| FRIDAY - SEPTEMBER 9, 2005 - ISSUE NO. 179 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging and Paging, Because so many readers have helped by sending me information, we are going to have a terrific newsletter this week. My contribution will be to share with you my size-of-market estimate for the US subscriber Paging market at mid-year 2005. This report is the result of many hours of research coupled with some estimates, or as we say around here where I live, "by-the-seat-of-your-pants guessing." I don't know where that saying came from and I am sure it will be confusing to our international readers. I have many original photos of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and the efforts of Paging technicians to restore communications in the affected areas. These are not the staged footage that you see on TV but real stuff by the Paging techs themselves. There are three important bulletins from the FCC and several other very interesting news articles. Apple and Motorola finally officially released the iPod-enabled cell phone called the ROKR—a Quad-band, Bluetooth-enabled, camera-equipped, stereo-speaker cell phone. Oh yes, don't miss the announcement from The European Mobile Messaging Association and the UK Wireless Messaging Association about the upcoming Messaging Conference in Helsinki, Finland. (I want to go!) UHF VOICE PAGERS If you are like me and you have been watching all the news on television about the damage done by Hurricane Katrina, you may be, sick, embarrassed, appalled, afraid, concerned, disgusted, and a few other emotions that are not very positive—about our inability to react and protect our people in times of emergency. Maybe I am a little biased, but it seems to me that everything would have run a lot faster and more efficiently with better communications and planning. Well, I can't do much about the planning except complain (and vote in the next election), but when it comes to communications I want to recommend a solution. Almost all the buildings in this country have smoke detectors installed in them. We routinely change the batteries when we shift to daylight savings time and most of us can remember when there were no smoke detectors available. They have saved many lives. For about a year I have been trying to interest various companies in a mass alerting device that would hang on the wall just like a smoke detector. It would be connected to the AC mains so that its battery would stay charged but you could unplug it and take it with you if you needed to evacuate. It is called InfoLink and it is used very successfully in Israel. By intelligently using Paging group calling—to common capcodes—millions of people can be alerted and kept informed about emergencies in a minute or two. Paging has really proved its worth during Hurricane Katrina and this InfoLink alerting device is what we should be implementing for the next emergency that comes along. A photo of the InfoLink follows my size-of-market report. Every home and business should have one of these devices installed. Call me if you are interested. Now is the time to do something. Now on to the rest of the news and views. | 
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 central 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. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. 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.) |
| ESTIMATE OF 2005-MID-YEAR SUBSCRIBER PAGING UNITS IN SERVICE IN THE USA |
| RANK | CARRIER | UIS | SHARE | COMMENTS | |
| 1 | USA Mobility | 5,348,000 | 60.3% | The source of all the information in this report falls into the following categories:
Unfortunately, everyone doesn't tell the truth. Some responses were of questionable accuracy. In spite of best efforts to minimize errors in the total, some double counting may be included because of reselling on other systems. The category "others" includes all paging companies below the 20th rank. It is difficult to estimate this group but the assumption is based on the fact that most of the smaller, traditional Paging companies, have been acquired by larger Paging companies over the last several years and that very small Paging companies of below one or two thousand subscribers are generally not feasible as stand-alone businesses. I don't think the estimate of 200,000 UIS spread across 50 states is unreasonable. I welcome comments and corrections. This information is being supplied because we need to know. It is not pleasant to compare the current 8.9 million UIS to the peak of 45 million that we hit in 1999, but everyone that I talk to agrees that the Wireless Messaging industry seems to be stabilizing. Now vendors can make plans based on realistic numbers, and we all know the status of our business here in the USA. Notes:
| |
| 2 | Verizon | 1,155,000 | 13.0% | ||
| 3 | SkyTel | 750,000 | 8.5% | ||
| 4 | SBC/AMSI | 530,000 | 6.0% | ||
| 5 | Teletouch | 156,000 | 1.8% | ||
| 6 | n/a | 104,000 | 1.2% | ||
| 7 | n/a | 95,000 | 1.1% | ||
| 8 | Indiana | 73,374 | 0.8% | ||
| 9 | Aquis | 70,000 | 0.8% | ||
| 10 | UCOM/NE | 65,000 | 0.7% | ||
| 11 | Unity | 40,000 | 0.5% | ||
| 12 | n/a | 35,000 | 0.4% | ||
| 13 | n/a | 25,220 | 0.3% | ||
| 14 | n/a | 25,000 | 0.3% | ||
| 15 | n/a | 25,000 | 0.3% | ||
| 16 | n/a | 23,750 | 0.3% | ||
| 17 | n/a | 23,000 | 0.3% | ||
| 18 | Lauttamus | 8,080 | 0.1% | ||
| 19 | TAPS | 44,121 | 0.5% | ||
| 20 | SouthernNet | 76,500 | 0.9% | ||
| 21 | Others | 200,000 | 2.3% | ||
| Total: | 8,872,045 | 100.0% |
Many thanks to everyone who helped by contributing information for this report and thanks to the company that sponsored my work on this project.
| HOMELAND SECURITY ALERTING |
Note: This product is not being offered for sale at this time. This presentation is for information only.
| HURRICANE KATRINA PHOTOS |
You can click on the photos to enlarge them. If you want to see them all, start with the one in the upper left-hand corner, then click on "Next" to advance to the photo after that one.
