| FRIDAY - MARCH 4, 2005 - ISSUE NO. 154 | ||||
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging and Paging, All too frequently discussions end up debating the question, "Is Paging Dead?" Are we like the band playing on the deck of the Titanic while it sank?—one friend asked me. Regular readers of this newsletter know my view on this issue: "Dead? NO, absolutely not! Going through a major realignment yes, but not dead or even dying." Several things have come to my attention in the last couple of weeks that strengthen this opinion. Hardly a day goes by without someone calling me or sending me an e-mail about a new product they are developing. I talked to my friend of 30 years, Barry Kanne at TGA Technologies in Atlanta and he confirmed that his company has shipped at least two important regional two-way (ReFLEX) systems recently. I am sure there are others that he can't tell me about yet. Daniels Electronics (report last week) is interested in getting the word out about their paging transmitters and repeaters that are available in various radio bands. They would like to establish relationships with system integrators and dealers all over the world. They make good products! I spent more than an hour on the telephone the other day with Brooks Marsden at GTES getting educated about their development of location technology. If Brooks wasn't a friend and trusted colleague, I wouldn't have believed what he told me about the products that GTES and their partners are developing. They have been able to get radio location devices to work in areas that you wouldn't think possible. Brooks has agreed to write a series of whitepapers describing these products and I will be publishing them here in the newsletter for you to read. I expect these location products to further the adoption of ReFLEX campus systems and other types of radio communications as well. I know a regional paging company that is expanding and has more paging subscribers right now than ever before in their history. Good guys don't have to finish last. There are several new products under development that I can't tell you about yet because of NDAs, etc. The "nay sayers" have been telling us that, like in the opera, the fat lady has been stabbed and is still singing—she just hasn't fallen over and died yet. NOT SO. As more people turn to cell phones for their personal messaging requirements, these paging networks just need to focus more on innovative uses of their systems. Like Telemetry Over Paging. Remember paging technology is still the most efficient, and the most economical way to deliver wireless data. The Homeland Security people have realized that paging group calls and simulcast transmission offer unique benefits that no other technology can match. Now on to the News and Views. |
Promoting Wireless Messaging, Telemetry, and Paging.
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon Eastern US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major paging and wireless data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers, so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the paging, and wireless data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my website. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) | |||
| COMPUTER NEWS |
JEF RASKIN, CREATOR OF THE MACINTOSH COMPUTER, DIES AT 61 PRESS RELEASE Jef created the Macintosh computer as employee number 31 at Apple in the early 1980s, revolutionizing computer interface design. Jef invented "click and drag" and many other methods now taken for granted by computer users. He named the Macintosh project after his favorite variety of apple, the McIntosh, modifying the spelling for copyright purposes. Jef's article "Holes in the Histories" <http://jef.raskincenter.org/published/holes.html> addresses some popular misconceptions about the Macintosh Project. Jef strongly believed that computers should make tasks easy for people, not the other way around. For twenty-five more years, his work focused on improving interfaces, culminating in his book, The Humane Interface (Addison-Wesley, 2000). Jef created the Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces (RCHI), <http://www.raskincenter.org>, which will soon release a preview of Archy, a culmination and exemplar of his design principles. Archy redesigns the basic building blocks of computing to demonstrate an entirely new paradigm for computer use. RCHI will continue under the technical leadership of Jef's son, Aza Raskin. Jef worked until the last days of his life to finish the code for Archy. He told a friend ten days before he died, "When people get a chance to work in Archy and see how much easier it is to do their work, we'll get enormous support." He had completed almost all of the basic work by the time his health took a turn for the worse a few days later. Jef viewed good design as a moral duty, holding interface designers to the same ethical standards as surgeons. Alluding to Isaac Asimov's first law of robotics, one of Jef's mantras was that "any system shall not harm your content or, through inaction, allow your content to come to harm." Archy implements that principle by making it impossible to permanently lose your work. Archy also replaces mouse movements, which many text editing programs require, with much faster "Leap" keystrokes, reducing the likelihood of carpel tunnel syndrome. Jef originated the Macintosh project in 1979 despite strong opposition from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and led the effort for the crucial first three years. He left Apple in 1982 to found Information Appliance Inc., where he created the award-winning Canon Cat in pursuit of his vision that a computer should be an easy-to-use tool. Despite the rapid sale of twenty thousand units, Canon terminated the project due to an internal dispute. Some Canon Cat owners report continuing to use their Cats to this day. After a decade studying cognitive psychology, Jef established a scientific basis for the design of man-machine interfaces, bringing interface design out of the mystic realm of guruism. In his 2000 book The Humane Interface, Jef coined the term and founded the field of cognetics, "the ergonomics of the mind," transforming interface design into an engineering discipline with a rigorous theoretical framework. His book, translated into more than nine languages, has gone through numerous printings and become the standard text for more than 100 computing courses around the world. His sculptures have been exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art. One is included in the permanent collection. Jef's life and work are the subject of a documentary in progress, which will continue to gather information and interviews from people who knew him. More information is available at jefthemovie.com. Jef is survived by his wife of 23 years, Linda Blum; his children, Aza, Aviva, and Aenea; and his children in all but name, Jenna and Rebecca. A memorial service will be announced at a later date. For further information, e-mail Raskin.Press@gmail.com. Source: The Raskin Center |
