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CMA newsletter logo

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FRIDAY — JANUARY 27, 2012 — ISSUE NO. 492

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Paging and Wireless Messaging Home Page image Newsletter Archive image Carrier Directory image Recommended Products and Services
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Reference Papers Consulting Glossary of Terms Send an e-mail to Brad Dye

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Dear Friends of Wireless Messaging,

Boooooo! — Not so . . .

“For people who depend on paging to get critical messages, the stand-alone pager is now officially obsolete,” says Judit Sharon, President and CEO of Onset Technology. [source]

The last time I talked to Mrs. Sharon, she said, “I don't know why anyone would think Onset is 'anti-paging' we are definitely 'pro-paging.'”

“Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!”

—Sir Walter Scott
Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.
Scottish author & novelist (1771-1832)

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I am looking forward to the Critical Messaging Convention in Austin, Texas. One of the things that I am interested in learning more about is the SkyAlert Earthquake Alerting System. Santiago Cantú, the General Manager of SkyTel Mexico will be making a presentation about this new system.

Santiago Cantú has been credited with “reviving paging in Mexico.”

Congratulations Santiago on this wonderful new warning system for our friends in Mexico.

There are 20 sensor installations along the Pacific Coast about 200 miles southwest of Mexico City. This is the area where most of the earthquakes are first felt. When seismic waves are first detected on the coast, the system can warn the people in Mexico City sixty seconds before the tremors arrive there.

One minute may not sound like much warning but it is certainly enough to give many people a chance to get outside before the building collapses on top of them.

skyalert

I have experienced four or five small earthquakes, at different times, while visiting Mexico — enough to scare me — but they were nothing compared to the really big ones that have killed many thousands of people.

earthquake

earthquake

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The 1985 Mexico City earthquake, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck Mexico City on the early morning of 19 September 1985 at around 7:19 AM (CST), caused the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage to the greater Mexico City Area. The complete seismic event consisted of four quakes. A pre-event quake of magnitude 5.2 occurred on 28 May 1985. The main and most powerful shock occurred 19 September, followed by two aftershocks: one on 20 September 1985 of magnitude 7.5 and the fourth occurring seven months later on 30 April 1986 of magnitude 7.0. The quakes were located off the Mexican Pacific coast, more than 350 km away, but due to strength of the quake and the fact that Mexico City sits on an old lake bed, Mexico City suffered major damage. The event caused between three and four billion USD in damage as 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged in the city. While the number is in dispute, the most-often cited number of deaths is an estimated 10,000 people but experts agreed that it could be up to 40,000. [Source: Wikipedia]

The SkyAlert web site is here. left arrow

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SOLiD Technologies to Present Public Safety DAS Framework at FCC Event

Presentation to explore strategies to ensure indoor public safety radio coverage on distributed antenna systems (DAS)

Roseburg, OR (PRWEB) January 27, 2012

Seth Buechley, President of SOLiD Technologies, has been invited to present on the topic of in-building coverage and public safety radio using distributed antenna systems (DAS) during an informational forum offered by the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Conducted in cooperation with the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) on Wednesday, February 1, the forum will provide an overview of DAS and Small Cell technologies that augment mobile broadband and wireless services, and will explore how these solutions benefit communities. The presentation will explore state and municipal public safety codes and trends, introduce the stakeholders, identify key challenges, and propose a framework to remove the obstacles to advance public safety initiatives.

SOLiD Technologies includes public safety capabilities in its best-in-class DAS platform, ALLIANCE™, which delivers multi-service coverage for commercial wireless, public safety radio, private 2-way radio, and paging over a single infrastructure. The Company also builds-in UHF/VHF support for first responder public safety radios in its single-carrier DAS solution, EXPRESS™.

“Public safety communications over DAS is going to be a very important issue for the wireless industry in 2012,” said Seth Buechley, president of SOLiD Technologies. “Local Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), Building Owners, Wireless Service Providers, and First Responders are in this together and, collectively, we already have the tools to solve this problem efficiently. We are inviting these stakeholders to join us in formation of a Shared DAS Coalition to bring focus on solving this issue for the benefit of the public.

The event begins at 9:30 AM in the Commission Meeting Room at FCC Headquarters in Washington, DC and will also be webcast live. Please visit the event website to learn more.

About SOLiD Technologies
SOLiD Technologies USA is the U.S. operating arm of SOLiD Technologies, a publicly-traded global telecom manufacturer established in 1998 in Seoul, Korea. SOLiD enables greater coverage and capacity for wireless and wireline telecommunications providers with innovative, patented and robust fiber technology solutions. SOLiD's distributed antenna system (DAS) solutions ensure dependable coverage within buildings, campuses and venues. The Company's flagship DAS solution - ALLIANCE™ - delivers best-in-class multi-carrier DAS performance and efficiency with support of commercial wireless, public safety radio, private 2-way radio, and paging on a single DAS infrastructure using just one strand of fiber. SOLiD’s optical network solutions, based on patented ClearLight LASER™ tunable laser technology, unlock network capacity from existing fiber runs, delivering service providers significant economies of scale as well as capital and operational expenditure savings. With innovation as part of its DNA, SOLiD is applying its technology to solve not only today's challenges but leading the development of next-generation solutions. SOLiD’s global customer reach includes major wireless operators, Tier-1 and facilities-based carriers as well as leading hospitals, world-class hotels and resorts, Fortune 500 corporate campuses, international airports and other marquee customer sites. SOLiD is now available on the GSA Schedule.

For further information please e-mail info(at)solidtechusa(dot)com or call 888-409-9997. [source]

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Now on to more news and views.

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Wireless Messaging News
  • Emergency Radio Communications
  • Wireless Messaging
  • Critical Messaging
  • Telemetry
  • Paging
  • VoIP
  • Wi-Fi
  • WiMAX
  • Location-Based Services
WIRELESS
wireless logo medium
MESSAGING

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CMA Wireless Messaging News
This is the CMA's weekly newsletter about Wireless Messaging. You are receiving this because I believe you have requested it. This is not a SPAM. If you have received this message in error, or you are no longer interested in these topics, please click here , then click on "send" and you will be promptly removed from the mailing list.

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iland internet sulutions This newsletter is brought to you by the generous support of our advertisers and the courtesy of iland Internet Solutions Corporation . For more information about the web-hosting services available from iland Internet Solutions Corporation, please click on their logo to the left.

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About Us

A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter is 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 web. 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 Messaging 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 readers' comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging 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.

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Editorial Policy

Editorial Opinion pieces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Critical Messaging Association, or its sponsors.

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Please help support the CMA Wireless Messaging News by clicking on the PayPal Donate button above.

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If you would like to have information about advertising in this newsletter, please click here. If you are reading this, your potential customers are probably reading it as well.

