By David Sims
[email protected]
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music
is Frank Sinatra’s album In The Wee Small
Hours:
It’s a mixed blessing when your two favorite tennis players
go head-to-head in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, but First CoffeeSM
will be cheering for Andre Agassi to just barely defeat James Blake in the most thrilling
five-set quarterfinal match in U.S. Open history tomorrow. His son Blake will be, understandably, cheering for the opposition.
…
Optaros Inc. is a venture capital-funded
consulting and systems integration firm that concentrates on helping large
enterprises get into open source software and global sourcing. They’ve
currently got offices in Boston and Geneva, and are announcing the opening of a Zurich office.
Seeing an opportunity for an expansion of the European
market, Optaros officials say the Zurich office will concentrate on providing financial
services and telecommunications companies with consulting and information
system development services.
Bruno von Rotz, who becomes an Optaros vice president and
market lead for Switzerland said his “first priority” is to establish the
Optaros value proposition in the market” to European firms.
Optaros uses Romania for much of its “near shore”
operations.
…
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is announcing the launch of IRISPASS-M this
morning, billing it “the next generation iris recognition camera with fully
automated dual iris capture.”
“Dual iris capture…” achieving an almost surreal poetry in a
simple press release. Let’s put on some
John Cage, shall we?
IRISPASS-M will conform to both BioAPI the international
standard for interfacing to biometric devices, and PrivateID, the iris
recognition interoperability protocol defined by Iridian Technologies,
Inc. Sales start today in the Japanese, North American and European
markets with initial shipments due in December 2005.
Iris-recognition technology is supposed to be less intrusive
than retina scans, which often require infrared rays or bright light to get an
accurate reading, according to a good CNN
primer on the subject: “Scientists also say a person’s retina can change with
age, while an iris remains intact. And no two iris blueprints are
mathematically alike, even between identical twins and triplets.”
So why do you need one? Ah, of course: “With the threat of
terrorism and identity theft on the rise, demand for biometric technologies at
airports and offices has been increasing,” company officials claim. Norikazu
Shimizu, President of Systems Hardware Company at Oki Electric recommends embedding
IRISPASS-M into self-service kiosks and other automated equipment.
…
Sorry, Frank, as well-loved as your music is here at First
CoffeeSM it’s just not cutting it this morning, so you’re being
replaced with a real “triple play” – the Rolling Stones’ Beggar’s Banquet, Sticky
Fingers and Exile On Main Street.
There, that’s better. Must get Let It Bleed again some day.
…
Intrado Inc. is announcing a joint venture
with PDAger (XieJin) Technology Development Co., Ltd., a mobile provider which grants Intrado (XieAn) Technology (China)
Co. Ltd, a business license to operate in China. Headquartered in Beijing,
the company will develop enhanced emergency communications solutions for public
safety and disaster management agencies in China, according to company
officials.
Intrado and PDAger announced plans for the joint venture on June 30, 2005, and
have since completed all of the Chinese government’s requirements for issuance
of a business license as a technologically advanced company registered in the Zhongguancun
(bet that comes up on spell check) National Science-Tech Park in Beijing.
…
Advanced Info Service Plc is announcing
plans to offer BlackBerry service in
Thailand.
Mr. Somchai Lertsutiwong, Vice President-Wireless Service
Business of Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited said AIS plans to
launch BlackBerry to corporate customers by the end of this year.
True Corporation Plc is
also announcing plans this morning to launch BlackBerry in Thailand through its
TA Orange subsidiary.
…
“Are you sure this is the place?”
“Yeah, see the name here – ‘Madame Sosostris, Famous Clair…
uh, Business Technology Forecasting.’”
“If you say so. Nice bead curtain door, my girlfriend in
college had one like this.”
“Ah, welcome, I can tell you are here for a business technology
forecast. Please, be seated, gentlemen. Guinevere will get you some fresh
mistletoe tea, she just put the cauldron on. You are here for…”
“Mobile messaging.”
“SMS, the cheapest, quickest, easiest form of peer-to-peer
mobile communication ever known. Still growing in all regions. Wise choice,
gentlemen, wise.”
“Actually we’re with an MMS concern.”
“I… ah, yes. [Furrowed
brow, averts glance.] Well in that case – thank you Guinevere, dear, on the
Ottoman is fine. Please understand, gentlemen, MMS is not a failure, far from
it, and we don’t need the crystal ball for this. A new report from Portio Research forecasts that MMS will
generate revenues of $50 billion by 2010.”
“Toldja, Ken.”
“Of course, other mobile messaging technologies will ascend.
Mobile Instant Messaging volumes in the U.S. are expected to pass SMS by 2009
or 2010.”
“MIM? Hailfire Earl, isn’t that what you got us out – ”
“SMS, huh? Does it say why?”
“Why yes, gentlemen, it will remain the most widely used
messaging format for some years to come, with revenues estimated at $50 billion
by 2010, driven by almost 2.38
trillion messages. It’s all in the report, ‘Mobile Messaging Futures 2005 –
2010.’”
“Must be some report.”
“It outlines progress, albeit slower, for other mobile
messaging technologies, especially mobile e-mail and instant messaging amid
continued strong worldwide subscriber growth.”
“So you’re saying MMS isn’t really where it’s at?”
“Since its launch in 2002, MMS has failed to assume the SMS mantle,
hampered by interoperability issues and low handset penetration. When MMS
becomes cheap, simple and compelling, traffic will grow and revenue will follow.
But of course, you don’t need a fortune teller to know that, do you?”
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