Signal Up

Interview with the Grandfather of the Cell Phone Marty Cooper

2010-05-24T12:51:00.002-04:00

The inventor of the cell phone Marty Cooper was recently interviewed in this article of CBS News in which he shared some insights on what he thinks of modern day cellphones. Cooper mentioned in the interview that "Technology has to be invisible. Transparent. Just simple. A modern cell phone in general has an instruction book that's bigger and heavier than the cell phone. That's not right."

He thinks that consumers should dictate exactly what they want from a product and not the engineer because in the end the consumer is king. It'll be interesting to see what will come of wireless communication in the future.

Alcatel-Lucent and Aruba Networks Partner to Develop Mobility Solutions for China

2010-05-20T12:48:00.004-04:00

According to this news release on MarketWatch Aruba Networks Inc. will be partnering with Alcatel-Lucent to deliver secure mobility solutions to enterprises, vertical markets, service providers and government agencies throughout China. China has been steadily increasing their expansion of more cost-effective and reliable networks for their growing workforce, and their is no doubt that this collaboration will aid in that.

Dominic Orr, President and CEO of Aruba, mentions "This collaboration brings together the industry's most nimble players - with the best mobility products, service offerings, and support programs - to meet the needs of China's fast evolving wireless LAN market." It looks China is stepping ahead of the game. Makes me wonder what country will quickly follow suit next...

FedEx Releases "Smart" Wireless Devices to Automatically Track Packages

2010-05-18T15:22:00.005-04:00

This article in CNNMoney.com highlights that FedEx will be releasing a sensor-enabled device that will allow for wirelessly fed real-time data about a package's wherebouts and conditions over the internet.

This is big news! Now this will allow for more accurate in-depth knowledge of a package's whereabouts and will not require for FedEx personnel to manually input or scan barcodes to indicate the package's location. Mark Hamm, vice president of innovation at FedEx, says "There's going to be a high level of interaction. You are going to have large player and small players plugging into the platform. That's going to be revolutionary."

What are your thoughts on the revolutionary technology?

New Mobile UC Application is Launched for in-Building Wireless

2010-05-17T10:22:00.000-04:00

According to this article in TMC.net, iBwave has released a mobile app that makes it easy for users to capture building information and basic network information essential for indoor radio planning.

It turns a smartphone into a device that is able to capture information from the building and is able to conduct on-site surveys. What are other examples of similar devices that have been launched within the past couple of months? Interested in hearing your thoughts.

How to get ultimate protection for your PC without spending a penny

2010-02-11T21:09:00.006-05:00

I’ve been testing out whole lot of antivirus software out there. i had subscription for kaspersky internet security 2010 which i’ve been using since forever because awhile ago when kaspersky was still in version 8 i really loved it and i thought i dont need anything else. but again as my hobby, from time to time i tested out other protection suites that came out or had major updates.

1 ESET smart security ($69.99)

2 Kaspersky internet security ($79.99)

3 Avira premium security suites ($53.95)

If u look at it $80/year on average is not a whole lot of money to spend to get ultimate peace of mind while browsing the Internet. Over the past i have bought all three and tested it out and even have bought others like bitdefender, norton, Mcafee etc etc which i dont even want to talk about. then recently i’ve been testing out free antiviruses and other addons trying to find out the best way to protect my PC that hands down beats all those expensive softwares. I tried numerous of them for past few months. now i think i finally came to a conclusion. Yes !!! i finally found a way to create your own security suite that will give you ultimate protection and you dont have to drop a penny. Every software i am about to recommend can be found for free on the Internet.

So How do i get ultimate protection for free ?

You will need Three different software, i will get into it on detail later on but here are the list of softwares:

1 Avast Antivirus

2 Comodo personal Firewall

3 Spyware terminator

setting it up for the first time will be little hard especially with comodo but after that everything will be a breeze, because everything is light on system and doesn’t burden your process. let me go through it on detail one by one

1 Avast antivirus

Avast is unbelievably amazing anti virus software for being free. It has real time scanning. Boot time scanning is a cool feature. when u schedule a boot time scan it restarts the computer and runs only avast on the system and the scans is detailed and fast because nothing else will be running on the background at the moment. I have never had a false positives and it have detected almost every threat on real time. I have had numerous trojans removed by avast that Kaspersky hasn’t been able to detect.