| WIRELESS NEWS | |
SBA joins rivals in delaying quarterly results By Sam Omatseye SBA Communications Corp. has followed the path of other major tower operators in putting off the announcement of its quarterly results to review its ground-lease accounting method. The results will be released March 10. The company said the change in ground-lease accounting will impact its previously issued statements for the first three fiscal quarters of 2004 and the fiscal years ended Dec. 31, 2003, and 2002. But it will not have any material impact on revenue and cash flow from operations, noted the company. Other major players like Crown Castle International Corp. and American Tower Corp. made similar statements. They also will announce their earnings on March 10. The review comes on the heels of a call from the Securities and Exchange Commission for a change in lease accounting. Source: RCR Wireless News SEC Uncovers Wide-Scale Lease Accounting Errors AccountingWEB.com—March 01, 2005—Where were the auditors? That is the question being asked as more than 60 companies face the prospect of restating their earnings after apparently incorrectly dealing with their lease accounting, Dow Jones reported. Companies in the retail, restaurant and wireless-tower industries are among those affected in what is being called the most sweeping bookkeeping correction in such a short time period since the late 1990s. Among the companies on the list are Ann Taylor, Target and Domino's Pizza. You can view a full listing of the affected companies. "It's always disturbing when our accounting is not followed," Don Nicolaisen, chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said last week during an interview. He published a letter on Feb. 7 urging companies to follow accounting standards that have been on the books for many years, Dow Jones reported. Based on the charges and restatement announcements that have come in the wake of the SEC letter it seems companies have failed for years to follow what regulators see as cut-and-dried lease-accounting rules. The SEC has yet to go so far as to accuse companies of wrongdoing, but it has led people to wonder why auditors hired to keep company books clean could have missed so many instances of failure to comply with the rule. "Where were the auditors?" J. Edward Ketz, an accounting professor at Pennsylvania State University, said to Dow Jones. "Where were the people approving these things? This doesn't seem like something that really requires new discussion. If we have to go back and revisit every single rule because companies and their professional advisers aren't going to follow the rules, then I think we're in very serious trouble in this country." Tom Fitzgerald, a spokesman for auditing firm KPMG, declined to comment. Representatives for Deloitte & Touche LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, and Ernst & Young LLP, didn't return several phone calls, Dow Jones reported. The crux of the issue is that companies are supposed to book these "leasehold improvements" as assets on their balance sheets and then depreciate those assets, incurring an expense on their income statements, over the duration of the lease. Instead, companies such as Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack had been spreading those expenses out over the projected useful life of the property, which is usually a longer time period, Dow Jones reported. As a result, expenses were deferred and income was added to the current period. McDonald's Corp. took a charge of $139.1 million, or 8 cents a share, in its fourth quarter to correct a lease-accounting strategy that it says had been in place for 25 years, Dow Jones reported, adding that Pep Boys said it would book a charge of 80 cents a share, or $52 million, for the nine months through Oct. 30, 2004. Source: AccountingWEB.com Intel Demonstrates One Voice's Advanced Voice Recognition Technology at Intel Developer Forum March 01, 2005 10:30 AM US Eastern Timezone Intel Developer Forum Spring 2005 SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—March 1, 2005—One Voice Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:ONEV), developer of 4th Generation voice solutions for the Telecom and Interactive Multimedia markets, today announced that Intel is demonstrating One Voice's advanced voice recognition based Media Center Communicator™ software running on Intel's second-generation Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology platform at the Spring Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held March 1 - March 3, 2005 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. "Imagine picking up your Intel Centrino powered mobile assistant and using your voice to tell it to place a phone call, read your e-mail, play music or even play a photo slideshow," said Dean Weber, president and CEO of One Voice Technologies, Inc. "The power of Intel's mobile technology along with One Voice's advanced voice recognition technology will define a new era in mobile consumer products." About Media Center Communicator With Media Center Communicator, you can use your voice to navigate Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, play music, view photos and slideshows, record TV, send E-mail, read E-mail, SMS text messaging to mobile phones, Instant Messaging, PC-to-PC audio and video calling and PC-to-Phone calling to any phone within the U.S. and Canada. Imagine walking into your family room and telling your Media Center to play music, play a photo slideshow, watch TV, read and send E-mail, call to order a pizza or Instant Message a friend. One Voice's Media Center Communicator delivers on this vision today! For more information, please visit http://www.onev.com/mcc. About One Voice Technologies, Inc. