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  • ADVERTORIAL: WiMAX Forum MENA '09 – Explore and Resolve the Commercial and Strategic Challenges


    Operators in Middle Eastern and North African markets are starting to make progress with acquiring spectrum and finance for WiMAX networks.

    At the same time they are beginning to encounter challenges associated with identifying profitable business models and the practicalities of operating a WiMAX network.

    So it’s a crucial time for the region’s operators – which makes attending this year’s WiMAX Forum MENA on 23-24 June in Dubai all the more essential.

    This highly commercially-focused two-day event has been thoroughly researched to address the key strategic and technical issues that are pertinent to all Middle Eastern and North African operators investing in WiMAX in 2009 and beyond.

    Top industry experts, including 20 leading regional operators and vendors, are among the 30 plus speakers.

    Attendees will be able to hear keynotes and take part in discussions on a wide range of topics, including the business case for WiMAX and assessments on the technological roadmap for WiMAX.

    This year, the conference features a number of leading speakers from North Africa, including Mohsen Ebeid, Director of implementation, Egynet, and Kai Wuff, CEO, Kenya Data Networks, Kenya, as well as Jatem Bamatrof and Dr Ahmed Abbas Sindi, CEO, GO Ethiad Atheeb Telecom ( Saudi Arabia) who will share their experiences and insight with the participants.

    Helen Ponsford, conference manager for the WiMAX Forum Congress Series, said that, as in other emerging markets, the low level of fixed-line broadband penetration in the MENA region provides a strong opportunity for WiMAX.

    Informa forecasts that there will be 1.85 million portable WiMAX subscriptions and 650,000 mobile WiMAX subscriptions in the MEA region in 2012.

    There are now over 12O 802.16d and 16e based WiMAX networks deployed or in planned deployment across the Middle East and Africa regions.

    "Informa Telecoms & Media are bringing together regional representatives of the whole WiMAX community to explore and resolve the commercial and strategic challenges that lay ahead at this year’s WiMAX MENA event," she said.

    "This event is sure to provide a much needed forum for regional operators, regulators, investors and equipment vendors to come together to share experiences, formulate strategies to support the commercial launch of services, plan for network infrastructure evolution and exchange valuable new contacts across the industry."

    WiMAX Forum Mena is the only event supported by the WiMAX Forum, dealing with WiMAX deployment realities and allowing delegates to learn from the most advanced operators in the Middle East, North African and Persian Gulf region.

    Among the many issues being discussed this year are the commercial imperative to launch WiMAX sooner rather than later in MENA, the impact the global credit crisis having upon an operator’s ability to secure funding for WiMAX, and optimising all elements of a go to market strategy.

    There will also be panel discussions of issues such as what rollout strategy makes the most sense for WiMAX operators and the lessons that have been learnt about delivering indoor coverage in different environments.

    Full details on the conference and how to register are available here.

    WiMAX Forum Mena
    23-24 June 2009, Movenpick Bur Hotel, Dubai
    Day 1: 9 – 5.30pm
    Day 2: 9 – 4.45pm

  • T-Mobile Germany Back-Tracks on N97 VoIP Strategy


    T-Mobile Germany is reconsidering its VoIP strategy as a rival carrier works on special VoIP plans.

    The change of heart is in sharp contrast to T-Mobile’s threat to cut off VoIP users – both physically and contractually – after Skype announced the release of its iPhone app in March.

    The carrier is considering ways of dealing with VoIP – which could include VoIP-specific monthly plans.

    It comes as Vodafone Germany is reported to be considering offering special VoIP plans.

    T-Mobile Germany is to launch Nokia’s flagship smartphone the N97 this summer but Skype will not be pre-loaded on the device.

    This is despite Nokia having a deal to preload the VoIP client on to the new devices.

    The carrier has now said that it will be up to subscribers to decide if they want the app.

    Those that do will be able to download it to their VoiP compatible N97s.

    It certainly seems as though T-Mobile Germany has paid attention to consumer displeasure following its initial outburst.

  • Microsoft Includes VoIP Ban in App Store Restrictions


    Microsoft is to ban apps that enable VoIP services over carriers’ networks from its Windows MarketPlace for Mobile store when it launches in the second half of this year.

    The VoIP app restriction is among the 12 application types forbidden in a list of "rules" announced by Microsoft.

