ConceptDraw Office is a set of programs from CS Odessa (Computer Systems Odessa) which would indicate Ukraine origins.
There are three integrated components MindMap, Project and Draw (Pro) which can be purchased individually or as the combined (cheaper package) as ConceptDraw Office.
MindMap is just that and is really useful for brainstorming sessions and such like, however it's also pretty good for say putting a product launch together, working out what needs to go after what and different branches of what needs doing. The whole thing can then be exported into Project which will then produce a project plan. It will still need tweaking (for timescales/resources and such like) but there's the basics done for you.
Project is actually very similar to Microsoft Project, but CS Odessa have their InGyre system which allows the different tools to work together.
Concept Draw is similar to Microsoft Visio (and can import Visio files as can Project import MS Project files) it's also similar to Corel Draw, it can produce organisation charts, network diagrams and simple object drawing. Again it can link into ConceptDraw Project and MindMap.
There's both Windows and Mac versions available (where as Microsoft products are only available on Windows).
ConceptDraw isn't cheap (the package retails for £339) but you do get 3 solid packages for that and they're invaluable if you're a Mac user.
They can be purchased here
2010/04/12
It's all looking Pink for Plink
Google have just acquired UK art search company Plink.
Plink's technology allows users to point their phone at a work of art and take a picture which will then link to the original artwork (and prints etc can be purchased). Plink were finalists in Google's Android Developer Challenge, winning $100,000.
Mark Cummins and partner James Philbin who founded Plink will move over to Google and work on Google's Goggles application utilising the back-end Plink technology for that platform.
The Android app is still available for download, though development of it will no longer take place.
Plink's technology allows users to point their phone at a work of art and take a picture which will then link to the original artwork (and prints etc can be purchased). Plink were finalists in Google's Android Developer Challenge, winning $100,000.
Mark Cummins and partner James Philbin who founded Plink will move over to Google and work on Google's Goggles application utilising the back-end Plink technology for that platform.
The Android app is still available for download, though development of it will no longer take place.
UK Election delays spectrum auction again
The Government managed to push through the controversial Digital Economy Bill, but in doing so failed to make time for things such as spectrum liberalisation and these will now have to wait until the next Government is in power.
This means that the plans to auction the 2.6GHz (2600MHz) band are still on hold until at least mid 2011 (or later) as well the prized 800MHz band. There is also no decision with respect to GSM refarming (O2 and Vodafone have spectrum in 900MHz and Orange and T-Mobile in 1.8GHz). The situation is already muddied by the merge of T-Mobile and Orange who as a single company have too much spectrum (as per the original licenses).
It's likely that T-Mobile/Orange will have to relinquish some of their 1.8GHz spectrum and maybe some of their 2.5GHz spectrum, but they will also fight to get hold of some of the 900HMz spectrum (which has much better transmission characteristics than 1.8GHz).
As there is no Government at all, the above decisions are all on hold, though T-Mobile/Orange are now in breach of their license conditions, there's nothing that can be done until the next Government is elected and Ofcom can then propose changes in the law (i.e. currently the GSM bands are ONLY allowed to be used for GSM services and not 3G services) which will then be enacted into law by the use of Standard Instruments.
The UK was way ahead of the market when it first proposed auctioning the 2.6GHz spectrum (2007/2008) but now even Germany has sorted it's issues and has licensed the band.
This means that the plans to auction the 2.6GHz (2600MHz) band are still on hold until at least mid 2011 (or later) as well the prized 800MHz band. There is also no decision with respect to GSM refarming (O2 and Vodafone have spectrum in 900MHz and Orange and T-Mobile in 1.8GHz). The situation is already muddied by the merge of T-Mobile and Orange who as a single company have too much spectrum (as per the original licenses).
It's likely that T-Mobile/Orange will have to relinquish some of their 1.8GHz spectrum and maybe some of their 2.5GHz spectrum, but they will also fight to get hold of some of the 900HMz spectrum (which has much better transmission characteristics than 1.8GHz).
As there is no Government at all, the above decisions are all on hold, though T-Mobile/Orange are now in breach of their license conditions, there's nothing that can be done until the next Government is elected and Ofcom can then propose changes in the law (i.e. currently the GSM bands are ONLY allowed to be used for GSM services and not 3G services) which will then be enacted into law by the use of Standard Instruments.
The UK was way ahead of the market when it first proposed auctioning the 2.6GHz spectrum (2007/2008) but now even Germany has sorted it's issues and has licensed the band.