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT DISCLAIMER Contacts Source: BusinessWire WakeMed Hospital Deploys MobileAccess In-Building Wireless Network Posted on: Triangle—Raleigh—MobileAccess Networks, a leading provider of in-building wireless network solutions, announced today WakeMed Health & Hospitals, based in Raleigh, NC, has fully deployed the MobileAccess MA-1000 multi-service voice and data platform providing reliable wireless coverage throughout WakeMed's Raleigh Campus including the hospital, the Andrews Center for Medical Education, and the world-famous Heart Center. WakeMed is committed to providing high-quality patient care, so it is critical that medical personnel stay connected regardless of their location on the hospital campus. WakeMed's ability to provide excellent patient care depends in part on its physicians and nurses being able to access and communicate real-time patient information. Increasingly, hospitals are adopting wireless voice and data devices and technologies to keep their medical personnel properly informed at all times, and in all places. The MobileAccess in-building wireless system is ideal for hospital environments because it provides reliable communications throughout large facilities without RF interference issues. Furthermore, the MobileAccess MA-1000 platform easily connects to wireless service provider networks and enables simple upgrades to future services, such as 3G, UMTS and Wi-Fi, with no additional infrastructure required. "Our Raleigh Campus is home to North Carolina's busiest heart center, as well as our county's only state designated Level II Trauma center. In addition, we have two 24-hour emergency departments, one for adults and one for children that cared for more than 140,000 patients last year. With facilities as large and as complex as ours, it is important that our medical providers have reliable and ubiquitous wireless communications throughout our campus. Communication is critical in our ability to properly care for our patients," says WakeMed Vice President of Information Services Denton Arledge. RL Cellular, a local privately-owned integrator and independent provider of wireless network solutions, designed and installed the MobileAccess MA-1000 to provide comprehensive coverage for current and future wireless applications on WakeMed's Raleigh Campus. Today, physicians and other hospital personnel stay connected using ALLTEL's Business Axcess wireless solutions including Employee Messaging two-way text messaging service, Touch2Talk walk-talkie service and high-speed wireless data services leveraging next-generation 1xRTT technology. "WakeMed was looking for a solution that would ensure reliable wireless voice and data coverage inside their medical facilities thus helping to enhance patient care and service," says Angel Perez, owner of RL Cellular. "We worked closely with ALLTEL and deployed the MobileAccess solution because it would deliver reliable wireless coverage to WakeMed personnel campus-wide as well as provide a simple migration path for future wireless services such as 3G without requiring any additional infrastructure." "Today, in-building cellular coverage is critical across all business segments particularly healthcare. Hospitals need an in-building solution that works seamlessly with their wireless service provider and will enable robust wireless voice and data service for their medical personnel no matter where they are located inside a building," said Ron Senchak, area vice president of wireless business solutions for ALLTEL. "It was a pleasure working with ALLTEL and RL Cellular to design a campus- wide wireless network that would support robust in-building wireless voice and data communications for WakeMed's medical personnel," said Cathy Zatloukal, President and CEO of MobileAccess. "Leveraging our flexible and scalable MA-1000 technology, hospitals can also add new services that will enhance operational efficiencies and patient care without disrupting existing services." About MobileAccess MA-1000 About WakeMed Health & Hospitals About RL Cellular Installation About Alltel About MobileAccess Networks Source: TRIANGLE dBusinessNews Cingular Launches IM Handset By Susan Rush Cingular Wireless is launching the LG F9100 with instant messaging and "American Idol" voting fans in mind. The handset, which features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, is made by LG Mobile Phones. The LG F9100 enables users to simultaneously hold up to 35 open IM conversations and participate in group chats up to 918 characters. When the QWERTY keypad is out, the handset's screen image rotates 90 degrees. The handset supports AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ or Yahoo! Messenger, all of which have 1-touch access. The handset also features up to four hours of talk time, voice-activated dialing, polyphonic ringtones and sound, 255-contact address book, personal organizer and 24 MB of memory. The LG 9100 will be featured in promotions for Cingular Wireless' sponsored 'American Idol' on Fox. Source: Wireless Week Trammell Crow Company to Provide Wireless Communications Sites at Bank of America Retail Banking Centers February 02, 2005 LOS ANGELES—(Business Wire)—Feb. 2, 2005—Unsightly cell phone towers may become a thing of the past, thanks to new wireless technology and a unique partnership between Bank of America and Trammell Crow Company (NYSE:TCC). Under the partnership, TCC's Wireless Solutions Group will make available to wireless providers approximately 3,500 Bank of America retail banking centers nationwide for installation of state-of-the-art stealth transmission sites. These site installations will be built to mimic existing features, such as flag poles and light standards. "Private building owners provide valuable space for the installation of 'stealthed' cell sites," said Jason Warner, Senior Vice President and head of TCC's Wireless Solutions Group. "We can merge state-of-the-art technology and design by creating wireless technology sites that resemble common elements already present in Bank of America's banking centers. We can even create them to resemble pine trees or palm trees, depending on the banking center's geographic location." In the past 18 months, wireless service subscriptions have grown nearly 15%, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's (CTIA) Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey released in November 2004. Inadequate wireless coverage has long challenged mobile operators, and wireless carriers have sought to address this issue via aggressive network expansions in select regions across the country, as sites become available on a public or private basis. Technology has advanced to the point that large, unsightly cell towers can be replaced with smaller installations that are concealed from view. Bank of America banking centers offer opportunities to apply this kind of technology, because many of them are located in densely populated areas that have high cell phone usage. As Curt Grantham, TCC's senior managing director and alliance director for the Bank of America relationship, notes, "By tapping into subject matter experts within our company who are outside of the account team, we are able to create new services and increase opportunities within the Bank of America portfolio." TCC's relationship with Bank of America extends back to 1993. It is one of the largest outsourcing partnerships in the real estate industry, with services including facility, project and transaction management services, lease administration, accounting, call center and mobile maintenance services encompassing 54.5 million square feet of the bank's portfolio nationwide. Source: TMCnet.com |