    Earlier this week, a Gartner report forecast that traditional network-based mobile carriers face the real prospect of losing a major slice of their voice traffic and revenue to new non-infrastructure players that use VoIP.

    While the Microsoft ban is limited to VoIP services it is unclear whether developers will be able to offer VoIP apps using Wi-Fi.

    That will not be known for sure until the store is up and running with apps.

    InformationWeek points out, however, that Skype already works over 3G on Windows Mobile phones.

    It suggests the ban on them must be a concession that the carriers wrung out of Microsoft in return for carrier billing.

    Other prohibited apps include those larger than 10MB, those that promote or send users to alternative app stores for the same application, and ones that change the default browser, search client or media player on the device.

  • Sun Microsystems and The World's First Open Storage Appliance


    Just a few months ago, Sun Microsystems revealed the availability of its new Unified Storage System – the Sun Storage 7000 family.

    Described as the world’s first Open Storage Appliance, Sun claims the Storage 7000 family is the "biggest thing to happen to storage in decades", writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz-news.

    Quite a brag – though the product’s creativity and innovation speaks volumes for Sun’s group of engineers.

    The Storage 7000 family has three different versions – the 7110, 7210, and 7410 – which have an overall capacity ranging from 2 Tbytes to 288 Tbytes.

    However, the 7410 offers a collected configuration (for advanced accessibility) and is typically aimed for enterprise class configurations, whereas the 7110 and 7210 are better designed for less significant fittings.

    The Sun Storage Unified system can run both NAS and SAN solutions, and Sun pulls seriously on its well-respected ZFS (Zettabyte File System) in the Storage 7000 family.

    Unified storage space rivals EMC Corp, NetApp Inc and IBM Corp have so far focused their attention on IT environments that have a strong NAS presence – but they would very much like to manage SAN as well.

    Sun, meanwhile, has put a major emphasis on facilitating the Storage 7000 family to provide universal function storage requirements.
    The major thrust of Sun’s message for the Storage 7000 is that it makes life a lot easier for storage administrators.

    Sun caims the installations process only takes a few minutes, but persists with key courses of action such as thin provisioning, a function which is embedded in ZFS (as logical storage pools can be enlarged or diminished transparently as long as there is sufficient physical storage to carry them).

    Another feature of the Storage 7000 technology that is of benefit to administration is the concept of DTrace, a collection of analysis that permits real-time system diagnostics.

    Engineers at Sun feel that DTrace can significantly advance storage system troubleshooting to a level never seen before in the industry.

    Another aspect of the Sun Storage 7000 is its performance.

    The company appropriately calls it Hybrid Storage Pools, which shares DRAM, read, and write optimized flash devices that work in working in combination with hard disc drives.

    Sun maintains that the innovative use of SSD technology can help flash memory combine with disc technology resulting in a mega performance that is very cost effective.

    While all that is great, Sun Microsystems continues to show a financial downturn having lost more than USD $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009 that ended in Sept 2008.

    With the ongoing financial crises and global recession, the question remains – how well does the Storage 7000 system fit in with other Sun storage products and how does the company plan to market and sell them in a cost efficient method?

    Only time will tell.

  • Sony Plans Movie and Game on Blu-ray Disc


    Sony is planning on creating a hybrid Blu-ray – with a game and movie on the same disc.

    The move is being viewed as a way to boost the appeal of the Playstation 3 in the face of falling prices for Blu-ray players and the increasing popularity of games consoles such as Wii and XBOX 360.

    The company is currently working on making the most of Blu-ray’s 50GB capacity by basically burning a full-length feature film to the empty space on a game-disc, which typically only uses around 30GB.

    Sony’s director of hardware marketing, John Koller, said that there will be as many as two or three releases of the new hybrid discs this year.

    "There are a lot of developers who say, we have this game based on a movie, wouldn’t it be great to marry these concepts? We will definitely see this stuff this year," Koller told VideoBusiness.

    Whether there is sufficient appeal in movie-based games remains to be seen – especially if Sony refuses to drop the prices of the PS3.

  • Final Chance to Nominate VoIP Person/Product Of The Year


    The new year is firmly underway and time is running out for submitting your nominations and votes for voip.biz-news’ 2008 Man and Product of the Year awards.

    But with voting expected to be close in both award categories there’s plenty of opportunity for latecomers to make their mark.

    In the product section, submissions can be made for any product launched in 2008 that has particularily impressed.

