Page 1 2 3 Page 1 2 3 | FRIDAY - MAY 19, 2006 - ISSUE NO. 213 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging, Welcome back for another newsletter. There are several interesting news items this week. I hope you find something of interest to you. Please take time to read all the way to the end of page three or you might miss something important. I frequently receive e-mails and telephone calls from people frantically looking for information that has already appeared in the newsletter—that is OK because I always enjoy hearing from readers. I have added a Google search window on the newsletter archive site so you can do a search limited to my web site “www.BradDye.com.” Just put in some key words on the topic you need and Google will search the thousands of files on the “Paging Information Resource” site. Continuing with the topic of the dispute between USA Mobility and American Messaging Services Inc. (AMSI) I finally found where the legal pleadings are located on the FCC web site (with a little help from a friend). The first two pleadings from USA Mobility basically ask the FCC to reverse the transfer of Paging licenses to AMSI, and the next two are responses from AMSI stating why they think the FCC should allow the transfer to stand and why they think that USA Mobility's claims are invalid. This disagreement is a little like a soap opera and makes for interesting reading. Please go ahead and read the newsletter and then come back and click on the following links to get the whole story. All the "lawyer talk" is interesting and it is fun to translate in your head as you go along—to what they are really saying in plain English. I hate to see two friends fighting.
There is still time to make plans to join us at the AAPC conference that is only eleven days away. Please come. AAPC Wireless Forum We are going to have some great speakers and several representatives from the European Mobile Messaging Association (EMMA) in Europe. I am really looking forward to seeing many old friends and to making some new ones. Now on to more news and views.
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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 web site. 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.) MORE PAGES |
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| WIRELESS MESSAGING NEWS |
Iridium touts emergency communications sat
By Loring Wirbel
EE Times
May 01, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Iridium Satellite LLC, the service provider which acquired the low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite system originally developed by Motorola Inc., is offering a new public-safety emergency communications package for first responders.
The suite offers a satellite phone, voice and data transceiver, data transceiver, multi-channel fixed service, vehicular mount and docking stations and solar-powered chargers.
Iridium was the first of several LEO constellations launched with great fanfare in the late 1990s, before the expanding footprint of terrestrial digital cellular networks made LEO wireless communications superfluous for all but a handful of applications.
Motorola considered deorbiting the satellite network, until the Defense Department stepped in to help pull together an alternative funding package, reflecting its own interest in preserving the space network. Iridium is now concentrating on public-safety applications and specialized vertical markets such as oil and gas exploration.
Iridium timed the new package to correspond with the start of the 2006 hurricane season, claiming that satellite communications are more reliable than most terrestrial RF. Iridium also argues that network interoperability will improve with VHF and UHF radios.
While seven southern states are using Iridium networks, Greg Ewert, Iridium executive vice president, said "many states that could be affected by hurricanes this season are still far from being prepared from a communications perspective."
Source: CommsDesign
AOL launches instant messaging phone service
Washington Business Journal—1:00 PM EDT Tuesday
AOL on Tuesday introduced an offering that gives users of its instant messaging service a free, local phone number to receive calls online.
Through its new service, users of AOL instant messaging (AIM) may receive unlimited incoming calls via the Web as well as free online voice mail.
AIM users can get their free number by downloading a version from Dulles-based AOL.
When users are signed into the instant messaging service, they are able to screen incoming calls with caller ID, answer calls and talk as long as they'd like.
Customers also can set up the service to send a mobile alert via cell phone to notify them when they have a new AIM voice mail.
"AIM Phoneline was designed to meet the evolving phone needs of U.S. consumers," says John McKinley, president of AOL Digital Services, in a statement. "Our research shows that the need for a separate and confidential phone number is becoming as important to consumers as the need for multiple e-mail addresses."
In addition to features of the free service, AIM Phoneline offers a package that includes unlimited inbound and outbound calling in the United States, Canada and specific destinations in more than 30 countries internationally.
This package is $9.95 a month for a select number of charter members, AOL says, and $14.95 a month for all other customers.
Source: Washington Business Journal
SkyCreek Joins The Messaging Industry Association (TMIA) to Promote the Call Notify IVR Platform to the Cable and Telecommunications Industry in North America
May 17, 2006
SkyCreek Corporation, a leader in proactive customer contact solutions for the communications industry, today, announced today that it has joined The Messaging Industry Association (TMIA). As a member of TMIA, SkyCreek will join other leading companies who are committed to the growth and adoption of messaging services by the cable and telecommunications industries throughout North America.
Herndon, VA (PRWEB) May 17, 2006—SkyCreek Corporation, a leader in proactive customer contact solutions for the communications industry, today, announced today that it has joined The Messaging Industry Association (TMIA). Founded in 1998, TMIA’s charter is to advance the adoption and use of messaging services in all market segments including consumer, business, and government. As a member of TMIA, SkyCreek will join other leading companies who are committed to the growth and adoption of messaging services by cable and telecommunications industry throughout North America.
"We applaud SkyCreek’s commitment to partnering with us to expand and promote the messaging industry in North America. SkyCreek’s participation in TMIA is a strong indication of its support of our industry to promote the adoption and use of messaging services in all market segments including consumer, business, and government," said Tom Harper, Executive Director of TMIA.
According to Richard Haft, Director of Product Strategy, SkyCreek Corporation, "We view our membership in the TMIA as a demonstration of our commitment to the messaging industry in North America. Through our membership in the TMIA SkyCreek hopes to educate the member companies about its proactive customer contact solutions.” Haft stated further, "Our Call Notify IVR Platform empowers communication companies to improve operational effectiveness, reduce costs, lower churn, and increase revenue, and drive customer centricity through more effective and proactive communication with their customers."
