February 2006 Archives

Left Bank Solutions Inc. and Stevens Communications Inc. have just inked a deal that will allow Stevens to deliver Left Bank's Monet WFM OnDemand workforce management suite in the U.S.

Stevens, known for its expertise in delivering applications and services to the call center industry, expects to be able to help bring Monet's capabilities into the financial, call center and enterprise organizations in its customer base. According to today's announcement, Stevens has carried out workforce management (WFM) implementations for Fidelity, Dean Health Care, Federal Reserve, Kohler, Pfizer and Aon Insurance.

The relationship is designed to fill a need in the small-to-midsize market for WFM and software-as-a-service. Stevens President Steve Kaiser gives the following rationale for taking on the Monet WFM OnDemand product:

"The small to midsize call center has many of the same requirements of the big call centers but they often lack the budget and internal resources to implement a premise-based solution. By offering Monet WFM OnDemand, we can meet the functional needs of the customer with an affordable solution that requires a minimum of technical resources from them. In short, it is a perfect fit for this marketplace. Monet WFM OnDemand is on a similar track to do what Salesforce.com did to Siebel in the sales force automation arena."

Left Bank Solutions President Charles Ciarlo is TMCnet's Workforce Management columnist; in his articles he has addressed such topics as "Applying Workforce Management to Non-Call Center Environments," "Customers Are Demanding On-Demand," and "OnDemand Means Immediate ROI."

AB -- 2/28/06

ABI Research is announcing a new study predicting that smartphones will grow to almost 15% of the mobile phone market this year, hitting 123 million units shipped. ABI Mobile Wireless Analyst Philip Solis identifies five factors accounting for smartphones' growth:

1. Increasing demand for mobile data communications, including email and instant messaging.
2. Falling prices.
3. Greater device choices.
4. Smaller sizes (even as functionality improves), which in turn means lower power consumption and better battery life.
5. More wifi enablement in smartphones, expected to reach 25% penetration by 2010.

Today's announcement also points to shifting trends in smartphone operating systems as another important factor affecting the outlook. The report says Symbian is still market-share winner and describes the Palm OS as "moribund" (nearing death). But Windows Mobile is growing, and Motorola, Samsung, NEC and Panasonic are now backing Linux in the smartphone market.

ABI's new report is called "Smartphones: The Next Phase of Worldwide Adoption."

AB -- 2/28/06

Just found out that Apple's two new products are a new Mac mini with Intel inside and the iPod Hi-Fi, a combination speaker and amp designed to work off of an iPod.

Apple describes the Mac mini as a "digital lifestyle" device designed for handling music, photos, DVDs, video and TV. With an Intel Core Duo processor inside, the device is supposed to perform "up to four times faster than its predecessor." The Mac mini starts at $599. According to Philip Schiller, Apple VP for worldwide product marketing, quoted in today's press release, "Apple has now moved 50 percent of its entire product line to Intel within 60 days -- a record transition."

The iPod Hi-Fi is an all-in-one stereo system with speakers and amplifier built into one enclosure with a dock for an iPod. The system is controlled by a remote and is powered from a wall socket or by six D-cell batteries. The unit starts at $349.

AB -- 2/28/06

TMCnet just received the announcement of Talisma's new Talisma CIM 7.0. Talisma CIM (stands for "Customer Interaction Management") integrates multi-modal customer service communications channels -- email, phone, chat and Web self-service -- with a knowledgebase and analytics. CIM 7.0 can be deployed on-site or provided on-demand.

Today's announcement says this about the capabilities the suite delivers:

"The knowledgebase integration allows a seamless escalation from Web self-service to alternate service channels and provides agents with a view of prior self-service searches and returned results. As a result of this new level of visibility and seamless cross-channel integration, service agents have immediate access to reliable and consistent information enabling more helpful and rapid responses."

The CIM 7.0 suite is built around the Talisma Customer Interaction Hub. According to the release, the hub is a central platform that "provides a common interface for seamless transfers and escalations between channels. It also houses a workflow engine supporting business rules and routing routines and provides one-click access to pertinent data stored in third party systems, such as CRM or ERP solutions."