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CRITICAL MESSAGING ASSOCIATION

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cma logo Critical Messaging Association

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COME JOIN US AT THE GLOBAL CRITICAL MESSAGING CONVENTION

March 27-29, 2012 star Austin, Texas star Hyatt Regency Austin

Register today at: www.criticalmessagingassociation.com

Early Registration Deadline: February 27, 2012

cma convention

star Registration includes admittance to all sessions, the Riverboat Reception on Wednesday evening (March 28th), as well as lunch and breaks on Thursday.

star Hotel Reservations: The Hyatt Regency Austin provides the perfect location for guests to walk to Austin's attractions or to relax along the shore of Lady Bird Lake. To make reservations use the online reservation form or call 888-421-1442 or (non-toll-free) 402-592-6464, and reference the Global Critical Messaging Convention to receive the significantly discounted rate of $167/night (inclusive of Internet). DEADLINE: February 27, 2012.

star Vendor Opportunities: Exhibit at the Critical Messaging Convention. Exhibit details are available at criticalmessagingassociation.org or contact Linda left arrow here by e-mail, or by telephone at 866-301-2272.

Tentative Schedule of Events

Tuesday, March 27

 

9:00 am – 2:00 pm

CMA Board of Directors Meeting

10:00 am – 12:00 pm

EMMA Board Meeting

2:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Technical Committee Meeting

Wednesday, March 28

 

8:30 am – 5:00 pm

Registration Open

9:00 am – 9:30 am

CMA Membership Meeting

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

CMA & EMMA Carrier/Operator meeting

1:00 pm – 1:15 pm

Welcome
Roy Pottle, CMA President
Derek Banner, EMMA President

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm

Opening Session
Facilitator: Michael Futeran, MethodLink

To facilitate networking and business opportunities this moderator-led forum encourages you to introduce yourself, your business, and growth areas for expansion.

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Campus Emergency Notifications and Pager Protocol
David O. Cronk, Director, Emergency Preparedness
University of Texas at Austin

This presentation will provide an overview of the University of Texas campus alerting protocol. Discussion will include the university’s distribution and use of pagers and pager protocol for campus notification, the successes and weaknesses of the campus alerting system in an actual emergency, and the significance of pagers in emergency communications in today’s world of “smart phones.”

4:10 pm – 5:10 pm

Using Paging Networks for Critical Messaging and Alerting: SkyAlert Earthquake Alerting System
Santiago Cantú, SkyTel Mexico
Skytel Mexico, in conjunction with the government and other emergency agencies has developed an Earthquake Alerting system. The system, based on critical messaging services, has enabled SkyTel Mexico to continue to diversify its portfolio of products and services while taking advantage of its infrastructure for services that cannot be matched by other wireless technologies.

6:30 pm

Riverboat Reception sponsored by:

cas american messaging

Thursday, March 29

 

8:30 am – 3:00 pm

Registration Open

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Continental Breakfast

9:00 am – 10:00 am

Leveraging Your Healthcare Accounts

10:15 am – 11:00 am

Getting the Message Out
Karla McGowan, Marketing Communications & PR Expert
From press releases to social media, this session will take you through the basics of how to promote your business. Regardless of size, every business has news to share and a story to tell — and getting your message out makes good business sense.

11:10 am – 12:10 pm

Lessons from a Global Perspective
Jan Korpegard, Ascom Sweden
Illan Friedland, Beeper Communications Israel

12:10 pm – 1:15 pm

Lunch sponsored by ProPage, Page Plus, Midwest Paging, Indiana Paging
Network, SelectPath — Contact Wireless

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm

Grow Your Business with Utilities – They Need More than Just a Message!
Dick Preston, MW Consulting Corporation
Similar to the medical industry, utilities also need a highly reliable/mission-critical, low-cost communication platform. This session will explore the opportunities, issues, and business propositions in providing value-added services to utilities. Learn how budget restraints and limitations on internal technical resources create an array of messaging opportunities for this sector.

2:15 pm – 3:15 pm

Bringing Cloud Computing Down To Earth
Alan Hills, MethodLink
Scott Forsythe, SelectPath-Contact Wireless

Tom Harger, SelectPath-Contact Wireless
Tom Jackson, Midwest Paging
Small and large companies can and are benefiting from moving their business to the cloud. This session will provide an overview of what “the cloud” is as well as the pros and cons of both public and private cloud computing.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Round Table Discussions
Social Media 101, facilitated by Karla McGowan
Expanding Business Models, facilitated by Will Bakula, Weather Affirmation

4:30 pm

Conference Conclusion

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Premier Vendor prism ipx
Prism-IPX Systems LLC

Silver Vendor

methodlink
Method Link, LLC

Silver Vendor

unication
Unication USA

Bronze Vendors

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CMA Executive Director
441 N. Crestwood Drive
Wilmington, NC 28405
Tel: 866-301-2272
E-mail: info@criticalmessagingassociation.org
Web: www.criticalmessagingassociation.org
CMA Regulatory Affairs Office
Suite 250
2154 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007-2280
Tel: 202-223-3772
Fax: 202-315-3587

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ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER

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Advertiser Index

CMA — Critical Messaging Association
Daviscomms USA
Hahntech-USA
Hark Technologies
Ira Wiesenfeld & Associates
Ivycorp
Leavitt Communications
Preferred Wireless
Prism Paging
Ron Mercer — Paging & Wireless Network Planners LLC
PSSI — Product Support Services
TPL Systèmes
Critical Alert Systems d/b/a Northeast, UCOM & Teletouch Paging
VCP International
WiPath Communications

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JANUARY 24, 2012

No sale: Why a new owner can't save the BlackBerry

A new CEO promises more of the same, so some investors call for RIM to be sold. Here's why that is a bad idea for troubled RIM

By Galen Gruman
InfoWorld

Within hours of Research in Motion getting a new CEO Sunday night, some investors were again calling for the company to be sold, having lost faith that RIM's management can save this listing ship. That's hardly a vote of confidence, nor a new desire. Just last week, rumors that Samsung was looking to buy RIM, caused Samsung to issue a swift public denial of any interest. Every few weeks, there seem to be rumors that some company wants to buy RIM. I suspect much of that talk is sparked by investors hoping for a quick runup in RIM's stock price so that they sell their shares at less of a loss; some no doubt comes from financial analysts and investors hoping to pressure RIM's management to fix the troubled device maker. But it would be a terrible mistake if it happened.

The reason that investors (and many IT organizations, I suspect) call for a new owner is that they want a knight in shining armor to rescue the company, which dismissed the iPhone in 2007 as an inconsequential product and whose co-CEOs (now board members) have been repeating that assertion ever since, despite the ascendance of first the iPhone and then Google Android as RIM's own BlackBerry users began jumping ship. BlackBerry is now the distant No. 3 in the U.S. smartphone market as a result.

But the sort-of-new CEO, Thorsten Heins (he had been the COO), is no fairy-tale white knight. He's promising to hold the course of RIM's unfulfilled business plan, making the usual noises about wanting to focus on the consumer and being innovative — noises that RIM has made for a couple years but not delivered on. His concessions have so far been minor, such as indirect criticism of the slow delivery of products at RIM and a lukewarm willingness to eventually consider licensing the BlackBerry platform or its email software to others. Investors were not impressed, sending RIM's stock down 8 percent yesterday amid renewed calls for the company to be sold to some white knight.