2010/04/08
TalkTalk talks the talk
Andrew Heaney, Director of Strategy and Regulation of TalkTalk has written a blog post stating: -
* Unless we are served with a court order we will never surrender a customer’s details to rightsholders. We are the only major ISP to have taken this stance and we will maintain it.
* If we are instructed to disconnect an account due to alleged copyright infringement we will refuse to do so and tell the rightsholders we’ll see them in court.
Only 5% of MPs actually turned up for the brief debate in the House yesterday and the other important parts of the stages will now end up in the wash-up process.
TalkTalk have been very vocal against various parts of the Digital Economy Bill and will continue to fight against it and with whichever party is running the country after the general election.
* Unless we are served with a court order we will never surrender a customer’s details to rightsholders. We are the only major ISP to have taken this stance and we will maintain it.
* If we are instructed to disconnect an account due to alleged copyright infringement we will refuse to do so and tell the rightsholders we’ll see them in court.
Only 5% of MPs actually turned up for the brief debate in the House yesterday and the other important parts of the stages will now end up in the wash-up process.
TalkTalk have been very vocal against various parts of the Digital Economy Bill and will continue to fight against it and with whichever party is running the country after the general election.
Digital Economy Bill gets FAST approval
Unsurprisingly FAST (Federation Against Software Theft) has welcomed the 'success of the Digital Economy Bill', even though the DEB has attracted criticism from many corners including the music industry itself.
FAST have been criticised in the past for using strong arm tactics on companies to force them to hold audits (from FAST) to ensure they're not using unlicensed software.
The Government has forced the bill through, without proper debate which has angered many people. Allowing the '3 strikes rule' to get through is now imposing punishment without trial and it is too far ranging (i.e. anyone illegally sharing on an open WiFi network can get the WiFi network disconnected). Other issues are that BIS can request to have any domain registry removed (or the infrastructure removed) if the registry doesn't remove content they don't like.
Hopefully someone will take the issues up the the Court of Human Rights and have the bill (or aspects of it) quashed.
FAST have been criticised in the past for using strong arm tactics on companies to force them to hold audits (from FAST) to ensure they're not using unlicensed software.
The Government has forced the bill through, without proper debate which has angered many people. Allowing the '3 strikes rule' to get through is now imposing punishment without trial and it is too far ranging (i.e. anyone illegally sharing on an open WiFi network can get the WiFi network disconnected). Other issues are that BIS can request to have any domain registry removed (or the infrastructure removed) if the registry doesn't remove content they don't like.
Hopefully someone will take the issues up the the Court of Human Rights and have the bill (or aspects of it) quashed.
2010/04/06
RIM Eclipses development ease
Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a new development platform for the Blackberry smartphone range.
There's a new Java plug-in (1.1) for Eclipse that provides a complete development, debug and simulation environment supporting multiple devices and operating system versions, which can be switched without restarting the system.
There's also a new Java SDK (v5) with now over 20,000 API calls including Location Based Services APIs enabling cell-site geolocation, GPS, geocoding and reverse geocoding to obtain address and location data, OpenGL ES support for 3D graphics, touchscreen and accelerometer, new pre-built UI components, file pickers and screen transitions and SQLite support for data sharing across different applications.
The other new release is Web Plug-In v2.0 which allows developing Blackberry widgets using standard web tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.
Blackerries are notoriously hard to develop for, hopefully these new tools will make life easier for developers.
More can be found from RIM's developer site.
There's a new Java plug-in (1.1) for Eclipse that provides a complete development, debug and simulation environment supporting multiple devices and operating system versions, which can be switched without restarting the system.
There's also a new Java SDK (v5) with now over 20,000 API calls including Location Based Services APIs enabling cell-site geolocation, GPS, geocoding and reverse geocoding to obtain address and location data, OpenGL ES support for 3D graphics, touchscreen and accelerometer, new pre-built UI components, file pickers and screen transitions and SQLite support for data sharing across different applications.
The other new release is Web Plug-In v2.0 which allows developing Blackberry widgets using standard web tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.
Blackerries are notoriously hard to develop for, hopefully these new tools will make life easier for developers.
More can be found from RIM's developer site.
I go, you go, MeeGo
Nokia and Intel have started to open up their new MeeGo initiative which is their combined Maemo and MobLin Linux for mobile efforts.
As reported in the MeeGo blog the core is suitable for Netbooks, mobile phones, in-car devices and connected TVs with different higher level applications suitable for the relevant architectures.
The OS images are suitable for booting from a USB key or directly from on-board flash.
Images are available for intel Atom-based netbooks, ARM-based Nokia N900, and Intel Atom-based handsets (Moorestown).
