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Tag: conference

  • bnetTV.com to Continue Covering Emerging Technologies Conferences

    INTERVIEW. Leading online broadcasting company bnetTV.com (Business Network Television) will continue taking the most of the events such as conferences to reach out to its focus market of emerging technologies.

    bnetTV.com will also keep to its mission to deliver compelling and insightful content, says Michelle Sklar, vice-president of Programming and Content Management.

    She said this they would achieve through “working with industry associations and event organizers to extend reach and add value to events; expanding our coverage line up; and launching a cool new Mobile site and app in Q1 2010”.

    bnetTV.com took part in a three-day Mobile 2.0 Conference in Berlin, Germany, which ended on November 25.

    “We conducted interviews with numerous speakers giving them the opportunity to share their experiences, successes and challenges. The interviews are posted at www.bnettv.com under Mobile 2.0 Content and Services,” said Sklar.

    Michelle Sklar

    Emerging Technologies

    “We are an online broadcast company with a niche market focus on emerging technologies.

    “We cover events in the wireless industry such as CTIA, Mobile World Congress, Mobile Marketing Association events, Informa events, Under the Radar Mobile, etc.

    ‘Over the last five years we have met with over 6 000 companies and told their stories – from start-ups to the power brokers of the industry,” she said.

    Sklar said they would not allow technology to overtake them as they seek to remain on top in online broadcasting.

    “We keep our thumb on the pulse by being event driven in our strategy to provide insightful and compelling coverage.

    ‘We aggregate to over 150 websites and social media sites and optimize the searchability of our content by using the latest in SEO and Social Media communication techniques,” said Sklar, whose company has reached over 3,5 million viewers a month.

    She said they were playing their part in helping other players in the industry grow.

    “We not only provide media coverage at industry events but we work with industry associations such as the MMA and leading event producers such as Informa to help extend their audience reach through Live broadcast programmes as well as extend to value of events to participants through premium content and DVD programmes,” said Sklar.

    Cyber Crime

    Cyber crime is increasingly becoming an issue worldwide. bnetTV.com is however, not losing sleep over this as it has systems in place to safeguard its products and programmes.

    ‘We control all aspects of our content production and delivery, that is we host all of our content and pay close attention to our analytics reporting,” said Sklar.

    As at June 2008, Australia had the highest incidence of cyber crime in the world, according to a global survey of nine countries by software security vendor, AVG.

    The study, which canvassed 1 000 users each in Australia, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Brazil, and the Czech Republic, found that more than 39 percent of Australians had been the victim of cyber crime, compared to 32 percent in Italy, 28 percent of Americans, and just 14 percent in Sweden and Spain.

    Challenges

    The online broadcasting industry is not without its challenges. Sklar says these are the need to continue to find new ways of delivering and monetizing content and creating tools that will help the industry better serve itself.

    ‘Our (bnetTV.com) target audiences are industry professionals. They use our site as a means to keep up to date on the various companies and issues facing emerging technology businesses today,’ she said.

    Sklar still gave the industry thumbs up when asked if the world was ready to embrace online broadcasting. “Oh yes… the world already has! Online content is easy to access; video on demand and broadcast enable the timely delivery of important and relevant content.

    ‘Globally people are online or on mobile for their daily news, weather and sports,” she said.

    bnetTV.com produces both in-house and client-commissioned videos. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Winmax Trading Group, Inc. with offices in New York, San Jose, California, Orlando, Florida and Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

  • Interview with Robert Lang of TechTour Web & Mobility Summit

    The European Tech Tour Association launched the first vertical Summit in 2006 (Semiconductor Summit) in a series of vertical events that will gather the best emerging European companies in a given industry sector.

    This initiative sprouted from the need to identify and showcase European technology start-ups in a vertical industry segment to professionals investing or working within this industry. The concept is to structure a best of best startup track along side an innovative industry specific initiative.

    Based on the words from the website, it appears that the growth of the TechTour has been both expected, but the rate at which it’s grown has been surprising. The concept of being able to highlight some of the most innovating, ground breaking ideas in the industry on various topics has worked well for the last four years and has no signs of going weak.

    The Event Itself

    TechTour is nonprofit organization that puts on many events and they either have a country focus or they are industry focus, but both welcome investors, startups, and innovators to come together. Each of them repeat themselves every 3 or 4 years providing a cycle between each event and summit.