if you would like more info on Avast or reviews on what people are saying head over here to cnet.com.
2 Comodo personal Firewall
Well as we all know it is an inconvenient truth that windows firewall sucks (excuse me for using that word but i had none other on my mind). and No antivirus will be complete without a strong Firewall. Kaspersky had a real good firewall and others like ZoneAlarm are not that bad for being free But Comodo’s speed and performance blows everything to dust. Comodo Internet Security, Comodo’s award-winning free security suite, offers prevention-based, Default Deny Protection (DDP) technology to prevent malware in your PC. Conventional security suites ignore prevention, focusing only on the eventual detection of viruses. Basically, this means that it will allow all applications to access your PC resources by default as long as the application is not on your security software’s blacklist of already known malware. Comodo Internet Security includes an extensive white-list of safe executables called the ‘Comodo Safe-List Database’. This database checks the integrity of every file and application asking for access to your PC. Comodo Internet Security will alert you of potentially damaging applications before they are installed. This is a ground-breaking method of protecting your PC. Traditionally firewalls only detect harmful applications from a blacklist of known malware – often-missing new forms of malware that are being created and launched daily. Comodo Internet Security is continually updated and currently almost 3,000,000 applications are in Comodo Safe list, representing virtually one of the largest safe lists within the security industry. Put simply, the good stuff gets in, and the bad stuff gets nowhere near your PC’s insides. Our latest version includes both DNS protection, to make sure the URLs you visit are safe, and the option oh installing the HopSurf toolbar, a new and innovative way to surf the Web. Comodo Internet Security is now available in 15 different languages, and comes included with a free 30 day trial of LivePCSupport. Best of all, it’s free for life.
it was real easy to install and everything.After the first reboot it askes you bunch of question and you will have to decide if you want to allow network access or not. not a big deal,if you know what the softwares are. if you dont know then just block it.simple.
overall best firewall in the market. it asks you almost everything, everytime something is trying to access the network or your computer. Its up to you to allow or block it. but its so easy “Even a Caveman can do it”.
3 Spyware Terminator
Spyware Terminator includes Real-Time Protection, HIPS, and antivirus. Effectively remove spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, home page hijackers, and malware threats even dangerous threats like Look2Me, BetterInternet, VX2, and CWS. Spyware Terminator is easy-to-use, requires minimal PC resources, and performs ultra fast scans. Protect your computer with powerful real-time protection shield, advanced system scanning and safe quarantine for found spyware. Scan your computer manually or schedule full system sweeps. Perform in-depth scans of your computer’s hard drives, memory, process, registry and cookies to seek out and remove all known spyware threats. Includes optional Web Security Guard which displays website reviews and threat level to help identify potentially dangerous Web sites.
Via Cnet
This spyware scanner and removal tool does the job, but enabling some functions may cause slight slowdowns and it’s not ready for Vista.
Spyware Terminator’s crisp, clean interface uses simple buttons and tabs to operate and set options. The latest spyware signatures are automatically downloaded, and the real-time protection keeps baby-sitting to a minimum. Real-time protection monitors key spyware types and Windows objects, though slight system slowdowns depend on your machine. Those features and the simple scheduler will make this app appealing to novices.
Advanced users will appreciate Spyware Terminator’s flexibility. Setting the sensitivity of various scans is as easy as moving a slider. Experienced users will want to enable the built-in antivirus tool, which extends the power of real-time analysis by comparing program code against a database of known viruses, Trojans, and worms.
From set-it-and-forget-it users to those delving into virus code, all will find Spyware Terminator flexible, simple, and effective, key measures of a good antispyware tool.
So there you have it. its on you if you want to trust me or not. but regardless if it a try nextime your anti-virus software expires or if you are using Norton,Mcafee,Bitdefender etc etc i recommend toss them out of your PC haha.
Install these three softwares on your PC and you are protected very well from the latest threats. Give it a shot, if you come across any kind of problems while installing or anytime comment below or just hop into the FREE live support if i am online. Have Fun!!

An assistant for Blackberry users

2010-01-14T04:03:00.000-05:00

Today when i was browsing my game informer magazine i came across this cool watch inPulse byAllerta, i fell so much in love with it i was so exited all nite to get back home and blog about it.Allerta is a new company formed just in 2008 who promises to make accessories to mobile users.inPulse is going to be their first product. here is a quick description about inPulse

inPulse is a watch which connects wirelessly to your phone via BlueTooth, alerting you instantly to incoming emails, SMS and calls. how cool is that?? that means u dont have to dig on your pockets to take out your phone and see the alerts, all you gotta do is just look at your watch.Using your inPulse, a glance down at your wrist is all it takes to discreetly check recently received email and SMS messages. New messages are pushed directly to your inPulse. Instead of pulling out your phone to figure out who keeps texting you, just keep an eye on your inPulse.Thats totally awesome but here is the downside, inPulse is only compatible with BlackBerry Smartphones. So people using Android, Iphone, Palm etc may have to wait because i am pretty damn sure they will make it compatible with other smartphones too, i mean WHY NOT??

Head over here to read more

What is MOBS About? The Year of the Onslaught

2010-01-09T16:10:00.002-05:00

Internally and externally, people have been asking me about MOBS and what it means.

MOBS stands for Mobile Omnipresent Business Solutions, and it's a conference I am putting together for mid-July on the West Coast.

The event’s focus will be still be on Inbuilding but will also encompass the evolving use of mobile throughout retail enterprises, health care, hospitality, public safety, university campuses, and more. It will bring together integrators, international and domestic carriers, professionals in WiMax, LTE, HSPA+, applications developers for Android, iPhone and more. It will also bring together entrepreneurs starting their own companies or managing existing companies that focus primarily on commerce for the mobile devices.

This is an evolving definition, since 2010 is the Year of the Onslaught. This is a year where we will see so many new devices and where behavior of the users of these devices will radically shape the way enterprises are run. If you are interested in being a part of this forum, you can leave a comment on this blog and I will get back to you.

Apple Tablet: Does Tech Solve a Business Crisis?

2010-01-09T15:51:00.003-05:00

Things to consider:

The release of the Apple tablet is being considered a solution for the publishing crisis / newspapers crisis / media crisis.

Maybe people are just talking to each other more through other tech means, like mobile phones, and they don't need to consume news that much.

Should journalists be social and community organizers rather than "reporters?" What does reporting accomplish these days? What are you as a reporter if nobody knows your name in the social web?

If the trend away from objective, non-partisan reporting towards being invested in a community is true, than what mobile projects can we develop to bring communities closer? And what does that mean for the mobile industry and the job of telecoms?

The new role of telecom would be the role of social hub. Telecoms that are more aware of the social habits of their customer base could service them better. What I don't know is whether the amazing amount of data use brought on by Android apps, iPhone apps and the like have given telecoms any more profounder insight into how to service their end-users.

In this way, perhaps tech can solve a business crisis, for telecoms and media, but I think it's really more likely that understanding humans helps move business forward.

People Pulling Together for MOBS

2009-12-18T10:24:00.004-05:00

MOBS is really coming together, and it's one of the few times in your life when getting a MOB together is positive and a boost for business.

Groups of people are coming together to offer mobile solutions, coordinate strategy with telcos, and chart the future of wireless on the phone. some of them I've never met before. Some of them I know through reputation. Some of them really helped me with research this year.