There's also a source repository available through git and rpm's for the applications. The current images will just give access to a terminal, though it's hoped to have the higher lovel GUI systems available soon.
Whether they'll make a dent on Android is yet to be seen, though maybe some enterprising person can port MeeGo to the O2 Joggler which is being sold for £50 now and there's already efforts to replace O2's stock image with other more useful operating system.
As reported in the MeeGo blog the core is suitable for Netbooks, mobile phones, in-car devices and connected TVs with different higher level applications suitable for the relevant architectures.
The OS images are suitable for booting from a USB key or directly from on-board flash.
Images are available for intel Atom-based netbooks, ARM-based Nokia N900, and Intel Atom-based handsets (Moorestown).
There's also a source repository available through git and rpm's for the applications. The current images will just give access to a terminal, though it's hoped to have the higher lovel GUI systems available soon.
Whether they'll make a dent on Android is yet to be seen, though maybe some enterprising person can port MeeGo to the O2 Joggler which is being sold for £50 now and there's already efforts to replace O2's stock image with other more useful operating system.
2010/04/05
Apple sells 300,000 sanitary products in first day
Apple has announced it has sold 300,000 iPads on the first day of launch (up until midnight April 3rd 2010) - OK they're not sanitary pads, but it makes a good headline.
Those 300,000 iPad users have also downloaded over 1m apps and 250,000 ebooks from the Apple iBookstore, so that's 3 apps and almost 1 ebook per iPad.
Skeptics may just think it's a rush of Apple fan boys, but Apple are changing the game. People bemoan it's a proprietary operating system (so what) it means that Apple can control the content easily and the way apps look and feel, so it's all easy to use. Apple know how to do User Interfaces (UI) and make things look nice. As long as programmers stick to Apple's guidelines using Apple's interfaces their programs will look nice too. So anybody will be able to use the app.
The iPad is no better in terms of specs than other systems out there, but they're not selling it as an eReader, nor as a tablet but a combination of the two. Amazon have realised that the Kindle can do more than just be an eReader, but they've only just released an SDK. The iPad will run existing iPhone/iTouch apps with no modifications (under emulation) but they've had the SDK available for months, so there's some good iPad apps out there on launch (including Apple's own iWork apps). It also makes a very nice eReader and lo and behold Apple have an ebook store available on launch.
The iPad will be iconic, just like the iPhone was. Yes it's lacking a camera (yes there's a space for an iSight camera in the case) and other features, but they will come. Owning an iPad now is like owning a piece of history.
Those 300,000 iPad users have also downloaded over 1m apps and 250,000 ebooks from the Apple iBookstore, so that's 3 apps and almost 1 ebook per iPad.
Skeptics may just think it's a rush of Apple fan boys, but Apple are changing the game. People bemoan it's a proprietary operating system (so what) it means that Apple can control the content easily and the way apps look and feel, so it's all easy to use. Apple know how to do User Interfaces (UI) and make things look nice. As long as programmers stick to Apple's guidelines using Apple's interfaces their programs will look nice too. So anybody will be able to use the app.
The iPad is no better in terms of specs than other systems out there, but they're not selling it as an eReader, nor as a tablet but a combination of the two. Amazon have realised that the Kindle can do more than just be an eReader, but they've only just released an SDK. The iPad will run existing iPhone/iTouch apps with no modifications (under emulation) but they've had the SDK available for months, so there's some good iPad apps out there on launch (including Apple's own iWork apps). It also makes a very nice eReader and lo and behold Apple have an ebook store available on launch.
The iPad will be iconic, just like the iPhone was. Yes it's lacking a camera (yes there's a space for an iSight camera in the case) and other features, but they will come. Owning an iPad now is like owning a piece of history.
UK MNOs moan about MTR reductions, apart from 3
As expected the big 4 UK mobile network operators are complaining about Ofcom's plans to reduce mobile termination rates to 0.5p per minute by March 2015.
The only operator who is welcoming the cuts is 3 (or Hutchison 3G to be exact). It makes sense for them as they're the smallest UK operator so their users are making more outbound calls to other networks than inbound, which means they're paying out to other networks. Any reduction in call costs to other networks therefore reduces their costs. They also say they'll pass on cuts to their users.
The MNOs are said to have made around €5.3bn from termination fees in 2008.
Vodafone have said "A cut of this magnitude deters future investment, makes it less likely that the UK would continue to lead in mobile communications and was at odds with the government's vision of a digital Britain." Orange say "Handsets may no longer be subsidised, and consumers may have to pay to receive calls."
