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[20/10/06]
Briga de gente grande
por Jana de Paula

O WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA), criticou duramente, hoje, um press release que classificou de "obtuso", publicado na semana passada pelo Yankee Group. O comunicado do Yankee declara que o standard do WiMAX móvel "não será realidade antes de 2008". O estudo afirma, também, que o exagero em torno da tecnologia e a falta de normas têm como meta "enfraquecer a adoção potencial do WiMAX".
O WiSOA considera que, ao contrário, há muitas normas globais da indústria que sustentam a interface aérea a partir do padrão IEEE802.16e. Estas estão afeitas a bandas de freqüências limitadas e restritas, suportadas pelo WiMAX Fórum, que igualmente instrui a indústria a respeito destas normas. Ler mais

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[16/10/06]
O forte, o popular e o cliente
por Jana de Paula
 
Ao mesmo tempo em que se reconhece a necessidade crescente de convergência na mobilidade, parece longe o fim da disputa de mercado entre as duas tecnologias dominantes na telefonia celular - GSM e CDMA.

As organizações que reúnem e mobilizam cada um destes dois padrões se esmeram em dizer que um tende a suplantar o outro. O CDMA tem mais tecnologia, dizem uns. O GSM reúne maior número de assinantes, afirmam outros. Basta uma análise mais atenta, no entanto, para verificar que o caminho, neste caso, é o do meio.

O fato é que os dois padrões vão bem em suas linhas de atuação. Tanto assim que a estratégia de ambos para os próximos anos é ocupar maior espaço um no mercado do outro. A Qualcomm e sua indiscutível tecnologia CDMA quer também o mercado low-cost, low-ARPU. O GSM, por sua vez, arregaça as mangas para ganhar em velocidade, capacidade de armazenamento e novos tipos de serviço de valor agregado para manter sua extensa base de assinantes global. Ler mais.

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[03/10/06]
"Post" no BLOCO do Portal WirelessBRASIL:

• A jornalista Jana de Paula, diretora de conteúdo do Thesis, participante da nossa ComUnidade, escreve diretamente da Futurecom.
Futurecom 2006 - Presença Virtual

- Estranhamento por Jana de Paula -  "O Ministério das Comunicações não está em lua-de-mel com as operadoras de telecomunicações. Isto ficou claro nestas primeiras 24 horas do Futurecom 2006, inaugurado ontem no Centro de Convenções de Florianópolis (SC). Em sua palestra na cerimônia de abertura do evento, o ministro Hélio Costa se ressentiu das críticas feitas à escolha da tecnologia japonesa para o padrão de TV Digital; criticou o índice de penetração em domicílios da telefonia fixa; e disse que, no país, quem formula a política do setor é o Minicom." Ler mais: Estranhamento

- Moto Q: veloz  por Jana de Paula - "Vivo e Motorola lançaram hoje o Moto Q, smartpohone para múltiplas tarefas. O novo aparelho - com 11,9 mm de espessura - é o garoto propaganda da mais agressiva campanha da Vivo, que cobrará R$ 599 pelo aparelho, e R$ 69,90 pela assinatura do serviço de conexão sem fio à internet em banda larga. De acordo com Enrique Ussher, presidente da Motorola Brasil, o device é voltado a aplicações que requerem produtividade para o mercado corporativo e atua como ferramenta de entretenimento ao cliente final." Ler mais: Moto Q: veloz

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[26/09/06]

MVNO: além da vã filosofia

"Post" no BLOCO do Portal WirelessBRASIL:

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[11/09/06]
11 de setembro, o 'bizz'
por Jana de Paula

Tio Patinhas não poderia ter nascido em outro país que não os Estados Unidos. Onde mais grandes tragédias transformam-se em fonte de lucro? Longe de fazer bazófia com algo tão sério quanto o ataque às Torres Gêmeas do World Trade Center, há cinco anos, em New York, nos propomos a um exercício de pragmatismo.
É claro que, neste momento, nem mesmo os americanos do Norte estão mais tão seguros quanto aos motivos de os EUA perpetuarem a disputa com o povos do Oriente, cujo estopim foi o 11 de setembro de 2001. Assim, não seremos nós mais realistas do que o rei. A verdade sobre os ataques às Duas Torres ainda está para ser contada. Ou melhor, seus mais recentes capítulos são escritos diariamente, como a lista inacabável de notícias de uma grande agência internacional.

Por isso, continuemos com nosso exercício. E sejamos francos: houve lucros estupendos desde aquele fatídico atentado. Não. Não tenho estatísticas e balanços que comprovem o fato. Não é politicamente correto anunciar lucros oriundos de tragédias, ao menos no caso de companhias bem-estabelecidas. Enquanto alguns setores - como os de aviação e seguros amargaram maus momentos nos 12 meses imediatos aos atentados, outros se transformaram em chave de superação e porta de acesso a novos mercados. Ler mais

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[01/08/06] 
Spots sobre IPTV

Na coluna À Propósito, a diretora de conteúdo do Thesis, Jana de Paula, analisa a importância do Mobile Marketing e do conteúdo no ambiente de IPTV, a partir da análises da indústria e institutos de pesquisa.

