Cisco, Tata Comms to take wireless road in Gurgaon

GURGAON & BANGALORE, INDIA: Cisco and Tata Communications today announced that the companies have teamed to promote the Digital Lifestyle for consumers at home and on the go.

The two companies have collaborated to showcase the fusion between Cisco products and the Broadband services offered by Tata Communications, a leading global provider of a new world of communications.

Cisco and Tata have decided that as a first step they will work together on a series of joint promotions to show the benefits of going wireless to consumers in the Gurgaon district.

A specially-built mobile van, equipped with Linksys by Cisco home networking solutions and enabled by Tata Communications’ wireless broadband services will travel to residential areas in the Gurgaon locale, and highlight the ease and freedom offered by going wireless and the benefits of a connected lifestyle.

Between July 13 and August 9, 2009, the experiential van plans to travel through Gurgaon residential regions to demonstrate Cisco’s next generation wireless home networking solutions including entertainment routers, wireless adaptor, internet home monitoring camera and network attached storage.

These technologies, which use the network as the platform, will highlight experiential demonstrations of wireless home solutions such as internet sharing, wireless printing, home monitoring and video streaming.

Consumers will also have the opportunity to win a wireless router on each day of the demonstration by participating in ‘lucky draw’ contests. Customers can benefit from a discount of Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 on various products during the period.

Suresh Balasubramanian, National Sales Director, India, Cisco Consumer Business said: “Cisco and Tata Communications have a shared vision of the wireless home and connected lifestyle. Cisco enables the connected life by delivering communication and entertainment experiences that are more visual, more social and more personal.

"In this regard, working with Tata Communications helps us to extend the possibilities of a connected life through wireless solutions. This initiative is our way of demonstrating to consumers here how they can harness the full potential of connected life experiences through our wireless offerings.”

Mehul Kapadia, head marketing, Tata Indicom Broadband said: “We are pleased to launch this initiative with Cisco. Cisco’s easy to use home networking products paired with our broadband services make a compelling proposition for consumers to make the transition from wired to wireless home environments. And this experience becomes richer on Tata Indicom broadband, India’s premium internet service provider.”

Anritsu next generation 4G base station analyzer

MORGAN HILL, USA: Anritsu Co. has introduced the BTS Master MT8221B, a high-performance handheld base station analyzer that has been specifically developed to support emerging 4G standards as well as installed 2G/3G networks.

The MT8221B’s platform provides a 20 MHz demodulation capability to measure technologies such as LTE and WiMAX, and a 30-MHz Zero-Span IF Output for external demodulation of virtually any other wideband signal.

In addition, a Vector Signal Generator option with the flexibility to generate two modulated signals plus noise is available for comprehensive receiver testing.

Senior cell site technicians and RF engineers can use the BTS Master MT8221B to accurately and quickly test and verify the installation and commissioning of base stations and cell sites, for optimal wireless network performance.

It is equally suited for on-going maintenance and troubleshooting to help ensure the operation of wireless network infrastructure. Key performance indicators (KPIs), such as dropped calls, call denial, or call blocking rates due to a malfunction at the cell site or interference, can be easily and accurately detected with the BTS Master MT8221B.

Existing 2G/3G networks and 4G networks being rolled out can be tested with the BTS Master MT8221B. The analyzer can measure the RF quality and modulation quality of a wireless signal to verify the performance of virtually every subsystem in a base station’s transmitter. Downlink Over-the-Air (OTA) Quality tests verify the performance of the downlink with the OTA scanners.

The BTS Master comes with Master Software Tools (MST) that allows data acquired by the analyzer to be easily transferred to a computer. MST saves significant time generating reports by utilizing the Trace Rename Utility and Group Edit.

Efficient review of up to a week’s worth of data collected by the BTS Master can be consolidated into one file through MST’s Folder Spectrogram’s 3-D view, which allows users to zoom into acquired data and provides independent 3-axis rotation control.

MST also provides a Remote Access Tool (RAT) to monitor and control the BTS Master remotely over the Internet. With the tool, supervisors can remotely verify measurements that have been taken in the field. RAT also saves cost by creating un-staffed remote listening posts for interference analysis, thus freeing up technicians for other trouble spots.

The BTS Master MT8221B is small (315 x 211 x 94 mm), lightweight (4.9 kg), and battery operated, making it easy for technicians to use it anywhere at a cell site. In less than 5 minutes, measurements can be made.