Ofcom have been at odds with the MNOs on other changes as well such as Mobile Number Porting (Ofcom wanted sub 1 hour porting, the MNO's took Ofcom to court, and now Ofocm as asking for sub 24hour porting).
The only operator who is welcoming the cuts is 3 (or Hutchison 3G to be exact). It makes sense for them as they're the smallest UK operator so their users are making more outbound calls to other networks than inbound, which means they're paying out to other networks. Any reduction in call costs to other networks therefore reduces their costs. They also say they'll pass on cuts to their users.
The MNOs are said to have made around €5.3bn from termination fees in 2008.
Vodafone have said "A cut of this magnitude deters future investment, makes it less likely that the UK would continue to lead in mobile communications and was at odds with the government's vision of a digital Britain." Orange say "Handsets may no longer be subsidised, and consumers may have to pay to receive calls."
Ofcom have been at odds with the MNOs on other changes as well such as Mobile Number Porting (Ofcom wanted sub 1 hour porting, the MNO's took Ofcom to court, and now Ofocm as asking for sub 24hour porting).
2010/04/04
Upgrading a MacBook Pro disk
It was a bit of a daunting task, get a Solid State Disk (SSD), transfer the contents of the current disk on to it, then make sure it's all working and take the MacBook Pro apart and fit the disk.
Surprisingly it was all very easy, but there's a few things that need to be though about first.
Make sure you have an external (USB/Firewire) disk system that will take the SSD, plug it in and make sure it's recognised. It's unlikely to be formatted, so MacOS X will say it's unrecognised and ask to run Disk Utility. The disk needs to be partitioned (select partition type GUID) and a single partition, name it Macintosh HD (or SSD) and let Disk Utility do its magic. Once finished it will be mounted it and it appears as a USB or Firewire disk (depending what external system you have).
It's now all about cloning the internal hard disk, a couple of utilities were recommended Carbon Copy Clone and SuperDuper. In this instance Carbon Copy Clone did its magic and it was just configured to clone the Macintosh HD (the internal HD) and copy everything to the external Macintosh HD (which was the externally mounted SSD).
The internal disk had just over 50GB of data and it took about an hour to clone (so you've got time for a couple of cups of tea).
There was a beep to indicate it had finished and that was that. Just to be sure Disk Utility was run again and the disk verified, it did throw up a few errors, but they were permission errors and quickly fixed (it took under 3 minutes to scan the disk on USB).
Then go into System Preferences and select "Start-up Disk" and select the external USB/Firewire disk and reboot. This should get the MacBook to boot of the newly set-up disk. Happily the MBP booted and the hard disk activity light flashed away showing it was using the external disk. Then shutdown and remove the power from the MBP.
Removing the screws from the base of the MacBook Pro was easy enough (a small Philips screwdriver is needed) and the bottom just lifts off. Make sure you remember which screws go where as some are long and some short, though not too difficult to just lay them out in the position of where they sit on a table surface.
There's a site iFixit which specialises in DIY Apple repairs etc. They state that the bar holding the drive in place uses Torx 6 screws, however on this late 2009 13" MBP the screws were also Philips and it came away very easily.
Then carefully remove the hard disk and very carefully pull away the ribbon cable attached to it. Get the SSD (which you've removed from the external case) and attach it to the ribbon cable and insert it back into the hard disk space. Place the disk bar back and screw into place and replace the bottom cover, making sure that the screws aren't over tightened. Put the screws in, in pairs, as this reduces the stresses on the case and put opposites in pairs. Lightly screw them in, then tighten them once all the screws are in.
All that's required to to turn the MBP on and hopefully it will all work.
The MBP will boot significantly faster and apps load much faster. Performing a disk permission verification (with the SSD in the MBP) took under a minute (compared with 3 minutes when connected through USB).
As a TV commercial Meerkat would say "Simples"
The disk used was a 256GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s which is their latest generation of SSD.
Surprisingly it was all very easy, but there's a few things that need to be though about first.
Make sure you have an external (USB/Firewire) disk system that will take the SSD, plug it in and make sure it's recognised. It's unlikely to be formatted, so MacOS X will say it's unrecognised and ask to run Disk Utility. The disk needs to be partitioned (select partition type GUID) and a single partition, name it Macintosh HD (or SSD) and let Disk Utility do its magic. Once finished it will be mounted it and it appears as a USB or Firewire disk (depending what external system you have).
It's now all about cloning the internal hard disk, a couple of utilities were recommended Carbon Copy Clone and SuperDuper. In this instance Carbon Copy Clone did its magic and it was just configured to clone the Macintosh HD (the internal HD) and copy everything to the external Macintosh HD (which was the externally mounted SSD).