Mobile Marketing e conteúdo são dois conceitos que começam a adquirir contornos mais nítidos no ambiente de IPTV (televisão por protocolo IP). Eles se apresentam como a chave para solucionar um dado importante neste universo – o preço dos serviços. Os usuários demonstram bastante sensibilidade em relação aos custo de novos serviços de IPVT, broadcasting, DHV-B (Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld) etc. O Yankee Group, em recente pesquisa, assinala que o consumidor norte-americano médio, por exemplo, quer checar preço e valor da nova experiência. E apenas a metade dos assinantes pretende gastar mais em serviços de dados que atualmente. Mas, destes, 24% o fariam para adquirir vídeo e TV.
Para que operadoras e outros provedores mantenham seus custos mensais a preços razoáveis na batalha pela fidelidade do cliente e não percam mercado na evolução do IPTV, é necessário que os consumidores aceitem a publicidade. Hoje, a maioria dos episódios vídeo e/ou TV através de banda larga, móveis ou não, apresentam spots de patrocinadores. Leia mais

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[01/08/06] 
Redes anti-relacionamento
Texto de Jana de Paula na coluna "À Propósito" do Portal Thesis

Responda rápido: a quantas redes de relacionamento profissional você pertence? Para quantas outras você é convidado semanalmente? Desde que a idéia comprovou que funciona, através da internet, muita coisa evoluiu neste ambiente. É tempo de uma revisão de conceitos. Tem-se verificado que participar dessas redes exige senso de auto-crítica e capacidade de reconhecer não somente o papel de cada participante mas, também, da organização que as mantém. Do contrário, é possível que estas redes trabalhem para o anti-relacionamento.  Leia mais

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[31/07/06]
Fonte: BusinessWeek Online

Emerging Giants

Multinationals from China, India, Brazil, Russia, and even Egypt are coming on strong. They're hungry -- and want your customers. They're changing the global game

Like other rural residents of southern Mississippi, Jamie Lucenberg, 35, faced a huge cleanup job last fall in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He needed a tractor fast to clear debris and trees from his 17-acre family farm, just 16 miles north of devastated Biloxi. "We literally had to cut our way up and down the blacktop roads," recalls Lucenberg.

But rather than buy an American-made John Deere or New Holland, brands he grew up with, Lucenberg chose a shiny red Mahindra 5500 made by India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. "I have been around equipment all my life," says Lucenberg, who also used the tractor to earn extra money clearing destroyed homes along the Gulf Coast. But for $27,000, complete with a front loader, the 54-hp Mahindra "is by far the best for the money. It has more power and heavier steel," Lucenberg says. "When you lock it into four-wheel drive, you can move 3,000 pounds like nothing. That thing's an animal." The local dealership in nearby Saucier, Miss. (population 1,300), figures it has sold 300 Mahindras in the past four months.

Surprised that a company from India is penetrating a U.S. market long dominated by venerable names like Deere & Co.? Then it's time to take a look at how globalization has come full circle. A new breed of ambitious multinational is rising on the world scene, presenting both challenges and opportunities for established global players.

These new contenders hail from seemingly unlikely places, developing nations such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, and even Egypt and South Africa. They are shaking up entire industries, from farm equipment and refrigerators to aircraft and telecom services, and changing the rules of global competition.

Unlike Japanese and Korean conglomerates, which benefited from protection and big profits at home before they took on the world, these are mostly companies that have prevailed in brutally competitive domestic markets, where local companies have to duke it out with homegrown rivals and Western multinationals every day. As a result, these emerging champions must make profits at price levels unheard of in the U.S. or Europe. Indian generic drugmakers, for example, often charge customers in their home market as little as 1% to 2% of what people pay in the U.S. Cellular outfits in North Africa, Brazil, and India offer phone service for pennies per minute. Yet these companies often thrive in such tough environments. Egyptian cellular operator Orascom boasts margins of 49%; Mahindra's pretax profit rose 81% last year.

Some already are marquee names. Lenovo Group, the Chinese computer maker, made waves last year by buying IBM's (IBM ) $11 billion PC business. Indian software outfits Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro (WIT ) have revolutionized the $650 billion technology services industry. Johannesburg brewer SABMiller PLC is challenging Anheuser-Busch Cos.' (BUD ) leadership right in the U.S.

These companies are just the first wave. The biggest international cellular provider? Soon it may be Mexico's América Móvil (AMX ), which boasts more than 100 million Latin American subscribers and led BusinessWeek's latest rankings of the world's top information technology companies. Never heard of Hong Kong's Techtronic Industries Ltd.? If you buy power tools at Home Depot Inc. (HD ), where its products now fill the aisles, you probably know some of the brands it manufactures: Ryobi, Milwaukee, and RIDGID. Brazil's Embraer has surged past Canada's Bombardier as the world's No. 3 aircraft maker and is winning midsize-jet orders that otherwise would have gone to larger planes by Airbus and Boeing (BA ). Western telecom equipment leaders have long looked down on China's Huawei Technologies Co. as a mere copier of their designs. But last year, Huawei snared $8 billion in new orders, including contracts from British Telecommunications PLC (BT ) for its $19 billion program to transform Britain's telecom network. The deal "sent a chill through the rest of the telecom manufacturers," says analyst Michael Howard of Infonetics Research Inc. in Campbell, Calif.

Many more companies are using their bases in the developing world as springboards to build global empires, such as Mexican cement giant Cemex, Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy, and Russia's Lukoil (LUKOY ), which has hundreds of gas stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. "What is surprising is the amount of progress emerging-market companies have made in the last few years," says Harold L. Sirkin, senior vice-president at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which recently published a study based on data collected from 3,000 companies in 12 developing nations. BCG identified 100 emerging multinationals that appear positioned to "radically transform industries and markets around the world." The 100 had a combined $715 billion in revenue in 2005, $145 billion in operating profits, and a half-trillion dollars in assets. They have grown at a 24% annual clip in the past four years. "There is no doubt in my mind that Corporate America has started to take this threat seriously," Sirkin adds.