I was happy to see Marshall Brown, CEO of Wired Towns showing his enthusiasm for joining the MOBS Forum in 2010.

And I just spoke with Ronny Haraldsvik, Vice President of Marketing for Spider Cloud, which is doing some amazing things in what seems to be a new niche for mobile operators.

He and Spider Cloud CEO Mike Gallagher are going to help put together part of the program and hook us up with a few more speakers in the indoors wireless space.

They belong to the group of enterprise-focused companies offering convergence opportunities, which should enhance business and usage capabilities while offering eye-opening opportunities for people looking to invest in the space.

And right before heading out the door last night, I talked with Todd Sullivan at CrowdZone, who is packing his bags for the forum in June. Maybe he's not really packing his bags just yet, but he said he will come.

There are a whole bunch of people coming to this forum. See below for the continually expanding list of companies, and see you there!

Sampling of Companies

Reliance Communications (India)
Sprint Nextel
Mobients
T-Mobile

AT&T

Stoke

Exitel Unwired Solutions of Mexico

Spider Cloud Wireless

Crowd Zone

Proxim Wireless

Boost Mobile

NYU Langdone School of Medicine
EffectiveUI
Health Hero
Mobifoundry
Apisphere
TomTom (China)
WiMax Italia (Italy)
Tishman Technologies
Raytheon
Motorola
Federal Office for High Performance Green Buildings -- U.S. General Services Administration
Vornado Realty Trust
CTO from Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Quantum Networks
K-Edge Networks
MobileTribe
Sintnow
ProvenPowerful
RF Wise
Cisco Systems
ABI Research
CIO from VA Health System VISN 20 Health Care
CTO of Alcatel-Lucent
IIT
InBuilding Wireless Alliance
Wired Towns
Health Technica

Marshall Brown, CEO, Wired Towns

2009-12-16T13:47:00.002-05:00

Our latest speaker to join the MOBS forum is Marshall Brown, who is the founding CEO of Wired Towns.

We talked at a party last night in New York City hosted by Steve Masur of Masur Law.

(Readers of my Fast Company blog might remember that I wrote about him last week in an article about the legal ramifications -- or not -- of Augmented Reality.)

Marshall told me that after leaving Harvard, where he was working on a thesis for his PhD, he decided to work in the mobile telecoms space.

He ended up doing quite a bit, including gearing areas in New York City for free wi-fi access.

You can see a video of him on Fox Business News here: Is free wi-fi coming to a city near you?

Marshall is also blogging over at his company site, Wired Towns.

Speaker Updates

2009-12-15T10:53:00.004-05:00

It's that time of the production cycle when I let you all in on the fabulous companies that have come on board as speakers and supporters of the forum.

Here's a list of companies that will be supporting the Mobile Omnipresent Business Solutions forum with their speakers:

Reliance Communications (India)
Sprint Nextel
Mobients
T-Mobile
AT&T
Effective UI
Health Hero
Mobifoundry
Apisphere
TomTom (China)
WiMax Italia (Italy)
Tishman Technologies
Raytheon
Motorola
Federal Office for High Performance Green Buildings -- U.S. General Services Administration
Vornado Realty Trust
CTO from Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Quantum Networks
K-Edge Networks
MobileTribe
Sintnow
ProvenPowerful
RF Wise
Engineer for Cisco Systems
ABI Research
CIO from VA Health System VISN 20 Health Care
CTO of Alcatel-Lucent
IIT
InBuilding Wireless Alliance

I will be adding to this throughout the day and throughout the holidays into 2010. Keep in mind that we do have some room on our quickly filling panels. If you want to be considered for a slot and you can:

*Discuss strategy for using mobile for business
*Provide insights into telecoms operations, pricing and development of the inbuilding and data spectrums
*Talk about your enterprise's use of mobile as a business tool
*Consider the pros and cons of wireless hospital infrastructure

We want to hear from you. Please send me an email at dcrets [at] iirusa [dot] com. I am happy to talk with you in detail about the agenda, and send you a version of it.

Top Ten Gaming Apps on the iPhone

2009-11-23T21:38:00.001-05:00

These are the top ten highest grossing iPhone Apps, and interestingly the first few are created by big gaming companies, like EA.

The Droid: Hype or Happening?

2009-11-20T13:06:00.003-05:00

Remember when you were young and dating for the first time? I bet someone, your mom or your dad, or maybe a sister or brother, told you that you should never put your heart out there all at once.

It's best to keep 'em guessing a little bit, showing a little of the greatness you possess, but not all.

Apparently, this strategy works very well with releasing a game-changer phone.

The go-slow, reveal little approach to releasing the Droid seems to have worked well for Verizon.

I'm actually thinking of getting this phone, even though I was left longing when I signed up for the iPhone 2.0 release.

Is this the year for too much hype? Does anyone out there have the Droid? Does it perform well? I like Verizon's call network and data network. I don't think I've ever had a dropped call in the one and half years I have had Verizon service.

What really I want to know about is how does the phone perform on the user level?

Monitoring the Friday Telecom Twittering

2009-11-20T12:53:00.004-05:00

These are the current conversations I am following today on Twitter. They are the "what's happening" in mobile that is keeping me interested and tuning my analysis at the moment.

@sesemic is talking about Virgin Mobile Canada as the fifth outlet for iPhone sales.

@wirelessbroad is following the use of netbooks as this big push for mobile broadband.

The move to volume-sell and market computers is a major step for operators used to selling tightly specified handsets under long-standing commercial relationships. To ensure that this move is profitable, operators need to be alive to the risks and to maximise the opportunities for market share growth, pull-through revenue and data service ARPU.

Fair enough, but I'm more interested in what's being put on netbooks. What applications are the big heat-seeking missiles for users right now?