| READERS COMMENTS |
From: info@pagingcarriers.org New this year, the American Association of Paging Carriers (AAPC) will now sponsor the Wireless Forum 2005 (formerly hosted by SCA), June 1-3, at the Marriott Resort at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. With the increased scope of this event, we know you will want to take advantage of the benefits of exhibiting at the conference this year:
As a sponsor there are even more benefits, including advertisements in the conference materials, microphone time, and more. We are currently securing sponsorships and exhibitor space and space is limited. We would be pleased to have you participate at this year's conference and believe you will be impressed with the Marriott Resort and the level of exposure and quality of this event. Attached are the details on both exhibiting and sponsorship at the conference. I look forward to discussing the various levels of participation with you. To confirm your participation, please fax the attached Sponsor and Exhibit Space Contract to 910-632-9442 or send it with your payment to the AAPC office. Booth assignments are made based upon the order in which your contract was received. Additional details, on-line registration, and conference updates will be available on the AAPC web site, www.pagingcarriers.org shortly. Please feel free to call 866-301-2272 if you have any questions. Thanks—I look forward to working with you to promote your organization at the AAPC Wireless Forum! Sincerely, Details: EXHIBITING Details: SPONSORSHIP Paging Technical Committee Dear PTC Members: As you know we are planning on the first face-to-face PTC meeting to be on Tuesday April 5th in Las Vegas just prior to the exhibits opening for IWCE (April 6-8). I'm hoping that we can get a good turnout as we did last year. AAPC has arranged (as part of the Paging Zone in IWCE) to get us a room for the meeting. We need a sponsor to pick up the costs for the A/V equipment and the refreshments (continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack). The approximate cost will be about $1200-$1500 depending on the number of attendees. We need to respond as quick as possible to the convention center for number of people. If you or your company is willing to sponsor, please let me know as soon as possible. In addition, I'd like to get a head count of attendees so if you think you will be attending, let me know your company and how many from your company that will attend. Thanks, Stephen M. Oshinsky |
| THE PAYMENT GUARDIAN |
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Wireless Overview System Operation Payment Guardian requires absolutely no customer interaction and integrated seamlessly into the vehicles electrical system and is not visible to the customer, decreasing the possibility of tampering. Unlike other similar products on the market, Payment Guardian™ requires no keypads or input devices, eliminating the hassle of having to generate codes and giving those codes to the customer each and every payment cycle. With Payment Guardian?, lenders no longer have to rely on customers to enter codes into a keypad correctly. With Payment Guardian, only non paying customers require use of the system. Once the system has been activated in the customer’s vehicle—each time the ignition is turned to the OFF position, Payment Guardian reminds the customer that payment has not yet been received or insurance is not current and provides them with specific instructions to contact the leinholder immediately. If the reminder is ignored, you can simply activate Payment Guardian’s Starter Interrupt feature allowing no one to start the vehicle until the system is reset. Payment Guardian’s system control center has been designed to meet the different need of individual lenders and dealers that want a total customized solution to manage their systems, providing you with 3 different ways to use the systems features. This enables you to instantly activate system features, schedule activations to occur at a preset time or completely automate the systems features, allow you to just manage your systems with just a click of the mouse. System Features Audible Voice Reminder Starter Interrupt Emergency Override Vehicle Finder Door Unlock
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I have built two web pages about Mountain Communications in Mountain Home, Arkansas—a regional paging company that the owner wants to sell. The first page has several photos and some links to background information on the company. Please click here for that page. If you like what you see and want to read all the financial details, please send me an e-mail and I will send you the unpublished address of the second page. This is an outstanding opportunity for someone to acquire a paging company in a beautiful resort area of the Arkansas mountains where there are several large lakes and rivers. They tell me the fishing and boating are great in that area. By the way, this business also includes some wireless broadband, a trunking radio system, and a two-way radio dealership. |
Equipment Needed—Want to Buy the following
Please contact Brad Dye if you have any of this equipment to sell. Equipment located outside of the USA is OK. |
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|  Building on its long success story in 1-way paging, Advantra International has become the expert in designing and manufacturing the most advanced and lowest cost ReFLEX™ radio modems for 2-way data-communication. The company also focuses on offering total telemetry solutions. Advantra’s current product mix of own products includes the ReFLEX™ radio modules Barran, Karli and Wirlki and the new, highly successful and very low cost location device, the Kepler. Advantra thanks its solid reputation to its world-renowned development team, state-of-the-art manufacturing, excellent customer service and its proven track-record. Sales and Marketing Contacts
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Newsletter repair prices—starting at:
**Special pricing on cellular and pager refurbishment**
Ask for Special Newsletter Pricing. Please call: (800) 222-6075 ext. 306 for pricing.