What makes these upstarts global contenders? Their key advantages are access to some of the world's most dynamic growth markets and immense pools of low-cost resources, be they production workers, engineers, land, petroleum, or iron ore. But these aspiring giants are about much more than low cost. The best of the pack are proving as innovative and expertly run as any in the business, astutely absorbing global consumer trends and technologies and getting new products to market faster than their rivals. Techtronic, for example, was the first to sell heavy-duty cordless tools powered by lightweight lithium ion batteries. Jetmaker Embraer's sleek EMB 190, which seats up to 118, has taken smaller commercial aircraft to a new level with a fuselage design that offers the legroom and overhead luggage space of much larger planes. Globalization and the Internet are ushering in this "seismic change" to the competitive landscape, says management guru Ram Charan. Because they can tap the same managerial talent, information, and capital as Western companies, "anyone from anywhere who sets his mind to it can really restructure an industry," Charan says. "Make no mistake, this now is a global game."

U.S. corporations, of course, have weathered waves of new rivals before. The 1960s and '70s saw the rise of Western European industrial groups such as Unilever, Philips, Siemens (SI ), and Volkswagen. Then came Japanese giants such as Sony (SNE ) and Toyota, followed by South Korean powerhouses such as Hyundai and Samsung and Taiwanese electronics conglomerates in the '90s. Each time, chief executives found themselves caught off guard. The best U.S. corporations adapted and emerged stronger than before.

Yet this new group of game-changing companies is different on many levels. For starters, the new players are coming from many nations at once and deploying an array of strategies. They're also arriving from lands that, while growing fast, remain relatively poor. Germany and Japan were industrial powers before World War II and built on those strengths to reemerge as global heavyweights. By contrast, China and India have begun to emerge from extreme poverty only in recent decades. Per capita income in China is still just $1,300 a year. In India it's $620. That sounds like a huge handicap for companies from those nations: It implies low-income customers, meager capital, and hand-me-down technologies. It also means struggling with arcane regulations, corruption, and poor infrastructure.

Fit Survivors
Hardscrabble origins, though, can be a vital source of strength. These companies have learned to make money by developing reliable, easy-to-use goods and services at very low prices. And those skills have equipped them well for operating elsewhere in the Third World. Telcos such as Orascom and India's Bharti Telecom, for example, earn high margins while selling cellular service in some nations for 2 cents or 3 cents a minute, while América Móvil pioneered the use of pay-as-you-go cellular service that allows the masses to pay as little as $4.50 for a prepaid card. India has some of the lowest pharmaceutical prices in the world. The country has 101 brands of generic ciprofloxacin, used to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia and anthrax, costing an average of 63 cents for 10 tablets of 500mg each. That compares with $51 for generic ciprofloxacin in the U.S., according to Ranbaxy Laboratories. "By learning to compete in this environment, we have gained strength in development and marketing that helps us around the world," says Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh.

The late 1990s proved to be a time of key opportunity for these companies. In the wake of financial crises in Asia, Latin America, and Russia, many Western companies and banks pulled back from all but a few developing nations. Well-run local players bought assets from retreating Westerners on the cheap and doggedly pursued opportunities from Nigeria to Pakistan to Colombia. From 1995 to 2003, the World Bank estimates, corporate investment from one developing nation to another more than tripled, to $47 billion annually. It probably has neared $60 billion since.

That leaves the new multinationals in a strong position. Over the next decade, the World Bank projects, developing nations' share of world gross domestic product is expected to grow from one-fifth to one-third. During the next two decades, predicts Goldman, Sachs & Co. (GS ), China, India, Brazil, and Russia alone will add to their populations some 225 million consumers who earn at least $15,000 a year. That's more than the combined population of Germany and Japan. Of 1.2 billion new cellular-phone subscribers worldwide by 2010, estimates Pyramid Research in Cambridge, Mass., 86% will be in developing nations. Chicago economic consultant Keystone India figures emerging markets will make up 69% of all new car sales by 2030, compared with 26% now.

Where they choose to fight, of course, the established multinationals still hold big advantages over the upstarts. Citibank (C ), General Electric (GE ), Honda (HMC ), HSBC (HBC ), Motorola (MOT ), Nokia (NOK ), and Philips (PHG ) are masters at using low-cost manufacturing, engineering, and managerial talent from Bangalore to São Paulo. Few developing-nation companies have such management agility.

That's especially true in China, where promising consumer-electronics makers such as Bird, Konka, and TCL have stumbled because of overcapacity at home and poorly managed acquisitions abroad. "Everyone sees Chinese enterprises as a threat, but in fact they face a lot of difficulties going global," concedes Zhang Xuebin, CEO of $1.5 billion color TV maker Skyworth Digital Holding Ltd.

The best emerging multinationals, though, have amassed piles of cash, have built global research and development networks, and boast world-class management. You get the idea how far some companies have come by touring Embraer's campus in São José dos Campos, the size of 55 soccer fields. On the floor of one hangar, dozens of workers in impeccable overalls put the finishing touches on three luxurious Legacy 600 corporate jets that seat up to 16. In a classroom perched above the assembly line, 30 engineers enrolled in the company's graduate aerospace program fine-tune a PowerPoint presentation on a hypothetical new jet they have designed after conducting exhaustive market research and cost-feasibility studies.