The sad truth is that a white knight can't fix RIM with some magical sword anyway. If that were possible, it would have been done already. If someone were to buy RIM, you can kiss the platform good-bye, at least as a mainstream option. If RIM were to be bought, it would be stripped for its parts, and the BlackBerry would die sooner or later under the new owners. Fortunately for RIM, its low value means it's not likely to be bought, giving it time to resurrect itself — regardless of the frustrations of its stockholders and financial analysts.

The truth is that if RIM is to rebound, it needs to save itself. Yes, RIM had proven multiple times that it can't execute anything really different than what it's already delivered, as its current BlackBerry 7 devices demonstrate. That's why it's QNX-based BlackBerry reboot effort known as BlackBerry 10 OS — which has been delayed until late 2012 — is so critical. I think it's RIM's last shot at surviving as a major mobile player. At this stage, RIM is too far into that effort to change directions yet again; this needs to work, or RIM needs to call it a day.

When RIM's stock tanked before the holidays — a sign its investors were giving up on RIM — I started asking analysts, CIOs, and others what they would miss about the BlackBerry were RIM to suddenly disappear. I expect RIM to linger for a few more years at least, but I posed the question that way to understand what the real value was they saw in today's RIM, to see if maybe RIM could use what it has already built as the basis for a comeback. If a white-knight scenario were to be plausible, there'd need to be such untapped value for a new buyer (or management team) to leverage.

I got few real answers, which suggests strongly that the value of RIM's technology portfolio has largely disappeared. RIM clearly came to the same conclusion more than a year ago when it announced it would drop its legacy BlackBerry platform in favor of the QNX operating system it bought in spring 2010. That need for a new core makes sense, given that the whole approach to devices, operating systems, and security management that traditional BlackBerry platform encapsulates belongs to a bygone era.

RIM was an amazing innovator in the early 2000s, bringing messaging capability to those on the road using the primitive paging networks of the day. We take that for granted now, but a decade ago, it was as revolutionary as the first PC, as Lotus Notes in its early years, and as the first laptop. Like Notes, the BlackBerry has become an awkward living fossil, a porked-up relic distorted and hobbled by the layers of stuff added over the years in an environment fundamentally changed by the iPhone and the consumerization phenomenon.

So what value does RIM still have? Here's the short list.

The BlackBerry brand

It's possible that someone might want to use the BlackBerry brand for their own messaging-oriented devices, to appeal to those who like physical keyboards on smartphones and just want a device for email and social messaging. There are Android devices that have comparable keyboards but are gunked up with apps, so transplanting the BlackBerry brand to them would be problematic. Likewise, Windows Phone 7 is very much oriented to messaging, a BlackBerry forte, so the BlackBerry brand might be valued by one of its device makers (especially the BlackBerry Messenger brand for RIM's popular but proprietary mobile messaging service).

But users wouldn't get the physical keyboard associated with the BlackBerry brand. In neither case would IT get the security controls it associates with the BlackBerry moniker. The brand value seems more nostalgic than real, at least until people are given enough time to forget the original brand's specific attributes — which may be why few old brands get resurrected for use on a different device.

The 500-strong security policies in BES

IT likes the BlackBerry because, when a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is also installed, IT can tie up the BlackBerry with an amazing variety of knots to control the device, how applications can interoperate, and what a user can do with it. For a control freak, a BES-managed BlackBerry is the ultimate playground. But IT is no longer calling the shots; if it were, RIM would be sitting pretty in the same spot it occupied in 2006, and iPhones and Androids would be at best interesting toys for 20-somethings. The truth is that for most use cases, IT has largely come to peace with the level of security in iOS and what is slowly emerging for Android.

There are of course some circumstances where BES's vast array of controls are actually necessary, and despite the capabilities of mobile device management (MDM) vendors, iPhones and Androids can't be managed to the required levels. I could imagine a defense contractor such as Harris or Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) buying RIM to provision defense and spy clients, and the occasional other business, much as such firms today provisioned super-secure, hardened PCs to the same clientele.

Even here, you have to wonder about the long-term value of BES. Both the National Security Agency and Defense Dept. are working on more secure forks of Android, to get BlackBerry-like security while retaining the much more flexible capabilities of Android due to its support of a broad array of apps and services. Companies like Harris and CSC already see that writing on the wall, thus offering Android- and iOS-based systems for more broad military and government use.

Oh, and users don't buy BlackBerrys because they care about BES's policies. As users are now driving much of the mobile momentum, what matters to them will matter to RIM's fate and to any possible buyer. RIM knows that, as evidenced by its two years of talk about refocusing the BlackBerry for consumers, but its current OS and device lineup doesn't really walk that talk, despite the success of its popular BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging app.

The secure BlackBerry network

You don't hear much about this aspect of RIM's offering much these days, but it matters very much to security-conscious IT folks. RIM routes all messages through its servers, creating a secure connection to the enterprise servers that make it very difficult for a hacker to spoof their way in via a BlackBerry.

It's true that the cellular carriers pay a lot of attention to their own 3G and 4G networks' security, which may explain why network security is no longer a top selling point of the BlackBerry, but having that secure control in the middle remains a unique BlackBerry capability unmatched by iOS, Android, or Windows Phone. This use of the RIM network as a trusted middleman is also why some BlackBerry features don't work if you have only a Wi-Fi connection, as Wi-Fi communications don't go through the RIM server.

On the other hand, RIM has seen embarrassing service outages in its network in recent months, causing all messages to stop dead in their tracks as the network fell over. And several countries — including the United States — have insisted on access to the RIM servers through backdoors so that they can look for criminals, rebels, and other undesirables, thus making the security value of RIM's network less appealing to the defense and spy communities that like the RIM network approach.

The RIM network also costs money to maintain, and that's an issue for any would-be buyer. And outside of IT and a few spooks, users don't buy BlackBerrys for its network security.

Two-factor authentication

Some BlackBerry models support two-factor authentication; that is, you enter a code sent to a separate device when accessing a secured resource from your BlackBerry to better prove the BlackBerry isn't stolen and the user actually is who the user says he or she is. Although some Windows Mobile devices in the past featured a similar capability, today only RIM offers two-factor authentication support.

Again, this is an issue for IT and a small percentage of users. A variety of vendors are trying to bring two-factor authentication, or something close enough, to Android and iOS.

The BlackBerry value is limited to a small world of users

All this shows that the traditional BlackBerry's unique strengths — as groundbreaking as they once were — aren't as relevant to today's users. A small subset of the market really does need the security strengths of a BlackBerry, and duplicating those in iOS, Android, or even Windows Phone won't be easy. After all, BES has the advantage of having a simpler universe to manage than the more modern, app-oriented platforms people now want; securing a messaging device is much easier than securing what is in essence a portable computer. Just ask any Windows admin.

