Teknovis

It is impossible not to notice that Eircom has launched a new mobile phone network operator called eMobile, due to the abundance of adverts in all of the mainstream media.

I must admit that I was initially baffled by this move, given that Eircom already owns a mobile phone network operator – Meteor. However, it appears that all Eircom is really doing is segmenting the market by age. This could be a sensible move, because Meteor is very strongly associated with teenagers (and practically nobody else).

For more information about this see Eircom launches new mobile brand, Eircom unveils new mobile strategy – eMobile has arrived, or Eircom Launches eMobile. The official Eircom press release is eircom’s New Mobile Service “eMobile” It’s For You!.

Tags: Eircom, eMobile, Meteor

I was doing some research on premium rate telephone numbers this afternoon, and I came across this description of an old scam:

Another now-uncommon premium-rate scam involves television programming that induces young children to dial the number, banking on the notion that they will be unaware of the charges that will be incurred. One variant, targeted at children too young to dial a number, enticed children to hold the phone up to the television set while the DTMF tones of the number were played. This type of scam was especially popular in the late ’80s to early ’90s in the United States before tougher regulations on the 900 number business forced many of these businesses to close.

I did not image that companies could be so unscrupulous!

The full article is Premium-rate telephone number.

Somebody told me during the week that Verizon was entering the Cloud Computing market place. I think that this is a very interesting development.

Computers can be thought of abstractly being composed of only three capabilities:

• Processing capabilities
• Storage capabilities
• Networking capabilities

The existing Cloud Computing providers (such as Amazon Web Services (AWS)) have already successfully brought the first of those two capabilities into the Cloud Computing environment.

However, nobody has successfully brought network capabilities into the Cloud Computing environment (or alternatively, nobody has brought the cloud outside of the data centre).

I suspect the reason for this is two-fold:

• The existing Cloud Computing providers do not own the infrastructure outside of the data centre.
• The telecos, who own the infrastructure, do not really have the enabling technology.

Therefore, it will be very interesting to see if Verizon’s move into the Cloud Computing environment will be the start of true Cloud Computing!

For more details about this read Verizon Introduces New Pay-As-You-Go Cloud Computing for Small, Medium Business Markets.

Tags: Amazon, Verizon

… or at least on the Irish Sea :)

I read an article in the news today warning travellers about high mobile phone charges when travelling on the Irish sea by ferry. Apparently, these mobile phone charges are not covered by the new EU regulations. The full article is Ferry passengers warned over mobile fees.

It is interesting, because one of the ferry companies, is advertising the fact that they provide free Wi-Fi onboard:

Whilst onboard you can enjoy free WiFi, …

See Ferries to Ireland for more details.

So it appears that travellers may pay above average mobile phone charges, but not pay any Internet charges. Yet, presumably, the access technology is the same in both cases!

I read an interesting article on patents relating to LTE today in Patent pool uncertainty looms over LTE roll out.

It would be a disaster if the successful uptake of LTE was hampered by patent issues :(

During the weekend I read about Intune Networks and the Exemplar Network in Ireland’s next big thing – Govt commits extra €5m to Exemplar Network. It appears to be a very positive development, and I am delighted to see that it has such strong links to fourth level research.

The video Digital 21 – The Exemplar Network is worth looking at also. Unfortunately, I cannot embed it here :( It is funny to hear Eamon Ryan describe it as open source, and then realise that he does not actually know what that means :D

Tags: Exemplar Network, Intune Networks

I have experienced customised ring back tones a few times this year. This is where the mobile phone owner can select the ringtone, usually a popular song, that a caller hears while waiting for the mobile phone owner to answer. In my limited experience I thought it was amusing, but I would not go so far as wanting to use one.

Now Jinny has taken this a step further by enabling the mobile phone owner to select the advertisements that the caller will hear while waiting for the mobile phone to be answered! For more information about this read New Mobile Advertising Solution – Ring Back Tone Advertising – Stimulates Customer Interest in Jinny.

I can understand why this idea is appealing to both the mobile phone owner and to the operator. Indeed, it is actually a very good idea. However, as a caller I think this would drive me mad, or at least discourage me from calling somebody if I knew I had to listen to advertisements first!

I am not the only person thinking this according to Jinny Software unveils ringback tone advertising and The ‘Why Would You Want That?’ Award goes to….. The latter article is very critical! I guess that it is easy to know that Jinny (or its parent company) is not a member of the TM Forum!

Tags: Jinny, TM Forum

Today is the first day of lower mobile phone roaming charges within the EU. See EU roaming charges fall further for more details.

This news is great for consumers, especially considering that it is now coming into holiday season. It is also good news for Policy and Charging Control solution providers :D

Last night I read that Eircom will start upgrading its broadband offering. You can read more about this in either Eircom unveils ‘next-generation’ broadband or on Eircom’s site. (Unfortunately, I cannot link to it because all the links appear to require a session ID :( Stupid!)

One of the main points of this announcement is that Eircom will upgrade existing 1MB/s, 3MB/s, and 7MB/s connections to 8MB/s connections free of charge. That is good news, although I am not sure how many people really need this extra speed.

The other interesting change is that Eircom will now charge users based on the amount of traffic transferred. I realise that I do not know how much I transfer at the moment. I must investigate this on the Eircom web site :o

Finally, I agree with IrelandOffline‘s assessment that there is a lack of “next generation” about this offering! See Eircom and “next-generation” broadband.

Tags: Broadband, Eircom, IrelandOffline

I was delighted to read yesterday that Openet has launched an expansion program for its operations in Dublin. This expansion consists of creating 35 new jobs. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that these jobs are being described as R&D type jobs! For more information about this read Openet’s R&D investment creates 35 new jobs.

I have recently heard a lot of anecdotal evidence from friends and colleagues that the economy is slowly starting to improve again in Ireland. This would appear to be more evidence of this!

Tags: Ireland, Openet