IBM has announced
a new innovative way to manage large data centers, via a virtual world interface. 🙂This video shows how an administrator is able to not only work and operate the data center, but be alerted of any issues in a visual way. For instance if servers are running at too high temperatures, the admin may then be shown a red haze coming from the virtual representation of the server.
This is fantastic to see this type of innovation beginning to become mainstream especially since there have been so many negative comments as to why companies like IBM were experimenting in Second Life and other virtual world environments. Virtualisation is a major buzz word in IT at the moment, but companies such as VMware only focus on a small component
Creating such a innovative interface to managing complex environments enables users to interact with their business environments from many varied locations. The power of employees being able to time & place shift their work environment will be key to how businesses retain staff moving forward.
I can’t wait to see these types of user interfaces being used to manage mobile sales and work forces.
Posted By Shane Williamson
WiMAX Vs UMTS & Australian IT manufacturers
Interesting comments in Communications Day about how Netcomm Australia is backing 3G over WiMAX for 3G wireless especially for so many Australians that cannot access ADSL or other fixed line broadband.
The WiMAX Vs UMTS (3G) debate rages on still, even though many would say the battle ended in UMTS’s favour ages ago. IT companies such as Netcomm Australia are backing one wireless standard over the other for potential market versus taking sides in a wireless standards based war.
With these 2 behemoth wireless standards I don’t believe it is a decision of one over the other, as both have their pros and cons for different deployment scenarios. The more important choice is can you have the ability for both to work cohesively together.
The killer wireless technology is convergence. Mobile devices that give customers the ability to access multiple wireless standards will be standard moving forward. The carrier that understands this and implements seamless roaming will create a unique user experience.
Netcomm currently have a 3G enabled WiFi router that you can plug an existing 3G/3.5G data card into for around AUS$300.
Netcomm 3G Router with 54Mbps Wireless – http://www.netcomm.com.au/3G/N3G001W.php
Posted by Shane Williamson
Great to see local Australian company Amethon Solutions (http://www.amethon.com) get some press today about their first US deployment of their Mobile Analytics Platform (MAP) into mobile content provider go2 Media.
Amethon’s Mobile Analytics family of products has been developed to address this requirement through its ‘off the wire’ capture technology. Designed to be integrated into the mobile operator or content provider/aggregator’s network it provides near real-time analysis of mobile subscriber browsing activity and trends.
Amethon’s Mobile Analytics Platform provides statistics on the following:
- Bandwidth (total, average per visit, total per file type)
- Hits (average per visit, number of downloads, page view breakdown)
- Visits (entry page, average duration, click paths, referring search engine)
- Visitors (browser type, user agent, operating system)
- Handsets (make, model, screen resolution)
- Mobile Operator (country of origin, operator name)
- Geo Location (country of origin, RDNS lookup)
Congratulations to the team!
Posted By Shane Williamson
Google has announced their first foray into mobile for Google Gears ver 0.2. Google Gears is an off-line web application technology that empowers developers to create off-line server and database capability into web applications.
Google Gears 0.2 for mobile is way overdue, but it is a little surprising to see Google backing Microsoft’s mobile OS over Symbian for it’s entry level into mobile. This is extremely interesting considering that both companies are aggressive competitors.
Google Gears 0.2 is available for Windows Mobile ver 5 & 6 devices. The great news is that if you have already created a Google Gears app for the PC you can very easily port it to operate in the mobile environment as long as it is not trying to access non mobile device functionality.
Google Gears site – http://gears.google.com
Google Gears Developer site – http://code.google.com/apis/gears/mobile.html
Posted By Shane Williamson
Symbian operating system dominating mobile smart devices
Symbian have announced their 2007 financial reports and the figures are showing a strong year on year growth of mobile devices using their various types of mobile operating systems.
As at December 2007 there was a total of 77.3 million Symbian enabled devices sold comprising of 141 different types of mobiles, of which,
- 49 (72%) were based on Symbian OS v9,
- 46 (68%) for use on W-CDMA/ HSDPA (3G) and
- 20 (29%) were GPS enabled
The other big stat reported is that there are over 8736 third-party developed applications that are available today to run on these devices. That’s an impressive mobile developer ecosystem.
