|
|
|
|
Greetings! 
RUN FASTER
I recently received the book "Run Fast" from my good friend and running mate Lisa Shields (who also happens to be the founder and CTO of a successful payments company Hyperwallet), and who at the best of times is hard to keep up to. The book lays out a program to help you run faster from a set of tools (fartleks, interval and cross training), encourages working with peers and mentors, and of course the ultimate in support - the personal trainer.
As we head into Phase II of our organization, dare I say WIP 2.0; we have been putting together a similar program for our wireless companies which we are calling the Go-to-Market Faster Program (GtM); and which will include tools, activities and higher touch support from an elite advisory panel. Watch for changes to the website, the addition of new team members and other exciting benefits for our members and partners. We currently have a couple more spots open for companies as we trial the program prior to launch. Let me know if you are interested in being a beta for us - of course you'll also have to agree to be a case study later on!
WIP's mantra remains on accelerating the time to market for emerging wireless companies and developers, with a focus on the business and commercialization issues. This is now more crucial than ever as indicated by conversations I've had recently with folks from Orange and Nokia. They both are seeking applications and technologies that are market ready, which they can integrate into their channels in 3-4 months. Is your company in a position to move that fast?
I'd like to welcome the Austin Wireless Alliance to WIP - more on their organization below. Mark your calendars for their Texas Wireless Summit and new Venture Forum October 17-19, 2007 in Austin.
Interested in a reality check on Mobile Advertising? My good friend Earl Lum, of EJL Wireless Research of Redwood City, CA, just released Global Mobile Advertising Market Analysis 2006-2011, 1st Edition; for which WIP members will receive a 5% discount. More on this below and an interview I did with Earl is on our blog at Wireless in Progress.
Best, Caroline
Caroline Lewko, CEO and Founder, WIP The 'Connector' for the mobile and wireless industry
PS For those interested in a blast from my past, here's a link to an update article from an interview I did for Meetings & Conventions Magazine in 1987. It was their event in Miami, 20 years ago, where I learned the value of attending conferences for making those face to face connections. |
|
Quick Links |
WIP MEMBER DIRECTORY - View the list of 200 companies to pinpoint your next customer, partners, investment.
WIP RESOURCES - find technical organizations, standards bodies, research labs and more....
|
| WIP Partners - News & Featured Members |
Trade associations and industry organizations are a key element to support growing companies and the exciting wireless industry. WIP salutes these leaders and is pleased to consider them partners. Be sure to contact them for their view on our sector, their knowledge of their regions and for advice on their members.
WIP welcomes the Austin Wireless Alliance to the partnership!
The Austin Wireless Alliance (AWA) is a non-profit membership organization whose primary objective is to develop, sustain, and promote Austin as a global leader in business activity, technical innovation, and community participation within the wireless industry. The AWA is a leader in the development and coordination of the major strategic wireless initiatives in Austin and the Central Texas region. The AWA is composed of key leaders from all primary stakeholders in Austin including the business, academic, community, and government sectors.
______________________________________________________________________________
 of the United Kingdom features: User Vision is a consultancy dedicated to improving the user experience of your website, software or product. We offer a wide range of services including consulting, testing, reviewing, evaluation and training to help clients produce better products that customers find easier to use. We take a straightforward, practical approach to user needs analysis, problem solving and usability testing, leading to effective design solutions. . more of Torino (Italy) features:
GREEN BIT is a dynamic company, leader in the development and realization of high quality optical dactyloscopic systems for high-security applications through fingerprint recognition. Its products are able to perform a person's sure and unique identification. These devices can be used in various environments: applications for Public Authorities (Citizen ID e-documents), Public Security (Law Enforcement) and for physical and logic access control, and anti-robbery systems. more
 of British Columbia features:
WIRELESS WERKS, is a telecom project management and technical services company specializing in the provision of wireless experts selected specifically to meet our customers' unique project needs. Our people are experienced in the wireless telecommunications industry, with expertise in seamless wireless project management, RF network design, installation and testing, network drive testing, plus other related services. more
 of United Kingdom features:
CAMRIVOX is a designer, developer and manufacturer of leading edge Voice over IP solutions (VoIP) for the Small Business market. Highly innovative features target problems experienced by operators today, reducing their support burden and facilitating increased revenues. Camrivox will drive true mass market deployment of VoIP - continuously innovating beyond competitors. more
WIP partners with wireless organizations and associations around the world - see them featured on the Partner Page of the website. Every month we feature the associations, their events or activities and their members online and in the newsletter. Ask your organization to partner with WIP today! |
| WIP members in: FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) |
| Every month, WIP chooses a theme - a technology, vertical market or a combination of both. WIP members who reflect that theme are featured.