The analyzer uses the field-proven design of all Anritsu handheld instruments, which means the BTS Master MT8221B will deliver reliable performance in rugged outdoor environments.

All key field measurements can be made with the BTS Master MT8221B. Technicians and engineers can conduct line sweeps, analyze components and antennas, troubleshoot down to a field replaceable unit (FRU) in the base station, verify the performance of the cell site’s backhaul lines, and locate hard-to-find interference problems with the BTS Master MT8221B.

The BTS Master MT8221B has a US starting price of $19,950.00 and delivery is six to eight weeks ARO.

Cellular extends boundaries of E-healthcare

LONDON, UK: Wireless technologies has been of immense value to medical practitioners, enabling them to increase productivity and improve the availability of quality healthcare globally.

However, while mobile technology undoubtedly adds value to healthcare, the question is whether advances in technology pose a security threat, as information transmitted across a network should be accessible only to authorized users worldwide.

Healthcare systems today rely on various applications that improve patient recovery and render clinical services more effective. The main applications in this category include Electronic Health Records (EHR), Computerised Physician Order Entry (CPOE), Decision Support System (DSS) and picture archiving and communication systems (PACS).

"All these four applications have allowed the healthcare system to effectively adapt to the requirements of a volatile healthcare environment," note Frost & Sullivan (http://www.wireless.frost.com) Research Analysts Jayashree Rajagopal and Luke Thomas in new analysis titled 'Is E-healthcare Secure in the Hands of Cellular Technology?' "However, their success depends on the network through which information is transmitted."

The various technologies used for the transmission of information in healthcare include the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), cellular, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth. Most organisations choose technologies for different applications based on throughput, quality, cost and security.

Among these, security is perceived and understood to be a major concern for all stakeholders involved in the healthcare sector. With the evolution of GSM to 3G, various security features have been enhanced and implemented to protect the integrity of the user.

"Such security features will enable cellular technology to gain a competitive advantage over various wireless alternatives as cellular technologies operate in the licensed band providing guaranteed quality of service," remarks Thomas. "This is not the case with unlicensed technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) and RFID."

Currently, Wi-Fi is one of the most widely deployed wireless technologies in hospitals. However, this technology has several challenges with regard to range, security and quality of service (QoS) which can be effectively addressed by next generation cellular technologies such as HSPA and 3G LTE.

Applications such as EHR, CPOE, DSS and PACS utilise sensitive and personal information. Hence, the transfer of such information requires a highly robust, secure and reliable environment to be maintained not only within a country but world-wide as well.

"With the convergence of IT and cellular, high throughput and low bandwidth cryptographic algorithms need to be developed to exchange information across various devices, applications and networks," explains Rajagopal. "In order to tap this opportunistic market, the cellular ecosystem would need to implement an efficient network protocol that will ensure the security of applications used and information transmitted within the healthcare sector."

In the current economic climate, hospitals strive to reduce their operating expenditure (OPEX) and consider various wireless alternatives that can accommodate all of their applications and services across various networks.

"Hence, if mobile operators succeed in addressing OPEX savings with cellular technologies (currently embedded in several client devices of different form factors), that alone could entice hospitals to conduct effective trials with operators," concludes Thomas. "However, to be successful, not only do mobile operators need to demonstrate the value-added benefits of enhanced security and QoS over traditional WiFi networks but also create new business models to demonstrate ROI," adds Rajagopal.

Kyocera intros iBurst 3.9G mobile broadband wireless technology

KYOTO, JAPAN: Kyocera Corp. has introduced its iBurst system as a leading solution to comply with a variety of market demands for Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) in Latin American markets.

The iBurst system is standardized at ANSI and Recommendation ITU-R M.1801 as HC-SDMA, and forward-compatible with IEEE802.20 625k-MC.

Kyocera’s iBurst is a TDD/TDMA system with Adaptive-Array smart antenna technology that operates within a 5MHz bandwidth in the ranges of 1785-1805MHz, 1900-1920MHz and 2010-2025MHz. The Base Station delivers up to 24Mbps downlink and 8Mbps uplink, and the typical coverage is 3 to 5 km in radius. It supports non-line-of-sight mobile communications of data as well as voice even at traveling speeds of 100km/h.

