LONDON, UK: Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), a pioneer and global leader in customised learning solutions, launched “4G LTE TOPSIM” – an online multi-player simulation training programme in the UK to help develop leadership and decision-making skills specifically within mobile telecommunications companies.
A world-first, the innovative training solution addresses the critical topics that executives need to consider - such as the “where, when and how” decisions - when rolling out 4G LTE mobile telecoms networks.
TIS instructional design experts developed the multi-player simulation training to explore factors such as: market suitability and readiness for 4G, optimal time to market, infrastructure and investment requirements, developing sales, marketing and pricing strategies to win customers, and projecting time to profitability.
While the simulation is run online, TIS recommends that multi-disciplinary teams of four or five executives (from sales, finance, operations and marketing) play against other teams in the same physical (classroom) environment at the same time, so they compete to make the best decisions.
The training is facilitated by TIS and a 4G subject matter expert from within the company or an agreed external industry consultant. The simulation itself is divided into seven or eight modules of decision-making, with new factors coming into play in each cycle. At the end of each module, the team’s decisions are sent through to the TIS facilitator’s PC, where reports and charts are produced on the outcomes of the team’s decisions. This enables the facilitators to provide real-time analysis and feedback, in order to help the participants build confidence in potential outcomes to make better strategic decisions when 4G goes live in the UK.
Gajanan (Gaj) Kasbekar, senior VP Global, Telecom-Media-Technology Vertical, TIS commented: “Managing the transition to 4G networks is one of the biggest challenges facing leaders of mobile telecom companies, both nationally and internationally. We identified the key decisions that executives need to make to facilitate complex 4G roll-outs.
“These decisions could generate or cost billions of dollars for organisations in this sector, so we designed 4G LTE TOPSIM to help executives learn how to make those critical decisions in a safe, simulated environment. The training has been completed by nearly 200 directors across nine markets within one of the world’s largest mobile telecom providers and is now being made available to other mobile telecoms businesses. The recent news that the auction of 4G networks in the UK has been delayed until late 2012 cast a cloud over the domestic telecoms sector. The only consolation is that the speed of the eventual roll out should be greatly accelerated if lessons are learned from the experiences in other 4G markets.
“We are confident that Tata Interactive System’s 4G LTE TOPSIM will appeal in a market like the UK, where mobile penetration and a desire to adopt the latest technology industry standard is particularly high.”
Will Chadwick, VP of Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) explains: “According to recent reports, nearly half of UK internet users are accessing the internet via mobile devices - and the key benefit of 4G is that it will bring faster mobile internet provision. So, while the current economic crisis means mobile network providers are being circumspect about the rollout of 4G networks, they need to ensure they are making the right decisions at the right time in order to maintain or gain market position in the longer term.
“If it will take a telecom company 12-18 months to rollout 4G but the market and competition is ready sooner, there are likely to be serious competitive and financial implications. This training does not make decisions for executives, but it does help them learn how to make better and more profitable decisions regarding the rollout of 4G networks. This unique and proven proposition is yet another example of TIS’ expertise in developing training solutions that help make people – and businesses - more effective.”
To date, TIS has engaged with over 25 Telecom companies globally in these past few years in a variety of consulting and training development capacities.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
SkyCross names Brian Hurst as VP, Worldwide Sales
VIERA, USA: SkyCross, a global antenna and radio-frequency (RF) solutions company and industry leader in advanced tunable antenna technology for 4G mobile devices, announced the appointment of Brian Hurst as vice president of worldwide sales.
With more than 25 years of experience in wireless technology sales, Hurst will be responsible for providing solutions for wireless device manufacturers’ complex antenna and RF challenges, supporting delivery of compelling 4G devices to consumers and businesses.
“Brian will play a key role in our growth plans for 2012 and beyond,” said Ben Naskar, CEO and chairman of SkyCross. “He has an extensive background of success in building and managing worldwide sales organizations. His executive management experience with Tier I device OEMs supports our goal of providing these companies with the high-performance RF technologies they need to bring innovative mobile devices to market.”