The internal disk had just over 50GB of data and it took about an hour to clone (so you've got time for a couple of cups of tea).
There was a beep to indicate it had finished and that was that. Just to be sure Disk Utility was run again and the disk verified, it did throw up a few errors, but they were permission errors and quickly fixed (it took under 3 minutes to scan the disk on USB).
Then go into System Preferences and select "Start-up Disk" and select the external USB/Firewire disk and reboot. This should get the MacBook to boot of the newly set-up disk. Happily the MBP booted and the hard disk activity light flashed away showing it was using the external disk. Then shutdown and remove the power from the MBP.
Removing the screws from the base of the MacBook Pro was easy enough (a small Philips screwdriver is needed) and the bottom just lifts off. Make sure you remember which screws go where as some are long and some short, though not too difficult to just lay them out in the position of where they sit on a table surface.
There's a site iFixit which specialises in DIY Apple repairs etc. They state that the bar holding the drive in place uses Torx 6 screws, however on this late 2009 13" MBP the screws were also Philips and it came away very easily.
Then carefully remove the hard disk and very carefully pull away the ribbon cable attached to it. Get the SSD (which you've removed from the external case) and attach it to the ribbon cable and insert it back into the hard disk space. Place the disk bar back and screw into place and replace the bottom cover, making sure that the screws aren't over tightened. Put the screws in, in pairs, as this reduces the stresses on the case and put opposites in pairs. Lightly screw them in, then tighten them once all the screws are in.
All that's required to to turn the MBP on and hopefully it will all work.
The MBP will boot significantly faster and apps load much faster. Performing a disk permission verification (with the SSD in the MBP) took under a minute (compared with 3 minutes when connected through USB).
As a TV commercial Meerkat would say "Simples"
The disk used was a 256GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s which is their latest generation of SSD.
2010/04/01
Port your Mobile number in a day
Ofcom is holding a short consultation on allowing consumers to port their number to a new mobile network with 1 working day.
Ofcom put forward four options to the mobile network operators (MNOs), which were: -
* Option A: recipient-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option B: donor-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option C: recipient-led process with porting completed the next working day
* Option D: donor-led process with porting completed the next working day
Ofcom wanted to have porting occur within 2 hours, but lost a legal battle from the MNOs and so Ofcom has now agreed on Option D which is the same process that takes place now (using a donor PAC code) but the time has been reduced from 2 working days to 1 working day. The PAC code must be supplied in 2 hours or less by phone or SMS.
A 2 hour port could have been achievable, but this would have meant holding a central database containing numbers and which network they belong. This would have meant expense and it also didn't suit the MNOs (who use HLR records to say the number is ported and point to the new network).
The consultation closes on 13/05/10
Ofcom put forward four options to the mobile network operators (MNOs), which were: -
* Option A: recipient-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option B: donor-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option C: recipient-led process with porting completed the next working day
* Option D: donor-led process with porting completed the next working day
Ofcom wanted to have porting occur within 2 hours, but lost a legal battle from the MNOs and so Ofcom has now agreed on Option D which is the same process that takes place now (using a donor PAC code) but the time has been reduced from 2 working days to 1 working day. The PAC code must be supplied in 2 hours or less by phone or SMS.
A 2 hour port could have been achievable, but this would have meant holding a central database containing numbers and which network they belong. This would have meant expense and it also didn't suit the MNOs (who use HLR records to say the number is ported and point to the new network).
The consultation closes on 13/05/10
Ofcom proposes cuts to mobile termination rates
Ofcom is holding a Consultation on the wholesale mobile termination rates.
The current price controls end on 31st of March 2011 and Ofcom is proposing the following rates: -
2010/11 4.3 4.6
2011/12 2.5 2.5
2012/13 1.5 1.5
2013/14 0.9 0.9
Column one represents Vodafone O2/Orange/T-Mobile and column two represents H3G.
Other mobile network pricing is set on the basis of being fair and reasonable (i.e. this applies to Truphone, UK01 and other new entrants).
The mobile networks have seen the mobile termination rates slashed in recent years which is good news for consumers.
However this still doesn't address the mobile network operators setting retail rates that are unduly high (i.e. some of the new entrants may have a termination rate set by Ofcom of say 2.5p per minute, but the retail rate charged by a MNO is above 40p which prices the new entrant out the market).
The consultation closes on 23/06/10
The current price controls end on 31st of March 2011 and Ofcom is proposing the following rates: -
2010/11 4.3 4.6
2011/12 2.5 2.5
2012/13 1.5 1.5
2013/14 0.9 0.9
Column one represents Vodafone O2/Orange/T-Mobile and column two represents H3G.