 COW in Gulfport |  Generator in Ocean City |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |
 Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |
 Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |
 Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |
 Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS |  Gulfport, MS office |  Ocean City site |
First-hand Impressions From a Senior Paging Technician
I am a 10-year-plus veteran of the paging industry and have over 20 years in electronic communication. I have been a Sr. Tech with what is now USA Mobility for over 10 years and have seen many disasters, including 3 hurricanes in our area last year, but Katrina has to be the worst. Typical of many communications companies, USA Mobility was having conference calls and preparing for Katrina long before it hit. As a matter of fact, here in Florida she gave us a dry run by crossing south Florida on her way into the gulf. Mind you this was before she became the monster that hit the north gulf coast.
I left for that area on Tuesday pulling a 25 KW generator to power up whatever need it when I got there. My first stop in the devastation was in Jackson, Mississippi. This was my first clue as to how bad it was as the power poles had snapped off even that far from the coast. We used the 25 KW generator that I was pulling to keep one of our paging terminals up in Jackson (which had been running on battery backup) until the power came back on. I also helped the local techs deploy smaller generators to our transmitter sites that were without power. After the power came on at the Jackson terminal location, I pulled the generator to Mobile, Alabama. where the rest of our troops were staging from. The next day we went to Gulfport, Mississippi. Most of the pictures included with this article [above] are from that area. I have never seen devastation like the south part of Gulfport. The storm surge really tore things up. A lot of the houses that were hit by the storm surge are just plain gone. The other techs had deployed one of our COW's in Gulfport at our office to provide coverage on our one way and two way systems in Gulfport, while several of us took the generator that I had to Ocean City to power up a site there.
One of the things that Brad has mentioned before and that was glaring to me—after working this disaster and the 3 hurricanes that we dealt with in central Florida last year—was how well the paging actually worked. Yes we do carry cell phones, but there were many areas where they didn't work. Actually we tried several different carriers in many different areas, and the way that we were able to communicate in most of the devastated areas, between the techs, was via our 2-way network. I think this is due to the fact that the stations are a lot simpler than the cell phone networks and much less has to work for the station to be on the air. You could accuse me of saying this because I work in the industry, but facts are facts and they did work. As you can see from the pictures here and what you have seen on TV, the people in the northern gulf coast are really hurting. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers and help them anyway that you can.
Kevin Milhorn, N4KM (ex WD9COL & KS9O)
Sr. Network Technician
USA Mobility/Arch/Metrocall
Orlando, Florida
| MORE HURRICANE KATRINA PHOTOS |
 katrina1.jpg |  katrina10.jpg |  katrina11.jpg |  katrina12.jpg |  katrina13.jpg |
 katrina14.jpg |  katrina15.jpg |  katrina2.jpg |  katrina3.jpg |  katrina4.jpg |
 katrina5.jpg |  katrina6.jpg |  katrina7.jpg |  katrina8.jpg |  katrina9.jpg |
| HURRICANE NEWS |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AAPC BULLETIN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
Messaging Business Opportunity Supplement your existing business by launching this new AssistSTAR message distribution management system. Increase your revenue without purchasing a lot of new infrastructure, by starting out with a subscription service on existing equipment. What is AssistSTAR? Subscription-based AssistSTAR to start Server-based solutions when you are ready Time-critical response When every second counts, manage them effectively. You are invited to view our emerging case study presentation by clicking here.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GTES has recently made the strategic decision to expanding its development activities to include wireless location technologies; a market that researchers forecast could reach $3.6 billion by 2010. In support of this new strategic direction, GTES has developed SHERLOC™ a complete one-stop wireless location service, providing the flexibility of being protocol neutral and network agnostic. Targeted at business customers who need to track their high-value shipments or better manage their service or delivery fleets, SHERLOC™ is a hosted application that combines configuration flexibility with ease of use. GTES is offering SHERLOC™ services both directly and through authorized resellers. If your company has an interest in finding out how location services can enhance your revenue stream, and has the contacts and expertise to make you successful in the location marketplace, please contact us for further information at www.sherlocgps.com and select “Reseller Opportunities,” or call us at 770-754-1666 for more information. 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. Continued Support Programs CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS
|
 Wireless Communication Solutions
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
eRF Wireless
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| WIRELESS NEWS |
Communications Networks Fail Disaster Area Residents
By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 1, 2005
Victims of Hurricane Katrina struggled to communicate with each other and the rest of the world yesterday, using everything from text messages to ham radio as most telephone service in New Orleans and coastal Mississippi remained devastated.