Prior to joining SkyCross, Hurst previously served as VP of worldwide sales at WiSpry Inc., RAYSPAN Corp., and Peregrine Semiconductor, where he established global sales organizations and built customer support infrastructure in Korea, Taiwan, China, Europe, and the United States. Earlier, Hurst led global relationships with strategic Tier I customers at ANADIGICS Inc.
“SkyCross tunable antenna modules for 4G mobile devices leverage SkyCross patented technology that leads the wireless industry. I am eager to pursue opportunities with manufacturers to design winning 4G wireless devices using these unique, tunable antenna solutions,” Hurst said. “I look forward to expanding the company’s business relationships and to driving revenue growth in each of our business regions around the world.”
With more than 25 years of experience in wireless technology sales, Hurst will be responsible for providing solutions for wireless device manufacturers’ complex antenna and RF challenges, supporting delivery of compelling 4G devices to consumers and businesses.
“Brian will play a key role in our growth plans for 2012 and beyond,” said Ben Naskar, CEO and chairman of SkyCross. “He has an extensive background of success in building and managing worldwide sales organizations. His executive management experience with Tier I device OEMs supports our goal of providing these companies with the high-performance RF technologies they need to bring innovative mobile devices to market.”
Prior to joining SkyCross, Hurst previously served as VP of worldwide sales at WiSpry Inc., RAYSPAN Corp., and Peregrine Semiconductor, where he established global sales organizations and built customer support infrastructure in Korea, Taiwan, China, Europe, and the United States. Earlier, Hurst led global relationships with strategic Tier I customers at ANADIGICS Inc.
“SkyCross tunable antenna modules for 4G mobile devices leverage SkyCross patented technology that leads the wireless industry. I am eager to pursue opportunities with manufacturers to design winning 4G wireless devices using these unique, tunable antenna solutions,” Hurst said. “I look forward to expanding the company’s business relationships and to driving revenue growth in each of our business regions around the world.”
Toshiba announces new TransferJet™ wireless LSI
SAN JOSE, USA: Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. (TAEC), announced the availability of its wireless LSI compliant with the TransferJet™ standard for high-speed wireless data transfer.
The TransferJet LSI (part number TC35420) enables fast, close proximity exchange of large multimedia files between consumer electronics devices. Toshiba, a member of the TransferJet Consortium, will host technology demonstrations featuring tablets, laptops and smartphones running the company's TransferJet LSI at CES, January 10 – 13, 2012, in the TransferJet Consortium booth (#15112).
The Toshiba TransferJet LSI is a single-chip solution that uses an RF-CMOS manufacturing process to support both RF and digital functionality in one chip. Having a complete TransferJet solution in one chip reduces power consumption and design footprint; key areas of concern for customers designing battery-powered, small form factor consumer electronics devices. Furthermore, the Toshiba TransferJet LSI has a receiving sensitivity of -78dBm, which far exceeds the TransferJet specification and contributed to the device's range and stability.
"The proliferation of mobile broadband and consumer electronics devices with lots of storage has enabled consumers to take their movies, music and photos anywhere. But moving that content between devices can be a tedious process involving cables or confusing Bluetooth or Wi-Fi configurations," said Andrew Burt, vice president, Analog and Imaging Business Unit, System LSI Group, Toshiba America Electronic Components.
"TransferJet removes these complications, letting consumers simply place devices next to each other to securely transfer large multimedia files in seconds. Our TransferJet LSI will let OEMs add this functionality to their devices with minimal effect on their device's size or power consumption."
The Toshiba TransferJet LSI is now available, priced at $5 per unit in sample quantities.
The TransferJet LSI (part number TC35420) enables fast, close proximity exchange of large multimedia files between consumer electronics devices. Toshiba, a member of the TransferJet Consortium, will host technology demonstrations featuring tablets, laptops and smartphones running the company's TransferJet LSI at CES, January 10 – 13, 2012, in the TransferJet Consortium booth (#15112).