@andrewparkerft is reporting on what he's hearing at the FT telecoms conference and he points out that 3, the mobile provider, won't feel competition from a drop in market participants from five to four. He also, interestingly, points out that Etisalat warns that "network sharing" is urgently needed in Africa.

@Blackipresnews says that Deutsche Telekom is looking for US partners to help grow the T-mobile network, which is building out its HPSA+ network following the launching of that network in the US.

Mobile Health Initiatives Heating UP

2009-11-20T10:49:00.003-05:00

In the past couple of days, I have received a few emails from some members of LinkedIn groups that I belong to mentioning the tremendous groundswell being generated by federal funds allocations slated for the mobile and wireless industries. This is the much heralded American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA.

A colleague in the industry forwarded me two pieces of intelligence out there. I will link you to one of them, here: This is the mHealth Initiatives cluster of target areas for growth.

Points to pull out from there:

•Drug databases
•Medical calculators
•Reference programs
•Decision support for both physicians and nurses
•Tracking (weight, blood pressure, etc.)
•Patient history accessing, managing, and documenting
•Communication managers
•Payer tools (coding, eligibility determination, etc.)

The same colleague found this bit of information and I thought it would be useful, as well:

The research firm [Pike & Fischer] predicts that wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel will become key players in the increasingly wireless-enabled telemedicine market, while smaller companies like software developers and device makers will be key acquisition targets. AT&T is likely to dominate, however, the report predicted. The firm also points to the need to control health care costs as another driver of the growing telemedicine market, while stimulus funding from ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) will lead to more remote patient monitoring services and mobile access to EHRs, according to Pike & Fischer.

iPhone Can Drive Your Car, and Lock It for You

2009-11-19T09:27:00.003-05:00

What more can the iPhone do? It can drive your car.

According to this blog post at Fast Company:

What'll it let you do? Navigation, of course. But also remote door locking, vehicle finding, dealer connect, stolen vehicle location, automatic alarm notification, roadside assistance calling, and automatic collision notification (a potentially worrying one--presumably it'll let you know if your partner has pranged your lovely Merc). If that's not enough, there are premium extras that give you location-based weather and traffic info, and a concierge service that lets you book hotels, find stores, make restaurant reservations and so on.

It may look like a phone, act like a phone, and deliver phone calls, but iPhone is not a phone. It's the beginning of the way people will conduct business, life, commerce, and more.

Video is the Common Denominator of Internet Usage

2009-11-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

Over the next few years, internet traffic will increase six times, with 46% of that traffic driven by video

Have Doctors found a Smart Phone They Can Use?

2009-11-17T12:01:00.003-05:00

Jeff Brandt sent me a link to this blog posting about the emergence of the Droid phone as a real mobile device tool for doctors.

The comments are interesting. One commenter points out that the rumored Apple tablet device is a game changer and more able to be a doctor's device.

The link is provided by Leonard Kish, who further leads me to this blog post about about the health care internet.

Looks like several blogs are going into the feeder read today.

New: Global Retail Executive Council

2009-11-16T13:08:00.004-05:00

I managed to find this blog about the growth in interactivity, engagement and mobility in the retail experience when I got an email in my inbox this morning.

So I called up their executive director to find out more about it. Jim Crawford, Executive Director,Global Retail Executive Council, spoke to me while he was on his way to a meeting. The organization started up in February, right as the great dregs from the economic tsunami were washing up on the beaches of commerce and retail.

"It proved a great time to start up this association," says Crawford.

The organization serves two missions:

1. Nurturing and building on the broad and inclusive concept of what it means to be a sustainable retailer, improving the economic model for retailers, building on being able to have a sustainable relationship with consumers, and helping them grow through life cycle of interaction with the consumer through the interaction and nexus of mobile devices and technology and the shopping experience

2. Collaborating with retailers on next generation customer experiences in retail, building on changes and the evolution in the store experience using mobile

"It’s a radical game changer in the way retailers look at technology at stores," says Crawford. I agree.

We talked about how the carriers are vital to this growth but that at the same time, we are seeing huge customer-driven changes brought on by data-loving retail shoppers and end users of mobile.

More on this later, as it develops.

"Cloud-Bursting," by AT & T

2009-11-16T09:44:00.003-05:00

Fast Company has a brief mention of the IBM and AT&T cloud computing systems that they are rolling out in the next few years.

Blue Insight by IBM and the AT&T "cloud-bursting" synaptic system will enable data to be stored elsewhere.

Fast Company talks about the security issues with other systems that might make the AT&T system an attractive offer for small businesses:

AT&T's goal seems to be to leverage its big-name status and existing business relationships to attract potential customers who may be wary of cloud computing from other providers, due to data security issues and cybercrime events like Distributed Denial of Service attacks. AT&T will roll out the service to U.S. networks first, and then onto its global data centers so it can be sold to clients around the world.

It's what is available for small enterprises that excites me, because, deductively, I wonder what it is that small business is focused on doing, as a collective.

To me it seems that the small business mindset is:

1. Stay small, in order to grow quickly, virally, in other people's computers, mobile devices and applications.

2. Be outward facing all the time -- no better way to face outward than through synaptic text, data and a collective applications system.

3. Be all over the place, at scale, but small enough that people are not encumbered by your presence. See number one.

This new age of small business, social entrepreneurship, javascript:void(0)social networking and all just keeps going and going.

Where is The Cloud?

2009-11-04T14:10:00.003-05:00

This was a rather interesting, if simple, story about what happens when you store things on the internet.

Looking into The Cloud of cloud computing and storage.

The Intelligence Group Forms

2009-11-04T11:21:00.003-05:00

Right now I am in the process of putting together an Intelligence Group for Mobility Industries.

See below:

It’s time for a world-class globally scalable wireless, 3G and 4G forum that deals with content, applications, systems engineering and general business development for all of the important verticals in the mobile world.