Local Heroes
Other emerging players are using their access to deep pools of low-cost local engineers and experience gained in developing nations to close the gap with Western incumbents. Just three years ago, Huawei was known in the U.S. mainly as the company that Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO ) caught copying its designs. But Huawei, which spent $558 million in R&D last year and employs 7,000 engineers at its sprawling Shenzhen campus, is winning respect globally. Last year 57% of its sales were outside China. It boasts a 15% market share in Asia and 9% in Latin America, cutting sharply into Cisco's lead in those regions. Huawei is the global leader in the rapidly growing equipment market for voice-over-Internet protocol service.

Besides undercutting Western rivals' prices by 20% to 50%, Huawei is adept at designing equipment appropriate for developing nations. "A Cisco always starts a discussion with its software superiority," says Steven Davidson, leader of strategic change at IBM in Asia. "But many companies in developing nations would rather pay half the price for software that gets the job done."

A raft of Indian companies also have gotten in position for a U.S. assault after building heft at the margins of the global economy. Ranbaxy may rank just No. 14 in the $28 billion U.S. market for prescription generic drugs. But it is a leader in nations like Nigeria and Brazil. It has earned goodwill by being one of the biggest suppliers of $1-a-day generic AIDS treatments to Africa at cost, and hopes to have its own new malaria drug on the market by 2008. It has also snapped up smaller generic drugmakers in Belgium, Italy, and Romania. When Ranbaxy first began to market its drugs in Europe, recalls CEO Singh, its sales staff was often kept waiting hours before skeptical purchasing managers would hear their pitch. Now, Ranbaxy is a top supplier in much of Europe, and 80% of its $1.2 billion in revenues comes from overseas. It has staff in 49 nations, plants in seven, and an R&D team of 1,100 at its 17-acre campus outside New Delhi.

Ranbaxy hopes this R&D base will enable it to vault into the top five in the U.S. by 2012 and to No. 1 globally, passing Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. It has 58 generic medicines pending U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval, including a version of the anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor. Ranbaxy's pipeline is the second-biggest in the generic industry.

How can Western multinationals respond? The first step is to begin respecting the new competition. That is the attitude David C. Everitt, president of Deere's $10.5 billion agricultural division, is adopting toward Mahindra. Everitt concedes the Indian rival could someday pass Deere in global unit sales. Mahindra dominates the Indian market, which is bigger even than America's, and is especially strong in the small tractors that account for two-thirds of U.S. sales. But Deere also is picking up its game by, among other things, boosting R&D in higher-end tractors for mega-farms in the U.S., Europe, and Brazil, and expanding its own production in India and elsewhere. "We are not afraid of competition," Everitt says. "It gets the juices going and helps us find ways to be better."

Standing Pat
Another strategy is to refuse to cede ground either at home or abroad. Last year, Whirlpool Corp. (WHR ) agreed to pay a surprisingly high $2.8 billion to buy Maytag Corp. It wanted to keep Maytag out of the hands of China's Haier, which is ramping up in the U.S. and had made a rival bid. Cisco, meanwhile, is keeping up the pressure in China, Huawei's home market. Cisco continues to win large orders from Chinese corporations, has plowed $650 million into Chinese tech startups, and has forged a tieup with local Huawei rival ZTE Corp.

Then there's always the strategy of joining the new challengers. Nortel Networks Ltd. (NT ) and 3Com (COMS ) have formed telecom equipment and design ventures with Huawei. And Navistar International Corp. in Warrenville, Ill., has a joint venture with Mahindra to build trucks and buses for export. "These companies can be opportunities," says BCG's Sirkin, "if you can work with them."

No matter how the big U.S. companies respond, gone is the era when they could afford to wait for an emerging market to ripen, then count on their ability to roll over the unsophisticated local players. "If you don't participate in these markets, you not only miss opportunities but also are cut out of all the innovation that comes from competing there," says University of Michigan management strategist C.K. Prahalad. "Then you won't be able to withstand the pressure when these companies come and hit you here." Whether one chooses to confront or collaborate, the new multinationals are set to change the rules in industry after industry.

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26/05/06
Fonte: TechRepublic

Dell embraces Google
by Stefanie Olsen , Staff Writer, CNET News.com | Published: 5/25/06

Deal between the search giant and the PC maker gets Google into new territory. It's a strike against Google rival Microsoft.

Google and Dell have agreed to a first in a series of deals to preinstall Web and desktop search software on the PC maker's computers, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Thursday.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference in Las Vegas, Schmidt discussed details of a long-rumored deal between the No. 1 search engine and the No. 1 PC maker, which is a strike against Google rival Microsoft. Under the deal, millions of Dell PCs will be loaded with the Google toolbar for Web and PC search, along with a co-branded home page, before they're shipped to consumers.

Financial details were not disclosed, but Schmidt said the companies will share revenue from search-advertising fees.

"The real reason we do this is for users," Schmidt said. People "turn the Dell machine on, and everything is integrated right there. (This deal) is a turnkey solution for search."

A Dell representative said that the deal will not hamper consumer choice on the Dell desktop, however. "Our motivation is to deliver customers tools that enable them to search and organize information quickly and easily, right out of the box...Dell customers will have the option of choosing Microsoft as their default if they prefer."

The deal covers Dell PCs sold to consumers and certain corporations.