 The June Member theme is: Broadband, which we focused to FMC
Thanks to Derek Kerton for sharing insight into this market for us.
FMC, or Fixed Mobile Convergence, is a hot TLA in the telecommunications industry, and you might have thrown around this little gem yourself a few times. At the abstract level, FMC refers to the blurring line between fixed telephony using PSTN or broadband data wires, and mobile telephony using a cellular network. Trouble is, there are lots of different interpretations of how FMC should be implemented, and it's quite possible your interpretation is different from the persons next to you.
What are some different interpretations?
Dual mode devices, such as the Nokia N95 smartphone, which have separate Wi-Fi VoIP stacks and cellular radios allowing users to place VoIP calls when in hotspots, but without handoff - a call is either entirely VoIP or entirely cellular. Each mode requires a separate account and phone number. Despite limitations, many smart devices will eventually include Wi-Fi radios and this segment will grow.
Today's the most common interpretation of FMC is a hybrid phone, which is similar to dual mode, but can handoff between Wi-Fi and GSM networks. This type of FMC only requires a single phone number and is being punted by the Unlicensed Mobile Alliance (UMA, and also in the future by IMS VCC). It works today, and is good business in theory. I've spoken with a few carriers who have tested UMA and concluded that the cost of adding seamless handoff is not justified by customer demand. So far, just 5 carriers globally have launched UMA: BT, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, Orange, and T-Mobile. You'll notice strong representation from carriers that have a big Wi-Fi hotspot presence. I think this category of FMC is going to be a false start and will rebound when carriers finally go IMS.
Meanwhile, mobile-only carriers think of FMC as a convergence of fixed and mobile usage onto a normal mobile phone. Something they call Fixed-Mobile Substitution (FMS). You can see this approach in Europe with the "Home Zone" packages, wherein mobile carriers offer flat-rate unlimited calling from your home location to urge you to toss away your fixed phone. Metro PCS does the same thing in the USA with flat-rate plans. This flavor of FMC is simple, and it works.
Femtocells are another approach, wherein the cellular carrier equips the homeowner with a private cellular base station to cover the subscriber's home. The femtocell sends the cellular traffic from normal cellphones back to the wireless carrier over the subscriber's broadband connection. This is good, though with niche appeal; but the femtocells cost money, are failure liabilities, and could adversely affect network planning.
Enterprise FMC is a promising segment, which I don't address here due to space limitations. Suffice to say that some enterprises are willing to pay the CapEx to get hybrid phones in order to realize regular monthly savings.
The most interesting FMC story I've heard lately is from France where FT's wireless carrier, Orange, invested heavily in UMA in order to get traffic off the cellular network onto the cheaper DSL network. After much equipment expense, and burdened with expensive handsets, the service was launched. Under threat, competitor Bouygues responded with free evening/weekend calls from home (nothing more than a service adjustment). With just a tweak of the billing system, Bouygues matched the value proposition of Orange's UMA, with none of the complexity or capital expense. The lesson: be sure to understand all the manifestations of FMC before investing heavily in any.