SMART, the global forum for convergence and operational excellence across mobility industries, will be launching in June 2010 in the United States.

From implementation, engineering and distribution to content, user-experience, business development, product development and new frontier uses in transport, healthcare, entertainment, utilities, venues, property development, data and mobile broadband.

We are searching for information on the experience of working in mobile communications from some of the brightest minds in those verticals. We would like to talk with you for five minutes about the most important facets of your job and your industry, so that we can invite you to be a speaker to a forum that faces your industry on a global scale.

If you could take the time to talk with Douglas Crets, Director of the SMART Forum, it would really help us to scale the event accordingly and invite the top people to attend.

You can reach me at +1 646 616 7627 or dcrets@iirusa.com

You can also join our blog, Signal Up, as it gets started and revises itself in this space.

If you are interested in being a blogger (anonymously or named), please email dcrets [@]iirusa [dot] com . We will talk with you about this.

Best,

Douglas Crets
SMART Director
New York, New York
+1 646 616 7627

Black Dot Wireless Lands Contract

2009-06-18T14:50:00.002-04:00

The partnership will create new opportunities for Open Range, a WiMax initiative.

More WiMax, please!

Even in a downturn, wireless broadband grows

2009-06-18T14:47:00.002-04:00

It's getting to where a guy can't leave the house without getting some wireless broadband reception.

In Southeast Asia, that is.

Broadband Internet penetration in Malaysia -- 21.1 percent of households at the end of 2008 -- lags other Asian countries, such as Singapore and South Korea. But the Malaysian government wants to see that figure increase to 50 percent by the end of 2010.

Whether WiMax plays an important role in extending the reach of broadband Internet services remains to be seen.

WiMax will have to compete for wireless broadband market share with Malaysian cellular operators, offering Internet access over their 3G networks, market research firm IDC said in a report issued earlier this month. WiMax is hampered by limited coverage in Malaysia and established cellular operators will move aggressively to defend their market position from new entrants, it said.

Legislators Look at their Own Phone Bills, Question Legality

2009-06-18T14:43:00.002-04:00

Years after exclusive contracts for wireless service became de rigeur, a few legislators are now wondering if exclusive phone contracts are in fact a bane to competition.

No, consumers like higher prices for phone contracts. It convinces them that they are paying top dollar for top service.

No, really.

"The four largest wireless carriers have hijacked consumer access to handset technology," said John E. Rooney, chief executive of U.S. Cellular, the nation's fifth-largest cellphone service operator with 6.2 million subscribers. "Everyone is going to the big four to get exclusive rights to these phones, so we are stuck with everything other than these. It puts a big dent in our ability to compete and our ability to supply these phones to areas of the country where we serve customers where they don't."

Tethering Works on the iPhone 3.0

2009-06-18T14:25:00.002-04:00

Just follow simple tethering instructions for your iPhone device and you can do what many Windows Mobile people could do for a long time.

This blog will increasingly focus on how wireless devices are used and we plan to go big on this for a forum next year in Las Vegas or Chicago on the use of wireless devices for buildings.

Did A BlackBerry Change the New York Senate?

2009-06-11T10:16:00.001-04:00

This is a great story from the New York Times on how a politician's fiddling with his mobile device set off a changing of the guard in the New York State Senate.

These BlackBerry devices are powerful tools of change!

The Car is Now a Mobile Device

2009-04-05T23:07:00.003-04:00

Your young driver may one day be driving around in a rolling iPod.

Nissan offers The Cube, as a mobile device.

But is it just marketing gimmickery?

What does The Cube have that makes it a "mobile device?"

Interesting accents, and a Garmin navigation device, but nothing suggesting a truly mobile or wireless experience.

Which is probably good. Teen drivers texting and driving or talking on phones and driving..... not good.

Delta Airlines Lets Wi-Fi Into the Cabin

2009-04-05T10:37:00.001-04:00

Now you can stream your favorite tunes from an online radio station, and check up on the March Madness while you fly to Tuscon.

Delta Airlines launches wi-fi initiative and its proving a big hit.

IBWS Agenda Additions

2009-04-05T10:01:00.005-04:00

Executives at the IBWS in Las Vegas will benefit from these additions on May 13 14, 2009. For more information on registration and a complete event agenda, visit the home page for In-Building Wireless Solutions.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
9.25 AM

User, Economic, Technology and Competitive Change Agents: Driving In-Building Wireless Adoption in the New Millennia

Led by: Martin Cassidy, President, Innova Wireless

• How will new digital devices and high-speed data applications create changes to fundamental drivers in the industry?
• Economic drivers and changes in influence
• Are current In-Building technologies outmoded? Will migration to fourth generation carrier evolve the product solutions deployed today?
• Has LTE performance finally changed the traditional competitive segmentation?

Later in the day, Phil Ziegler from Verizon Wireless will give a presentation on how you can use simplified RFP formats to enhance your business deals.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

3.20 pm
Eliminating Overrun Costs during Site Assessment and Design by Utilizing Best Practice RFP Formats
* Proper needs assessment of the venue to bring understanding between all stakeholders
* Formulate bids with standard RFP formats to get the right implementation at the right cost for substantial ROI
* Learn the right questions to secure the right turnkey solution providers
* Achieve carrier participation and support to lower costs

Philip Ziegler, Director – Technical Staff, Verizon Wireless

Later in the day, Jack Daniel, famous for his lectures and discussions on national In-building public safety codes implementation and integration, will discuss recent rules and regulations changes and what they mean to integrators and property developers.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
4.00 pm
Briefing on New National Public Safety In-Building Codes

Jack Daniel, President & CEO, Jack Daniel Company

* What are the changes to national Public Safety In-Building codes that affect your business?
* When will the new codes be put in place and when should you be ready to implement solutions in accordance with them?
* What will be required when these regulations are enforced for neutral host systems?
* Examining the technical compatibility with neutral host systems

Jack's presentation will be followed by a short Q & A.