Users also expect more freedom and flexibility in a device that feels like a computer -- and their managers like to exploit those capabilities, so IT is less able to force severe controls (à la BES) on devices seen as multipurpose minicomputers. As IT makes the mind shift from phone-as-e-mailer to phone-as-computer, it also makes the shift to thinking about control more in PC terms. And let's be honest: Less control is typically asserted over a PC than over a BlackBerry, making it hard to justify BlackBerry-like control over iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices. (Yes, there are highly controlled PC environments out there; I'm speaking of the typical situations.)

That is really RIM's problem: Its value belongs to a different age and a different environment. No buyout can change that fact. That's why RIM keeps talking about focusing on consumers, despite its historic IT orientation. Thus the BlackBerry reboot effort. (Given the dominance of iOS and Android among consumers and Microsoft's renewed, consumer-oriented push in mobile, whether there's enough room for RIM's purportedly consumer-oriented BlackBerry 10 is a fair but separate question.)

If RIM's BlackBerry reboot works to make it relevant and compelling in today's environment, the company won't need a buyer. If the reboot fails, any buyer will want just its patent portfolio, customer list, and perhaps brand — to strip it, not save it. Either way, hoping for a white knight to rescue RIM is at best wishful thinking.

If you want RIM to rebound, wish not for a buyout but for a successful BlackBerry 10. And that will require real leadership, new thinking, and strong execution from within. That's RIM's real challenge.

Source: Infoworld

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vcp

advertise here

If you are reading this, your potential customers are probably reading it as well.

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Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust implements 2-way paging from PageOne

SmartGroups and message acknowledgement enable faster emergency response

London, 24 January, 2012 PageOne Communications , the UK’s leading provider of mobile messaging solutions to the public and enterprise sectors, today announced Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has rolled-out its Responder 2-way messaging device, following an intensive review of its messaging requirements.

25th anniversary Responsible for providing specialist mental health services for the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Trust delivers care and attention to around 14,000 people at any one time. Utilising PageOne’s powerful SmartGroup technology, on-call doctors and nursing teams are assigned to groups based on the emergencies to which they are qualified to respond. When an incident occurs, administrative staff can initiate messages directly from within Flare, PageOne’s dedicated web-based messaging suite. Once a message has been sent to the Responder, the administrative staff at Norfolk and Suffolk can see at a glance whether the message has been delivered and via a number of preset responses, receive acknowledgement of how the message recipient has responded.

“It’s vital that the Trust has the underlying systems and processes in place to enable a fast and effective emergency response,” said Richard Green, ICT Security Manager Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. “PageOne’s 2-way Responder gives us this flexibility and means our support staff know the exact status of any ongoing incident via the Flare interface. This makes us even more efficient as our team knows which incidents are being dealt with and those they might need to escalate.”

Fully integrated into PageOne’s web-based messaging applications, or existing command and control systems, the 2-way Responder combines the strengths of paging with GSM/GPRS to deliver powerful 2-way messaging capability. With this greater intelligence, administrators can make rapid, informed decisions on the mobilisation and coordination of staff and resources.

Norfolk and Suffolk has even experienced the benefits of the two-way Responder first-hand after a member of its own staff suffered an asthma attack onsite.

“In the incidence of breathing difficulties it’s important to get oxygen to the patient as soon as possible, so I phoned Reception as I felt an asthma attack coming on and just asked if I could get some oxygen to prevent it,” explained Ben Shotbolt, ICT Support Technician, Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. “Within two minutes of me calling reception a medical emergency had been declared and a team of nurses and doctors had arrived on-scene — no small feat considering where they were on site. Having been on the receiving end, I really do appreciate what a difference a device such as the Responder can make to our patients.”

“By closing the loop on traditional broadcast messaging our 2-way Responder has enabled Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to further enhance its operational and incident management processes. The device has proved to be an invaluable communication channel for the Trust providing a quick, secure and reliable mechanism to manage its resources more efficiently” said Clair Cawley, Director of Marketing, PageOne Communications.

For further information about PageOne’s two-way responder, please visit — http://www.pageone.co.uk/services/paging/2-way-paging

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About PageOne. www.pageone.co.uk
PageOne Communications is celebrating 25 years of innovation in mobile messaging solutions. The company has proven expertise in helping clients drive operational and cost efficiencies, deliver effective results and have a real business edge in a competitive market. With a rich heritage in all aspects of messaging — from paging and SMS through to voice, e-mail and location based services — it places its customers at the heart of its product development to help thousands of organisations across the public and major corporate sectors with reliable, cost-effective and award-winning solutions.

Source: RealWire

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Product Support Services, Inc.

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Based in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth, and located just five minutes north of the DFW Airport, PSSI receives, repairs and ships approximately 4,000 discrete units each day.

  • PSSI is ISO certified and has comprehensively integrated robust lean manufacturing processes and systems that enable us to deliver timely and benchmark quality results.
  • PSSI is certified for Levels III and IV repair by a wide variety of OEMs including, for example, Motorola, Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, Samsung, Stanley and LG.
  • PSSI ’s service center is a state-of-the-art facility, complete with multiple wireless test environments and board-level repair capabilities.
  • PSSI ’s state-of-the-art and proprietary Work-In-Process (WIP) systems, and its Material Planning and Warehouse Management systems, enable PSSI to track discrete units by employee, work center, lot, model, work order, location and process through the entire reverse logistics process. Access to this information can be provided to our customers so that they can track the real-time movement of their products.

Pager and Electronics Repair

Product Support Services, Inc.

pssi

pssi

Contact:
Product Support Services, Inc.
511 South Royal Lane
Coppell, Texas 75019
Phone:
877-777-8798 (Toll Free)
972-462-3970
info@productsupportservices.com
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www.productsupportservices.com left arrow

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zetron logo FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Zetron Joins Digital Mobile Radio Association

dmr logo With its recent entry into the Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Association, Zetron joins a network of the world’s leading radio-solutions providers who are committed to supporting and promoting the DMR digital open standard. This is a yet another demonstration of Zetron’s active and ongoing involvement in the development and promotion of open standards and interoperability worldwide.

Redmond, WA, U.S.A., January 26, 2012 — Zetron, a leading provider of mission-critical communications solutions, has been accepted as a Category 1 member of the Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Association. The DMR Association is a global network of the world’s leading suppliers of radios, radio consoles, and radio networks. Its purpose is to support the DMR digital radio standard that was developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for professional mobile radio users.

Category 1 membership is the highest membership tier available to manufacturers of DMR equipment. As a Category 1 member, Zetron will play an active role in working groups that are dedicated to enhancing the DMR standard and promoting it to radio systems integrators and end-users worldwide. This is important because, compared to proprietary equipment, open-standards-based equipment supports higher levels of interoperability and compatibility across multiple manufacturers’ platforms. Thus, it frees customers from being tied to any one manufacturer’s proprietary solutions, promotes healthy competition, and gives customers more choice in their selection of radio equipment.

“It is my pleasure to welcome Zetron to the DMR Association,” said Mario Micheli (of SELEX Elsag, Italy), chair of the DMR Association. “Zetron has consistently demonstrated its commitment to open standards. Both PMR [private mobile radio] users and the DMR Association will benefit from Zetron’s involvement in promoting and developing DMR technology.”