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TAPS—Texas Association of Paging Services is looking for partners on 152.480 MHz. Our association currently uses Echostar, formerly Spacecom, for distribution of our data and a large percentage of our members use the satellite to key their TXs. We have a CommOneSystems Gateway at the uplink in Chicago with a back-up running 24/7. Our data is live on two different satellites at all times in case of a failure of one of them and covers the North American Continent. Our paging coverage area on 152.480 MHz currently encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Kansas. The TAPS paging coverage is available to members of our Network on 152.480 MHz for $.005 a transmitter (per capcode, per month) broken down by state or regions of states and members receive a credit towards their bill for each transmitter which they provide to our coverage. Members are able to use the satellite for their own use, for their own frequencies, by paying only for the data which they transmit, we track the data on a per bit basis and what ever percentage of the total data sent by each user is billed back to them as a percentage of the total satellite bill, (ex: if 6% of the data is the members', the member is billed for 6% of the cost of the sat plus 10% for overhead.) If you are on 152.480 MHz or just need a satellite for keying your own TXs on your frequency we have the solution for you. TAPS will provide the gateways in Chicago, with Internet backbone and bandwidth on our satellite channel for $500.00 to $1,500.00 a month (depending on the amount of traffic). Contact Ted Gaetjen @ 1-800-460-7243 or tedasap@asapchoice.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daviscomms—Product Examples For information about our Contract Manufacturing services or our Pager or Telemetry line, please call Bob Popow at 480-515-2344, bob@daviscommsusa.com or visit our website www.daviscommsusa.com
|  Prism Message Gateway Systems Your Choice of Options
Popular Choice for Domestic and International
Logical Choice
Go ahead . . . be choosy . . . choose Prism Systems International
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Intelligent Paging & Mobile Data Products
Selective is a developer and manufacturer of highly innovative paging receiver/decoders and mobile data equipment including the PDT2000 Paging Data Terminal, THE MOST INTELLIGENT PAGING RECEIVER IN THE MARKET. The PDT2000 is a large display pager designed for desktop or in-vehicle mounting and is widely used by emergency services and in onsite paging systems for forklift dispatch etc. All of the following capabilities are standard features of the PDT2000 and of our other paging data receivers:
Our mobile data equipment includes a range of intelligent Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) which may be interfaced to a variety of wireless networks including GPRS & CDMA cellular. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and GPS solutions, Dispatch & Messaging software. We offer mobile communications dealers and systems integrators a “fast to market” job dispatch and job management capability with the inbuilt job processing system which may be interfaced to a variety of CAD & JMS platforms. Specialised local area paging systems, paging interception and message reprocessing software, field force automation and mobile dispatch solutions. We do custom product development and export worldwide.
I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | TGA Technologies 
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CUSTOM APPLICATIONS
Please call me so we can discuss your need or your idea. Or contact me by e-mail for additional information. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Remember that old word “Residuals”? The EE Group is actively seeking Dealers with sales/ service/installation capabilities to promote the latest wireless AVL, SCADA and data products from Telegauge Systems, Inc. This innovative program requires NO inventory and NO billing by your facility; you just sell it and sign up the end user to collect the commissions. Now the real reason to choose the EE Group and Telegauge over the host of others; we pay you permanent residual income every month on your airtime sales forever. Airtime commissions range up to 12% per month based on prior sales and you buy all equipment direct from the factory at 2-tiered wholesale prices as well for great margins. Telegauge builds fully 2-way overt and covert (hidden) GPS based Automatic Vehicle Location, SCADA, remote management, telemetry and data systems routed via cellular and satellite that are delivered to the end user via the Internet or direct to the desktop. Applications are both ‘canned’ and custom depending upon the customers needs. We even have full dispatch systems including credit card swipe and billing if needed. Finally, the prices on the product are guaranteed to be the LOWEST in the industry at under $600 retail for the equipment and from $6 to $30 on the monthly airtime with most customers in the $15 range. Note too that the price is the same for cellular OR satellite world wide coverage and no one else has this exclusive capability. Telegauge provides the product, software, airtime, billing and final information from a single source and you can be a BIG part of it. You stock NOTHING, just collect the checks. We are paid by the manufacturer to support YOU and unlike other factories; we never bid against you, restrict you or take your deal. We help you with demo equipment, brochures, information, sales assistance, web advertising and user name/passwords for the website so that you don’t even need to buy anything to start up fast. Contact us for a no-obligation CD of all the presentation and training material, price spreadsheets and information at: EEGroup@EEonTheWeb.com or for fast action call for a link to the Dealers Only page: 310-534-4456 and mention that you found out about it via Brad Dye’s Newsletter. You have nothing to lose and some great residual income to gain. Call or e-mail NOW. |
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 AAPC Mission Statement To represent paging carriers throughout the United States to ensure the success of our industry by:
Our industry must move forward together or we will perish individually. AAPC links:
| High-speed simulcast paging with protocols such as POCSAG and FLEX™ requires microsecond accuracy to synchronize the transmission of digital paging signals.  Zetron's Simulcast System uses GPS timing information to ensure that the broadcasted transmissions between the nodes of the Simulcast System and associated transmitters are synchronized to very tight tolerances. This system is ideal for public or private paging system operators that use multiple transmitters and wish to create new paging systems or to build out existing systems into new regions. For more information about Zetron's High Speed Simulcast Paging System, the Model 600 and Model 620, go to: www.zetron.com/paging.