    Robert Lang

    More specifically, the Web & Mobility Summit, which takes place on November 18-19, 2009. It is during these events that we pull together a committee from the industry, venture capitalists, and business angels.

    As companies are encouraged to apply, they are responsible for reviewing all the companies in order to determine which will ultimately present. Not all companies will apply. Some companies have enough money to grow their business, so don’t feel the need to present before venture capitalists.

    After selection is completed, the committee will have approximately 200 companies in the database and from there will break down to 25-30 companies that will ultimately be invited to present at the summit. In attendance will be approximately 100 to 150 delegates mainly from the investor side and private equity industry. Some are just looking for innovation and what’s happening in a specific sector.

    “All the CEO’s will have 20 minutes to present their company and in turn the delegates will walkway with a USB stick of the presentations. The pre-selection process involves one screener and one reviewer, so in the end each company has been looked at twice by a qualified group of people,” says Robert Lang, President of the TechTour Web & Mobility Summit.

    This tight screening ensures the highest quality and most thorough review of all companies presenting. Each CEO has roughly 30 min. time to present and a summarized version is provided in a nice binder. It’s also available on a USB stick that screeners will be able to carry wherever they go. Naturally you still get to meet everyone and carry great conversation.

    Selection of Topics

    Summits have a “topic” or industry focus – the geographic Tech Tours are based on a range of industries from the region.

    “As you go from country to country you get different topics, different verticals, and there’s a lot of interest in all sorts of topics,” says Robert.

    In some cases, without a specific focus on a sector, the event becomes too broad and risks not being appealing for someone in the US for example. But if a vertical is selected for example, Clean Technology, then chances are you’ll draw many more people from all over to hear what’s happening in that specific industry.

    When asked how long it had been since a Web & Mobility Summit, Robert says, “The last mobility summit was in 2007, but now we’re doing it again.”

    The Takeaway

    When it comes to participation, Robert comments that man ask the question, “why should I apply?” If you were a company that had a chance to present before 100 VC’s, it acts as a strong introduction for the company, especially if you’ve been pre-screened and preselected. The companies that apply would be looking for expansion capital, startup capital, or go beyond seed money.

    There are other companies that do not make it past the selection committee. Still, these companies will get exposure just from the selection committee alone. So while some companies may not have been a good candidate for the event, the screeners will remember particular companies and keep an eye on them or they themselves might provide capital if they feel the company is strong enough.

    With regards to the kinds of deals this companies can make, Robert Lang says, “Lots can happen behind the scenes from those that didn’t make it but still seem a viable opportunity.”

    In the end, Robert says that every company involved should hopefully takeaway the opportunity for an investor to be interested enough to help the company break through.

    Partner Assistance

    Because it’s a nonprofit, each event lives off delegate fees and their sponsors. Since it’s moving around to many countries, VC’s are regular supporters who will do at least one tech tour a year. There are many other sponsors who become partners by offering meeting rooms and other amenities that help make it a success. Mostly it’s companies looking for innovation that help sponsor these events.

    “There’s quite a mixture of partners, but the identification of being with the TechTour is becoming substantial on it’s own and there are benefits to be had by participating,” Robert says confidently when asked about the direct benefits to the partners.

    The VP and President of the events are selected differently every year as the tour moves providing experience and an opportunity to be a part of this event. It also attracts new faces based on those individuals personal networks and the reach of the conference can grow exponentially.

    Robert Lang is happy to have sponsors and states, “If we didn’t have sponsors we could not run the event.”

    2009 Expectations

    Robert notes that in this time of crisis, he’s looking forward to seeing well trained, well disciplined companies who have not gotten any funding for a while that are going to be more fine tuned and well developed. Many are looking forward to the dinner in the Olympic museum over looking Lake Geneva. It’s important to note that the combo of doing great business and dealings mixed with fine dining and mingling at a great venue is a sure fire way to keep the interest.

    “If events are not interesting people leave and aren’t inspired to be there, but this event is sure to keep people motivated and engaged,” Robert Lang comments.

    To get more information on how you can be a part of this event, either as an investor or as a presenter, or even if you’re just looking forward to attending, be sure to visit the site for more information.