Other mobile network pricing is set on the basis of being fair and reasonable (i.e. this applies to Truphone, UK01 and other new entrants).
The mobile networks have seen the mobile termination rates slashed in recent years which is good news for consumers.
However this still doesn't address the mobile network operators setting retail rates that are unduly high (i.e. some of the new entrants may have a termination rate set by Ofcom of say 2.5p per minute, but the retail rate charged by a MNO is above 40p which prices the new entrant out the market).
The consultation closes on 23/06/10
Who wants to broadcast at the London Olympics
Ofcom is published a document on broadcasting at the London Olympics in 2012 and is inviting interested parties to apply.
It is expected that applicants will want short-term licenses for the duration of the London Olympics and Paralympics Games, which could be used for sports coverage in various languages etc.
A 'preliminary expression of interest' should include the following information:
* the name of your organisation
* the type of service(s) you would like to provide (sports coverage / cultural programming / tourist information / foreign language etc.)
* the number of programme services you would like to provide and the total data capacity you expect to use in order to provide these
* the location of the service(s) you would like to operate (i.e. the geographical area you wish to cover)
* the type of digital technology you would propose to use (DAB etc)
* the number and approximate locations of transmitters you expect would be required to deliver * the proposed service multiplex
* the duration that such a service or services would operate for
* a brief outline of your proposed business model
* your contact details
As the analogue bands are pretty much already in use (there is some medium wave spectrum available) it looks like licensees will need to be on a digital mutliplex so pretty well rules out your local pirate radio station then.
Applicants can apply to Radio2012
It is expected that applicants will want short-term licenses for the duration of the London Olympics and Paralympics Games, which could be used for sports coverage in various languages etc.
A 'preliminary expression of interest' should include the following information:
* the name of your organisation
* the type of service(s) you would like to provide (sports coverage / cultural programming / tourist information / foreign language etc.)
* the number of programme services you would like to provide and the total data capacity you expect to use in order to provide these
* the location of the service(s) you would like to operate (i.e. the geographical area you wish to cover)
* the type of digital technology you would propose to use (DAB etc)
* the number and approximate locations of transmitters you expect would be required to deliver * the proposed service multiplex
* the duration that such a service or services would operate for
* a brief outline of your proposed business model
* your contact details
As the analogue bands are pretty much already in use (there is some medium wave spectrum available) it looks like licensees will need to be on a digital mutliplex so pretty well rules out your local pirate radio station then.
Applicants can apply to Radio2012
2010/03/30
Ubiquisys makes a femto cell for less than $100
Ubiquisys have produced their "Femto-Engine" which has all the software needed for a femto cell and they also supply blueprints for any additional hardware that's required so original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have all the information required to produce a working cell.
$100 has been a key price as this should enable mobile network operators (MNO) to bundle the femto cells for free with their service. Currently in the UK Vodafone sell their SureSignal femto cell for £50 (if the customer has a certain price plan for their mobile). In the US AT&T charge $150 for their microcell product.
There is a volume requirement to hit the sub $100 price, an OEM would need to order 100,000 in one go. Any MNO with any volume should be able to shift that kind of number easily, especially as it's highly beneficial to them as femto cells mean loading on their traditional networks is reduced.
These femto cells are only 3G units as it's much more difficult to produce 2G femto cells (and they require frequency planning), but it's the 3G traffic (i.e. mainly data) that is a real problem for the MNOs, so femto cells in the long term and as LTE comes into play are a no brainer.
$100 has been a key price as this should enable mobile network operators (MNO) to bundle the femto cells for free with their service. Currently in the UK Vodafone sell their SureSignal femto cell for £50 (if the customer has a certain price plan for their mobile). In the US AT&T charge $150 for their microcell product.
There is a volume requirement to hit the sub $100 price, an OEM would need to order 100,000 in one go. Any MNO with any volume should be able to shift that kind of number easily, especially as it's highly beneficial to them as femto cells mean loading on their traditional networks is reduced.
These femto cells are only 3G units as it's much more difficult to produce 2G femto cells (and they require frequency planning), but it's the 3G traffic (i.e. mainly data) that is a real problem for the MNOs, so femto cells in the long term and as LTE comes into play are a no brainer.
2010/03/29
Ofcom consult on spectrum fees
Ofcom is holding a consultation on the way it charges for spectrum (not the old Sinclair computer, but the radio spectrum).
