Archive for the ‘Telecoms’ Category
Skype 3.0 released December 16th, 2006
For those who don’t know yet, Skype 3.0 has been released for Windows (the Mac version is still at version 2.0 although the beta of version 2.5 is available for those willing to try it out).
Skype has had some pretty cool features since the Windows version went 2.0 (or thereabouts) and this version takes all its connectivity options a little further. The public chats feature looks pretty interesting (I am not sure whether this is a new feature for Skype or has been in previous Windows versions). It is a bit of a return to the chatrooms of a few years ago:
Skype Public Chats are like normal chats but they’re public, which means anyone can join. This makes them a great way to meet new people who share your interests. Skype Public Chats can be promoted on blogs, websites, in emails and of course in Skype mood messages. When you see one you’re interested in, just click on the link to join.
If you can’t find one you’d like to join, simply create your own. There are lots of different ways to use Skype Public Chats. You can have open watercooler chats where anyone can come and talk, or you can have press conference-style chats with lots of listeners but few talkers, or entirely closed chats where you will approve each joiner before they can read the messages or topic. Don’t forget to promote the public chat or you’ll be left talking to yourself.
Are you using Skype 3.0? What are your thoughts?
Posted in Applications, Telecoms | Comments (0)
Inappropriate use of email? December 3rd, 2006
According to an episode of The Economist’s podcast titled "Wide world of wikis" we are not making use of email in the way it was intended to be used. Email was originally meant to be used for asynchronous communications (in other words communicating with someone who may not be online at the same time or who may not respond immediately) whereas there is presently a trend to also use email as a clunky form of instant messaging or as a way to communicate information which need not be communicated with the relative immediacy of email.
Why is this an issue? Well, according to a recent Gartner report, roughly a third of internal email you receive is what is referred to as "occupational" spam which means that it is email from colleagues and isn’t necessarily unrelated to your work. All that happens is that your colleagues flood your inbox in their efforts to be productive and the end result is the opposite. Employees then find themselves spending, on average, 49 minutes a day managing that email and further that roughly 27% of that email actually requires their immediate attention.
So the problem isn’t that the information being communicated is irrelevant but rather that the information is being communicated in a way (via email) that is not the most effective method of communicating that information. Arguably the right time to use email is when:
- a prompt response is required from the recipient but not right now;
- we use email to communicate private information without requiring a response.
In other instances we could communicate that information in a manner that is more effective if we use tools like blogs, wikis and instant messaging. Obviously blogs and wikis are better suited for broader communication of information where a prompt or urgent response is not required (or where no response is required and the information is intended to broader consumption). An analogy is the use of a notice board in the office intended to keep your colleagues updated on a project. The difference here is that a blog or wiki allow for some form of feedback which really helps facilitate better communication about the project concerned. Another benefit of a wiki or a blog is that documents can be published without the need to clutter corporate networks with multiple copies of that document attached to multiple emails.
Instant messaging, on the other hand, is best suited for instantaneous communications with another person (or more than one person) so a good use for an instant messaging client is where you need to do the equivalent of a quick meeting with members of your team about an issue. Rather than walking down the passage to a colleague’s office, you send an IM to the people you want to chat to.
So while the information is still getting out there, the hope is that using different platforms to communicate that information will mean that employees will consume that information in different ways and at different times, easing the pressure to respond to huge amounts of email. In turn this will hopefully result in better productivity.
(Source Freshbooks and Mike Stopforth)
Tags: occupational spam, when not to use email, email, productivity, wiki, blog, instant messaging, internal communications
Posted in Applications, Telecoms, Tools | Comments (0)
Mxit teams up with police to catch potential sex predators October 20th, 2006
I came across a story in IOL yesterday about a joint effort between the South African Police Service and Mxit (the mobile messaging service I mentioned a little while ago) to identify potential sexual predators who frequent Mxit’s chat rooms. There has already been at least one incident of a man who persuaded a girl he met in a Mxit chatroom to give him her home address. He then, allegedly, abducted her and sexually assaulted her.
The police used Mxit to set up a trap for the man by posing as a teenage girl and luring him out into the open where he was arrested and charged with the girl’s abduction and sexual assault.
Even though users are anonymous by default in Mxit chatrooms and are advised by Mxit to remain anonymous, users do still identify themselves to other users or give away enough information to identify them. Mxit has been looking at ways to make their service safer for its younger user base but the big concern is always ensuring that these users are educated not to give out personal information to strangers on the Mxit service. Doing so is pretty much the same as telling people they meet in the street who they are and where they live and we all know what our parents taught us about talking to strangers …
Tags: mxit, police, sexual predators, personal information, chat rooms
Posted in Applications, Devices, Telecoms | Comments (0)
Joburg Council goes wireless October 20th, 2006
It was just a few days ago that I published a post about a future powerline communications system and how that is going to be possible using mechanisms in our new communications legislation that allow municipalities to provide certain services to their customers, us. I came across an article by Anish Abraham of the Johannesburg News Agency on the Joburg City’s website about the city’s move from fixed line data infrastructure to a 100Mbps wireless broadband network that services almost all of its data news. According to the article:
Although Johannesburg was the first local government authority to get a licence to run its own wireless network, it was not the first to implement such a network. However, Du Plessis said the attempts by other municipalities to create their own networks were found to be illegal by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), the industry regulator.
