Out of this three-day meeting a new community, and ultimately organization, was born. Today, five years later, MobileActive.org manages a growing international digital community of more than 10,000 highly skilled practitioners, technologists, campaigners and strategists who are actively collaborating and sharing information, innovative strategies and tools.

    “The time has been right for the MobileActive.org network,” Katrin said. She claims that “as in any new and fast-moving field, there is a need for knowledge and skill-sharing in order to not be redundant, to maximize scarce resources, and to advance common issues.”

    “MobileActive.org’s fast growth, active community, and the many collaborative projects which have been born, are result of this need. Community and collaboration matter in this brand-new field where we all ‘build the plane as we fly it’ in order to learn from one another and collectively advance our knowledge and experience,” MobileActive.org co-founder said.

    “With more than 4.5 billion phones globally, the use of mobile phones to improve lives has often been referred to as a mobile revolution,” as MobileActive.org states on their website. Asked how they foresee the future development of this revolution, Katrin said: “I think the revolution lies in the fact that we are now a connected humanity – we have a way to reach each other and connect no matter where we are in the world. If you think of this network of humanity that is unprecedented in history in revolutionary terms, I am ok with that!”

    According to her, “the way we can communicate today, exchange information, received and deliver services certainly has the potential to be revolutionary.”

    “However – she said – I am not sure we have realized this potential yet. Mobile phones as a communication device that connects us all — even those at the bottom of the economic pyramid has certainly had an economic impact – mobile companies in some countries are the largest employer and contributors of tax payments and markets have been made more efficient with the introduction of mobile communication (and when markets become more efficient prices tend to go down and incomes rise).

    However, we are still only at the beginning of what will be the real revolution – mobile payments and financial transfers, including savings and wide-scale remittances, mhealth services that are universal, secure, and reliable, and ways in which people can use mobile to make their governments and political processes more accountable. In some of these areas we are just at the beginning of what is possible.”

    When asked about the effective strategies and tactics of mobile use for NGOs that MobileActive.org organization recommends, she had this to say: “The two single most important things that we preach to organizations are a. to be very clear about what you are trying to accomplish and, consequently, very clear about how mobile fits into those goals (and sometimes it just simply does not) and b. knowing the target audience extremely well – and their needs, wants, desires, and ways in which they currently use mobile.”

    She added that they have heard of more examples than she can count where an organization thought that including a mobile strategy was a good idea only to find out that the target audience did not agree. “A clearly identified need and rationale for why to include mobiles into the organizational work and goals is a must. This might sound trite but it’s the point organizations do not take seriously enough in the rush towards and the hype amidst the ‘mobile revolution," Katrin said.

    She claims that, while it is not a new concept, citizen media (which refers to media content produced by private citizens who are otherwise not professional journalists) has become more widespread in recent years.

    “Due to developments in information & communication technologies such as smaller and cheaper recording devices, cameras and phones, and shifts in access to venues and platforms for self-publishing (thanks to blogs and social media websites etc.), media production tools are in the hands of a lot more people today,” she said.

    “Given that the mobile phone is the most ubiquitous communication device in human history, mobiles certainly play a special role in the spread of citizen media and reporting. Mobiles allow people to express themselves: take pictures, audio, video, write. Even a simple SMS message is a means for transmitting critical news & information in real-time.

    And because phones are small and mobile, they can be with people wherever things are happening. This has been especially notable in large-scale events such as the London bombing, the crackdown on protesters in Burma, 2009 Iranian elections, etc. In each case, citizens were able to take video/pictures and bear witness, sometimes even where journalists couldn’t,” Katrin said.

    She gave us an example: a video filmed on a mobile phone that recently made history when it won the prestigious George Polk Award for Journalism. The famous video clip showed of the death of Neda, a young woman who was killed in the violent aftermath of the Iranian elections last year, and came to be seen around the world upon gaining the attention of international media.

    “This is symbolic of the rise in citizen media and the role of mobiles, as the the video was taken on a mobile phone, and it was the first video in the Polk’s 61-year history awarded to an anonymous citizen journalist,” Katrin concluded.

    ***
    Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets.

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  • 2nd Annual Cloud Computing World Forum: Interview with Mathieu Poujol of PAC

    „Cloud Computing will strongly influence the future of the IT. But it will take time before it become the main way of delivering IT,” said Mathieu Poujol in an interview with Storage.Biz-news.com.

    Mathieu is a Director of Technologies at PAC (Pierre Audoin Consultants), a global market research and strategic consulting firm for the Software and IT Services Industry. He will be one of the speakers at 2nd Annual Cloud Computing World Forum that will take place in London, from 29th June to 1st July 2010

    He thinks Cloud Computing has in fact being stimulated by the crisis: “it is a reality for the majority of the IT managers, according to our surveys,” he siad. He also said that in PAC’s latest recommendations for the EU’s Commission and the French goverenment, the research firm put CC as the top priority for the EU’s investments.

    “With Cloud Computing, a big part of the IT is moving from light –workforce intensive- industry to a heavy –capital and automation- intensive industry. A bit like the automotive industry between the two World Wars,” he claims.