As well as the Dell agreement, Schmidt talked about other coming Google services in a question-and-answer session at the conference.

For example, Google plans to introduce a targeted voice advertising service for Internet radio in the coming months, he said. The company is working to convert technologies for creating radio ads to complement its own advertising platform.

Listen up
The Google-Dell alliance During the Goldman Sachs Seventh Annual Internet Conference on Thursday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt breaks down the deal with Dell.

Download mp3 (787 KB)

"Targeted advertising is known to work...There's every reason to think it will for radio," he said.

Google is eyeing other complementary services for advertising. One such service would allow marketers to buy "run of site" promotional packages for itself or for partners' sites, Schmidt said.

The Web company is testing pay-per-call plans, which let marketers advertise in keyword search results and pay only when people call a 1-800-number for the promoted service. "Eventually, we'll roll it out," he said.

The Google-Dell deal comes on the same day Yahoo and eBay announced a three-year marketing deal that effectively combines their resources against rivals Google and Microsoft. Under terms of that agreement, Yahoo will provide graphical and search-related ads to eBay sites. In turn, eBay's PayPal will be the default online payment service on Yahoo.

In answer to a question about competition, Schmidt said eBay isn't a rival but rather a partner that he sees will grow closer to Google in the coming years. eBay will likely grow stronger because of its partnership with Yahoo, he said.

In contrast, Schmidt said he views Microsoft and Yahoo as clear competitors.

To be sure, Yahoo and Microsoft were reportedly vying for search-bar real estate on Dell PCs before Google sealed the deal. Schmidt said that Dell has been testing its software for the last six months.

Still, at least one analyst was largely unimpressed with the Google-Dell agreement.

Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Techworld, said: "It strikes me as a great deal for Dell, as they are basically selling dead space, and a bad deal for Google, as I doubt that they will collect many incremental eyeballs beyond the ones they have now."

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12/05/03

Fonte: Mobile Tech Today
DoCoMo 3G Phones Get Windows Media
By Jay Wrolstad
May 11, 2006 9:15AM

Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo will use Microsoft's Windows Media technology on its next-generation mobile phones, enabling customers initially to play tunes on their handsets and, at some point down the line, video too.
The carrier, a pioneer in third-generation (3G) wireless networks, said the Windows Media Audio platform, including its built-in copyright-protection technology, will be added to the company's FOMA (freedom of mobile media) handsets, starting with the F902iS model that will be released this summer.
As a result of the deal, the phones will be able to play music downloaded to a PC from some 100 online music services, as well songs ripped from CDs in Windows Media Audio format.

Digital Rights Is Key
Mobile music services are beginning to come into their own, with Sprint Nextel, Verizon, and Cingular all offering variations that include direct downloads to the phone.
Analysts contend that these new services won't replace the iPod, but may prove popular as 3G networks and services continue to roll out globally.
"What's significant about the DoCoMo-Microsoft arrangement is that it includes the Windows Media DRM technology so that users can play the music on multiple devices," said David Linsalata, an analyst at IDC.
"Windows Media is a major player in the desktop space," he said, "and providing compatibility with mobile phones is a key driver of mobile music."

Phone Users Want Tunes
Linsalata said Apple most likely isn't too worried about competition from carriers because most phones have storage capacities in the 1-GB to 2-GB range, compared to some 30 GB of storage space for most iPods.
"The phone is still a voice-centric device, and there will be people who carry both a phone and an MP3 player," the analyst said.
IDC projects that the number of music-enabled handsets will rise from 12 percent of phones shipped worldwide in 2005 to 50 percent by 2009.

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03/05/06

Fonte: News Factor
Don't Expect Vista Until 2Q 2007, Gartner Says

"Don't tie your future too closely to Microsoft's expected release dates for Windows," Gartner wrote in its research note. "Microsoft cannot accurately predict them more than a few months out, and organization that are too reliant on Microsoft making shipment dates are leaving themselves open to excessive risk."

Everybody will have to wait until at least May or June of 2007 for the release of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, according to a report from research firm Gartner. That report pegs the release of Vista at several months later than Microsoft's latest estimate indicates.
In the research note released Tuesday, the analysts pointed to Microsoft's habit of missing target dates for major operating system releases. "History abounds with examples of Microsoft missing deadlines on major versions of Windows," Gartner wrote.
"Microsoft has been much more consistent with minor releases, hitting Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows ME, and Windows XP largely on time," the analysts indicated. "In sum, one should never overestimate how much Microsoft will underestimate the complexity and time needed to deliver a major new client OS."

Beta Time
According to Gartner, Vista will not be available for the general public and shipped on new computers until nine to 12 months after Microsoft releases the Beta 2 version, which is expected to ship this summer. The second beta will serve several functions. Within Microsoft, it signals that the company has attained "a certain level of quality." Outside the company, it involves opening the OS to a broader test audience -- as many as two million users -- who will put the system through the paces.
Microsoft's revised Vista schedule only allows for about five months between Beta 2 and the start of manufacturing. The Gartner analysts contend that more time is required between the two stages if the software giant is to accommodate the issues expected to emerge during broad testing and to allow for final testing before the software goes into production.
"It took 16 months from the time Microsoft shipped Windows 2000 Beta 2 in August 1998 until it was released to manufacturing in December of 1999," the analysts pointed out. "Once Microsoft announced that Windows Vista would miss the holiday season, the urgency to ship on schedule after the holidays was reduced."