AB -- 2/28/06

Like most long-time Internet users, I've received many versions of the "Nigeria" spams, a form of flim-flam designed to get me hooked into traveling over to Nigeria with a suitcase full of cash.

But the version that just appeared in my inbox a few minutes ago is the scariest one I've seen. Look carefully at the first few lines, and you'll see that not only is it customized with my name, it also conjures up a wealthy distant cousin named R.A. Bredenberg who recently died in Lome Togo!

Here it is:

-----

Simon Samoeil,Fonser Chambers
Solicitors & Advocates
140,boulevard du 13 janvier,
PB 2932,Lome-Togo
 
Dear Al Bredenberg ,
 
I am Barrister James Kofi, a barrister & solicitor at law. I was the Personal attorney to Mr. R. A Bredenberg, a national of your country, who used to own an oil servicing company in Lome Togo.

Herein after shall be referred to as my client. On the 31st of July, 2003,my client, his wife and their three Children were involved in a car accident along Lome- Cotonou express road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. I know that my client had no living kin but I went ahead and made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful.I only did so to be double sure of this fact.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposits were lodged, particularly the (b.i.a)Bank of african Lome-Togo where the deceased had an account valued at about $2.million dollars has issued me a notice that in the event that no next of kin comes up for the claim, the account will be confiscated after four years if not claimed.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at $2.million dollars can be paid to you and then you and me can share the money.50% shall be for me and 40% for you while 10% is ear marked for expenses that will be incurred during the process of Transfer of the fund.

I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me by my e-mail to enable us discuss further.You may also send your phone number so that I can call you.I look forward to your urgent response.

Best regards,
 
Barrister James Kofi.
 
E.mail, [email protected] 

-----

AB -- 2/24/06

DigiLinea, a VoIP service provider targeting the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, announced today that it is offering unlimited VoIP calling plans to the U.S. and Latin America for customers residing in Latin America.

According to DigiLinea, "unlimited calling has never been offered on a local basis to clients in Central America." The company has local telecom licenses that allow it to operate legally in the region. New plans offer unlimited calling for $29.95 per month and also offer local telephone numbers in Latin America.

According to DigiLinea CEO Gregory Keough, quoted in today's announcement, the company positions its offerings particularly to serve the "millions of Central Americans in the U.S. and elsewhere .... We have found the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets to be a fertile ground for VoIP due to this group's high usage patterns and the high barriers to entry to provide VoIP services to this niche market. The key challenge to providing service to the US Hispanic market and locally in Latin America is not just licensing to provide VoIP services legally, but equipment delivery, setup, local payment, and Spanish-language technical and customer support -- all factors which provide high barriers to entry to those who wish to compete."

AB -- 2/24/06

TMCnet has learned of a new VoIP service launched yesterday, TalkDaddy Internet Phone Service, offering unlimited U.S. and Canada calling starting at $179 per year for residential service and $299 for business.

TalkDaddy was started by entrepreneur John S. LaTour and is headquartered in Fayetteville, Ark. TalkDaddy owns all its own equipment. The service's infrastructure, LaTour tells TMCnet, is "a fully redundant switch built on an Asterisk platform."

LaTour explains that the TalkDaddy business had its origins with a problem in his own tax preparation business, where he started using VoIP four years ago. "We had six tax preparation offices that we operated from January to April each year," he explains. "We would activate two POTS telephone lines (one voice, one fax) in January and turn them off in April." LaTour says each January they had to pay an activation fee of $150 per line, and the monthly fee was $85 before taxes and surcharges.

"I was complaining about all of this, like I still do, to my computer guru," says LaTour. "He suggested I install a 'VoIP' system. I said, 'A what?'  I had never heard of VoIP. He explained that we could use our existing (i.e., already paid for) Internet connections for telephone service. What? No more Southwestern Bell? My reply was, 'Do it!'"

LaTour continues: "The first year we operated, the system was unreliable. The second year, the software and firmware were upgraded and the system worked much better. The third year, I threw away my office PBX system and we went entirely with VoIP. The phone calls in our offices in the next state over sounded like they were next door. We never looked back."