The consultation "SRSP: The revised Framework for Spectrum Pricing" takes not only the management costs into account but also the value of the spectrum to the licensee so Ofcom may charge a premium for certain licenses.
In the UK (as part of the EU) spectrum is a scarcity and therefore a valuable commodity (radio doesn't abide by national boundaries) and spectrum shortages will be likely. Ofcom has to maximise the use of radio spectrum and to this end has introduced 'administered incentive pricing' (AIP) which is where the premium comes in.
Stakeholders are requested to respond by 21/06/2010.
The Consultation is on Ofcom's site
The consultation "SRSP: The revised Framework for Spectrum Pricing" takes not only the management costs into account but also the value of the spectrum to the licensee so Ofcom may charge a premium for certain licenses.
In the UK (as part of the EU) spectrum is a scarcity and therefore a valuable commodity (radio doesn't abide by national boundaries) and spectrum shortages will be likely. Ofcom has to maximise the use of radio spectrum and to this end has introduced 'administered incentive pricing' (AIP) which is where the premium comes in.
Stakeholders are requested to respond by 21/06/2010.
The Consultation is on Ofcom's site
T-Morange to build new network?
The new company that is the merged T-Mobile and Orange is thinking about building a brand new network in the UK. This will use equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei and will support the frequency range from 900MHz to 2.6GHz (2600MHz).
This will allow the company to take advantage of new or refarmed spectrum that may become available in 2012, it will also allow rapid roll-out of new services based on GSM, UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G).
Neither T-Mobile nor Orange have any spectrum in 900MHz, but they're lobbying Ofcom that Vodafone and O2 should give up some of their spectrum when GSM spectrum can be used for 3G services. Currently the combined spectrum that T-Mobile and Orange own exceeds the license limitations for any single operator.
Ofcom have not yet auctioned 2.6GHz which initially was reserved for IMT-2000 use (the technical name for 3G) and due to various legal issues brought against Ofcom by the mobile operators wont be available now until at least 2012. There's likely to be a lot of interest in this band as it offers the potential high data rates (there's 190MHz of spectrum available). It's likely BT will bid for it as they can use it for WiMAX or other wireless broadband technology in rural areas and 3G services in urban areas as they've wanted to offer business mobile services for a while.
This will allow the company to take advantage of new or refarmed spectrum that may become available in 2012, it will also allow rapid roll-out of new services based on GSM, UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G).
Neither T-Mobile nor Orange have any spectrum in 900MHz, but they're lobbying Ofcom that Vodafone and O2 should give up some of their spectrum when GSM spectrum can be used for 3G services. Currently the combined spectrum that T-Mobile and Orange own exceeds the license limitations for any single operator.
Ofcom have not yet auctioned 2.6GHz which initially was reserved for IMT-2000 use (the technical name for 3G) and due to various legal issues brought against Ofcom by the mobile operators wont be available now until at least 2012. There's likely to be a lot of interest in this band as it offers the potential high data rates (there's 190MHz of spectrum available). It's likely BT will bid for it as they can use it for WiMAX or other wireless broadband technology in rural areas and 3G services in urban areas as they've wanted to offer business mobile services for a while.
2010/03/26
Innovate 100 winners and losers
The Innovate100 London Pitch!Slam competition took place last night. The event slowly took shape at the Media Hub in Carnaby Street.
There were 6 pitches then a break (and alcohol) and another 6 pitches. This was unfortunate as the second set of pitchers were confronted with a noisy audience who were now fuelled and some even slightly aggressive.
DBVu gave their first real public pitch as the first of the second round pitches, it went reasonably well (even if I say so myself), however it may have been slightly early in the scheme of things as DBVu haven't released any product as yet which would give them a low "G/score" which is the rating system used by Innovate100.
The event winners were Skimlinks who make it easy for publishers to earn money from affiliate marketing and Shutl who have a very innovative site allowing E-Commerce sites to deliver within 90 minutes or any (customer) chosen 1 hour slot.
As an established start-up it's worth applying to a local Pitch!Slam session.
There were 6 pitches then a break (and alcohol) and another 6 pitches. This was unfortunate as the second set of pitchers were confronted with a noisy audience who were now fuelled and some even slightly aggressive.
DBVu gave their first real public pitch as the first of the second round pitches, it went reasonably well (even if I say so myself), however it may have been slightly early in the scheme of things as DBVu haven't released any product as yet which would give them a low "G/score" which is the rating system used by Innovate100.
The event winners were Skimlinks who make it easy for publishers to earn money from affiliate marketing and Shutl who have a very innovative site allowing E-Commerce sites to deliver within 90 minutes or any (customer) chosen 1 hour slot.