Denial Time
The Gartner report also noted that Microsoft's development branch "firmly believes" the scheduled Vista release will make its October or November 2006 deadline in time for it to ship to businesses in late 2006 and for original equipment manufacturers to ship it on new PCs in January 2007.
"The development team sincerely believes this," the analysts noted. "However, development also believed it could do it in time for 2006 holiday availability, and that did not materialize."
For its part, Microsoft said that work on Vista remains on schedule. "We respectfully disagree with Gartner's views around timing of the final delivery of Windows Vista," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "We remain on track to deliver Windows Vista Beta 2 in the second quarter and to deliver the final product to volume license customers in November 2006 and to other businesses and consumers in January 2007."
Gartner recommended that businesses "adopt a managed diversity," bringing in new PCs when needed and not waiting for the release of Vista.
"Don't tie your future too closely to Microsoft's expected release dates for Windows," the analysts concluded. "Microsoft cannot accurately predict them more than a few months out, and organizations that are too reliant on Microsoft making shipment dates are leaving themselves open to excessive risk."

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Fonte: Sci_Tech Today
Sony, Motorola Announce Mesh-Enabled Surveillance Cameras

"Previously, if you wanted to mesh-enable a camera, you needed to attach an ... enhanced wireless router, and the cost of those is a few thousand dollars," the spokeswoman said. "Now, inserting a mesh PC card costs just a few hundred dollars."

Sony Electronics and Motorola today announced two Sony cameras that can be integrated into a Motorola MotoMesh network with a new wireless modem card.
"Before, when we wanted to mesh-enable IP cameras, we needed to connect a piece of mesh hardware to it," said a Motorola spokeswoman. "Now we simply take our MEA 2.4 GHz card, or our MotoMesh 4.9 GHz card, and we insert it into the PCMCIA slot of these IP cameras, and they automatically become part of the mesh network."
As such, the mesh-enabled camera serves a router/repeater that extends the coverage and capacity of the mesh network, the Motorola spokeswoman said. Not only does the new solution result in a sleeker look for the camera, it draws less power than cameras with external modems, which combines with a reduced hardware cost to cut down total deployment costs by as much as 50 percent, she said.
"Previously, if you wanted to mesh-enable a camera, you needed to attach an ... enhanced wireless router, and the cost of those is a few thousand dollars," the spokeswoman said. "Now, inserting a mesh PC card costs just a few hundred dollars."
Unveiled at the ISC West show in Las Vegas, the mesh-enabled Sony IPELA SNC-RX550N/W-MT and SNC-RX550N/B-MT cameras will be sold by Motorola as its mesh camera video networking system designed for security and video surveillance. The cameras are designed for outdoor environments and can be deployed for fixed or mobile applications.
The cameras let personnel remotely control options such as 26-times zoom function, a 360-degree "endless" pan and tilt from 0 to 90 degrees and includes Sony's Real Shot Manager software. The full-range pointing capabilities can be masked to create privacy zones with spherical (three-dimensional) tracing, according to Sony.
"By having the SNC-RX550N/W-MT and B-MT cameras use Motorola's mesh-enabled wireless modem cards, the cost to deploy these networks is reduced dramatically," said Ken LaMarca, general manager of Sony's security group, in a prepared statement. "The cameras' advanced features, coupled with Motorola's mobile mesh-networking technology, bring surveillance to police forces where they nee field."
An IPELA camera with a mesh-enabled PC card will cost about $5,800, Motorola's spokeswoman said. Requests from customers with existing IPELA cameras wanting to mesh-enable the devices with the PCMCIA card will be considered on a case-by-case basis, she said.

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Fonte: Wi-Fi Net News

April 21, 2006
Mesh Standard Might Create Baseline Interop, Not Mix and Match

By Glenn Fleishman

More on the 802.11s mesh standard as word of a January compromise hits trade publications: Apparently, we all missed the news in January and March that progress was made on 802.11s, a mesh standard coming through the IEEE process, because Motorola’s announcement a few days ago that they would support the draft and final version of the standard has sparked several articles. At Wi-Fi Planet, Eric Griffith tries to figure out the scope of what the spec encompasses. This can be tricky, because if you’re outside the IEEE (or inside and not yet a voting member), you don’t have access to the draft itself.
There seems to be a bit of back-and-forth over whether multi-radio outdoor nodes will be accommodated by the final 802.11s. Phil Belanger, who wrote about the indoor, peer-to-peer implications of 802.11s in a white paper published at Wi-Fi Networking News last month, thinks that the impact will be limited to end nodes that can act as mesh devices among each other.
Representatives of Motorola, Strix, and Belanger’s former employer BelAir stated in Griffith’s article that the implications are broader and that the standard now encompasses outdoor, multi-radio units. But none of the firms would suggest that the standard would, in fact, allow fully interoperable outdoor multi-radio nodes! In the best case, they’d have some minimal level of interoperability that would probably not be terribly useful.
Thus Belanger’s original contention seems to be the accurate one, then: in practical terms, it’s niche and end-user nodes that will benefit from 802.11s.