  • Mobile Internet in Africa: Interview with Jose Henriques, Vodacom

    Mobile internet is no longer luxury in Africa as it has become a valuable tool of global development, this according to Jose Henriques, Vodacom executive head of internet services.

    Henriques was speaking to Biz-News.com in Johannesburg last week during the Mobile Web Africa conference whose focus was looking at ways of harnessing the potential of internet and applications on mobile devices.

    “It is amazing how such a luxury item has quickly become a valuable tool of global development, shifting from being held to the ears to being held by hand, and becoming an instrument of promoting economic growth,” Henriques said.

    “Mobile phones are the advance guard for mobile broadband networks and at the same time they are promoting economic benefits and providing a basic tool of education, for instance helping parents to afford to educate their children.”

    Jose Henriques

    The conference, organised by All Amber and which was attended by over 150 local and international delegates, heard that Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa (fourth position), Sudan, Algeria, Kenya, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe are the top 10 countries in terms of internet penetration on PC,
    while only 3.3% of Africans have access to internet via their mobile phones.

    These top 10 countries make up of 85% of all internet users market in Africa, according to recent statistics.

    South Africa has over 4.5 million PC internet users and close to 10 million mobile internet users expectation is to have at least 15 million mobile internet users by 2013.

    Mobile penetration

    Henriques explained that despite the limitations of opportunities of fixed-line internet in Africa and the unstoppable rise of mobile revolution and its socio-economic advantages, countries such as Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria are working hard to push for mobile penetration, especially in rural areas.

    The African mobile internet market continues to grow dramatically, staying slightly behind the Middle East (fastest-growing region), with pages viewed having increased by 422% between April 2008 to April 2009, and Google being the number one and Yahoo in third in each of the top 12 countries striving intensively on software development.

    The top 12 countries include SA, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Zambia and Tanzania.

    However, Henriques warned that he said the only way companies will succeed to advance the mobile internet cause is to give a decent access experience to the user, get their price right and affordable and provide content adaptation.

    “One must ensure that the internet is accessed in any phone with cost-effective rates and the possibility to get any big website into a small screen,” he explained.

  • Thumbs Up For SA's "Call Me Back" Technology

    South African mobile cellular phone companies have been praised for implementing a free “Call Me Back” short messages (SMS) information technology.

    Speaking at the inauguration of Mobile Web Africa conference in Sandton, Johannesburg on Wednesday, executive chairman for Krazyboyz Digital, Zibusiso Mkhwananzi, said the innovative information technology was simple and a popular way of communication for those who may not have airtime to send billed SMSes or make a call.

    “Voice and data messages are very expensive in this country (South Africa) thereby discouraging telephone calls by most local communities.

    “I would suggest that our local communities (in townships) utilize such technologies by packaging the mobile cellphones (Call Me Back) with contents that are sustained by advertising,” said Mkhwananzi.

    The two-day Mobile Web Africa conference was mainly focusing on harnessing the potential of the internet and applications on mobile devices aimed at improving people’s standards of life through affordable and readily accessible technology.

    Mkhwananzi was one of the panelists during the discussing on “Creating Africa’s New Generation of Mobile Designers, Entrepreneur and Success”.

    However, programme manager for Web Foundation/W3C, Stephane Boyera, said SMSes were not made for people who could neither read nor write.

    “It has to be appreciated that SMSes are not for people who can’t read or write. Voice message is the answer to those that can’t read or write.

    “They simply talk. They have voices,” said Boyera.

    The conference drew information communication technology (ICT) experts from as far as Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Algeria.

    Other issues discussed during the conference included topics on how to enhance the development of the technology ecosystem, reaching out to communities that may not be easy to touch base with, seizing the opportunity of the potential of mobile services and content, contributing towards bridging the digital divide by informing, involving and empowering.

    The Mobile Web Africa conference is the first of its kind in Africa and it is expected to be conducted annually on a rotational basis around the continent.

  • Nokia Launches X6 ‘Comes With Music’ Device

    NOKIA WORLD 09. Nokia announced the launch of the new Nokia X6, the latest edition to the company’s Xseries touch-screen device portfolio.

    Nokia calls X6 a ‘Comes With Music’ device, as it provides unlimited access to the Nokia Music Store, 35 hours of music playback, comes with built-in FM radio, 3D stereo ringing tones, a new Bluetooth headset, that looks like a cool, sporty headband and dedicated pocket-size battery-powered mini speaker.