The near-blackout left outsiders desperate for news about loved ones, and in some cases created life-and-death situations as aid workers struggled to get information about people stranded by rising floodwaters in New Orleans.
enlarge photo  click | |
 | |
| Krystal Hurder tries to make a call with her cell phone yesterday as she and Edward Thomas wait for gas at a station in Gulfport, Miss. (By Rogelio Solis — Associated Press) | |
Phone companies had trouble even comprehending the extent of damage to their systems because they could not get into some parts of the region. One telephone executive said the storm might have caused unprecedented damage to a communications infrastructure that people have come to take for granted.
BellSouth Corp., the dominant local telephone-service provider for the region, with a network that is also vital to wireless telephone systems, said as many as 1.75 million customers along the Gulf Coast may be without service. One reason the networks will be so difficult to restore is that damage to wireless towers and copper, coaxial and fiber-optic lines could be spread across an unusually wide section of the country, from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.
The loss of service left residents nearly as frantic for communications as for food and shelter.
Cellular South technician Bruce Utley said a man flagged down his pickup truck in battered Gulfport, Miss., and offered to pay cash to use his mobile phone.
"I told him to go ahead and use it," said Utley, who has spent the past two days hooking up generators to his company's wireless towers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. "You can't take money for something like that."
Utley had reason to feel sympathy, having watched a 50-foot oak tree smash through the new roof on his Biloxi house at the height of the storm, destroying parts of his kitchen and living room and sending rain streaming down the walls.
His son, Jason, 18, found another way to communicate, using a text-messaging service that was sporadically available to contact a friend in Biloxi to find out if he had survived the storm.
"Water got to the ninth stair of my two-floor house, but everything's fine," he said the friend replied.
Some residents chronicled their experiences on Web logs, with news organizations compiling lists of such online journals on their Web sites. But power failures made it difficult to run computers or get Internet access and threatened to undermine phone service further.
"We have the dual challenge of dealing with the loss of commercial power, which is affecting our service, and of dealing with the actual physical damage to the network," said BellSouth spokesman Joe Chandler. The company had no estimate on when it would be able to restore all service, he said.
Mobile-phone providers said their service was severely limited, at best, in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast, and they encouraged people to use text messages instead of making voice calls. Text messages are sent in small "packets" of data, using less bandwidth to get through overloaded lines more easily.
"Text messaging has been our savior right now," said Richard J. Deshotels of Hammond, La., as he shopped at a Home Depot yesterday in Shreveport, where he went to escape the hurricane.
Friends in Hammond were able to let him know that his house was spared, Deshotels said.
Ham radio operators told of people dialing random numbers from their weakening cell phones, hoping to get a signal and to reach anyone who could send word that they needed help.
On Monday morning, Sybil Hayes of Broken Arrow, Okla., got word by cell phone from relatives in New Orleans who said they were trapped in the second floor of their home, with the first floor filled with water. Their cell phone then died.
Hayes called the Red Cross in Tulsa, which put ham operator Ben Joplin to work. Joplin, part of a community of ham radio operators who mobilize during emergencies, was unable to reach any ham operators in the New Orleans area.
But he spoke to a fellow ham in Portland, Ore., who found another operator in Utah who was finally able to reach operators in Louisiana. The radio operators in Louisiana got word to emergency personnel, who rescued more than a dozen people in the house, including Hayes's 81-year-old aunt.
I was just so relieved," Hayes said.
Experts said it could be months before the full telecommunications network is restored, especially in New Orleans.
"This is the worst I have seen from an operations perspective," said Hossein Eslambolchi, chief technology officer of AT&T Corp. and a veteran of several natural disasters. "You almost have to rebuild the city. It may take an entire year."
Flooding also is damaging generators and the computer electronics that power telephone networks. Simply drying them out won't suffice. "If the water gets into the electronics, you can pretty much forget it," Eslambolchi said. They will need to be replaced.
One of the greatest problems for companies was just getting through to inspect damage in places like New Orleans, where police turned people away because of the danger from flooding and downed electrical lines.
Sprint Nextel Corp. said it was massing technicians, power generators and fuel in Baton Rouge, La., so they would be ready to roll when New Orleans is opened up.
Reed E. Hundt, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the scale of the damage would make it hard to repair, and he bemoaned the government's failure to develop an emergency wireless network for rescue workers.
"We always discover the same thing," he said. "We need a national emergency communications network and we don't have one."
Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report from Louisiana.