You can register for the event by filling out our online registration page.

Register for IBWS 2009 by This Friday, March 13th and Save 15%!

2009-03-12T13:38:00.003-04:00

A reminder that as a member of the IBWS LinkedIn Group you are eligible for discounted conference registration rates!

When you register for IBWS 2009 by end of business this Friday, March 13th, you will receive a 15% discount which guarantees you a rate lower than any we are currently offering!

To register click here or call +1 888.670.8200. Be sure to mention priority code XU2159LINKEDIN

View the Agenda

Around the Web: In-Building Solutions for Safety and Real Estate

2009-03-02T15:18:00.003-05:00

Cruising around the web today we find some useful articles that can enhance your understanding of In-Building Wireless Solutions.

Back when Anand Iyer worked for PRTM he thought RFID was a collaborative methodology that could assist growth in In-Building technologies.

But will the objectives of the IBWA compete with other location technologies like radio frequency identification (RFID) that are already being tested in similar situations? Iyer thinks that RFID is a complementary technology. "Instead of investing in a separate RFID network, you could only invest in the [RFID] tag, and have that tag talk to the in-building communication infrastructure," he says. "Shared platforms, shared infrastructure…one common network inside a building." In fact, Iyer believes that everything from energy sensors, to cellular devices, to computers could and should share the same communication infrastructure.

For that reason, you should Hear No RF Evil, See No RF Evil. Although, you can't really see RF anyway, so I'm not sure the point?

Oh, and look, another juicy Anand Iyer interview. Can't get enough of his thoughts on RF and technology, so we are putting him up here for some light reading.

Despite the ever-growing need for always-on connectivity, most commercial buildings in the U.S. have not yet adopted wireless hook-ups. Without a reliable indoor signal, we are bound by cables and have to rely on wishful thinking to keep calls online.

And it’s not just individual productivity that takes a hit when buildings are ill-equipped to handle the new-generation requirements. Public safety officials and emergency first responders are also affected by inadequate people-locating services and poor emergency communication coverage, both of which could potentially lead to compromised life-saving planning and rescue operations.

Building owners, too, encounter many disadvantages from staying with the wired way. They risk losing tenants who refuse to sign leases without WiFi capabilities, and they have difficulty tracking and consolidating data about in-building energy consumption, security, or other feeds that require frequent monitoring but reside on different IT platforms.

In-building wireless presents a leap forward in ubiquitous connectivity and mobility. While the effort has been mostly grass-roots until now, several prominent companies are banding together to promote in-building wireless and establish standards for the industry to adopt. The In-Building Wireless Alliance is one of the leaders of this coordinated movement.

Startup Wants to Give Embedded Systems Something to Wi-Fi About

2009-03-02T08:29:00.002-05:00

ZeroG Wireless wants to create an Internet of things.

The article is not written clearly for me to get enough information on exactly where ZeroG wants to do this, but the idea smacks of building into wireless systems an ability for "things" like operations equipment and monitoring devices to operate across an 802.11b channel.

So, basically your office equipment, from a coffeepot to a copy machine operating without an OS on a wireless architecture. Hello, business and caffe latte by phone!

The company hopes to find design wins in a wide variety of embedded systems from coffee pots and toys to sensor networks in building and industrial automation. It estimates that market could amount to as many as nine billion sockets.

The company's ZG2100, built in 180nm process, supports up to 2Mbit/s data rates. It includes a baseband, media access controller, power amplifier and hardware acceleration for Wi-Fi security standards such as WEP, WPA and WPA2.

The chip uses a host controller to run part of its code. It requires as little as 367bytes of RAM and less than 10Kbytes of ROM from a host micro-controller, according to the company. It can run without an OS.

ZeroG will also ship the chip as part of a module, the ZG2100M, which includes required passives and an integrated antenna. The company has struck a partnership with Microchip Technology Inc. so that its module will support Microchip's existing Internet Protocol (IP) software, tools and development kits.

Speaker Profile: Pilar Caudillo

2009-02-13T10:56:00.003-05:00

Over the course of the next couple of months, we will be highlighting some of the speakers that will be at the In-Building Wirlesss Solutions Conference held in Vegas this May. Today I’d like to start off by introducing to you Pilar Caudillo, President and Owner of Unwired Solutions De Mexico and Exitel Telecom.

You might recognize some of the work Pilar Caudillo has done over the years when you take a look at the Torre Mayor, which is the tallest building in Latin America. Unwired Solutions actually developed the first multicarrier inbuilding project in México with Torre Mayor. Here’s an interesting clip from Daily Planet that gives an insider’s tour to Latin America’s tallest building.

Also, here’s a case study on the wireless coverage system for Torre Mayor that was recently forwarded to us.

Don’t miss your chance to see Pilar Caudillo speak at IBWS on European and Latin Market Approaches to Boosting In-Building Take-up.

BlackBerry and iPhone Pilgrims May Overload Cell Networks at Inauguration

2009-01-19T07:41:00.004-05:00

Are you ready for your photos taken on the National Mall to arrive a few minutes or maybe an hour late? The million or so people using their cell phones to track the inauguration will put a burden on the cell providers, says a story at the International Herald Tribune.

The largest cellphone carriers, fearful that a communicative citizenry will overwhelm their networks, have taken the unusual step of asking people to limit their phone calls and to delay sending photos. The carriers are also spending millions of dollars to temporarily and substantially upgrade their networks in Washington.

Dropped calls, lost photos or delayed text messages are always a risk during spikes from sporting events and concerts. People often feel compelled to share these events with others, and that takes bandwidth.