The Toshiba TransferJet LSI is a single-chip solution that uses an RF-CMOS manufacturing process to support both RF and digital functionality in one chip. Having a complete TransferJet solution in one chip reduces power consumption and design footprint; key areas of concern for customers designing battery-powered, small form factor consumer electronics devices. Furthermore, the Toshiba TransferJet LSI has a receiving sensitivity of -78dBm, which far exceeds the TransferJet specification and contributed to the device's range and stability.
"The proliferation of mobile broadband and consumer electronics devices with lots of storage has enabled consumers to take their movies, music and photos anywhere. But moving that content between devices can be a tedious process involving cables or confusing Bluetooth or Wi-Fi configurations," said Andrew Burt, vice president, Analog and Imaging Business Unit, System LSI Group, Toshiba America Electronic Components.
"TransferJet removes these complications, letting consumers simply place devices next to each other to securely transfer large multimedia files in seconds. Our TransferJet LSI will let OEMs add this functionality to their devices with minimal effect on their device's size or power consumption."
The Toshiba TransferJet LSI is now available, priced at $5 per unit in sample quantities.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Half a million TD-LTE base stations will be deployed by 2016
SINGAPORE: At least half a million base stations will be installed or upgraded for TD-LTE by the end of 2016.
“It was only two years ago that nearly every WiMAX operator, including operators with unpaired TDD frequency spectrum, were planning to deploy WiMAX 2,” says Aditya Kaul, practice director, mobile networks. “Today, almost all of them have switched plans and are deploying TD-LTE instead.”
TD-LTE is the Time-Division Duplex (TDD) variant of the fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless standard.
WiMAX operators today are generally offering fixed WiMAX service based on the IEEE 802.16d specification, or mobile WiMAX service based on IEEE 802.16e. The IEEE 802.16m standard (also known as WiMAX 2) was developed to provide higher data rates and increased capacity and the members of the WiMAX Forum committed to follow this evolution path for 4G.
“A funny thing happened on the way to the forum,” says Jim Eller, principal analyst, wireless infrastructure. “Despite starting two years later than WiMAX 2, TD-LTE emerged as a viable alternative.” China Mobile was the early promoter of TD-LTE technology, as a 4G evolution path for its 3G network based on TD-SCDMA technology. Other operators, however, saw better advantages in aligning with the global LTE standards.
TD-LTE commercial service has been launched in Brazil, Japan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. TD-LTE deployments are underway in Australia and Scandinavia and large-scale TD-LTE networks are planned in the United States and India.
The 600-pound gorilla in TD-LTE is still China. China Mobile started its second phase of the TD-LTE Large Scale Trial Initiative (LSTI) in December and it will run until June 2012. According to Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting, “China Mobile announced plans last month to install an additional 10,000 to 20,000 TD-LTE base stations in 2012 and perhaps another 60,000 in 2013.”
“It was only two years ago that nearly every WiMAX operator, including operators with unpaired TDD frequency spectrum, were planning to deploy WiMAX 2,” says Aditya Kaul, practice director, mobile networks. “Today, almost all of them have switched plans and are deploying TD-LTE instead.”
TD-LTE is the Time-Division Duplex (TDD) variant of the fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless standard.
WiMAX operators today are generally offering fixed WiMAX service based on the IEEE 802.16d specification, or mobile WiMAX service based on IEEE 802.16e. The IEEE 802.16m standard (also known as WiMAX 2) was developed to provide higher data rates and increased capacity and the members of the WiMAX Forum committed to follow this evolution path for 4G.
“A funny thing happened on the way to the forum,” says Jim Eller, principal analyst, wireless infrastructure. “Despite starting two years later than WiMAX 2, TD-LTE emerged as a viable alternative.” China Mobile was the early promoter of TD-LTE technology, as a 4G evolution path for its 3G network based on TD-SCDMA technology. Other operators, however, saw better advantages in aligning with the global LTE standards.