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www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. New Product Development New Hardware Platform
Continued Support Programs GTES Partner Program CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS |  Wireless Communication Solutions The Hark ISI-400LX is a hardware device that encapsulates serial data into TCP/IP for transmission over the Internet. It can also be configured to convert incoming TAP messages from the serial port and send them over the Internet to paging providers in email (SMTP) or Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) format. The ISI-400LX with the optional external modem can connect to a secondary dial-up ISP when a failure on the ethernet port is detected.
This device is the perfect companion for the Hark Gateway products. An ISI can be located at a remote location for receiving TAP, TNPP, or Billing traffic using a local ISP eliminating long distance phone charges.
System Features & Benefits:
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| PAGING TRANSMITTERS FOR SALE MOTOROLA NUCLEUS—350 WATT VHF MOTOROLA PURC 5000—250 WATT UHF GLENAYRE T-8500 AND T-8600 900 MHz For Information please e-mail or call: Stephan J. Suker E-mail: steves@cvcpaging.com Telephone: 802-775-6726 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Paging Seminar Specially designed course for sales, marketing, and administration personnel. Engineers will only be admitted with a note signed by their mothers, promising that they will just listen and not disrupt the class. (This is supposed to be funny!) This is a one-day training course on paging that can be conducted at your place of business. Please take a look at the course outline to see if you think this might be beneficial in your employees: Paging Seminar outline. I would be happy to customize the content to meet your specific requirements. Although it touches on several "technical" topics, it is definitely not a technical course. I used to teach the sales and marketing people at Motorola Paging and they appreciated an atmosphere where they could ask technical questions without being made to feel like a dummy and without getting a long convoluted overly-technical answer that left them more confused than before. A good learning environment is one that is non-threatening. Let me know if you would like to receive a quotation, or if you would like to have any additional information. |
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New ZigBee-Based Wireless Energy Meters Aim to Save Public Utilities Millions of Dollars BOSTON—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Feb. 28, 2005—NURI Telecom launches into U.S. market with automatic meter readers built with Ember's ZigBee-based technology. Korea-based NURI Telecom will soon introduce to the U.S. market a new automatic meter reading (AMR) system that will potentially save public utility companies millions of dollars by eliminating the need to manually read electric, gas and water meters at homeowners' premises. Using ZigBee-based wireless networking technology from Ember, NURI Telecom's AMR system will also enable utilities to enter the emerging digital home market by offering new revenue-generating monitoring and control services such as home security, anti-fire systems and home appliance control. ZigBee is a wireless, standards-based radio technology that addresses the unique needs of remote monitoring and control, and sensor network applications. The Ember-enabled AMR system is already being used in scores of Korean homes as part of a government-sponsored Digital Home Pilot Service aimed at turning houses into wireless "smart homes" with digital information, home automation and security services. NURI Telecom also has developed a ZigBee-based communication module as a OEM product for many other AMR and home network solution providers. NURI's AMR system is integrated with Ember's ZigBee-ready semiconductors and networking software to create a bi-directional wireless mesh network that links meters with utilities' corporate offices. They can remotely meter a home's electricity, gas and water usage more efficiently with fewer errors and at lower costs, while giving customers greater insight into their energy consumption and better customer service. "Our Ember-enabled meters form a complete mesh so that they can all communicate with each other and route data reliably," said NURI CEO, Song Man Cho. "The ZigBee network works well because latency is not an issue, yet the network can be easily expanded as new buildings are brought into service. We partnered with Ember because it had the most mature ZigBee platform, enabling us to reduce our product development time dramatically." The NURI system, marketed under the brand name AIMIR, is based on the successful commercial remote metering deployment of more than 110,000 residential and industrial facilities. In addition to electric, gas and water usage metering, the system's two-way communication offers new capabilities such as electricity overload control, gas leakage detection and power cut-off notification. "Because it's based on ZigBee, the industry standard for home automation networks, the AIMIR system will enable utilities to expand into new services beyond basic energy metering," said Venkat Bahl, Ember's vice president of marketing. "Ember's technology is already helping buildings become safer, eco-friendly, more comfortable and energy efficient. The AIMIR system can leverage ZigBee to support new applications such as automatic closure of gas valves, digital door locks, and remotely controlled home devices and HVAC equipment over the Internet, among many other possibilities." About NURI Telecom About Ember Corporation Contacts Source: BusinessWire Potential Benefits to Spur Uptake of Wireless Sensor Networks Despite Initial Technical Roadblocks February 16, 2005 PALO ALTO, Calif.