By taking full advantage of iBurst’s cost effectiveness, and its functionality as the highest spectrally efficient option among MBWA systems, it has been commercially deployed since 2004 and there are currently 13 commercial networks in 12 countries. More than 10 operators are also in the process of launching iBurst service networks within the year 2009.

iBurst operators in serviced countries greatly appreciate the flexibility of iBurst applications to provide data and voice services in rural areas as well as high density metropolitan areas. Furthermore, iBurst subscribers are fully able to enjoy high speed internet with downlink speeds of up to 2Mbps, high quality VoIP and VPN services in fixed, portable and mobile environments with great satisfaction.

iBurst operators worldwide have formed the iBurst Association (iBA), a not-for-profit organization advocating the promotion and development of iBurst technology as a preferred MBWA solution.

Welcome to PC's Telecom Blog!

Welcome to PC's Telecom Blog!

Hi friends, I've been thinking about adding a telecom blog to my network for a very long time! The reason being, I started my career in electronics and telecom back in 1989.

I had the privilege of being part of Asian Sources Telecom Products -- a site, which I managed and built, with the help of my team and colleagues at Asian Sources Media, and later, Global Sources. Later, I moved on to Wireless Week, USA, as Asia Pacific Editor for the Asian Edition.

Back in India, I managed Convergence Plus for a short while, before launching four sites for CIOL in 2004 -- Mobility, Networking, Storage and Security.

Given this background in telecommunications, it is apt for me to start a blog on this subject as well. Telecom has been my forte, and well, it is a subject that has also won me four awards in technology journalism, while at Global Sources.

Again, this blog has been spun out off my award winning blog! That blog remains unchanged, and will continue to carry top-quality, world class content!

This blogs will now include specific blog posts related to telecommunications, as well as press releases, industry updates, new products, features, statistics, etc. It will cover wireless, wireline, broadband, networking, optical networking, Test & Measurement, etc.

Thanks for your kind support as always. Suggestions for improvements are always welcome! :)

Can we expect exciting times in 2008?

Welcome 2008! May I wish all my readers a very happy and prosperous 2008. Another year's gone past. We have a habit of looking back to see at what happened and what could have been.

A lot has been written already about 2007 and what to expect in 2008. So let's just touch upon some of the events from 2007 and some expectations from 2008.

For India, 2007 was a great year for the semiconductor industry -- first, the Indian government announced the semiconductor policy, followed some months later by the fab policy. Both were tremendous firsts in India's science and technology, and not IT, history. Everyone hopes that the Indian semiconductor industry will take off this year. Eyes are focused on the embedded segment, what with the global semiconductor industry reportedly facing 'an embedded dilemma.'

An issue hitting the EDA industry is that, the cost of designing or developing the embededded software for an SoC actually passed the cost of desgining the SoC itself in 2007. The world needs to avoid this software crisis, and India is well placed to take full advantage and play a major role, given its strength in embedded.

In IT, it's been a mixed sort of a year for Apple, which hit big time with the iPhone, seemed not to make waves with either the Safari browser or the Leopard OS. Microsoft had the Vista OS, but then, Vista didn't exactly warm the hearts of users or those who wished to upgrade their OS, including yours truly. Maybe, 2008 would ring in better times for Vista.

While on browsers, Firefox has gained lot of ground. However, by the end of 2007 came the news that the Netscape Web browser -- which started it all -- would soon be confined to history.

Netscape Navigator was the world's first commercial Web browser and launch pad of the Internet boom. It will be taken off on February 1, 2008, after a 13-year run. Time Warner's AOL, its current owner, has reportedly decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on growing the company as an advertising business. The first version of Netscape had come out in late 1994.

In gaming, there are admirers of Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360, and will remain the same. Which one of these gaming consoles will reign supreme, eventually, is difficult to predict.

In consumer electronics, lines are surely blurring between portable media players (PMPs) and portable navigation devices. Also, it would be interesting to see how digital photo frames survive 2008. A reported tight supply, especially for seven-inch models, has led to some makers in Asia either postponing mass production or extending lead times. Surely, makers cannot add more entertainment functions in smaller screen models, to keep costs down.

In the security products market, IP cameras and video servers should have a better year, with more emphasis now on video surveillance. In fact, some friends have been querying me as well regarding their potential.

On components, we can hope to see more growth for solid polymer capacitors in 2008, and among PCBs some fabricators should start manufacturing high-density interconnect (HDI) PCBs this year.