He says last summer he gave an ATA to a friend in the Phillippines and asked him to try out the service from there. When the friend called, LaTour says, "He sounded like he was next door! It not only works in the next-door state, it works around the world!"

TalkDaddy allows calls to land lines and cell phones in the U.S. and Canada and to land lines in Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia,  Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey,  United Kingdom and Venezuela.

The TalkDaddy service includes voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, free 411 directory assistance and international calling from cell phones.

"We are ready and able to give the folks at Vonage a run for their money," says LaTour. "We provide more service for less money."

AB -- 2/24/06

One Stop Systems (OSS), a manufacturer of PCI Express technology, has announced a new MAX Express Dual Xeon System Host Board (SHB). Company President Steve Cooper says the new SHB is meant to expand One Stop's offerings "into single board computers ... supporting OEMs and integrators as well." The board, with the dual processors and no DRAM, starts at $4,675.

The following, quoted from the company announcement, describes the board's capabilities:

"The new SHB supports up to two 3.6GHz Xeon processors and features the Intel E7520 chipset, an 800MHz system bus, dual channel DDR2-400 memory interfaces, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, dual Serial ATA/150 ports, dual USB 2.0 ports with two additional USB 2.0 interfaces and an advanced Ultra XGA video port. It supports PCIe, PCI-X and PCI add-in cards, and provides quad USB ports, on-board video and other standard IO features."

Just to educate myself a little, I did some research and learned that PCI Express, originally called Third-Generation I/O (3GIO), is meant to speed up signal transfer to keep up with today's faster processors. PCI Express can support Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GigE) transfer, making this (I assume) an important technology for voice and video transfer. The Computer Desktop Encyclopedia says PCI Express is designed as "a parallel interface of independently controlled serial links," or "lanes," up to 32 of them, each of which is "made up of two differential wire pairs that provide 2.5 Gbits/sec in each direction."

AB -- 2/22/06

In a recent blog entry, Rich Tehrani called attention to some comments by John Giere, chief marketing officer at Lucent Technologies, about the migration to an IMS (IP multimedia subsystem)-based communications architecture.

Giere's comments are summarized near the end of an article, "Crossing the convergence chasm," about the commitment to IMS made by AT&T, BellSouth and Cingular Wireless, all of whom are working with Lucent as primary vendor. Giere's comments clicked with me, not in relation to IMS and how it works, but in terms of what IMS will make possible in delivering services to customers.

I recently wrote about the launch of a mobile video messaging service called TxtBIG, and, while I can see that the service could have interest to consumers, it's hard to imagine that this would be a service people would use every day and pay a fee for. So it seems obvious that this would have to be offered as one feature of a much larger package including mobile video, music downloads, games, ring tones and probably many other services nobody has imagined yet.

Giere's comments kind of confirm my thinking on this and show how IMS will help make multiple services available as part of a subscription-based package:

"John Giere, Lucent chief marketing officer, said that's why the transition to IMS will be gradual, not because of technology constraints, but because of cultural ones. IMS, he said, is the technology face of a larger trend: the transition from a service-model based on time to one based on subscription. As IMS blends numerous applications and features together, charging for each individual feature becomes not only a challenge for the carrier but a headache for the user to track. Giere said services will be sold as lifestyle-based models, allowing customers to access pools of related and closely linked services for a flat fee. Though IMS is not only the preferred technology to handle such a model, he said, it may be the only technology that could pull it off."

In a world of converged media based on Internet protocol, it makes less and less sense to base pricing on numbers of minutes. A flat-rate subscription seems like the logical model. This also came up in my blog entry last week about Skype's partnership with Hutchison 3. Hutchison plans to make Skype calling available over its 3G network as part of a flat-rate subscription plan.

What Giere is saying about "lifestyle-based models" makes infinitely better sense than forcing consumers to choose among a growing menu of services and then have to track all the details of usage and fees.

AB -- 2/22/06

Earlier today I wrote about issues around eavesdropping on Skype calls. The AP story I cited touched on a topic I've followed a little in the past. The story mentions "broad eavesdropping that the National Security Agency is reputed to be performing, in which it scans thousands or millions of calls at a time for certain phrases."