Cellphone cameras are taking better pictures all the time, and sending those high-resolution images quickly floods the airwaves. The Obama crowd — which could exceed two million — is expected to be mostly young, just the group accustomed to staying in touch by uploading photos, blog posts and tweets on Twitter.

For those coming to pay homage to the BlackBerry-toting president, the inauguration has the potential to be a wireless Woodstock. If, that is, the networks can handle it.

"If some of these estimates come true, people should anticipate delays with regards to sending text messages or making phone calls or getting onto the Internet," said Joe Farren, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, an industry trade group. It has asked people to send texts rather than make phone calls (text uses less bandwidth than speech) and to send photos only after the event.

Pre Tries to Make a Run at the BlackBerry

2009-01-08T17:35:00.003-05:00

Everybody left Palm as a wireless mobile device supplier after the iPhone came out. Now it looks like Palm is set to make at least a decent enough run at the top two competitors, Research in Motion and Apple, with the announcement at CES of the Pre smartphone.

The new operating system, called simply "Palm webOS," and previously dubbed Nova, lets users "multi-task," or use several programs at once, something previous Palm devices could not do.

The new operating system "seems to be Palm's last-ditch efforts in this space," said Kevin Burden ABI Research's mobile devices research director in a recent interview.

Palm has used its own operating system, as well as Windows Mobile, in its Treos, often giving users a choice of which operating system they prefer. The company's Centros run on the Palm OS, with the current version more than five years old.

The Inbuilding Wireless Solutions forum at The Venetian in Las Vegas will address the impact that mobile devices are having on enterprise use of wireless networks in buildings. We are very lucky this year to have Tyler Lessard from Research in Motion as a participant in the conference. He will be speaking with Wallace Wireless CEO Rob Moffat about how mobile devices are shaping business life and the use of wireless systems.

Live Tech Demonstration: Charting the Data Applications and Their Impact on Business Life and Wireless Networks

• Planning for a data fueled future by incorporating more players into the solutions methodology for wireless systems
• Using the BlackBerry as enterprise tool and implementing solutions for increased usage on 3G networks
• Managing a secure multi-user business environment through wi-fi networks and mesh technology that facilitates data flow

Speakers:

Rob Moffat, CEO, Wallace Wireless

Tyler Lessard, Director of Alliances, Research in Motion

Join our LinkedIn Group at to join the ongoing conversation. Your insights are important to us, and they help the team at Inbuilding Wireless Solutions keep the conference fresh and in tune with your business needs.

Using Wireless in Iraq

2009-01-08T17:32:00.001-05:00

A battalion in Iraq wants to set up a VSAT system so that it can communicate with itself within a radius of 1000 feet.

Technically, this is not in a building, but I thought it was cool.

Light That Bulb Without a Wire

2009-01-08T17:29:00.002-05:00

Wouldn't it be great if you could walk into a room, wave your hand over a switch and illuminate the entire house with bulbs that were not connected to any type of outlet or cord?

Trend Hunter picks up on the use of WiTricity at the CES this week.

I was once in a house in Latvia that had a great set up. It used light beams, kind of like lasers, I think, that controlled the dimmer for the lights. You just had to wave your hands in front of the panels and depending on the way your hands moved, that's what the lights did. A slow and careful adjustment meant that the lights would slowly dim or brighten. If you moved your hand very quickly, like a snap, the lights would go out or come on.

Wi-Fi Plan for New York's Central Park Nixed

2009-01-08T17:12:00.003-05:00

CityRoom has the story about about a long-discussed plan to cover Central Park in a wi-fi signal. The deal is not set to go through, as the company that planned to implement the service has run out of money.

The networks were quietly shut down in October and Wi-Fi Salon is removing the equipment from the park locations, which include seven hot spots in Central Park, two in Prospect Park, and others at Washington Square, Battery, Riverside, Van Cortlandt, Pelham Bay and Flushing Meadows-Corona Parks, as well as Orchard Beach. This does not affect the privately provided free Wi-Fi at Bryant Park and other locations.

The issue seems to be that the company, Wi-Fi Salon, could not come up with sponsorship dollars to keep the project afloat. Their deal with Nokia ended in 2007, and the company still owes the city US$578.

For more up-to-date information on the In-Building Wireless Forum in Las Vegas, Nevada, please visit our web site and register. You can also join our LinkedIn discussion forum, where many executives from the Inbuilding Wireless industry are discussing improvements to the business, as well as strategies for late-2009 and 2010.

NYTIMES: Vancouver Building UP, UP, UP for the Olympics

2008-12-05T18:38:00.000-05:00

Vancouver hosts the next Winter Olympics in four years. What's going on over there in the Great White North?

[ed. note: I've never been to Vancouver, but I have a free ticket that I can't wait to use to get there. I booked it this year in the hopes I can use it before the summer comes next year.]

Preening for the Olympics, Vancouver is Building Up

An excerpt:

There has been a lot of construction going on in Vancouver in preparation for the Games — and beyond. After the Winter Games, the 16-building Olympic Village, which will house about 2,800 athletes, is to be converted into a 730-unit luxury condominium complex called Millennium Water. About half the units have already been sold, Mr. Rennie said.

A two-bedroom, 1,113-square-foot condo on the fourth floor of a Millennium Water building on Ontario Street was listed last month for 855,900 Canadian dollars ($673,937 at 1.27 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar). Three one-bedroom units between 584 and 686 square feet in a building on West First Avenue were listed at 464,900 to 505,900 Canadian dollars. It is possible to put 10 percent down.

Although it is only 35 miles north of the border, Vancouver looks and feels different from any city in the United States or, for that matter, Canada. With its glass-and-steel towers crowding a sweeping harbor, it could be in Asia.

Asia, indeed. The carriers in Canada are building up, too, and it seems everyone is migrating to Vancouver, because customers from all around the world are goign to be setting their phones on roam as they ply the canyons of steel and glass.