“Zetron and the DMR Association are aligned in the support of open standards,” said Zetron’s president and CEO, Ellen O’Hara. ”We are both committed to supporting innovative approaches that foster the adoption of open standards and help remove barriers to interoperability. Zetron is delighted to have the opportunity to work closely with DMR Association members on a shared vision that will help bring interoperability through open standards to customers worldwide.”

About the DMR Association

The DMR Association is dedicated to building upon the success of the DMR standard through a combination of interoperability testing, certification, education, and awareness. The membership of the DMR Association represents a broad cross-section of the professional radio industry, including some of the world’s leading radio systems and network suppliers. For more information visit: www.dmrassociation.org .

About Zetron

For over 30 years, Zetron has been providing mission-critical communications solutions to customers in public safety, transportation, utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and business. With offices in the U.S.A., U.K., Australia and numerous field locations, Zetron supports a worldwide network of resellers, system integrators and distributors. This gives Zetron a global reach as well as a local presence in the regions it serves. Zetron is a wholly owned subsidiary of JVC Kenwood Corporation. For more information, visit: www.zetron.com .

For further editorial information:
Zetron Inc.
Alan Pinnegar, VP and general manager — EMEA
(t) +44 1256 884961 (e) apinnegar@zetron.com

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Zetron, Inc. • PO Box 97004 • Redmond, WA 98073-9704
Phone: (425) 820-6363 • Fax: (425) 820-7031

Source: Zetron Inc.

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LEAVITT Communications

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its stil here

 

It's still here — the tried and true Motorola Alphamate 250. Now owned, supported, and available from Leavitt Communications. Call us for new or reconditioned units, parts, manuals, and repairs.

We also offer refurbished Alphamate 250’s, Alphamate IIs, the original Alphamate and new and refurbished pagers, pager repairs, pager parts and accessories. We are FULL SERVICE in Paging!

E-mail Phil Leavitt ( pcleavitt@leavittcom.com ) for pricing and delivery information or for a list of other available paging and two-way related equipment.

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Phil Leavitt
847-955-0511
pcleavitt@leavittcom.com

leavitt logo

7508 N. Red Ledge Dr.
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253

www.leavittcom.com

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News Release

DANIELS ELECTRONICS IS AWARDED A $10.4 MILLION MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT WITH THE CANADIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Victoria, B.C. Canada — January 23rd, 2012 — Daniels Electronics Ltd., a leading global supplier of high reliability Land Mobile Radio (LMR) radio equipment, today announced it has been awarded a $10.4 Million multi-year contract with the Canadian government for the supply of digital public safety radio systems. This contract will provide government public safety agencies with digital public safety radios using Daniels latest generation of firmware based digital radio technology.

This contract will be used by a number of Canadian government agencies over the next 5 years to expand and upgrade their government’s radio networks to provide state of the art digital communications for the first line public safety responders.

“Daniels is very pleased to be awarded this substantial contract with the Canadian government and to be able to provide advanced digital communications in support of public safety in our country” says Robert Small, President and Chief Operating Officer of Daniels Electronics. “It demonstrates Daniels’ world class products and shows we are developing the right public safety products to meet the needs of the public safety community here in Canada.”

About Daniels Electronics Ltd.

Daniels Electronics Ltd. is an international leader in the design, manufacture and service of specialized radio communications equipment based upon North American standards. For the past 60 years Daniels has provided customers in North America and internationally with highly reliable base stations, repeaters and paging equipment that is environmentally robust and operates in rugged and extreme temperature conditions where low current consumption is a key requirement. For more information about Daniels Electronics, visit www.danelec.com .

Contact:

Gerry Wight
Daniels Electronics Ltd.
(250) 382-8268
Gerry_Wight@danelec.com

Source: Daniels Electronics

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TPL Systèmes

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tpl

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TPL Systèmes

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Preferred Wireless

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preferred logo

Terminals & Controllers:
1 Motorola ASC1500
2 GL3100 RF Director 
9 Glenayre GLS2164 Satellite Receivers
1 GL3000L Complete w/Spares
1 GL3000ES Terminal
2 Zetron 2200 Terminals
  Unipage — Many Unipage Cards & Chassis
Link Transmitters:
2 Glenayre QT4201 & 6201, 25 & 100W Midband Link TX
2 Glenayre QT6201 Link Repeater and Link Station in Hot Standby
1 Glenayre QT6994, 150W, 900 MHz Link TX
3 Motorola 10W, 900 MHz Link TX (C35JZB6106)
2 Motorola 30W, Midband Link TX (C42JZB6106AC)
2 Eagle Midband Link Transmitters, 125W
5 Glenayre GL C2100 Link Repeaters
VHF Paging Transmitters
1 Motorola VHF PURC-5000 125W, ACB or TRC
6 Glenayre GLT8411, 250W, VHF TX
14 Motorola VHF 350W Nucleus NAC Transmitters
13 Motorola VHF 350W Nucleus Cnet Transmitters
1 Motorola Nucleus, 125W, VHF, TX
UHF Paging Transmitters:
20 Glenayre UHF GLT5340, 125W, DSP Exciter
6 Motorola PURC-5000 110 & 225W, TRC & ACB
2 QT-7795, 250W, UHF TX
900 MHz Paging Transmitters:
3 Glenayre GLT 8600, 500W
2 Glenayre GLT8200, 25W (NEW)
15 Glenayre GLT-8500 250W
35 Glenayre 900 MHz DSP Exciters
25 Glenayre GLT-8500 Final PAs
35 Glenayre GLT-8500 Power Supplies

spacer SEE WEB FOR COMPLETE LIST:
spacer www.preferredwireless.com/equipment left arrow HERE

Too Much To List • Call or E-Mail

  Rick McMichael
  Preferred Wireless, Inc.
  10658 St. Charles Rock Rd.
  St. Louis, MO 63074
  888-429-4171 or 314-429-3000
  rickm@preferredwireless.com
  www.preferredwireless.com/equipment

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Preferred Wireless

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IVYCORP

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ivy corp

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IVYCORP

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Consulting Alliance

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, and Vic Jackson are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects. Click here for a summary of their qualifications and experience. They collaborate on consulting assignments, and share the work according to their individual expertise and their schedules.

 

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How Speeding The "Most Important Algorithm Of Our Lifetime" Could Change This Modern World

BY KIT EATON
Mon Jan 23, 2012

Math breakthroughs don't often capture the headlines — but MIT researchers have just made one that could lead to all sorts of amazing technological breakthroughs that in just a few years will touch every hour of your life.

new formula

Last week at the Association for Computing Machinery's Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA) a new way of calculating Fast Fourier Transforms was presented by a group of MIT researchers. It's possible that under certain situations it may be up to ten times faster than the current way we do these. At this point you are probably wondering: What the hell is he talking about? Let me explain, because improving these three little letters—FFT—may change your life.

Here's a quickie explainer: Fourier transforms are a mathematical trick to simplify how you represent a complicated signal—say the waves of sound made by speaking. They work by reducing the complex wave pattern to a simple and pretty short list of numbers that, when run through the system again, result in a very good approximation of the original signal. FFTs (Fast Fourier Transforms) are simply a way of making this magic happen in a digital computer, but the combination of math and machine means the FFT has revolutionized science and many industries that have technology at their core. Which is why it's been labeled the "most important algorithm of our lifetime."