SkyCreek’s Call Notify IVR Platform is a flexible, reliable, VoiceXML standards-based platform that can be used for any inbound and outbound IVR application. It supports traditional touch-tone IVR, text-to-speech, speech recognition, call control and recording, CTI, SIP, VoIP, and more. For optimum versatility and functionality, the Call Notify IVR Platform can be seamlessly integrated with any support systems such as workforce management, service provisioning, repair, and billing systems, as well as front-and back-office systems, and telephony systems.
About The Messaging Industry Association (TMIA)
The Messaging Industry Association, or TMIA, works to advance the awareness, adoption and use of all messaging services and technologies. TMIA was formed in 1998 to advance business prospects for vendors and service providers in the enhanced telecommunications services industry. The organization began with 8 founding member companies. Today, TMIA boasts a membership of over 40 member companies. The most recent annual meeting had 170 participants from 56 companies.
TMIA members join the not-for-profit organization to help maximize the growth of the messaging industry in order to increase profitability of all industry participants. Through committee work, members conduct research and promote growth in specific areas, such as Unified Communications, Wireline/Wireless Convergence, and Migration to Next Generation Messaging, Text and Video Messaging. To learn more about the organization, the benefits of membership, and upcoming events, please visit www.tmia.org.
About SkyCreek Corporation
SkyCreek is the leader in delivering pro-active enterprise and carrier-class customer contact solutions and service order assurance products today. As pioneers in automated contact solutions, we offer an array of voice and data delivery options to help make the most of the interactions between a company’s internal systems and its customers. We supply the conduits for the delivery of information to anyone, anytime, anywhere. In short, our product offerings connect systems to systems, systems to people and most importantly people to information. Herndon, Va.-based SkyCreek serves the largest companies in the communication industry today, including Cable Companies, Multiple Systems Operators (MSOs), New Entrant Carriers (NECs), and Integrated Communication Providers (ICPs). To learn more about the organization, the benefits of membership, and upcoming events, please visit www.skycreek.com
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Source: PR Web
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Verizon says it isn't giving call records to NSA
Updated 5/16/2006 11:43 PM ET
By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
Verizon said in a statement Tuesday that it is not providing customer calling information to the National Security Agency.
"One of the most glaring and repeated falsehoods in the media reporting," the statement said, "is the assertion that, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Verizon was approached by NSA and entered into an arrangement to provide the NSA with data from its customers' domestic calls. This is false."
Last Thursday, USA TODAY reported that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon, citing people with direct knowledge of the program.
Long-distance calls placed by BellSouth and Verizon subscribers can traverse the networks of other carriers who collect a variety of information for billing purposes. Verizon's statement leaves open the possibility that the NSA directed its requests to long-distance companies, or that call data was collected by means other than Verizon handing them over, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
On Monday, BellSouth denied providing records to the NSA. AT&T has refused to confirm or deny that it gave records to the NSA. One of the nation's major telecommunication companies, Qwest, declined to participate in the NSA program, the story said, a fact confirmed Friday by Herbert Stern, the lawyer for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio.
For the initial story, Verizon issued a statement saying, "We do not comment on national security matters, we act in full compliance with the law and we are committed to safeguarding our customers' privacy."
Since then, the three companies named in the story have been named in a lawsuit seeking $200 billion in damages. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan claims the companies violated telecommunications law and the Constitution by allowing the government to have call information.
In response to the Verizon statement, Steve Anderson, USA TODAY's director of communications, said: "We will continue to investigate and pursue the story. We're confident in our coverage of the phone database story. We will look closely into the issues raised by the BellSouth and Verizon statements."
Verizon's statement does not mention MCI, the long-distance carrier the company bought in January. Before the sale, Verizon sold long-distance under its own brand. Asked to elaborate on what role MCI had, or is having, in the NSA program, spokesman Peter Thonis said the statement was about Verizon, not MCI.
Asked whether Verizon's customer calling records are in the NSA database, Thonis said, "I just don't know the answer to that."
On whether BellSouth's customer records are in the National Security Agency's database, Jeff Battcher, a company spokesman, said: "We're not aware of any database that NSA has, so we're not aware of our customer information being there at all."
The third company, AT&T, said last week that it would help government efforts only within the limits of the law. On Tuesday, company spokesman Michael Coe said AT&T had no additional comment.
Asked about the denials, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, noted that telephone company executives will be called before the panel for a hearing. "We'll ask them under oath," he said.
"The thing that concerns me is some (companies) said yes and some said no" when asked to participate. "If the government really thought this was legal and necessary, why let some say yes and some say no? It's either legal and necessary, or it's not."
At the White House, President Bush renewed his defense of telephone surveillance in answer to a question about whether Americans might feel that their privacy is being invaded.
BUSH:Surveillance legal
The government's effort is to "connect dots to protect the American people, within the law," he said. "The program ... is one that has been fully briefed to members of the United States Congress, in both political parties."
Afterward, White House press secretary Tony Snow denied that Bush's answer amounted to a confirmation of the reported database project. "He was not giving a back-handed confirmation," Snow said. "But I would direct you back to the USA TODAY story itself. It said there is no wiretapping of individual calls, there is no personal information that is being relayed."
At the same time, the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees announced that all members of the two panels would receive briefings on the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program.
Bush's nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, is scheduled to go before the Senate panel for a confirmation hearing on Thursday. Hayden headed the NSA when the program was conceived and implemented after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It became apparent that all members of my committee needed to know the full width and breadth of the president's program" said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan. "This issue will be central to the committee's deliberations on Gen. Hayden's nomination."
Contributing: Leslie Cauley in New York; John Diamond and Kathy Kiely in Washington; wire reports
Source: USA TODAY
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