Derek Kerton, the wireless strategy expert at The Kerton Group, is an internationally recognized industry expert in wireless telecommunications technology, products, and applications. His expertise is recognized in his widely distributed wireless industry reports, articles, newsletters, and frequent quotes in established media outlets. Mr. Kerton's clients span 4 continents and include SK Telecom, British Telecom, Bouygues Telecom, NTT DoCoMo and dozens of related companies including Disney, IP Wireless, Leapfrog, and Broadcom.
______________________________________________________________________________
Here is a listing of WIP members in FMC:
Storm Internet Services - An industry leader in fixed-wireless connectivity, Storm currently maintains one of the largest broadband wireless networks in North America, covering approximately 35,000 square kilometers, spanning more than 50 communities and municipalities. more
Island Communications - supply Flood Risk monitoring systems, Telematics (M2M) and Satellite Communications. We also provide SMS appointment Reminder solutions to the NHS.more
Helixion - is positioned as a Trusted Silicon Solutions business providing next generation mobile device security solutions to businesses, with a special focus on those businesses involved with Fixed/Mobile Convergence. more
Tatara Systems - invents, develops, and deploys solutions for service and content providers who want to deliver converged mobile offerings to their customers across networks and devices. more
For more information on these companies and others visit the WIP Member Directory.
Upcoming Themes:
July - Sensors
August - Mobile Payments |
|
WIPCloud for the month - Keeping you on top of industry trends |
WIP is keeping on top of the industry for you.
Our WIPCloud for the month gives you a taste of the key words being searched in the WIP Member Directory.
_______________________________________________________________________________
TOP THREE WORDS THIS MONTH
- P2P
- UMA
- FMC
|
| WIP Discount |
 DIGITAL RADIO SHOW (11-12 June 2007, Olympia London)
WIP attendees will receive 20% discount. Please mention WIP when you register.
Over 1000 visitors anticipated to attend
Joint networking area and exhibition with the Mobile TV Forum capitalises on the cross over between radio and mobile industries
Key Mobile Operators speaking - companies include 02, Vodafone, Hutchinson Whampoa, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile and Telecom Italia, Orange
Industry networking Please visit: www.digital-radio-show.com
 BLACK HAT USA 2007 (July 28- August 2 , Las Vegas)
WIP members & customers receive a $100 Briefings discount off the prevailing rate by inserting BH7USAASSOC in the box marked "Coupon Codes" on the web registration page, shown on the final invoice.
Attend Black Hat USA, July 28-August 2 in Las Vegas, the world's premier technical event for ICT security experts. Featuring 30 hands-on training courses and 90 Briefings presentations with lots of new content and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from 70 nations. Visit product displays by 30 top sponsors in a relaxed setting. Please visit: www.blackhat.com
MOBILE INTERNET WORLD , (November 13-15, Boston)
WIP attendees will receive $100 discount.
The Mobile Internet will allow consumers and businesses to connect to others, access new types of applications, and download new forms of content from anywhere. The Mobile Internet World Conference & Expo will, for the first time, bring together all the key players in the emerging mobile Internet ecosystem. Please visit: http://www.mobilenetx.com/
WiMAX WORLD (September 25-27, Chicago)
WIP attendees will receive $100 discount
Our global WiMAX World series includes the industry's largest and most influential wireless and mobile broadband events covering the WiMAX market in the USA, EMEA and Asia. In the past few years WiMAX World USA has grown tenfold-from 15 exhibitors in 2004 to more than 150 exhibitors and 7,000+ people this year. Please visit: http://usa.wimaxworld.com/ |
| Mobile Advertising Report - Discount for WIP members |
"The global mobile advertising market is estimated to reach USD $9.5 billion in gross revenues by 2011, according to the just released report from EJL Wireless Research titled 'Global Mobile Advertising Market Analysis 2006-2011, 1st Edition,'" says founder and President, Earl Lum.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