TD-LTE commercial service has been launched in Brazil, Japan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. TD-LTE deployments are underway in Australia and Scandinavia and large-scale TD-LTE networks are planned in the United States and India.
The 600-pound gorilla in TD-LTE is still China. China Mobile started its second phase of the TD-LTE Large Scale Trial Initiative (LSTI) in December and it will run until June 2012. According to Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting, “China Mobile announced plans last month to install an additional 10,000 to 20,000 TD-LTE base stations in 2012 and perhaps another 60,000 in 2013.”
Starhome predicts beginning of major changes to traditional roaming environment in 2012
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: Starhome, the leading provider and acknowledged driving force behind roaming profitability for mobile network operators, predicts the fast growing technological progress within the industry is creating a new multi-network environment, which will change roaming -- as we know it.
New technologies and usage patterns have sky rocketed in the last few years, causing an unprecedented demand on networks. To accommodate these new demands, mobile network operators are turning their attention and resources to invest in Long Term Evolution (LTE) to cope with the demands of extra bandwidth. The increasing use of smart devices, mobile applications and content, as well as the snowballing development of M2M devices will all influence operators decisions to be a part of the expanding multi-network roaming environment.
Solutions and services will need to be LTE ready to enable subscribers to roam in ‘islands’ of LTE within 3G and WiFi networks. For instance, when a 3G roamer passes through an LTE network, a fall-back procedure for 3G phones is triggered to ensure service is maintained. To support this multi-network mobility, operators will require innovative, intelligent solutions that can dynamically adapt and react to the ever changing environment to raise the revenue bar and maintain subscriber satisfaction.
Shlomo Wolfman, co-founder and COO at Starhome, explained: “Multi-network mobility will open new opportunities and new challenges for industry players. Legacy off-the-shelf products are no longer sufficient to meet the expanding mobile environment and increase operator revenues. Business management tools including decision-making solutions with massive integrated data analytics will become the tool of choice to combine with products already provided to the industry.”
Multi-network challenges are further complicated by the current industry trends: Regulations, data usage, bill shock and operator’s attempts to instil fearless roaming in their subscribers. Operators will need solutions for multi-networks that will work as they should when they should to gain the competitive edge in this emerging environment.
Starhome offers LTE ready solutions to tackle the new multi-network challenges as well as today’s trends, which will carry-over well into 2012. Our complete solutions enable operators to offer the best data packages, using segmentation for subscribers, as well as full support for wholesale and retail. M2M (Machine-to-Machine) solutions are also available to control embedded mobile devices and machines within the networks.
New technologies and usage patterns have sky rocketed in the last few years, causing an unprecedented demand on networks. To accommodate these new demands, mobile network operators are turning their attention and resources to invest in Long Term Evolution (LTE) to cope with the demands of extra bandwidth. The increasing use of smart devices, mobile applications and content, as well as the snowballing development of M2M devices will all influence operators decisions to be a part of the expanding multi-network roaming environment.
Solutions and services will need to be LTE ready to enable subscribers to roam in ‘islands’ of LTE within 3G and WiFi networks. For instance, when a 3G roamer passes through an LTE network, a fall-back procedure for 3G phones is triggered to ensure service is maintained. To support this multi-network mobility, operators will require innovative, intelligent solutions that can dynamically adapt and react to the ever changing environment to raise the revenue bar and maintain subscriber satisfaction.
Shlomo Wolfman, co-founder and COO at Starhome, explained: “Multi-network mobility will open new opportunities and new challenges for industry players. Legacy off-the-shelf products are no longer sufficient to meet the expanding mobile environment and increase operator revenues. Business management tools including decision-making solutions with massive integrated data analytics will become the tool of choice to combine with products already provided to the industry.”
Multi-network challenges are further complicated by the current industry trends: Regulations, data usage, bill shock and operator’s attempts to instil fearless roaming in their subscribers. Operators will need solutions for multi-networks that will work as they should when they should to gain the competitive edge in this emerging environment.