This kind of surveillance is described in this Boston Globe article: "Wiretaps said to sift all overseas contacts." The key idea is that government agencies are using artificially intelligence technologies to scan voice calls and emails for key words, phrases and patterns to identify possible terrorist communications. One expert quoted in the Globe article says the NSA's systems are able to process "2 million pieces of communications an hour."

The first time I became aware of this kind of technology was at conference in the late 90s at a location that ironically no longer exists because of the 9/11 attacks. I had a long conversation at an expo booth with a rep from a company called Aptex, a subsidiary of HNC, a technology company later acquired by Fair Isaac.

Aptex was marketing a 'text mining' technology that could be used to target web advertising at a user based on intelligent scanning of web documents being viewed by that user. Aptex's technology was based on artificially intelligent neural networks that could 'understand' the content of a text document. The Aptex rep told me that the technology had originally been developed in connection with government contracts for intelligent surveillance of text communications. (He might have told me that he really should kill me after telling me that. Or maybe not.)

Here's an interesting article from the National Science Foundation related to this topic: "Data Mining and Homeland Security Applications."

This kind of technology scares a lot of people because of privacy concerns and the potential for government abuse. That might be a legitimate concern, but its use is also rooted in a desire to use technology innovations to stay ahead of the bad guys -- see "Govt Surveillance: Part of a Taller Wall?"

AB -- 2/16/06

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson released an interesting article today, "Skype Use May Make Eavesdropping Passe." At first glance you might think the message is that Skype's encryption makes it impossible for government to monitor Skype calls.

But the article does make the point that, even though Skype calls are encrypted, it is still possible for an eavesdropper to tell who is calling whom and whether the two parties are using voice, text or video.

The article quotes security expert Bruce Schneier: "What you and I are saying is much less important than the fact that you and I are talking. Against traffic analysis, encryption is irrelevant."

Svensson's article says that Skype's encryption "would stymie the kind of broad eavesdropping that the National Security Agency is reputed to be performing, in which it scans thousands or millions of calls at a time for certain phrases. Even a weakly encrypted call would force an eavesdropper to spend hours of computer time cracking it."

This latter statement does suggest that Skype calling could constitute a significant security risk. The article quotes Skype's security chief as saying that Skype cooperates with "all lawful requests from relevant authorities."

AB -- 2/16/06

At first glance, this news item from a group of partners in the business of mobile content delivery caught my attention as interesting and worthy of coverage:

BT Media & Broadcast, Sparrowhawk and iO Global announce the first deployment of TxtBIG! - the revolutionary new video messaging service

And maybe it really is interesting and worthy of coverage, but I don't exactly see why. TxtBIG is being released via a demo at the 3GSM World Congress, the mobile event taking place in Barcelona this week. Participants at the show can sample the new service by sending a Valentine's Day-themed message to a loved one with a compatible phone.

As far as I can tell, all the service really lets you do is send someone a kind of video greeting card via mobile phone, adding your own personalized text message -- kind of a mobile version of web greeting cards. Although today's press release describes TxtBIG as a "revolutionary new messaging service" and "an innovative and exciting new opportunity for mobile operators and content owners alike," at this point it's hard to see this as anything other than a possible feature for a provider to add in to a bundle of mobile content services.

But maybe I'm missing something!

In its favor, the service does enjoy the involvement of some important partners: BT Media & Broadcast, providers of "digital media, content processing, distribution and data storage"; content producers Sparrowhawk Media Limited; and iO Global Limited for mobile content delivery. One possible advantage in the TxtBIG solution is that this triumvirate of providers appears able to offer solid end-to-end implementation of mobile content production and delivery for content originators, advertisers and service providers.

AB -- 2/14/06

Two announcements appeared today about Skype mobile capabilities:

Skype Introduces Next Generation Mobile Application for Pocket PC; Software Upgrades and Hardware Relationships Enable High Quality, Mobile Internet Calling for Pocket PC Users Worldwide

Skype and Hutchison 3 Group Join Forces to Offer Skype on Mobile Devices

Hutchison 3 is a 3G mobile provider operating in Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Sweden and the UK. The agreement makes Skype available over Hutchison 3's networks as a value-added service. Today's announcement says that Skype already has 75 million users in the territories covered by Hutchison. If I understand correctly, the Skype offer can come bundled with a 3G flat-rate subscription, which I think means that you could make unlimited Skype calls riding on top of the 3G network. This sounds like an attractive offer and maybe a bold move on the part of a mobile operator.