How so? Well, here's just one example plucked from an average interaction with our daily tech: You're certainly familiar with a type of image format called JPEG. They're much smaller than other sorts of digital image format, which is why they're used all over web pages like this one (that way less data has to get to your home from the Net speedily). The magic happens because the original complicated digital picture—an array of pixels with color and brightness—is squeezed by some clever math so that the JPEG looks at lot like it, with small errors you normally ignore, but it takes up less memory space. The core bit of this transformation is an FFT, treating the original image as a complicated signal.

Now, you should remember that sound waves, and both picture and video signals, are all handled by processors in your TV, PC, and phone, and that the radio waves that whizz through the air to keep us all connected to the Internet need digital processing too. That's every compressed sound signal that you listen to as an MP3 or similar format, most every image that you snap with your smartphone or DSLR, every image frame in the video you're watching on your TV streamed over the Net, many images—such as those from an MRI—your doctor uses to diagnose your disease and every burst of radio that connects your cell phone to the nearest tower or your PC to its Wi-Fi router.

So calculating FFTs up to ten times faster is a big deal. It means that if you use existing hardware to do the math, it'll be quicker at solving the problem you've set—so you need less compute time to do the task. If you're talking about a portable computer like the one in your smartphone, that means it can spend more time doing other things instead. And with the valuable computing and battery resources of these portable devices under such pressure (you wouldn't want your phone to be laggy now, would you?) that's a good thing.

On the other hand, it also could let you use slower, cheaper computing hardware to do many of the same tasks we use today's hardware to do—meaning the cost could tumble on some everyday objects.

Think about the kind of computer graphics that could be enabled by this innovation: By clever application of FFTs in mobile graphics processors, the kind of 3-D rendering that you're used to on your laptop could appear on your tablet PC. The radar systems that are vital for tech like self-driving cars also rely heavily on FFTs—and a significant speed and efficiency boost could really improve both their accuracy and effectiveness (and possibly price). The trillions of calculations that are used to predict the environment so your weather presenter can deliver you a weekly forecast over your breakfast coffee also rely on this sort of math. Faster calculations means you can do more calculations more effectively, so the weather model accuracy could go up—which also has implications for the kinds of crazy math used in global weather simulations to understand climate damage and global warming.

There are secondary implications too—the new system could lead to new more efficient image, sound, and video compression techniques, which could impact everything from the amount of data you consume monthly by using your smartphone to the quality of video streamed over your digital TV connection at home. Even image and voice recognition systems could get a boost, which may prove vital for the expected robot revolution and how we'll speak to our phones and even TVs soon.

It's almost impossible to scope how enormous an impact this new FFT technique could have. To give you a similar example of how a subtle math innovation like this can impact real world innovations, look at the stealth fighter and the stealth bomber. When the F117 fighter was being designed in the 1970s, we understood the technique to design it to be invisible to radar, but the computer power simply wasn't available to run the algorithms (which certainly employed FFTs) to high levels of detail. That's why the F117 is faceted and oddly shaped—which impacted its design and maneuverability. Just a handful of years later, when the B2 stealth bomber was in design our math had improved and so had our computing power, and thus the B2 is actually stealthier than its much smaller cousin, and has that incredibly smooth aerodynamic shape.

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If you are a mathematician and would like to read more about this new formula, here is an MIT paper with all the details. It is only 27 pages long.

Source: Fast Company

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Mobilfone of Kansas City

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Newsletter Supporters

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Daviscomms USA

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daviscomms

PAGERS & Telemetry Devices
FLEX & POCSAG

(12.5 kHz or 25 kHz - POCSAG)

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Br502 Numeric

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Br802
Alphanumeric

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Telemetry

** Tracking Devices-See Website **

Contract Manufacturing Services
Board Level to complete “Turn-Key”

Bob Popow
Scottsdale, AZ
www.daviscommsusa.com
480-515-2344

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Daviscomms (S) Pte Ltd-Bronze Member-CMA

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Daviscomms USA

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Newsletter Supporter

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CANYON RIDGE Communications

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Premium Newsletter Supporter

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ProPage Inc.

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Newsletter Supporter

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PAGE ONE OF WYOMING

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Cook Paging

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MethodLink

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Newsletter Supporter

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communication specialists

Newsletter Supporter

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advertise here

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UCOM Paging

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Satellite Uplink
As Low As
$500 /month

  • Data input speeds up to 38.4 Kbps
  • Dial-in modem access for Admin
  • Extremely reliable & secure
  • Hot standby up link components

Knowledgeable Tech Support 24/7

Contact Alan Carle Now!
1-888-854-2697 x272
acarle@ucom.com www.ucom.com

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UCOM Paging

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Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.

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Complete Technical Services For The Communications and Electronics Industries

Design • Installation • Maintenance • Training • Engineering • Licensing • Technical Assistance

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Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.
Consulting Engineer
Registered Professional Engineer

Tel/Fax: 972-960-9336
Cell: 214-707-7711
Web: IWA-RADIO.com
7711 Scotia Dr.
Dallas, TX 75248-3112
E-mail: iwiesenfel@aol.com

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Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.

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Hahntech-USA

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www.hahntechUSA.com

 

2-Way 4-Button Pager

  • ReFLEX™ v 2.7.5
  • DSP Technology
  • Industrial Grade

e940
E940 PAGER & CHARGER

more

E-mail: sales@hahntechUSA.com
Telephone: 011-82-31-735-7592

 

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Hahntech-USA

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Paging & Wireless Network Planners

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PAGING & WIRELESS
NETWORK PLANNERS LLC

WIRELESS SPECIALISTS

www.pagingplanners.com
rmercer@pagingplanners.com

R.H. (Ron) Mercer
Consultant
217 First Street South
East Northport, NY 11731
ron mercer

Cellphone: 631-786-9359

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Paging & Wireless Network Planners

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Scientists create first atomic X-ray laser

posted on: january 25, 2012 - 6:31pm

Menlo Park, Calif. — Scientists working at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have created the shortest, purest X-ray laser pulses ever achieved, fulfilling a 45-year-old prediction and opening the door to a new range of scientific discovery.

The researchers, reporting today in Nature, aimed SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at a capsule of neon gas, setting off an avalanche of X-ray emissions to create the world's first "atomic X-ray laser."

"X-rays give us a penetrating view into the world of atoms and molecules," said physicist Nina Rohringer, who led the research. A group leader at the Max Planck Society's Advanced Study Group in Hamburg, Germany, Rohringer collaborated with researchers from SLAC, DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Colorado State University.

"We envision researchers using this new type of laser for all sorts of interesting things, such as teasing out the details of chemical reactions or watching biological molecules at work," she added. "The shorter the pulses, the faster the changes we can capture. And the purer the light, the sharper the details we can see."