For mobile developers this is a good sign to see feature rich mobile operating systems growing their market share of the available development platforms for mobile.
One interesting stat you won’t find anywhere is the development of Web 2.0 type "in-the-cloud" services or applications that don’t use a code footprint on the mobile other than what is used by the mobile browser.
The future of mobile is held in full featured open mobile operating systems such as Symbian that allow developers to take every advantage of the devices they are creating solutions for and not locking them out.
Posted By Shane Williamson
Telstra’s CEO promises mobile data download speeds of 42Mbps by 2009.
Hearing Telstra’s CEO @ 3GSM in Barcelona taut their new impressive 3.5G network statistics, might make you believe that they were the first to bring the technology to Australia. The fact is that Telstra was dragged into 3G kicking and screaming by the local disruptive new-kid-on-the-block mobile carrier 3, which forced them into a network sharing agreement with the new competitive up start.
Although Telstra may have started feebly with 3G, they are aiming to lead the way with establishing a clear direction in becoming the largest & fastest 3G based network in Australia.
Telstra’s recent announcement has them promising data download speeds on their 3.5G network of 42Mbps by 2009 and with access to 99 per cent of the population that’s an impressive mobile broadband network.
With 3G subscriber revenue exceeding their 2G base in the December 2007 quarter, Telstra’s statistics are proving that deploying a pervasive mobile broadband 3G network empowers users to explore data & video services versus just using a mobile for voice.
Some other interesting facts from the presentation…..
- As at January 2008 38% of all Telstra mobile subscribers were on 3G
- ARPU differential of 3G over 2G users is AUS$20
- Data accounted for 30% mobile services revenue (6 months to Dec 07)
- At December 31, 2007, more than 70,000 3G customers were monthly subscribers to Telstra’s Mobile FOXTEL service with each subscriber watching about 54 minutes a month and spending almost A$11 a month.
 Posted by Shane Williamson
New Indiana Jones movie teaser trailer is now online!
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s trailer of the movie is now online.
http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html
Posted by Shane Williamson
Nokia N96 arises from 3GSM
Some nice data is flowing forth from 3GSM about all the new mobile goodies we will be battling to save for over the next 18 months or so. The Nokia N96 has emerged out from behind NDA wraps and already there are a couple of sites doing the comparison thing with its predecessor.
Since the N95 set the bar so high it will be great to see how the N96 is accepted by the mobile pundits. Again it is great to see Nokia packing in so much punch in one mobile. I fear I shall be waiting some time before I see it on these distant wind swept sandy shores….
Head over to TechDigest for a side by side slogfest….
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Image from TECHDIGEST.
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Posted By Shane Williamson
Cisco making mobiles?
Intomobile comments that Cisco is building a mobile device using Google’s Android operating system and supposedly it looks a bit like an iPhone.
I haven’t spotted any pics yet, but this is interesting that Cisco is heading into mobile full steam without partnering in this area. Cisco is a good IT company, but doing their own mobile play may be distracting them from the bigger picture that one company trying to do everything doesn’t work.
Whilst it is exciting to see Android getting some great progress, I think companies like Cisco need to go back to the drawing board and concentrate on their core competencies…. in fact it’s a lesson for us all.
 Article on Zdnet about Cisco & Google collaboration on the new device
 Posted By Shane Williamson
Turning your Nokia N95 into a mobile WiFi Hotspot.
I’ve been looking for this for some time, but today I got a heads up from Oliver Weidlich today that Joikusoft have a Symbian application called Joikuspot Light that turns the Nokia N95 into a WiFi hotspot.
This is a very simple application and has no security or configuration options, but it is a very useful tool for sharing your 3G data connection to any WiFi enabled devices. The 2 basic screens show data traffic with connection status and a second screen that shows what clients are attached to the device.
Just be careful using this in large public areas 🙂
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Posted By Shane Williamson
Universal Convergence 