Source: Washington Post
 | PUBLIC NOTICE | ||
| Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 | News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 | ||
DA 05-2421 MAINTAINING WIRELESS SERVICE FOR CONSUMERS AFFECTED BY The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau take steps to ensure consumers are not improperly disconnected from wireless service in the wake of Hurricane Katrina In this public notice, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) and Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) take steps to ensure that wireless service providers do not improperly disconnect consumers displaced by Hurricane Katrina because they are unable to pay their bills. Hurricane Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands of residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and many thousands of these customers rely on their wireless service during this difficult time to remain in touch with loved ones. As of this date, the United States Post Office is not operating fully throughout the affected area, commercial power capability is not yet available throughout the affected area, and the communications networks (including access to the Internet for online bill pay options) are not at pre-hurricane capabilities. Based on the representations of a number of wireless carriers serving consumers displaced by the hurricane, WTB and CGB understand that the common practice in the wireless industry at this time is to continue providing service to displaced people who cannot pay their bills in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. WTB and CGB understand that consumers displaced by Hurricane Katrina are concerned that wireless service providers may disconnect service for failure to pay their bills. To ensure that consumers of these services continue to maintain access to their wireless service during this difficult time, all licensees of wireless services serving consumers affected by the hurricane are required to submit a report no later than Thursday, September 8, 2005 verifying their compliance with the standard industry practice of maintaining service to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina despite failure to pay bills. Reports should describe the grace period or other relief licensees are providing for this issue. Reports may be submitted in letter format addressed to the chiefs of the respective bureaus. Electronic copies of the reports should be provided to Katrina_Wireless_Report@fcc.gov. In addition, licensees must also serve one copy with the Commission's copy contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (BCPI), Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW, Room CY-B402, Washington, D.C. 20554, (202) 488-5300, or via e-mail to fcc@bcpiweb.com. For further information contact: | |||
Source: FCC Web Site
| NEWS | ||
| Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 | News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 | ||
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). | |||
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 8, 2005 | NEWS MEDIA CONTACT David Fiske 202-418-0513 | ||
FCC ASSIGNS EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS IN RESPONSE Washington - The FCC today announced contact information numbers for FCC offices providing emergency telecommunications service authorizations and other relief in order to facilitate reconstruction efforts by telecommunications providers affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The FCC has already granted numerous special temporary authorization (STA) notices to help broadcast, wireless, wireline, and satellite providers initiate emergency procedures and use emergency frequencies and facilities to resume operations. The FCC has also granted waivers of the Commission’s slamming and numbering rules as well as extensions of deadlines for filing particular FCC forms and comments in rulemaking proceedings. During this emergency providers needing emergency STA authorizations or needing to consult FCC bureaus and offices about their recovery efforts, can reach FCC personnel between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM at the following numbers:
In addition, during evening hours, telecommunications providers needing FCC emergency assistance or STAs can call the FCC’s Communications and Crisis Management Center, which is open 24 hours a day, at (202) 418-1122. For a list of all FCC Public Notices and Press Releases relating to Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and extensions of FCC filing dates for regulatory fees and various regulatory proceedings, and for other hurricane recovery related information, go to the FCC’s website, www.fcc.gov and click on the “Hurricane Katrina Emergency Information” box at the top of the homepage. This site may be also accessed at www.fcc.gov/cgb/katrina. - FCC - | |||
Source: FCC Web Site
| PUBLIC NOTICE | ||
| Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 | News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 | ||
DA 05-2427 FACILITATING RESTORATION OF WIRELESS FACILITIES IN AREAS IMPACTED BY The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Provides Information Regarding Expedited In this Public Notice, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) takes steps to be of further assistance to wireless radio service licensees with communications facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Hurricane Katrina destroyed or damaged thousands of land mobile and microwave radio communications facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. These facilities were established by public safety entities, critical infrastructure providers, businesses, and wireless service providers. Such facilities not only provide for vital emergency and operational communications needs but also support other wireless communications. As these facilities are repaired and rebuilt over the coming weeks and months, licensees may need to alter the operating parameters designated in their current license(s) (e.g., location, power, antenna height, frequency). In some instances, such changes will require frequency coordination. Based on the representations of a number of entities that provide frequency coordination services for FCC licensees, the WTB understands that the common practice among such entities at this time is to provide “expedited coordination services” for communications facilities impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The WTB understands that wireless licensees and service providers are working cooperatively and expeditiously to re-establish their vital emergency and operational communications.1 To assist them in their efforts and facilitate the swift restoration of communications facilities in