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Fonte: SearchOpenSource.com
Will Schwartz add more Windows to Sun?
By Jack Loftus, News Writer
26 Apr 2006

Perhaps the changing of the guard at Sun Microsystems Inc. was no shock to some. Now pundits can dish over whether or not it will be the start of a new era at Sun – and one that might mean more collaboration with Microsoft.
The company said earlier this week that CEO Scott McNealy was stepping aside so chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz could take the reigns. Not everyone thinks the new CEO will bring big changes. Gordon Haff, a senior analyst at Illuminata Inc., Nashua, N.H., said he doubted the change was much more than Schwartz taking over a role he had already started and fine tuned even while McNealy was in control.
Major moves, including the adoption of x86 architecture, the move to AMD's Opteron processor on low-end hardware and the open sourcing of the Solaris operating system, all bore the mark of Schwartz, Haff said.
And more importantly Schwartz's background, based in software, is one that could see some interesting collaboration in the future -- mainly with Microsoft. Relations between Sun and Microsoft have improved in the past few years -- the "sword has been sheathed," Haff said – and have included healthy doses of interoperability work between the two companies.
The interoperability reflects what the end users have been demanding, said Tony Iams, a senior analyst with Rye Brook, N.Y.-based IDEAS International Inc., and now the idea of pre-installing Windows Server onto Sun boxes is not unthinkable.
"Now that Sun is with x86, to realistically compete in that market you have to have some level of support for Windows," Iams said. "If Apple [Computer] can come in and support Windows, then it makes even more sense for Sun to do so too."
Broad support for Windows would also help Sun stem the flow of lost customers who have defected from Solaris to Linux thanks to free migration programs offered by IBM and Hewlett Packard, said Charles King, founder of Hayward, Calif.-based Pund-IT Research.
However, King said that Sun has made inroads with x86 in the interim with an aggressive campaign to present its Galaxy servers, based on AMD's Opteron processor. And while not as pronounced as the gains in the hardware business, Sun has also seen up ticks in popularity with ISVs thanks to its efforts into open source software.
"Typically systems vendors like Sun don't make a huge amount of money selling open source software, but they do manage to make a healthy profit through alliances with the ISVs and by selling ancillary products to support the open source ISV applications," King said.
As for Java, the pundits said they believed Sun will continue to be careful about retaining control and managing Java for the time being. Schwartz has publicly said he has considered options regarding Java, but to date the company has been reluctant to open source the technology.

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24/04/06

Fonte: NewsFactor Magazine OnLine
Nokia and MIT Look to the Future of Wireless
By Jay Wrolstad
April 24, 2006 8:16AM

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Coleção de Artigos de Jana de Paula

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Bastidores do GSM

O que se conversou extra-oficialmente no 5º Congresso GSM do IBC Brasil
Por Jana de Paula

A sigla GSM está defasada. A tendência mundial do padrão é de crescente adoção do WCDMA e, em alguns mercados, do HSDPA. Até mesmo o EDGE, que há dois anos era reverenciado por sua capacidade e velocidade de transmissão, não passa de um caminho já bastante palmilhado, em fase de substituição nos mercados mais maduros. Segundo o Informa Telecoms & Media, em estudo de 2 de junho passado, o HSDPA já contabiliza 30 redes em serviço, além das 69 em testes na Europa, Israel, Coréia e Kuwait. A estimativa do instituto é que a maioria dos operadores do UMTS migrem para a nova tecnologia, que possibilita velocidade de transmissão até 3,5 vezes superior.
A caduquice do termo GSM para definir o padrão aberto de telefonia celular foi um dos assuntos preferidos dos bastidores da quinta versão do Congresso GSM, de autoria do IBC Brasil, que ocorreu na semana passada, no Rio de Janeiro. Entre uma palestra e outra, comentou-se que muita coisa mudou no ambiente GSM, às vezes de forma inesperada e na contramão de tendências dadas como certas.
Leia mais em Bastidores do GSM

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A pressa dos chineses é ‘zen’

Por Jana de Paula

Se o Brasil vai à China – e o Brasil o tem feito – a China também vem ao Brasil. No caso do setor de telecom, a presença local de fornecedores originários de pontos do planeta que não a Europa e os Estados Unidos significa que nós, por aqui, estamos interessados em outro timing no processo de aquisição de novas tecnologias e serviços. Os chineses, como de resto todos os asiáticos, têm pressa. E os brasileiros também devem ter. Por isso, nada mais natural que buscarmos soluções fora do circuito Disney - Helen Rubinstein. Talvez fôsse este o espírito que norteava as cabeças dos clientes corporativos e representantes de operadoras, no dia 1º de junho passado, quando a estatal chinesa ZTE apresentou seu portfoglio a um restrito e seleto grupo de executivos locais, no Rio de Janeiro.

Pronta para lançar até o final deste ano, no mercado mundial, suas soluções para WiMAX - que suportam mobilidade – e uma das fornecedoras de plataformas para IPTV (ela está entre as proponentes de soluções para a Brasil Telecom), a ZTE quer fortalecer sua presença no fornecimento de serviços de valor agregado (VAS) para o mercado local. Sua família de serviços é suportada por plataformas convergentes (fixo-móvel) e engloba ringback tones, instant messaging corporativo, billing convergente etc. Além de IPTV, sua infra-estrutura inclui elementos de rede como modem, DSALMs, roteadores etc.
Leia mais no site Thesis: A pressa dos chineses é ‘zen’

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O começo do BGAN no Brasil

Por Jana de Paula

Para quem está confortavelmente sentado diante de um desktop ou usa e abusa do laptop em viagens, reuniões e seminários pelo mundo civilizado pode não parecer muita coisa. Mas, convenhamos, a possibilidade de acessar e.mail, trafegar dados pela internet, baixar e subir streaming de vídeo, tudo a taxas similares aos serviços de ADSL, e, ainda, falar ao telefone - mesmo em locais sem antenas celulares, fios de cobre e, até, sem eletricidade, não parece pouco neste mundo de mobilidade. É o que oferece a tecnologia Broadband Global Area Network, ou simplesmente BGAN. E agora, no Brasil, também podemos afirmar:"BGAN has begun".