    Among the leading contenders in this category are Ifbyphone, HelloSoft, ShoreTel and Cypress Communications.

    Described as an "innovative telephone application platform" Ifbyphone is praised for the introduction of its "innovative new data mash-up, which links phone call data to web-based ad information".

    Fans of HelloSoft particularily highlight the company’s move from desktops to mobile handsets and the potential that offers.

    ShoreTel is picked out for showing it "can stand up to the big boys and dominate". Readers have no doubt this is a growing company people are going to hear a lot more about.

    Eli Katz, CEO XConnect

    Equally, Cypress Communications is praised for its hosted and managed IP Telephony solutions, which are "unmatched by any within the VoIP industry today".

    For Person of the Year, XConnect’s founder and CEO, Eli Katz, is vying with Peter Dietrich, CEO of Mobivox, for the honor.

    They may be favorites but don’t let it stop you putting forward other contenders.

    But please don’t delay – we need your product or person nominations before the end of January.

  • Final Chance to Nominate Storage Person/Product Of The Year


    The new year is firmly underway and time is running out for you to submit your nominations and votes for storage.biz-news’ 2008 Man and Product of the Year awards.

    But with voting expected to be close in both award categories there’s plenty of opportunity for latecomers to make their mark.

    In the product section, submissions can be made for anything storage-related that has particularily impressed in 2008.

    Among the leading contenders in this category are Compellent (SAN with automated ILM), Akorri (BalancePoint), TADASoft (RestorePoint), Dell (EqualLogic), Texas Memory Systems (RamSan-440) and Brioo (Brioo Live Backup).

    EMC also gets nominated for a couple of its products – the CLARiiON AX4 networked storage solution and its Enterprise Flash Drives.

    The former is described simply as "mind blowing". Heady stuff.

    For Person of the Year, StorageRap’s Marc Farley is among the contenders.

    He is praised for his insightful and witty handling of some of the "hot button issues" facing the industry.

    Also up there is Adam Fox, a senior systems engineer at NetApp.

    But there’s still time for other names to be put forward.

    But please don’t delay – we need your product or person nominations before the end of January.

  • Final Chance to Nominate HDTV Person/Product Of The Year


    The new year may well be firmly underway but there’s still plenty of time to submit your nominations and votes for hdtv.biz-news’ 2008 Man and Product of the Year awards.

    With voting expected to be close in both award categories there’s plenty of opportunity for latecomers to make their mark.

    In the product section, submissions can be made for any hardware launched in 2008 that has particularily impressed.

    Alternatively, nominations can be made for anything else HDTV-related – from content providers to software applications.

    For the Person of the Year, there can be no shortage of likely candidates – whether its an innovative industry leader or a colleague who made waves in 2008.

    But please don’t delay – we need your product or person nominations before the end of January.

  • Final Chance to Nominate Smartphone Person/Product Of The Year


    The new year may well be firmly underway but there’s still plenty of time to submit your nominations and votes for smartphone.biz-news’ 2008 Man and Product of the Year awards.

    We have already received numerous nominations from readers in both award categories.

    On the hardware side, the HTC Touch Pro is a leading contender for product of the year – praised for being "the most versatile device available today for anyone who uses their smartphone as a portable".

    On the application front, various front-runners are emerging, including fring, OnRelay, AmazeGPS and Nimbuzz.

    Fans of OnRelay describe it as "the coolest thing ever", a "new and exciting product" and the "best fixed mobile convergence product on the market by far".

    Comments for fring are equally enthusiastic, with readers labelling it the "most wonderful application" they’d come across and a "simple and easy way to keep in touch".

    AmazeGPS is variously described as the "best free navigation system" and is lauded for "kicking dust" at expensive competitors.

    Finally, Nimbuzz is singled out for its "stability, well thought-out interface and impressive network support".

    For Person of the Year, Ivor Plahte, CEO and co-founder of OnRelay, is the leading nominee.

    Ivor Plahte, CEO, OnRelay

    He is described as being the company’s "driving force" and at the "forefront of mobile telephony".

    Praise indeed but don’t let it stop you putting forward other contenders.

    Please send us your product or person nominations before the end of January.

  • Season's Greetings From The Biz-news Team

    Everyone at hdtv.biz-news would like to thank you for your support in 2008. We hope you will continue to enjoy the latest HDTV industry news and analysis in the year to come.

    Best Wishes For The Holiday Season and a Very Happy New Year