The new atomic X-ray laser fulfills a 1967 prediction that X-ray lasers could be made in the same manner as many visible-light lasers – by inducing electrons to fall from higher to lower energy levels within atoms, releasing a single color of light in the process. But until 2009, when LCLS turned on, no X-ray source was powerful enough to create this type of laser.

x-ray laser

Source: Science Codex

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PRISM PAGING

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prism
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PRISM IP MESSAGE GATEWAY

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THE ULTIMATE IN COMMERCIAL AND PRIVATE RADIO PAGING SYSTEMS
prism
  • VoIP telephone access — eliminate interconnect expense
  • Call from anywhere — Prism SIP Gateway allows calls from PSTN and PBX
  • All the Features for Paging, Voicemail, Text-to-Pager, Wireless and DECT phones
  • Prism Inet, the new IP interface for TAP, TNPP, SNPP, SMTP — Industry standard message input
  • Direct Connect to NurseCall, Assisted Living, Aged Care, Remote Monitoring, Access Control Systems
prism
prism

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Merger creates large wireless retailer with Jackson operation

We're Wireless merges with Mississippi-based Thompson Wireless

11:00 PM, Jan. 21, 2012

jim hicks
Jackson native Jim Hicks began selling cellular service inside his car stereo store in 1990. He now owns one of the largest AT & T-authorized wireless retail chains in the nation after a merger with a Mississippi company.
KENNETH CUMMINGS—The Jackson Sun

Never mind garage-based Internet startups.

A Jackson native who began selling cellular service inside his car stereo store now owns one of the largest AT&T-authorized wireless retail chains in the nation.

Jim Hicks opened his first wireless store 21 years ago — a Bell South Mobility-authorized dealer called Jackson Cellular Communications. Hicks and two other investors opened the store inside his New Wave Electronics car stereo store on Carriage House Drive because the two products meshed well with each other at the time. The first mobile phones were larger than today's handheld models and often were designed to be wired inside an automobile and not carried on someone's hip, Hicks said.

"So it was a natural fit to install the cellular phones, also," he said.

That was 1990.

Last week, Hicks merged his 51 We're Wireless stores with Mississippi-based Thompson Wireless, owned by his longtime friend Rhodes Thompson. The merger created NewWave Link, a nearly 100 store AT&T-authorized wireless retailer. The company has stores in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Virginia. Hicks said NewWave Link signed contracts last week to open two more stores within the next 60 days. Those stores will be in Berea, Ky., and Wytheville, Va. The combined companies have wireless and accessory sales of about $50 million. NewWave Link's headquarters will be in Hernando, Miss. There is an operations office on Directors Row in Jackson.

Hicks and Thompson partially merged their companies in October 2009 when they combined their back office into one group. That merger saved the two companies about $200,000 to $300,000 annually, Hicks said. He said the complete merger will save the companies "considerably more than that."

Hicks graduated from Old Hickory Academy high school in 1973. The school was the predecessor to the University School of Jackson.

Hicks had four employees when he opened his first wireless store in 1990. He abandoned the car stereo installation business about three years after seeing the potential in wireless sales and installation. He opened his second store in Savannah in 1995. In 1996, Hicks purchased Discount Cellular and Paging in Memphis, merging it with his company. The company's name was changed to We're Wireless in 2002. It had 160 employees before this merger.

Hicks said revenues at We're Wireless "increased well over 100 times from the first store" to the time of the merger. He and Rhodes plan to continue to grow at about 20 percent annually, Hicks said.

Growing We're Wireless was not without pain and challenges, despite the climactic growth in wireless sales during the past decade. Below are some comments from Hicks on the challenges he had to overcome to grow his company and some of his philosophies on becoming a successful business owner.

Recognizing opportunity:
Business owners must continually look for new opportunities, not necessarily for a new business venture, but for new trends, new items to stock, new ways to reach clients and new sales techniques that could help grow a business.

"Still," Hicks said, "you can't lose sight of your vision. If you are committed to something, go with the ups and downs, and stay with it."

Passion for the job:
"Business takes a lot of hard work," Hicks said, "and you have to love your job. You have to enjoy what you do. Being a business owner is not for everybody, and it is not as easy as people think it is. "

Accepting risk:
"You need to know that anything in life or in business is not without risk," Hicks said, "but how you approach that risk is what is really important. You need to weigh all the options and be sure the risk and possible benefits outweigh the downside. We do a considerable amount of research before we go into a new location."

Making mistakes:
"You cannot be afraid of making mistakes," Hicks said. "If you do (make one), you focus more energy on it and see if you can turn it around. And if you can't, take your losses and close the location."

Hiring friends or family:
"Unfortunately, in business, you have to look at business like a business, and sometimes if you let friendships and relationships overpower your business savvy, you are cutting yourself short. So, if you are going to grow, you have to view each employee as an individual and base them on their business merit."

Layoffs or firings:
"One time I had a manager that was not a good time manager or a good leader," Hicks said, "but I felt compelled to keep this person on, and I tried to work with him because I felt like I needed to. Firing is not an easy or fun thing, and this firing was very painful, but it turned out to be one of the best things I could do for the company because as it turned out that employee was holding back my growth.

"Sometimes there is a time when an employee may not be producing or upholding our standards," Hicks said, "and that employee is not doing us any good or themselves any good because they are not happy in their job, and it may be time for them to move on and do something where they can excel. I do truly care about my employees, and I hope they succeed, and you have to show some empathy and compassion for your employees, but you also have to be sure you have the right people with you."

How a single store owner can compete against a chain:
"I would suggest that they make themselves known to their venders and to other business people," Hicks said. "In many cases I see small business people waiting for someone to seek them out. They don't need to wait."

When do I stop growing?:
"The thing has been used too often, but if you quit growing, you die," Hicks said. "I truly believe that every day you live you learn more, not just in business, but in life, and that can truly lead to a happier life."

Regrets:
"My biggest regret is putting up with mediocrity in some employees and not insisting that they do their best. You can't go through business being completely worried about hurting someone else's feelings because you are not doing anybody any good. If someone is struggling in their job, or not doing it well, and if you feel that you are being compassionate or helping someone out, you are truly not, and I wish I had discovered that earlier on."

Measuring success:
"I am happier now than I have ever been through improvements that I think I have made in myself," Hicks said. "I think I have learned and improved in many ways, and I am not stopping that. It is not about the money. I love what I do, and I am enjoying life more than I ever have, and I don't want to think about retirement."