Starhome offers LTE ready solutions to tackle the new multi-network challenges as well as today’s trends, which will carry-over well into 2012. Our complete solutions enable operators to offer the best data packages, using segmentation for subscribers, as well as full support for wholesale and retail. M2M (Machine-to-Machine) solutions are also available to control embedded mobile devices and machines within the networks.
Connected TVs and smartphones providing polar opposite challenges for CDNs
CDN Asia 2012, HONG KONG: In the next five years CDNs are not only going to be faced with the challenge of delivering increasingly large volumes of OTT video. In 2011 Informa expects OTT video will account for 32.6 Exabytes (EB) of network traffic over fixed line broadband in Asia alone, and forecasts this traffic to grow by over 200 percent by the end of 2015.
They and therefore, their customers, must also overcome the challenge of delivering OTT video to a range of devices. Whereas in the last decade almost all OTT video was delivered to PCs which despite their many differences offered quite a homogenous environment across different manufacturers and form factors.
Now OTT video will be delivered not only to the PC but also to the Connected TV, tablets, and smartphones. Each of these different devices will make different demands on OTT video, requiring video to be delivered in the appropriate resolution, format and the correct DRM. A one size fits all approach of simply offering standard web video will not be sufficient to provide an excellent experience to users on all of these devices.
The sheer number of smartphones entering the market each year means that they cannot be ignored. Informa believes that sales of smartphones in Asia will exceed 140 million in 2011 and that this number will more than double by 2016. But although their technical specifications are increasingly on par with PCs providing web quality video to smartphones will place an unnecessary burden on the network as the screen is too small for users to perceive the benefits.
By 2016 Informa believes that there will be 331 million connected TVs in the Asia Pacific region accounting for almost one third of total TVs in the region. On the TV OTT video services must offer a comparable service to linear TV. When users select a video to watch, load times should be as minimal as possible and stoppages for video buffering are cardinal sins. Variable bit rate streaming can overcome these problems.
But users will equally not tolerate low quality video and must have as close to real HD as possible so higher bandwidths of at least 1.5Mbps will be required. The majority of video watched on connected TVs will be long form, and as these devices lack significant storage and memory so progressive streaming is not a viable option.
It is also worth noting that as yet there is very little standardization across connected TVs as to what video streaming technology and DRM these devices support further complicating the issue.
In a connected home full of new smart devices CDNs have the unenviable task of having to serve two masters, the smartphone with its demands of short form lower quality video, and Connected TV devices which will demand high quality long form video. Any CDN that can manage such a juggling act will find itself in great demand.
The CDN Asia Summit will be buzzing with the major service providers from the APAC region wanting to gain an insight on to manage a CDN. The summit will also feature 17 exclusive CDN case studies from the leading service providers in the region such as Telstra, Tata, Korea Telecom, KDDI and more.
They and therefore, their customers, must also overcome the challenge of delivering OTT video to a range of devices. Whereas in the last decade almost all OTT video was delivered to PCs which despite their many differences offered quite a homogenous environment across different manufacturers and form factors.
Now OTT video will be delivered not only to the PC but also to the Connected TV, tablets, and smartphones. Each of these different devices will make different demands on OTT video, requiring video to be delivered in the appropriate resolution, format and the correct DRM. A one size fits all approach of simply offering standard web video will not be sufficient to provide an excellent experience to users on all of these devices.
The sheer number of smartphones entering the market each year means that they cannot be ignored. Informa believes that sales of smartphones in Asia will exceed 140 million in 2011 and that this number will more than double by 2016. But although their technical specifications are increasingly on par with PCs providing web quality video to smartphones will place an unnecessary burden on the network as the screen is too small for users to perceive the benefits.