As an established start-up it's worth applying to a local Pitch!Slam session.
2010/03/23
Ofcom consults on two new TLAs, WBA and WLA
Ofcom has announced two new consultations (both close on 01/06/2010): -
* Wholesale Local Access market
* Wholesale Broadband Access
WLA is concerned with BT offering fibre-to-the-(street) Cabinet or FTTC / fibre-to-the premises FTTP services to 3rd parties (i.e. other operators) and this is likely to be done using Virtual Unbundled Local Access (VULA) i.e. BT will have to provide a virtual connection across its network to the 3d party. BT will also have to make available duct or pole space to allow 3rd parties to install their own fibre deployments known as Physical infrastructure access (PIA).
WBA is concerned with broadband market across the UK and where companies have significant market power or SMP. BT is SMP for most of the UK with the noticeable exception of Hull which is is serviced by Kingston Communications who have SMP. However where local local unbundled services are offered by at least 3 other operators, BT do not have SMP.
The are therefore four separate geographic markets:
* The Hull area (covering 0.7% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where KCOM is the only operator.
* Market 1 (covering 16.4% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where BT is the only operator.
* Market 2 (covering 13.7% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where there are 2 or 3 operators.
* Market 3 (covering 69.2% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where there are 4 or more operators.
KCOM hold a position of SMP in the Hull Area. BT hold a position of SMP in Market 1 and in Market 2, but that no operator holds a position of SMP in Market 3.
Ofcom want to take steps to ensure growth with occur in markets 1 and 2 and BT can not make excessive price rises.
Anyone can respond to the consultations via the Ofcom website for WBA and WLA
* Wholesale Local Access market
* Wholesale Broadband Access
WLA is concerned with BT offering fibre-to-the-(street) Cabinet or FTTC / fibre-to-the premises FTTP services to 3rd parties (i.e. other operators) and this is likely to be done using Virtual Unbundled Local Access (VULA) i.e. BT will have to provide a virtual connection across its network to the 3d party. BT will also have to make available duct or pole space to allow 3rd parties to install their own fibre deployments known as Physical infrastructure access (PIA).
WBA is concerned with broadband market across the UK and where companies have significant market power or SMP. BT is SMP for most of the UK with the noticeable exception of Hull which is is serviced by Kingston Communications who have SMP. However where local local unbundled services are offered by at least 3 other operators, BT do not have SMP.
The are therefore four separate geographic markets:
* The Hull area (covering 0.7% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where KCOM is the only operator.
* Market 1 (covering 16.4% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where BT is the only operator.
* Market 2 (covering 13.7% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where there are 2 or 3 operators.
* Market 3 (covering 69.2% of UK premises): those areas covered by exchanges where there are 4 or more operators.
KCOM hold a position of SMP in the Hull Area. BT hold a position of SMP in Market 1 and in Market 2, but that no operator holds a position of SMP in Market 3.
Ofcom want to take steps to ensure growth with occur in markets 1 and 2 and BT can not make excessive price rises.
Anyone can respond to the consultations via the Ofcom website for WBA and WLA
2010/03/22
50% discount to London Innovate100 pitch event
DBVu are pitching at Innovate100 at the London event.
If anyone wants to go there's a 50% discount on offer by clicking here. This means it's €20 to go to the event.
Anyone would be welcome.
If anyone wants to go there's a 50% discount on offer by clicking here. This means it's €20 to go to the event.
Anyone would be welcome.
2010/03/18
The Digital Economy Bill gets FAST approval
The controversial Digital Economy Bill (DEB) which was passed by the House of Lords this week. ISPs and other technology organisations have been saying that further investigation is required and the Bill should not be rushed through Parliament as there are various cost implications which would mean pricing increases for consumers.
BIS estimate that implementing the DEB will cost around £35m and £30m pa JUST in letter writing (to implement the 3 strike rule). The Government is under heavy pressure from licensing authorities and the traditional recording industry.
Now FAST (the Federation Against Software Theft) has joined the foray, but in supporting the DEB saying “Delaying the legislation unnecessarily in the Commons will not help".
The DEB needs further discussions and should not be rapidly passed into law.
BIS estimate that implementing the DEB will cost around £35m and £30m pa JUST in letter writing (to implement the 3 strike rule). The Government is under heavy pressure from licensing authorities and the traditional recording industry.
Now FAST (the Federation Against Software Theft) has joined the foray, but in supporting the DEB saying “Delaying the legislation unnecessarily in the Commons will not help".
The DEB needs further discussions and should not be rapidly passed into law.
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