    This very slim (14mm) handset features stroke-sensitive, 3.2 inch 16:9 widescreen nHD, that enables to fit 20 shortcuts onto a home screen, 32GB internal memory, 5 megapixels with Carl-Zeiss optics and dual LED flash, built-in features to edit videos, show them on TV or online, built-in GPS with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, compass and Nokia Ovi Maps.

    It packs high speed MicroUSB connector, WLAN (China WAPI), Bluetooth 2.0, WCDMA, GPRS/EDGE, HSDPA connectivity and full web browser (OSS) v7.0 with Macromedia Flash Lite 3.0

    The Nokia X6 is expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2009 for an estimated retail price of EUR459.

  • West & Central African Com: Infrastructure Sharing on the Sub-Saharan Market

    VIDEO INTERVIEW: Fazal Hussein, CEO of Helios Towers, was interviewed at the West & Central African Com conference held in Abuja, Nigeria.

    He talks about the Sub-Saharian market and he thinks the only way for the operators to go forward is to develop a lean architecture.

  • West & Central African Com: Rolling Strategies on the African Telecom Market

    VIDEO INTERVIEW: Christian De Faria, Regional Vice President – WECA region of MTN Nigeria, was interviewed at the recent West & Central African Com conference held in Abuja, Nigeria.

    He unveils what areas MTN Nigeria will be focusing on over the next few years. He also discusses the evolution of the Nigerian telecom market.

  • West & Central African Com: The Complexity of African Markets

    VIDEO INTERVIEW: Osondu Nwokoro, Director of Regulatory Affairs of Zain Nigeria, was interviewed at the recent West & Central African Com conference held in Abuja, Nigeria.

    He explains the complexity of Nigerian and other African markets.

  • West & Central African Com: Global Crisis Affects African Market

    VIDEO INTERVIEW: William Saad, Managing Director of IHS Nigeria, was interviewed at the recent West & Central African Com conference held in Abuja, Nigeria.

    He talks about the infrastructure sharing and explains how the operators can reach the rural areas in a cost-effective way.

  • Wireless Broadband World Africa 2009: South Africa to Allocate WiMax This Month

    Paris Mashile, chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), has said that WiMax spectrum in the country will be allocated within 30 days with operators getting 30 MHz each.

    ICASA published its final decision on the awarding of radio frequency spectrum. The document included the selection process of suitable companies, how much spectrum should be allocated to each operator and whether licences will be awarded to national or regional players.

    On the question of how the remaining WiMax spectrum will be dished out, ICASA decided to allocate 30MHz per operator on a technology-neutral basis, and stipulated that six additional national licences will be issued in the 2.5GHz band.

    This decision drew sharp criticism from various industry players, including Neotel. It was argued that limited spectrum not only increases the cost of providing WiMax services, but also limits the speeds which can be offered to end users.

    Neotel’s CTO, Angus Hay, said: “Neotel is of the opinion that it would not be possible to operate a WiMax wireless access network at maximum efficiency, and pass on benefits if operators are each awarded only 20MHz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band.”

    “In particular, this spectrum limit places a limit on the transmission speed possible, which is one of the key benefits of a technology like WiMax to the end customer. Neotel therefore shares the view of many WiMax experts that 30MHz per operator (a re-use factor of 3, with 10MHz per sector, three sectors per base station) is the least required for an operator to build a network to deliver true broadband services to the customer.”

    ICASA Chairman Paris Mashile recently indicated that the process for licensing the sought after 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum – typically referred to as WiMax spectrum – will be announced towards the end of July. Speaking to Biz-News Mashile, was non-committal as to the exact date, “ We have 30 days to announce, remember we are not only dealing with WiMax but all the scarce resources,” he said.

    Mashile provided insight into what is contained in this document, which includes that the spectrum will be technology neutral, that there will be a 30% HDI requirement and that spectrum will initially be handed out on a beauty contest model followed by a spectrum auction.

    The first document regarding the awarding of radio frequency spectrum states that a company to which spectrum will be allocated must be minimum 51% black owned with an emphasis on woman in line with broad based BEE. This was widely criticized by industry, and the 30% HDI requirement is likely to be welcomed by industry as a more sensible criteria.