the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina, the WTB lists below the names and contact information of the FCC-certified frequency coordinators for land mobile radio operations and coordinating bodies for microwave radio operations. It is anticipated that having such a list readily accessible will be of benefit to those licensees needing to avail themselves of frequency coordination services. Land Mobile Service Coordinators American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) American Automobile Association (AAA) Association of American Railroads (AAR) Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, Inc. (APCO) Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA)* *Also coordinates on behalf of the International Taxicab and Livery Association (ITLA), Telephone Maintenance Frequency Advisory Committee (TELFAC), Newspaper Association of America (NAA), and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Forestry Conservation Communications Association (FCCA) Forest Industries Telecommunications (FIT) Hydrological Federal Frequency International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA) Manufacturers Radio Frequency Advisory Committee, Inc.(MRFAC) Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) Petroleum Frequency Coordinating Committee (PFCC) UTC Spectrum Services Microwave Service CoordinatorsACD Telecom, Inc. Beyran, Inc. Comsearch Consolidated Spectrum Services Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) Micronet Communications, Inc. Multicomm Sciences International, Inc. Munn-Reese, Inc. Pinnacle Telecom Group Radio Dynamics Corporation Terrestrial RF Licensing, Inc. UTC Spectrum Services For further information contact: 1 With respect to procedures for requesting special temporary authorization related to Hurricane Katrina, please see Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Announces Extension of Filing and Regulatory Deadlines for Wireless Licensees in Areas Impacted by Hurricane Katrina, Public Notice, DA 05-2406 (WTB rel. Sept. 1, 2005). --FCC-- | |||
Source: FCC Web Site
| EUROPEAN MESSAGING CONFERENCE |
The European Mobile Messaging Association
in collaboration with the
Wireless Messaging Association
Have the pleasure of inviting you to attend the Industry’s
2nd Annual Conference and Round Table Meeting 2005
October 19-20, 2005
Scandic Hotel Simonkentta
HELSINKI, FINLAND
www.scandic-hotels.com/simonkentta
| Sponsored by: |  |
| Pictures from Helsinki |
 |
PROGRAM SUMMARY
| DAY 1 | Wednesday, October 19 | |
| 12:00 | Welcome Buffet and Registration of the Delegates | |
| 13:00 | Opening Address | |
| 13:15 | First Session: Population Alert and Disaster Prevention Made Simple | |
| 15:15 | Coffee Break | |
| 15:30 | Constitutional General Assembly of the EMMA-WMA Merger | |
| 17:30 | End of Working Sessions, Day 1 | |
| 18:30 | Evening Social Activities: Cocktail Party, Group Dinner | |
| DAY 2 | Thursday, October 20 | |
| 09:00 | Second Session: Wireless Messaging in Eastern Europe | |
| 10:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 10:45 | Third Session: New Applications and Revenue Opportunities | |
| 12:30 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Fourth Session: Industry Round Table | |
| 15:45 | Closing remarks | |
| 16:00 | End of Conference |
REGISTRATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Registration Fee:
The attendance fee is Euro 99 per delegate. The fee includes access to the sessions, soft drinks during the sessions, coffee breaks, buffet welcome lunch, cocktail party and group dinner on Day 1, lunch on Day 2 and copies of the presentations in electronic format distributed after the conference.
Registration Form:
Please fill the attached registration form and e-mail it to admin@emma-info.com as soon as possible to enable the Secretariat run logistics smoothly.
Hotel Reservations:
You will receive information about hotel accommodation together with the confirmation of your registration to the conference. Hotel reservations must be made by the delegates directly with the hotel.
Cancellation Policy:
In case of impediment to attend after registration, you may be replaced by another member of your company without penalty.
Cancellations received at the Secretariat up to October 9 will result in a charge of Euro 25 per person.
Cancellations received at the Secretariat ten days or less before the conference, and noshow, will give no right to refund, as EMMA is liable to the hotel for the number of delegates confirmed one week before the event.
31-07-2005
Copyright © 2005 Jacques N. Couvas Conseils en Strategie d’ Entreprises
Credit for photography : Helsinki Tourist and Convention Bureau.
Logos and trademarks: copyright by the respective owners of such logos and trademarks.
Additional information: (The following are MS Word documents in "zip" files.)
Invitation to the delegates 
CLICK HERE
Speaker Application CLICK HERE
Registration form CLICK HERE
As Telecom Reels From Storm Damage, Ham Radios Hum
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 6, 2005; Page A19
MONROE, La.—In a shelter here, 300 miles north of New Orleans, Theo McDaniel took his plight to a young man fiddling with a clunky, outdated-looking radio.
Mr. McDaniel, a 25-year-old barber, had evacuated New Orleans with his wife and two small children more than a week ago and since then had had no contact with his brother or his aunt. The last he heard, his 42-year-old aunt was clinging to her roof.
"We've got to get a message down there to help them," he said. The man at the radio sent the information to the emergency-operations center across town, which relayed it to rescue units in New Orleans. Later in the weekend, Mr. McDaniel learned that food and water were on the way to his trapped brother and his brother's young family. He had heard nothing about his aunt.
With Hurricane Katrina having knocked out nearly all the high-end emergency communications gear, 911 centers, cellphone towers and normal fixed phone lines in its path, ham-radio operators have begun to fill the information vacuum. "Right now, 99.9% of normal communications in the affected region is nonexistent," says David Gore, the man operating the ham radio in the Monroe shelter. "That's where we come in."
In an age of high-tech, real-time gadgetry, it's the decidedly unsexy ham radio—whose technology has changed little since World War II—that is in high demand in ravaged New Orleans and environs. The Red Cross issued a request for about 500 amateur radio operators—known as "hams"—for the 260 shelters it is erecting in the area. The American Radio Relay League, a national association of ham-radio operators, has been deluged with requests to find people in the region. The U.S. Coast Guard is looking for hams to help with its relief efforts.