Herklaas du Plesis, Deputy Director of IT: Communication Technology with a wireless LAN access point
"We applied for a private telecommunications network licence and radio frequency spectrum licence, and they were approved in December 2004."
The licence allows the City to use the Hyper-LAN band frequency for internal communications. Microwave repeaters are placed at high points, like water towers, to which smaller dishes on individual buildings have a direct line-of-sight.
Masana Technologies, the City’s IT outsourcing partner, in partnership with Multisource Telecoms, will ensure that the entire 1 600 square kilometres of the metro eventually will be covered.
Moving the City’s systems off a conventional 64-kilobit Telkom fixed line on to a 100 megabit per second microwave link means individual users have access to more bandwidth than previously.
"Due to good bandwidth available, all the City’s servers can also be moved to a centralised location," Du Plessis added.
The wireless network also ensures that the City benefits through not having to pay service charges; in addition, it needs less physical infrastructure.
"Once the capital costs of installation are paid up, there are no more line charges, which is not the case with fixed lines. Also, with wireless systems, there is no need for a fixed wall socket to connect to the network, while a single wireless access unit also supports up to 30 connections," Du Plessis explained.
The City normally spent up to R3,5-million a month on its bills for fixed data lines through switching to its own network, it has seen a return on investment in less than four months. Maintenance and service costs of the wireless network are expected to be about R2-million a year.
What is becoming clear is that Telkom’s stranglehold over telecommunications in South Africa is fast coming to an end and while Telkom is still the dominant player when it comes to fixed line communications services, initiatives like the proposed powerline communications service and the availability of wireless options will erode Telkom’s dominance in due course. Of course Telkom still controls some of the core networks and until those networks are opened up to competitors, Telkom will retain a degree of control over communications in South Africa.
Tags: joburg news agency, wireless network, microwave link, joburg city, telkom, powerline communications, alternatives to telkom
Posted in Infrastructure, Telecoms | Comments (0)
Taking on Telkom and Neotel with powerline broadband October 16th, 2006
There is an article in the outgoing issue of Financial Mail about Miko Rwayitare a Rwandan-born entrepreneur, who is sinking billions of his own cash into Goal Technology Solutions (he owns 66% of this Grintek Telecom spin-off) with the intention of building a telecommunications and television service based on powerline communications technologies. Here is the pitch:
Imagine a world
- Where every power socket in your home or office is a broadband communication point, without the need for separate cabling,
- Where Internet telephony is of high quality and does not require you to have a computer,
- Where high quality surveillance and security systems are flexible and easy to implement,
- Where video streaming and video-on-demand through IP TV is a reality,
- Where broadband communications is affordable,
- Where there is a communications network that is scalable to fit growing needs.
This future world exists today through Broadband Power Line Communication (PLC), which converts the existing electrical grid into a high-speed data, voice and video network.
This technology is not new but it has been plagued with technical issues for a little while now. According to the FM article, these issues have been resolved and GTS is on track to provide a communications service that will make Telkom’s 4Mbps service seem like dial-up.
GTS has fixed its sights firmly on Telkom (and, by industry association, Neotel) as well as Multichoice as its proposed service will offer "guaranteed minimum access speeds to subscribers of 90 Mbit/s" which is roughly 22 times faster than Telkom’s fastest ADSL. The service will be offered in conjunction with local municipalities and will take advantage of provisions in the Electronic Communications Act that permit municipalities to make use of the communications infrastructure to provide communications services to their consumers. Telkom initially cried foul over certain municipalities’ exploitation of these provisions but now seems to have adopted a more co-operative tone in light of pronouncements by the communications regulator, ICASA, that support the municipalities.
GTS will effectively bypass Telkom’s controversial hold over the lucrative ‘last mile’ of its telecommunications network that links its subscribers to the network by providing a service that runs over your powerline right into your living room and every other room with a power port. This new service will consolidate broadband, voice and high definition television at a price GTS intends to set at roughly 25% less than alternatives. The fact that this service runs over powerlines means that it could reach 80% to 90% of South African homes. The specific implementation of the technology will make use of smart devices that plug into the wall socket and configure themselves automatically with control over which services are rendered being centralised at GTS’ facilities. This means no waiting for a GTS technician to arrive at your home to set the service up and therefore the potential for a much faster and more widespread adoption by consumers.
The one big drawback is the stability of the local power grid. While Telkom experiences disruptions from time to time, this service may prove to be little more than a nice idea in areas like the Western Cape which suffers rolling blackouts from time to time. Of course no power also means more traditional telecommunications services won’t operate either so this may not be as big an issue as it may seem.
Bottom line … there is a service coming which may make Telkom and its rival, Neotel, redundant for many South Africans. Watch this space!
Tags: goal technology solutions, gts, powerline communication technologies, plc, icasa, telkom, neotel, municipalities, electronic communications act, broadband, multichoice, high definition television, voip
Posted in Infrastructure, Telecoms | Comments (3)