—(Business Wire)—Feb. 16, 2005—Due to their easy deployment at extremely low costs, wireless sensor networks, compared to wired networks, are gradually gaining a foothold across several industry verticals such as building and industrial automation. However, companies need to ensure that applications that work effectively in a controlled environment or facility are able to maintain similar performance levels in real-world situations. In this regard, the biggest challenge lies in increasing the average deployable network size from the existing few hundred nodes to 1,000 nodes or more. If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end-users and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the Wireless Sensors and Wireless Sensor Networks, then send an e-mail to Melina Gonzalez, Corporate Communications, at melina.gonzalez@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number and email. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you via email. "Most companies in this field are working toward systems that can perform robustly and efficiently when scaled up to a size of around 500 nodes," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Hrishikesh Bidwe. Although test demonstrations of 800-node networks have already been completed successfully, more concerted efforts are required for gaining a competitive advantage in the mainstream market. The good news is that with the move toward a standard-based environment with the introduction of the IEEE 802.15.4 for radio communication hardware and the recently ratified ZigBee standard for networking among devices, adoption rates are increasing within end-user communities. "Standardization of wireless technology is likely to allow the market to become more streamlined, facilitate operation on a common platform, and improve interoperability with existing networks," observes Bidwe. Interoperability is especially relevant for the building automation vertical where almost 90 percent to 95 percent of the buildings are old structures with a huge investment in wired building control systems. The truly "plug and play" nature of wireless sensor networks is also expected to drive uptake in the building automation segment. In fact, with the current advances in wireless technology, most of these sensors are self-forming networks with minimal or no manual intervention. "Wireless sensors can be a boon to major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot where optimal energy consumption and reduced energy costs are a prime concern," notes Bidwe. While the high price tag for building automation applications is a major drawback, in the industrial automation space, companies can expect to command a higher price for their mission-critical devices. Companies are also likely to eventually venture into new applications such as home automation, defense, homeland security, and container tracking. Among these segments, home automation holds immense potential for various devices such as thermostats, occupancy sensors, and energy readings. However, companies must be prepared to meet end users' demand for high-end technology at competitive prices. Data aggregation and database management coupled with privacy issues regarding the ownership of the data collected from these sensors also need to be addressed. "Overall, the potential benefits of wireless sensor networks outweigh the existing challenges and are likely to open up application areas hitherto considered impossible with wired networks," concludes Bidwe. Wireless Sensors and Wireless Sensor Networks is part of the Wireless subscription service, and examines the latest advances in the market, which will enable wireless sensor networks to make an impact across various industry verticals. In addition to identifying major technology drivers and challenges, the research provides in-depth application analysis. Executive summaries and interviews are available to the press. Technical Insights is an international technology analysis business that produces a variety of technical news alerts, newsletters, and research services. Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company founded in 1961, partners with clients to create value through innovative growth strategies. The foundation of this partnership approach is our Growth Partnership Services platform, whereby we provide industry research, marketing strategies, consulting and training to our clients to help grow their business. A key benefit that Frost & Sullivan brings to its clients is a global perspective on a broad range of industries, markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. With a client list that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, as well as the investment community, Frost & Sullivan has evolved into one of the premier growth consulting companies in the world. For more information please visit www.frost.com. Source: TMCnet.com Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship' March 02, 2005 CEO of leading VoIP provider says port blocking of VoIP traffic is one potential small step toward an unwanted future of IP-based censorship. SAN FRANCISCO—According to Vonage Holdings Corp. CEO Jeffrey Citron, intentional blocking of Voice over IP traffic is more than just a competitive dirty trick—it's an act of censorship against free speech. In an exclusive interview here Tuesday [March 1], Vonage's chief executive said the issue of the company's recent incident of having some VoIP traffic blocked reaches beyond the market for IP-based voice communications and into the realm of free speech—and as such, should be protected by the courts, the FCC, or by new telecom regulation that ensures free and open access over the Internet. "What is this [port blocking] really all about?" said Citron, who was in San Francisco Tuesday for the Reuters Technology Summit. "It's really censorship in a way." Though Citron would not identify the ISP that Vonage is claiming to have blocked its VoIP service, he did provide some additional details about the incident, as well as some opinions on where the online world might be headed if technologic tactics like port blocking or traffic manipulation are not actively discouraged or made illegal. The advanced features of network analyzers, Citron said, already allow administrators to look not only at what types of packets are traversing their networks, but into the actual content