Ham radios, battery operated, work well when others don't in part because they are simple. Each operator acts as his own base station, requiring only his radio and about 50 feet of fence wire to transmit messages thousands of miles. Ham radios can send messages on multiple channels and in myriad ways, including Morse code, microwave frequencies and even email.
Then there are the ham-radio operators themselves, a band of radio enthusiasts who spend hours jabbering with each other even during normal times. They are often the first to get messages in and out of disaster areas, in part because they are everywhere. (The ARRL estimates there are 250,000 licensed hams in the U.S.) Sometimes they are the only source of information in the first hours following a disaster. "No matter how good the homeland-security system is, it will be overwhelmed," says Thomas Leggett, a retired mill worker manning a ham radio in the operations center here. "You don't hear about us, but we are there."
Slidell, a town 30 miles northeast of New Orleans, was directly hit by the hurricane and remains virtually cut off from the outside world. One of the few, if not the only, communications links is Michael King, a retired Navy captain, operating a ham radio out of a Slidell hospital.
"How are you holding up, Mike?" asked Sharon Riviere into a ham-radio microphone at Monroe's operations center. She and her husband, Ron, who is the president of the Slidell ham-radio club, had evacuated before the storm to the home of some fellow ham-radio enthusiasts in Monroe. She said Mr. King had been working 20-hour days since the storm hit.
Crackling static and odd, garbled sounds followed her question to Mr. King. Then he replied: "It's total devastation here. I've got 18 feet of water at my house. Johnny's Café down there has water up to its roof."
Ms. Riviere asked about her own home, which is not far from Mr. King's. "It's full of mud," Mr. King replied. "Looks like someone's been slugging it out in there."
Ham radios are often most effective as one link in a chain of communication devices. Early last week, someone trapped with 15 people on a roof of a New Orleans home tried unsuccessfully to get through to a 911 center on his cellphone. He was able to call a relative in Baton Rouge, who in turn called another relative, Sybil Hayes, in Broken Arrow, Okla. Ms. Hayes, whose 81-year-old aunt was among those stranded on the New Orleans roof, then called the Red Cross in Broken Arrow, which handed the message to its affiliated ham-radio operator, Ben Joplin.
Via stations in Oregon, Idaho and Louisiana, Mr. Joplin got the message to rescue workers who were able to save the 15 people on the roof, according to the ARRL, based in Newington, Conn. "We are like the Pony Express," says the 26-year-old Mr. Gore, wearing black cowboy boots. "One way or the other, even by hand, we will get you the message."
Mr. Gore, who is in charge of the northeastern district of Louisiana for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, has spent a lot of time the past week at the Monroe shelter, helping evacuees try to track missing friends and relatives.
Last Monday, Danita Alexander of Violet, La., came to a ham operator in the Monroe shelter asking about her 96-year-old grandfather, Willie Bright, who had been in a nursing home in New Orleans. The next day, she got word back from a ham operator that he had been safely transferred to a shelter near New Orleans. "We can't do enough of these," says Mark Ketchell, who runs the ARES branch in Monroe.
Nevertheless, the ham-radio community feels under threat. Telecom companies want to deliver broadband Internet connections over power lines, which ham-radio operators say distorts communications in the surrounding area. Since hams are "amateurs," there is little lobbying money to fight such changes, they add.
The hams also get little respect from telecommunications-equipment companies, such as Motorola Inc. "Something is better than nothing, that's right," says Jim Screeden, who runs all of Motorola's repair teams in the field for its emergency-response business. "But ham radios are pretty close to nothing." Mr. Screeden says ham radios can take a long time to relay messages and work essentially as "party lines," with multiple parties talking at once. Says Mr. Leggett at the Monroe operations center: "We are the unwanted stepchild. But when the s- hits the fan, who are you going to call?"
Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2005; Page A19
| READER'S COMMENTS |
From: orion@vnewscenter.com Dear Brad, Below please find the latest news from Orion Information Services. If you have questions or for more information, please contact Jan Wall at (250) 388-0865 or via email at: jan@oismail.com. For Immediate Release September 6, 2005 Orion Merges with CellPoint to Create Global Mobile Powerhouse Merger between Orion Information Services and CellPoint Connect brings together powerful mix of mobile technology, content, resources and clients Miami, FL – Orion Information Services, Inc., (OIS), a leading technology firm that specializes in mobile content and service applications, announced today that it is merging with CellPoint Connect AB, (CellPoint) a Sweden-based company that specializes in global hardware and software solutions for the wireless market. CellPoint is listed in Stockholm under the symbol CPNT. Under the terms of the merger, Orion will take on the CellPoint name and head up the company’s America’s division, which includes both North America and Latin America. Kristian Gjerding, Orion CEO, says the merger—which he views as a natural fit for both companies—positions CellPoint as a global force in the wireless industry. Click Here to read more... Dr. Peter Angelo Writes From: angelopl@y12.doe.gov Brad, I whole heartedly agree with your latest newsletter. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina further emphasizes the importance of paging and the role it should play for first responders. When we decided to design a system for nuclear criticality accident emergency response, paging seemed to be the logical candidate. After we tested the system this past May, it became apparent that this means of communication would be important. Thanks Peter Angelo Can You Help? From: gpruitt@rcscom.com Looking for Programming Stand with rib box/cables for Bravo Plus Pagers? Thank you, Gregg Pruitt A FleetBoss® GPS Solutions Provider A Reader in South Korea Writes From: dragonkim@hantel.co.kr Thanks very much for your information. We want to express our sympathy for the families and loved ones of the people who perished in this terrible Hurricane Katrina. Best Regards, Next PTC Meeting To Be In Scottsdale, Arizona From: The Fall PTC Face-to-face meeting will be held on Friday November 4th at the Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center from 8 AM to noon. This is in conjunction with the Fall AAPC Emerging Technologies Symposium. . . . We need a corporate sponsor or two to help defray the cost of the meeting so please let me know if your company can help. An agenda will be sent out near the end of September or early October. If you ideas for topics that you would like to see discussed or have a presentation of interest to the technical meeting, please send me an email as soon as possible. Thanks |
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
THIREE TERM SUPPORTER |  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. Location Devices & ReFLEX Modems
Sales and Marketing Contacts
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Please click here to e-mail Ayrewave. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intelligent Paging & Mobile Data Products PDT2000 Paging Data Terminal
LED Moving Message LED Displays 
Mobile Data Terminals & Solutions
I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | InfoRad® Wireless Office (Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP) is designed for the professional who needs full-featured wireless messaging capabilities. Features include enhanced user interface, message log with search function, scheduled Paging, group and individual message addresses, TAPI Smart™, multiple protocol SMS communication compatibility. AlphaCare™ support services available. With a 32-bit architecture, InfoRad Wireless Office is designed for compatibility with Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. For more information on InfoRad Wireless Messaging software, and a free demo, please click on the logo.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
CUSTOM APPLICATIONS
Please call me so we can discuss your need or your idea. Or contact me by e-mail for additional information. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Want to help the newsletter? Become a SPONSOR Promote your company's image with one of the posters or better yet, one of the commercial advertising packages
* cost per week—six-month minimum—or 26 issues For more details, and pricing on the various advertising options please click here | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Motorola CreataLink OEM Modules Specifications:
Inputs/Outputs:
General:
Motorola brochure. CreataLink POCSAG 900 Mhz Telemetry Modules These are new closeout surplus and still in original Motorola packaging with very favorable below cost pricing. Several hundred are available. They have RS232 serial outputs in addition to the trigger points and the optional external antenna connectors. Please let me know if there is any interest in this opportunity. Estos son módulos de sobra, nuevos en su embalaje original de Motorola. Los precios son muy favorables, menos del costo original. Hay centenares de ellos disponibles. Incluyen salidas seriales RS232 en adición a los puntos de abre y cierra. También tienen conectores opcionales para antenas externos. Avísame por favor si hay alguna interés en esta oportunidad. | 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.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Advertise Here Details about the advertising plans can be read here. |
Customers in Latin America may contact Brad Dye for price and delivery information. Español esta bien. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MORE NEWS |
| Greatest Business Leaders of the 20th Century (USA) | |
Based on a survey of 7,000 executives by Harvard Business School's Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria for their book, In Their Time (Harvard Business School Press, 2005). Source: FastCompany |
|
Getting Small By Jonathan Seff
But musical cameos aside, Steve had some pretty cool products to unveil. The first, the Motorola ROKR E1 cell phone with iTunes support, was well known to every blogger, rumor site, and major news organization days before the announcement—but that didn't make it any less cool (nor did meaningless words like “convergence,” “compelling,” and “innovative” used by Motorola and Cingular executives detract from the product itself). At its heart, the ROKR is a Quad-band, Bluetooth-enabled, camera-equipped, stereo-speaker cell phone. But it’s also an iPod with 512MB of memory. There’s a button on the phone to access iTunes, it acts very much like an iPod (without the Click Wheel), shows up in the Source list of the new iTunes 5, and can shuffle songs or play albums and playlists. And at $250 with a 2-year contract with Cingular, not a bad deal for two devices in one.