The Pocket PC announcement concerns the release of Skype for Pocket PC 2.0, replacing the previous 1.1 version. Today's announcement says the new release, a free download, offers better voice quality, supports more devices and extends capabilities. Skype says the Pocket PC and mobile capabilities are part of a strategy to extend Skype "beyond the PC."

Today's release outlines the following particular features of Skype for Pocket PC 2.0 (quoted):

• Skype to Skype and SkypeOut calls
• Instant messaging
• Presence, including: Online, offline, away, call forwarding, device not connected
• Automatic synchronization of your Skype contact list between device and desktop
• Voicemail
• Making SkypeOut calls directly from the device phone book
• Simplified contact search
• Authorizing buddy requests and adding new contacts

All-in-all, the Pocket PC announcement sounds more exciting than the 3G-Hutchison partnership. Not that Skype over a mobile phone doesn't sounds appealing, but the Pocket PC just seems like a better environment for Skype calling, given the larger display available on a Pocket PC, and the more flexible user interface (as opposed to the limitations of a mobile phone), which I think takes better advantage of the multi-modal capabilities of Skype communications.

To give you an idea of the user experience, here are a couple of screen shots from Skype for Pocket PC:

AB -- 2/14/06

Yesterday Google released its Google Desktop 3 Beta software, adding powerful new features but provoking privacy concerns at the same time.

One of the most attractive features of the new Desktop Search product is that it allows a user to search across multiple computers (see Google's press release here for other details about the new application's capabilities).

As a mobile professional who uses more than one computer, this capability is heading in a direction I've longed for for years. In 2006 it astonishes me that I still need to fret over which computer has that file I was working on, where is that email I need to refer to, how can I get at that old document or image from three years ago, how come my bookmarks don't follow me wherever I go, what do I with all my documents, settings, bookmarks, templates and so on when I buy a new computer and have to set it up?

Well, Google Desktop 3 Beta is obviously a long ways away from that longed-for state of computing ubiquity, but it does show a consciousness of the user's need to be liberated from the prison of the individual device.

That said, those pesky consumer advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have raised privacy concerns about the new Google Desktop. Reason is that in order to allow searching across multiple computers, Google has to be able to store copies of your documents on its own servers. EFF urges consumers not to use "Search Across Computers" as it "will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password."

Google's privacy policy for Desktop Search says that "Google treats the contents of your indexed files as personal information, in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy." And Google's general privacy policy says that Google "may use personal information to provide the services you've requested, including services that display customized content and advertising" and "may also share information with third parties in limited circumstances, including when complying with legal process, preventing fraud or imminent harm, and ensuring the security of our network and services."

So the EFF's concerns do raise a somewhat disturbing specter -- better think this one out before committing to "Search Across Computers"!

By the way, the day before the new Google Desktop Search 3 Beta release, Rich Tehrani wrote a great analysis of Google's big-picture strategy, especially as it relates to competition with Microsoft.

AB -- 2/10/06

Broadband solutions provider ARRIS informs me that they have successfully demonstrated a 100 Mb/s data service with UK consumer broadband provider ntl. An announcement today says the companies used ARRIS's FlexPath wideband channel bonding technology to demonstrate the service in lab trials.

ARRIS is in the business of providing "broadband local access networks with innovative video, high-speed data and telephony systems for the delivery of voice, video and data to the home and business." According to ntl, it is the largest cable provider in the UK and has 1.7 million broadband customers.

The FlexPath technology should allow ntl to offer fast simultaneous delivery of multiple services, including downloading of large media files, security services such as closed-circuit video, video conferencing, online gaming, and multicast HDTV, all over existing cable networks using easily-available home networking devices.

ARRIS and ntl have completed successful lab trials of the 100 Mb/s FlexPath-based service and plan to move into field trials in March 2006.

AB -- 2/10/06