By 2016 Informa believes that there will be 331 million connected TVs in the Asia Pacific region accounting for almost one third of total TVs in the region. On the TV OTT video services must offer a comparable service to linear TV. When users select a video to watch, load times should be as minimal as possible and stoppages for video buffering are cardinal sins. Variable bit rate streaming can overcome these problems.
But users will equally not tolerate low quality video and must have as close to real HD as possible so higher bandwidths of at least 1.5Mbps will be required. The majority of video watched on connected TVs will be long form, and as these devices lack significant storage and memory so progressive streaming is not a viable option.
It is also worth noting that as yet there is very little standardization across connected TVs as to what video streaming technology and DRM these devices support further complicating the issue.
In a connected home full of new smart devices CDNs have the unenviable task of having to serve two masters, the smartphone with its demands of short form lower quality video, and Connected TV devices which will demand high quality long form video. Any CDN that can manage such a juggling act will find itself in great demand.
The CDN Asia Summit will be buzzing with the major service providers from the APAC region wanting to gain an insight on to manage a CDN. The summit will also feature 17 exclusive CDN case studies from the leading service providers in the region such as Telstra, Tata, Korea Telecom, KDDI and more.
Monday, January 2, 2012
ValidSoft CEO predicts strong 2012
LONDON, UK: ValidSoft, a global supplier of telecommunications-based fraud prevention solutions, announced CEO Patrick Carroll's outlook for 2012. ValidSoft, a subsidiary of Elephant Talk Communications Corp., is perfectly positioned to capitalize on both key industry trends as well as emerging security threats, said Carroll: "We see 2012 as being a big year for us."
2011 has seen major initiatives and announcements globally around the ongoing exploitation of the mobile phone and smart-phone as a convergence device for payments and banking. M-banking, mobile payments, the mobile wallet and NFC are all technologies where individual entrants and consortiums are fighting for market acceptance, let alone dominance. Whilst competing technologies and strategies abound, the delivery platform remains constant.
A new report by Barclays Corporate, for instance, predicts that consumer spending using mobile devices will jump 15-fold in the next decade, while Gartner foresees more than $429 billion of mobile banking transactions by 2015.
At the same time, 2011 has also seen a large increase in attacks aimed at the mobile phone, including phone-resident Trojans aimed squarely at the smart-phone as well as the relatively new concept of Pseudo Device Theft, including SIM Swap fraud. The latter is already proving to be a potentially huge target for fraudsters, as the rewards on offer are massive.
Card fraud remains a huge problem, with actual losses and the cost of fraud prevention, namely fraud operational costs, lost interchange revenue and disgruntled customers being a major cost item for banks.
These trends mean that payment and banking security technology is more vital than ever. For the expected explosion in the use of mobile devices for banking, payments and wallets to become a reality, a major requirement is that consumers, banks, and retailers have faith that these transactions are safe and secure.
2011 has seen major initiatives and announcements globally around the ongoing exploitation of the mobile phone and smart-phone as a convergence device for payments and banking. M-banking, mobile payments, the mobile wallet and NFC are all technologies where individual entrants and consortiums are fighting for market acceptance, let alone dominance. Whilst competing technologies and strategies abound, the delivery platform remains constant.
A new report by Barclays Corporate, for instance, predicts that consumer spending using mobile devices will jump 15-fold in the next decade, while Gartner foresees more than $429 billion of mobile banking transactions by 2015.
At the same time, 2011 has also seen a large increase in attacks aimed at the mobile phone, including phone-resident Trojans aimed squarely at the smart-phone as well as the relatively new concept of Pseudo Device Theft, including SIM Swap fraud. The latter is already proving to be a potentially huge target for fraudsters, as the rewards on offer are massive.
Card fraud remains a huge problem, with actual losses and the cost of fraud prevention, namely fraud operational costs, lost interchange revenue and disgruntled customers being a major cost item for banks.
These trends mean that payment and banking security technology is more vital than ever. For the expected explosion in the use of mobile devices for banking, payments and wallets to become a reality, a major requirement is that consumers, banks, and retailers have faith that these transactions are safe and secure.
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