Just a what, ten hour flight from Hong Kong, you can expect mobile phone use to be sky-high during the competition. If you can't get a signal in one of those hotels, what's the outcome going to be?

And it rarely snows in Vancouver, as the article mentions. Guess what that means for winter sports? They are going to be held indoors!

We've got a panel about the use of mobile devices inside of amenity buildings. I'd love for you to check it out. We are luck also to have the participation of Eric Yapp, from Rycom, and one of the most progressive Inbuilding thinkers at a carrier in Canada, Denis Stelatus, at Telus, to talk about this very kind of thinking: What needs to happen to make Inbuilding a win-win-win-win for everyone in property, carriers, and consumers, and integrators? Should be powerful stuff.

You can leave a comment or contact me for a look at the brochure, which will be published shortly. Send me your thoughts, too. Inbuilding Wireless is growing. Where will it go?

dcrets [at] iirusa [dot] com
Douglas Crets -- Director -- InBuilding Wireless Solutions, Las Vegas

Who's Calling? The IBWS 2009

2008-12-05T18:08:00.000-05:00

This year, the InBuilding Wireless Solutions conference in Las Vegas has become more international and more exciting and engaging.

Here's why:

I provide you the list of the newest speakers to sign on with us for May 12-15, 2009 at The Venetian, Las Vegas's premier hotel and casino.

The Palazzo Lobby

The Current List Stay tuned for interviews with some of these executives. We want to offer you the most engaging and intimate experience of any conference production company in the United States. We want to bring you front and center with the most intelligent and dynamic speakers in the Inbuilding Genre. Stay tuned in and turned on, with:

Lee Barney, Professor IT, Brigham Young University
Alisia Billups-O’Neill, Telecommunications Group, Metropolitan
Washington Airports Authority
Dr. Michael Brambley, Director, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratories
Darlene Braunschweig, Director – Custom Network Solutions
Technology, Sprint
Pilar Caudillo, Director de Ventas y Soporte Tecnico, Exitel Telecom (Mexico)
Jack Daniel, Founder & CEO, Jack Daniel Company
Bernie Devine, General Manager – IT Systems, Nakheel Asset
Management
Jim Erickson, Director – InBuilding Solutions, AT&T
William Flowers, Vice President – IT Services, DFW Airport
Jose Garcia, CEO, NII Holdings
Rodger Howell, Director, InBuilding Wireless Alliance and
PRTM Management Consulting
John Johnston, RF Engineer, Alltel
Bryan Kemper, Executive Vice President, Tri-Power
Tom LaDow, Colonial Properties
Yvonne Manns, RF Engineering Manager, T-Mobile
Tommy Russo, CTO, Akridge Properties
Dan Shey, Principal Analyst – Business Mobility, ABI Research
Denis Stelatus, Senior Real Estate Manager, Telus
Nick Stello, Vice President – IT, Vornad o Realty
Patrick Vinson, Product Manager – Video Services, iBahn
Ron Wells, Manager – InBuilding Systems, Sprint
Werner Wiedermann, Business Development – Strategic Projects
Research, Development and Cooperation, mobilkom austria AG
Terry Whitham, Director – Emerging Technologies, Association of
Public-Safety Communications Officials International and E911
Administrator, Delaware State Police
Eric Yapp, Sales Director – TPM, Rycom
Philip Ziegler, Director – Technical Staff, Verizon Wireless

Friday Tidbyte: The Usual Suspects, Mass Communicators

2008-12-05T17:29:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, I sit down and try to mull over what are the dominant and enticing thoughts that have dominated the Inbuilding Wireless Solutions market. Here's what I've come up with for this Friday's Tidbytes:

Cell phones used to be for the super rich. "What's that? AT&T at 42.50? Buy, you worm! Buy, buy, buy!"

But now, I don't think you can step into a subway car in Manhattan without seeing a cell phone or an iPhone in someone's hand.

And have you ever visited India?

Personal story: In the earlier hours of the morning, a driver picked me up to take me from New Delhi to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, a good four or five hour drive away. Along the way, the four-wheel drive truck would swerve around donkeys, cattle, wagons filled to the sky with hay, as well as formers up to their dhotis in mud as they walked through the rice fields.

As we pulled up to the railroad crossing to enter into Agra, we were met by several men selling... mobile phones, calling cards, and other things. They had it figured out, boy. What's the first thing you are going to do when you see the beautiful Taj Mahal? Call your mother!

Great pitch!

The most beautiful mausoleum in the world, and a great place for taking cell phone pictures

And though it was not respectful to use phones to make calls inside the tomb, I did see people using phones to take pictures. Outside, looking over the Ganges River, an editor at Platts who attended the tour with us was using her phone to call someone.

The same thing is true at Angkor Wat. Everyone, and I mean everyone leading tour groups through the compound at Angkor Wat in Cambodia had a small Motorola phone in his or her hand. Tourists would snap pictures with their phones. I saw a man get hit by a truck and as he was being rushed to the clinic, his friend was sitting with him in the back of the same truck calling the medics on the phone while they sped away, honking the horn like a panicked lamb.

What does this mean?Mobile phone use is not only easy and affordable, it's becoming pervasive. It's used everywhere. Everywhere. If Rick Blaine in Casablanca had had a mobile phone, he would have been using it all the time in his club, and so would Renault. There would never be any of this having to telephone from the police station, "Round up the usual suspects!"

Inbuilding Wireless Solutions Las Vegas Powers Up

2008-11-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

The IBWS 2009 is the antithesis of a dropped call.

It comes in crystal clear. It's easy to get to.

And you will always find the right person on the other end of the communication line.

Welcome to your network for the IBWS 2009. Keep coming back to learn how you can register to join international and domestic wireless carriers, progressive property developers and landlords, and the leaders in inbuilding wireless solutions around the world.