Oh yeah, and all the Harry Potter books are now available as audiobooks from the iTunes Music Store, and for a limited time you can buy a Hogwarts Crest-engraved 20GB iPod with The Complete Harry Potter downloads for $548. Considering that the only group of people more fervent than iPod users are Harry Potter fans, Apple will probably sell a goodly number of audiobooks in the coming weeks. Source: Macworld | |
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
| 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. |
| |||
 Download Mr. Mercer's resumé. CLICK HERE | Complete Technical Services For The Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.
| |||
| ||||
hmce@bellsouth.net |  | |||
SATELLITE CONTROL FOR PAGING SYSTEMS $500.00 FLAT RATE 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 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 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 (for your system) a month. Contact Ted Gaetjen @ 1-800-460-7243 or tedasap@asapchoice.com | ||||
| ||||
| EMPLOYMENT SECTION |
Reward offered to help Brad King secure a job! Put Brad in contact the hiring manager of his new employer and when he begins working you get the reward. (Subway, Wal-Mart, Jiffy Lube, and Burger King don’t count) You will have your choice of a check for $1,000.00 or two roundtrip tickets anywhere in the lower 48 that Delta flies. For this noble act, in lieu of the reward, Brad will donate $1,000.00, in your name to the charity of your choice. (Prizes paid 30 days after he starts working because he needs the money) If it’s the Braille institute he will contribute another $500.00. Brad wants to thank all the fine professionals that have tried to help him land a decent job over the past five months. They include his friends at Daviscomms, Selective, Waveware, Bearcom, DPC, and Zetron. BUT “No Mr. Popow, Brad is not interested in taking a job in Fargo, ND.” See the attached resume then contact Brad for the summary of job parameters and the details here. (This message sponsored by Brad’s wife who really wants him out of the house!) Send Brad King an e-mail here. |
|
| Wi-Fi, WiMax, and VoIP News |
Skype signs first mobile network partner
E-Plus subscribers will receive Skype in bundle
By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
September 01, 2005
While some mobile operators plan to restrict users from making voice over IP (VOIP) calls over their wireless data networks, Germany's E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG is encouraging VOIP through a deal it announced Thursday with Skype Technologies (Profile, Products, Articles) SA. Starting in October, subscribers to E-Plus' €39.95 (US$49.30) flat rate data plan will receive Skype software as part of the service bundle.
Users will only be able to make VOIP calls via their computers, not handsets. An E-Plus spokesman said the operator has no plans to begin offering a Skype VOIP service that can be used on a mobile phone.
The offering will be largely aimed at business customers who are the main users of VOIP now, said the spokesman. Customers will be able to use their laptops for most of their communication needs, including accessing the Internet, downloading documents and now making voice calls, he said.
While the E-Plus spokesman said he expects the service to offer the same quality as VOIP over a wired connection, others aren't quite so sure. Typically, the fastest mobile data networks deliver 64K bps (bits per second) on the uplink, a speed that can degrade the quality of a VOIP call. "I'd have thought the [quality of service] on the uplink would be dodgy," said John Delaney, a principal analyst with Ovum Ltd. Many operators are planning network upgrades that will increase the uplink speed.
Because many business users pay for mobile data on a flat monthly rate basis, this offering can help them cut down on mobile phone voice calling costs. In addition, business people who use VOIP may already do so via Wi-Fi networks. E-Plus customers can decide to use the E-Plus network instead of Wi-Fi hotspots, thus potentially eliminating a subscription to a Wi-Fi service.
E-Plus will only allow customers to use Skype for VOIP, blocking other VOIP offerings. Vodafone (Profile, Products, Articles) Germany has said that starting in 2007, it may restrict users from accessing any VOIP networks. Operators fear that customers may use the VOIP services while subscribing to flat rate data plans rather than use the regular mobile voice network, thus threatening their voice revenues.
Subscribers to mobile data services from any operator can use Skype's service. E-Plus is the first mobile operator to partner with Skype and include Skype's software in a service offering.
In July, Skype partnered with Boingo Wireless Inc., a hotspot aggregator. For $7.95 per month, customers can make and receive Skype calls in Boingo hotspots.
Source: InfoWorld
| UNTIL NEXT WEEK |
This week's issue is a good example of the idea of a "community forum" because many people sent photos, wrote messages, and sent in news articles, producing a collection of very important information for the whole Wireless Messaging community. Many thanks to all who helped and as they say on TV, "keep those cards and letters coming" only in our case it's e-mail and telephone calls.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE WIRELESS MESSAGING AND PAGING INFORMATION RESOURCE |
I have found some UHF, 2-tone, 2-channel, voice pagers for sale at 
CLICK HERE
If you see someone in the field (like salespeople, technicians, and delivery people) using paper forms, their company could probably save a pile of money, and get much better timeliness, accuracy and efficiency, by using converting to Outr.Net's Wireless Forms. Custom applications for as little as $995, delivered in just a few days.Outr.Net has a web page on Wireless Forms for Timeports at: 
Steve Jobs loves putting on special musical events, if for no other reason than trotting out his celebrity pals to help sell Apple’s new ideas to the public. Today’s event was no exception: Jobs acknowledged cellist Yo-Yo Ma, seated in the audience; took part in a live video iChat with a British-accented Madonna—whose catalog was just added to the iTunes Music Store—from London; and invited Hip-hop/rap artist Kanye West—whose album and song both top the iTMS charts—to sing two songs at the end of the morning (before which West thanked Steve for “still letting him perform,” presumably a reference to some 
Like any good showman, however, Steve saved the best for last—the 
$1,000.00 Reward