In wireless, we should witness TD-SCDMA in operation prior to the Beijing Olympic Games. Backers would like to see TD-SCDMA succeed, given the effort Datang-Siemens has made on the technology, as also the Chinese government, which issued spectrum for TD-SCDMA nearly five years ago!

Let's all welcome 2008 and look forward to more exciting things happening.

Convergence driving technology trends, says Sasken chief

Sasken Technolgies was earlier known as SAS and it was focusing on product development. Later, it moved on to services. Speaking about this shift, Rajiv C. Mody, chairman and CEO, said that Sasken has always been, from day one, working on both simultaneously.

Sasken initially started out in the EDA space and had one product in the simulation space. It was writing a simulator, addressing large complex designs and methods to simplify the designs. Simultaneously, Sasken was also doing a lot of services for large telecom companies in the areas of designing. This was continued and eventually, Sasken expanded in the area of telecommunications.

Subsequently, Sasken started building products in the telecom space. However, one significant difference is that anything that it does, it impacts Sasken's customers' top line as Sasken address the R&D side of the business.

Not so long back, Sasken were also a VLSI player. It decided to disband the design tool part of the business and focus completely on communications. Now, Sasken does a lot of business in chip design, which is part of VLSI. Today, it is among the leading providers of semiconductor design, working on all kinds of complex system-on-chip (SoC), as well as 65nm design.

Sasken has filed for 39 patents so far, of which 16 have been granted. Those remaining are in the process, and typically, once a patent has been applied for, it takes four years before being granted.

It has invested close to Rs 40 crore in R&D in 2007. In the first two quarters of this financial year, it has invested about Rs 15 corers in R&D. Sasken focuses on next-generation technologies, which would shape up the way things are to come in this new, converged world.

Mody said: "The fundamental thing driving this entire change is convergence -- essentially entertainment, media, news, information -- all of it being available at push medium as well as pull medium. Wireless is also playing a very significant role."

All of these combinations are creating newer opportunities - starting with, say, for example, in the service provider-side, new billing methods have to be put in place because it's going to be triple- and quad-play kinds of situations.

Simultaneously, on the handset side, with more and more computing power being made available, newer kinds of applications have started playing significant role. As a result, Sasken is now scanning the entire gamut to position itself and take advantage.

Sasken will continue to invest in products in the mobile handset space. It also has a significant role to play on the multimedia and the application frameworks. Mody added: "To give you an idea, for the mobile handset, direct broadcast is going to play a significant role. People are already talking about high definition (HD) on mobile. You will see all those kinds of interesting things coming about, and we will participate."

Sasken had also acquired a Finnish firm. This acquisition has worked extremely well and its full integration has been done. Mody said: "We have significant engagements because of our presence in Finland and the capabilities that they bring, not only with the existing, but also with the new costumer base. We are thriving and this has given us the capability to do full end-to-end handset design and testing."

Cogs in the wheel

In engineering, it is imperative that all cogs of the wheel come together, so that the wheel rolls smoothly. Similarly, it is imperative that all key IT processes in an organization gel together and work as one.

Imagine the nightmare that enterprises, small and large, would have to go through should this did not happen!

The first basic IT asset is your company's network, or the intranet. We have seen several times that a company's network's down for some reason and mails can't be sent or received.

In such cases, the organizations or the enterprises who are 'stuck' with this situation, are literally crippled. Mails can't be received, mails can't be sent out, important mails are missed, business-critical processes are waylaid, and so on and so forth. I've been part of this nightmare several times.

Once, the undersea cable snapped during my stay in a company. I don't need to add the problem we had to face for at least half a day, as service providers worked furiously to rectify the cable and restore normal service.

Some advocate satellite as the best medium for managing data transmission. Maybe! Some others cite wireless. Perhaps!! Then, I hear from many that there are issues related with security and storage. However, those would only come into play once your basic network is operational smoothly.

In telecom, they have something called five nines, or 99.9999, which means the network is up and running for this percentage of time! You've noticed how people go beserk and start cursing their phones or the network, should they fail to receive a network, or are unable to connect to the network!

What they don't know or realize is the hard work that's involved in setting up, maintaining and operating a network! It's similar to what sometimes happens in offices when the network breaks down and we are unable to send/receive mails.

Maybe, it would be prudent to first manage the internal network as best as possible, before moving on to bigger, better things. The cogs in the wheel got to move smoothly.