    Mathieu Poujol

    Asked about the business value of the cloud and how the economic crisis has changed it, he had this to say: “The goal of the IT since it exists is better IT Business alignment at lower costs. Trying to meet specific needs with cost effective mutualisation. Open Source, package applications, shared services and many more are all in this line. According to our latest studies, the business value of Cloud computing is optimisation, agility, simplicity and elasticity. So it is in the right sense of the IT history.”

    Mathieu said that Cloud Computing is growing very fast in Europe–more than 20%, according to their data, and will reach 4B€ in 2010. “But it is still a huge marketing hype, with everything that is virtualised being called Cloud Computing. Companies will also see that not everything is eligible to CC,” he said.

    He said he totally agrees with Ovum analyst Laurent Lachal’s opinion, that it’s becoming a hybrid system: for example, one creates his work on software on his PC, and then he saves it and shares it through the cloud. “IT Systems are by construction hybridizing technologies. If your SAP FI/Co is working well, why taking the risk and the complexity of putting it in the CC now?” said Mathieu.

    When asked which of the deployment strategies and integration techniques he consideres the best and most promising for enterprises, he said: “As always in any IT project, planning is critical. Also try CC on some already mature workloads such as messaging then the best is to make your IT “CC compliant”, to adopt private cloud, so you ill be able to better use all kind of CC, and more important asses data, security and backsourcing issues. According to a phone survey we do in March on 200 French IT manager, 71% of them will first embrace Private CC.”

    Mathieu also shared with us his thoughts on “private cloud”: “It will be either in-house or with a hosting company. As with traditional outsourcing, it is a good way to better use external cloud providers and not depend entirely on them.

    With private Cloud you manage your data and your security and have less network problems. IT inside the company is heading this way as it is confronted to the competition of external providers.

    Also, some regulations and security measures will prevent you from outsourcing some data: for example, none of Europe’s banks can put its client data out of its country of origin,” he said.

    When asked “Would you agree that cloud services will replace the Microsoft desktop?”, he answered: “VDI will also grow by more than 20% and competition is more open now with interesting Open Source and SaaS offers. But MS has also this kind of offers and capacities to remain a leader on this market. What I see, it that this increase competition, mostly based on prices will damage MS margins.”

    He also said that green IT and sustainable computing are not issues for the cloud today, “even if marketing is pushing it.”

    “Cost optimisation is the issue and the CC mutualisation, a bit like public transportation, is greener,” he said.

    Asked about the key challenge for 2010 in cloud computing, he said: “For the coming year, network will be the issue. No bandwidth, no CC.”

    Mathieu expects to meet CC project owners and share with them at the 2nd Annual Cloud Computing World Forum in London.

  • Winning VoIP Philosophy: Interview with Arash Vahidnia, CEO of IPsmarx

    “VoIP penetration among businesses is increasing rapidly, but I believe that reliability and redundancy can still be improved. Many service providers have not yet implemented redundancy to improve reliability,” said Arash Vahidnia, President and CEO of IPsmarx, in an interview with VoIP.Biz-News.com. 

    IPsmarx SIP-Based Calling Card Platform has recently been awarded our “Product of the Year Award 2009”.

    The platform is an all-in-one solution that incorporates both Pin & Pinless service management with advanced recharge options, integrated billing and e-commerce, as well as rich marketing features. Because the solution is SIP based, there is no need for a physical gateway to be installed, which dramatically reduces operating costs and go-to-market time.

    The award goes to IPsmarx second year in a row. We asked Arash to tell us what he thinks makes their product unique: “Because all of our solutions are built on the same platform, we are able to provide a unified solution. Therefore, service providers are able to offer a wide variety of VoIP services without installing and managing more than one piece of equipment or billing interfaces,” he answered.

    He gave us this example: “We have clients who offer residential VoIP service, calling cards, and manage callshops or internet cafes and they are able to use the same billing system, agent management solution, and marketing features for each service, which significantly reduces their operating costs.”

    “IPsmarx also puts focus on testing and reliability, enlisting the top testing companies to test our billing and switching capabilities under the most stressful conditions and the highest capacity and CPS (calls per second), to ensure that our platform can support the most successful VoIP companies out there,” he added.

    When asked how the Platform has changed during this year and what features have been added to keep it competitive on the market, Arash said, “Our development team is constantly adding new features based on our clients’ needs. This year we’ve added a complete suite of marketing features, such as integrated email marketing, a customer service ticketing system, loyalty program management, and discount and promotion tools for service providers. We’ve also enhanced our reseller and agent management platform, enabling many different multi-tiered selling strategies among our clients.

    “We’ve also added additional solutions to our product line, enabling calling card providers to expand and offer other VoIP services as well, such as business and residential VoIP service. We’ve released the latest version of our IP-PBX platform for business service providers recently.”

    He revealed that the company will also introduce some new features pertaining to smart phones in the near future.

    He said IPsmarx has seen a lot of their clients grow and expand their businesses with IPsmarx solutions over the years. “Small start ups have become nationwide chains and we have remained their preferred backbone because of our scalable solutions and high customer support standards,” said the CEO of IPsmarx.