of the packets. Port blocking of VoIP traffic, he opined, is a step down a slippery slope that could lead to network owners blocking content or Web sites they disagreed with. "What happens if [network operators] use technology to peer into your packets and read and see what you're doing?" Citron asked. "If they have a particular view of the world, they could just stop any news article that purports to go against that view. If they're [already] looking in the packets for SIP, or for instant messaging, where does the line end?" As to the incident that Vonage complained to the FCC about, Citron said the company first heard from Vonage customers in late November of 2004 that their Vonage service wasn't working. After normal tech support couldn't figure out the problem, Citron said Vonage put its best technicians on the case, and what they found was puzzling. The engineers, Citron said, "could talk to the [customer's] box, but the box couldn't talk to [Vonage's] server, and it only couldn't talk SIP. We thought, Ah! There must be something going on here. So my guys just changed the SIP ports to something different, and 'schwing!' The service worked just fine." Citron also said that some of Vonage's customers involved in the incident called their ISP, which admitted it was blocking Vonage. "They [the ISP] came out and said [to the customers] 'yes, we are doing this.' So there is no dispute," Citron said. "We were intentionally, willfully, blocked." While Citron doesn't quite know what the next step will be, he is hoping that the FCC uses some of the enforcement tools at its disposal to strongly discourage the practice of using networking technology to selectively block, alter or impede Internet traffic. Since Vonage has not filed a formal complaint with the FCC, the details of the investigative and potential punitive processes are not clear. "The FCC could come out and institute the largest possible fine they could, with the sternest of statements saying, 'this will not be tolerated,' " Citron said. "That might send a strong enough message." If the FCC decides against quick action, Citron said the next step might be a formal rule-making process by either the FCC or Congress, a step that could be a slow one given that the FCC is about to undergo a change of leadership, and that any Congressional telecom legislation may be years away at best. "It'd be unfortunate to have to pass a law [against port blocking and other types of interference], but we may have to," Citron said. Though he said he has previously testified against the need for port-blocking regulation, Citron may now change that tune, especially if more network operators start using port-blocking or other techniques to selectively control Internet traffic. "Until a market becomes free and becomes developed, sometimes you may have to put in place government regulations that allow for the market to develop," said Citron. "We may need to come up with a set of principles, for broadband, going forward." The tenets of free speech, Citron said, are a good place to start that process, and should be used to help resolve Vonage's recent incident. "What are people using broadband to do? Communicate," Citron said. "They [network operators who block VoIP] are restricting your ability to communicate with another person. And that's censorship." Source: advancedIPpipeline Skype One-Upped by Teleo 3/2/05 Aren't hot technologies fun? I talked two months ago how the peer-to-peer voice service Skype (.com) puts a spin on the idea of presence by allowing voice communications anytime anywhere with a laptop or PDA. Enter a new company, Teleo (.com) that almost matches Skype's presence and raises the bid on business use for peer-to-peer voice. Teleo has two big advantages over Skype: standards and Microsoft integration. Following in the footsteps of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) companies like FreeWorld Dialup (.com), Teleo relies on standards rather than proprietary protocols as does Skype. Second, anyone who uses Microsoft software (especially Office) and relies on their laptop as a mobile or remote worker will love the new context menu options such as "Call with Teleo" every time they highlight a phone number onscreen. A software telephone on the laptop ties into your Microsoft software making it a one-click operation to call anyone listed in your laptop. Highlight the name of an e-mail sender who's in your address book, click to call, and hear that person's phone ring. See a phone number on a Web site in IE? Click and call. Calls to other Teleo users are encrypted like Skype calls. The phone number assigned to your laptop accepts incoming calls from any other telephone, something Skype has yet to introduce (their SkypeIn service is still in test mode). When your laptop is off, forward the calls to your cell phone. No modern road warrior/expense account white collar wage slave is without one of the two every hour of the day and night. Teleo lacks Instant Messaging and PDA support, two interesting services you get with Skype to maintain presence. PC-to-PC calls with Teleo are free, as they are with Skype. PC-to-traditional telephone calls cost two cents per minute, as they do with Skype. Inbound calls are free, and Skype does not yet have an answer for that feature. A Bluetooth headset that matches well with your laptop completes this Borg-like assimilation of man and machine. You can choose a less futuristic headset, of course, if you find people chatting into a hidden Bluetooth earpiece as disconcerting as I. If Skype doesn't fit your corporate culture, Teleo may. You can even private label the software for that ultimate corporate ego trip. |
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Pacifica, CA February 27, 2005—Jef Raskin, a mathematician, orchestral soloist and composer, professor, bicycle racer, model airplane designer, and pioneer in the field of human-computer interactions, died peacefully at home in California on February 26th, 2005 surrounded by his family and loved ones. He had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
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