Source: Jackson Sun

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WiPath Communications

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wipath header

Intelligent Solutions for Paging & Wireless Data

WiPath manufactures a wide range of highly unique and innovative hardware and software solutions in paging and mobile data for:

  • Emergency Mass Alert & Messaging Emergency Services Communications Utilities Job Management Telemetry and Remote Switching Fire House Automation
  • Load Shedding and Electrical Services Control

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  • FLEX & POCSAG Built-in POCSAG encoder Huge capcode capacity Parallel, 2 serial ports, 4 relays
  • Message & system monitoring

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welcom wipath

  • Variety of sizes Indoor/outdoor
  • Integrated paging receiver

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  • Highly programmable, off-air decoders Message Logging & remote control Multiple I/O combinations and capabilities
  • Network monitoring and alarm reporting

blue line Specialized Paging Solutions paging data receiver

  • Emergency Mass Alerting Remote telemetry switching & control Fire station automation PC interfacing and message management Paging software and customized solutions Message interception, filtering, redirection, printing & logging Cross band repeating, paging coverage infill, store and forward
  • Alarm interfaces, satellite linking, IP transmitters, on-site systems

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Mobile Data Terminals & Two Way Wireless  Solutions

mobile data terminal

radio interface

  • Fleet tracking, messaging, job processing, and field service management Automatic vehicle location (AVL), GPS
  • CDMA, GPRS, ReFLEX, conventional, and trunked radio interfaces

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Contact
Postal
Address:
WiPath Communications LLC
4845 Dumbbarton Court
Cumming, GA 30040
Street
Address:
4845 Dumbbarton Court
Cumming, GA 30040
Web site: www.wipath.com left arrow CLICK
E-mail: info@wipath.com left arrow CLICK
Phone: 770-844-6218
Fax: 770-844-6574
WiPath Communications

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Hark Technologies

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Wireless Communication Solutions

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USB Paging Encoder

paging encoder

  • Single channel up to eight zones
  • Connects to Linux computer via USB
  • Programmable timeouts and batch sizes
  • Supports 2-tone, 5/6-tone, POCSAG 512/1200/2400, GOLAY
  • Supports Tone Only, Voice, Numeric, and Alphanumeric
  • PURC or direct connect
  • Pictured version mounts in 5.25" drive bay
  • Other mounting options available
  • Available as a daughter board for our embedded Internet Paging Terminal (IPT)

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Paging Data Receiver (PDR)

pdr

  • Frequency agile - only one receiver to stock
  • USB or RS-232 interface
  • Two contact closures
  • End-user programmable w/o requiring special hardware
  • 16 capcodes
  • POCSAG
  • Eight contact closure version also available
  • Product customization available

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Other products

  • Please see our web site for other products including Internet Messaging Gateways, Unified Messaging Servers, test equipment, and Paging Terminals.
Contact
Hark Technologies
717 Old Trolley Rd Ste 6 #163
Summerville, SC 29485
Tel: 843-821-6888
Fax: 843-821-6894
E-mail: sales@harktech.com left arrow CLICK
Web: http://www.harktech.com left arrow CLICK

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HARK—EXHIBITS AT THE
NASHVILLE CONFERENCE

hark

David George and Bill Noyes
of Hark Technologies.

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Hark Technologies

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CRITICAL RESPONSE SYSTEMS

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Over 70% of first responders are volunteers.
Without an alert, interoperability means nothing.

Get the Alert.

M1501 Acknowledgent Pager

With the M1501 Acknowledgement Pager and a SPARKGAP wireless data system, you know when your volunteers have been alerted, when they’ve read the message, and how they’re going to respond – all in the first minutes of an event. Only the M1501 delivers what agencies need – reliable, rugged, secure alerting with acknowledgement.

Learn More

FEATURES
  • 5-Second Message Delivery
  • Acknowledged Personal Messaging
  • Acknowledged Group Messaging
  • 16 Group Addresses
  • 128-Bit Encryption
  • Network-Synchronized Time Display
  • Simple User Interface
  • Programming/Charging Base
  • Secondary Features Supporting Public Safety and Healthcare

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CRITICAL RESPONSE SYSTEMS

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Selected portions of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, a newsletter from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP are reproduced in this section with the firm's permission.

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Senators Seek FCC Update On Call Completion Issues

Two-dozen U.S. Senators have asked the FCC to provide information on the agency’s efforts to identify the cause of the call origination, routing, and termination problems preventing the delivery of an increasing number of calls to rural local exchange carrier (RLEC) customers. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the Senators said if the FCC’s investigation reveals that responsible parties are engaging in activities that violate the Communications Act or Commission rules, the FCC should take appropriate action to protect consumers and ensure the call completion problem in rural areas is addressed.

The Senators noted that rural carriers have reported a 2,000 percent increase in call completion, dropped call, and call termination complaints between April 2010 and March 2011. Such problems have a negative effect on business and raise public safety concerns, the Senators said. As a result, they want the FCC to provide them with an update on agency efforts to correct the problems.

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WEB PROTESTS APPEAR TO SINK ONLINE PRIVACY BILLS: Two controversial online privacy bills appear to have died in Congress as a result of unprecedented Web-site opposition, including from large Internet companies such as Google and Wikipedia, according to a number of media sources, including The Hill, FierceWireless, and GigaLaw. Until last week, the two bills—the House Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate Protect IP Act (PIPA)—appeared to be on track. Under SOPA and PIPA, the government and copyright holders could force U.S. Web firms to block access to foreign sites dedicated to providing Americans with illegal copies of copyrighted and counterfeit goods. The entertainment industry has argued that anti-piracy laws are necessary for its survival. However, demonstrations by Google, Wikipedia, and others prompted many lawmakers to withdraw their support for the bills. Google, for example, placed a black “censorship bar” on its Web site. According to The Hill, the Internet company protests may signal that online activists and tech firms are “coming of age as a political force in Washington, D.C.”

Source:

BloostonLaw Telecom Update Vol. 15, No. 3 January 25, 2012

This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm. For additional information, contact Hal Mordkofsky at 202-828-5520 or halmor@bloostonlaw.com

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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From: Barry Kanne tgacomm@gmail.com
Subject: Re: News Bulletin
Date: January 24, 2012 6:19:55 AM CST
To: Brad Dye

Hi Brad:

Thanks for the early look.

This law enforcement tool has been around for many years. I always believed the "official" test of proper use was based on whether (or not) the tracking device drew its power from the suspect's vehicle. My recollection is that if you had to connect to the suspect's car for power, a probable cause-based search warrant was required, under Title III of the federal statutes. However, if the tracking unit was self-powered, in many jurisdictions, no warrant was needed. Like wiretap rules, this rule could vary from one jurisdiction to another.

As has been pointed out in recent media coverage, there are so many GPS based "beacons" in the hands of the general public that it would seem almost unnecessary to use these kinds of special tracking devices any longer. We carry a number of these ranging from our smartphone to RFID chips in credit cards and on our windshields for toll collection purposes. In our daily lives we leave trails of our movements and actions recorded in devices in our cars that, while not meant as a tracking device, do collect our driving habits noting driving speed, acceleration, braking, and other measurable parameters that could be used to "reconstruct" our last activities in the moments leading to an auto accident.

If the US Supreme Court holds that GPS tracking devices require a search warrant, then what will they rule when evidence based on video surveillance is used for the same purpose? Urban surveillance systems could not only record the presence of a specific vehicle, but could perhaps peer into that vehicle to identify the occupants. And then there are mobile and stationary vehicle license tag scanners . . . I believe the days of electronic privacy have long past.

73,

Barry

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UNTIL NEXT WEEK

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Brad Dye
With best regards,

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Newsletter Editor

73 DE K9IQY

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