    As for plans for 2010, Arash said the company will continue to add features to our IP-PBX Platform to encourage growth among Small and Medium Business Service Providers.

    “We believe that the Small and Medium business sector will begin to adopt VoIP more rapidly in the near future, creating an opportunity for service providers. That is why we have placed an emphasis on developing features for providers addressing this market,” he said.

    He also said IPsmarx is looking forward to the ITW show in Washington, DC May 24th-26th where they can meet with new and existing clients.

    “For the last 10 years, our philosophy has been to foster growth among our service provider clients’ businesses. Therefore, we strive to support all of our clients to achieve success and expand their service offering in any way that we can,” he concluded.

    Related articles
    IPsmarx Introduces IP-PBX And SIP Trunking To Its “All In One” Solution
    Winner of the Biz-News.com "Product of the Year Award 2009” Announced
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  • No More Phone Numbers: Interview with Micha Benoliel, CEO of Digitrad

    “This is the future, this is the next big thing: save money on international calls and merging online social places with voice on your cell phone. You will never use your cell phone the same way!,” says Micha Benoliel, CEO of Digitrad, when asked by Smartphone.Biz-News.com about CallbyName, the company’s flagship product.

    Digitrad is the provider of consolidated communications platforms bringing together IM, voice, social networks and online directories. They started in 2000 as a web agency specialized in dynamic websites integrations.

    No More Phone Numbers
    “In 2003 we did our first voice app. After this successful first experience, we realized there was a wonderful opportunity by merging web interface with voice applications to create a real Swiss knife tool to help you build voice services in a record time.

    Micha Benoliel

    “CallbyName combines our unified communications features such as mobile voice to voice web, voice to email and voice to SMS with a social address book. Your real name becomes your single point of contact for all your communications.

    “Some people use multiple social networks with the same people and want to sync all their info under a single profile. Just one and same place to gather all your communications info. With all these contacts spread out across different places and applications, we need a service that helps us to reach someone fast, simply and in a way convenient for the caller and the receiver,” says Micha.

    “Almost free calling”
    The service also lets you call the world “almost for free” from the mobile phone. “Amost for free”? Micha explains how it works: “When you decide to call a friend in US from UK for example, instead of calling the US number CallbyName will assign you a temporary local English phone number. When you dial that number which is included within your plan or cost as a local call, you will hear an 8 second audio ad that sponsors the call and it will ring on the US number you wanted to dial originally.”

    CallByName mobile app, currently available on Android and iPhone, uses your local phonebook and offers to call up to 50 international destinations for the cost of a local call from your mobile. You can also leave voicemails directly delivered by email as an attachment. It’s available in the US, UK France and soon in 21 more countries

    “From the user feedback we have a good retention rate and they like the user experience very close from the one of any address book on any phone. But this is really a start as the version 2 is the one really getting the traction with the connectors to social networks and the presence feature that allows you to call your friends from the mobile to the Facebook page.”

    The version 2 will include the connectors with social networks and online addressbook like Facebook, Twitter, Google contacts, LinkedIn.

    Digital ID for all your communications
    Another product from Digitrad is yes.tel. In 2009, they became registrar for the .tel domain which is the first domain dedicated to communications. It is now between the top 25 registrars of .tel in the world. Instead of linking a name to a website, .tel links a name to contacts information.

    “For an individual, it could be called your home or your place on the web. For businesses it is a way to enter the first real-time global directory,” explains Micha.

    When asked what is next for mobile integrated communication systems, he says: “Our team of passionate and talented people works to integrate CallbyName within the everyday mobile and web user experience. It means that you will no longer have to search for the best way to communicate with someone. You will have a seamless call experience that will always reach and connect the other party even if you don’t know its phone number.”

    He believes the VoIP market has a great potential. According to him, the question is how are the telco infrastructures going to handle this technology very demanding in terms of bandwidth and quality of service.

    “We believe that for the time being a temporary local phone number to reach the cloud and connect anywhere for the cost of a local call is the right combination,” he says.

    Micha says the main goal for Digitrad in 2010 is “to show the world that using your real name as a single point of contact for all your communications is not a dream anymore.”

  • Symbio: Providing Software Services Globally

    Symbio designs and develops feature-rich products for companies. We met Konsta Hansoon at the Mobile World Congress and he told us about the company and their future plans.

    They are currently present in Asia, Europe and North America.

  • Motion Portrait: Converting Photos Into 3D Animated Models

    Casually at the Avenue of the Mobile World Congress we met Daichi from Motion Portrait. They are a Japanese company that has created a most fun application, you can take the photo of any person and animate the image, have it talk and even dress it up with the simple touch of your finger.

    Watch our video interview with them to see a demo of this fun app.

  • ooVoo: Taking Video Chatting Further

    ooVoo is a video communication service focused on delivering first class video communications through the internet, delivered anywhere and at anytime with up to 6 people simultaneously.

    In 2010 they will release call on mobile phones.

    We met with Marty Walker who told us about the company and how their system works.