O lançamento do serviço para a América Latina – que ainda depende de ajustes finais com a Anatel, no Brasil, e agências reguladoras do continente, foi anunciado pela Inmarsat, no último dia 30 de março, na Marina da Glória (RJ), como um dos inúmeros eventos do Volvo Ocean Race, que a dois de abril levantou âncora em direção a Balltimore (EUA). Segundo Michael Butler, chief operation officer (COO) da companhia britânica de satélites, as questões regulatórias estarão concluídas até meados deste mês (abril), para que o serviço esteja cem por cento disponível ao público corporativo latino-americano. Os motivos para o alvoroço são bons.
Leia mais no site Thesis: O começo do BGAN no Brasil
 

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VoIP nas corporações brasileiras

Por Jana de Paula

Usuários domésticos, fornecedores de soluções baseadas em ‘open-source’ e desenvolvedores em geral estão bastante adaptados aos serviços de Voz sobre IP, ou simplesmente VoIP. Muitas empresas em todo o mundo já economizam somas fantásticas com os chamados serviços de IP Telephony, a partir de ferramentas com o Skype e derivados e Asterisk e versões. Mas, o mercado corporativo brasileiro ainda engatinha neste segmento.
A necessidade de obtenção de graus de confiabilidade e segurança das redes não inferiores a 99,9% e o desconhecimento das soluções abertas prestadas por software-houses locais são alguns dos entraves. Mas, no caso das empresas de grande porte, as limitações são maiores. Premidas por contratos draconianos com fornecedores, distribuidores, revendas etc. e, sobretudo, habituadas a receber dos vendors ‘pacotes prontos’ elas hesitam.
Para quem oferece soluções para este mercado a hora é essa. Ao menos este é o feeling da Ericsson, que lançou na semana passada um pacote de soluções de hardware e software voltado para o mercado corporativo de grande porte.
Leia mais no site Thesis: VoIP nas corporações brasileiras

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Paixão pelo conhecimento 

Por Jana de Paula

A informação que circula pelo Thesis é variada e dinâmica e nosso público leitor, sempre ávido por absorvê-las e analisá-las. Por isso, criamos a coluna À Propósito: para complementar as opiniões de nossos articulistas, através de matérias jornalísticas produzidas a partir de entrevistas com executivos, analistas e consultores atualizados. Na inauguração, queremos partilhar a emoção da equipe do Thesis nesta fase de pré-lançamento do site.
Leia mais no site Thesis: Paixão pelo conhecimento   
 

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Inovação com jeito brasileiro - Parte 1 

Por Jana de Paula

A importância que o ponto de vista do cliente adquire nas estratégias e produtos das fornecedoras de soluções de tecnologia, transforma a inovação em diferencial de competividade. Compartilhar informação e risco, trocar a imposição de modelos pela gestão conjunta são algumas das iniciativas de quem investe em inovação no país.
Leia mais no site Thesis: Inovação com jeito brasileiro
 

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Symbian X Windows Mobile: a disputa 

Por Jana de Paula

Os dois gigantes Mirosoft e Nokia disputam palmo a palmo o mercado brasileiro de sistema operacional móvel para telefones inteligentes. Quem vai dominar o cenário, MS Mobile ou Symbian?
Leia mais no site Thesis : Symbian X Windows Mobile: a disputa 

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A nova geração antifraude

Por Jana de Paula

 

Os primeiros sistemas antifraude para a telefonia foram desenvolvidos de sete a dez anos atrás. Eram sistemas caríssimos - uma solução num servidor Sun Microsystems, por exemplo, tinha custo médio de vinte mil dólares e se baseava no conceito de regras e limites. Estas primeiras soluções levavam muito pouco em consideração a necessidade dos assinantes e limitavam as prerrogativas das telcos, suas compradoras. 

Estas ferramentas - que embutem geração de alarmes diários na suspeita de fraude ou o processo de trabalhar a inadimplência recente após 30 dias de sua ocorrência - acrescidas ao pouco conhecimento do mercado por parte das operadoras eram os principais responsáveis pela dificuldade em gerenciar, de fato, a ocorrência de fraude e inadimplência nas chamadas realizadas.
Leia mais no site Thesis : A nova geração antifraude
 

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O fenômeno Mashup

Por Jana de Paula
 
À esta altura você já deve saber o que é Mashup. O termo foi empregado pela primeira vez quando músicos e DJs começaram a ‘jogar’ com duas canções, ou seja, criaram um jeito novo de remix. Do underground londrino, depois novaiorquino e, finalmente, planetário, a técnica extrapolou para uma infinidade de aplicações. Em tecnologia, refere-se a web sites ou aplicações que combinam conteúdo de múltiplas fontes, mas que aparecem "sem costura" para o usuário. “Utilizável” a partir de vários programas (como Web 2.0, Ajax etc.), o mashup transforma-se num fenômeno da cartografia digital graças à sua capacidade de cobrir todo tipo de dados de um mapa online junto às ferramentas de sites de busca como Google e Amazon.
Leia mais no site Thesis: O fenômeno Mashup