HIGHLIGHTS


TELECOMUNICATIONS – WIFI

T-Mobile, Hyatt ink hotspot deal
T-Mobile signed a deal with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to launch WiFi hotspots in nearly all of Hyatt's 200 hotels by mid-2005.
The companies have already launched service at the Hyatt in Charlotte, North Carolina, with plans to launch service in the Hyatt Regency at Chicago's O'Hare airport next week. Hyatt aims to have wireless access in nearly all of its hotels and in most of its hotel rooms. Access will be available for $9.99 per day for guests who do not subscribe to T-Mobile's nationwide hotspot service. This deal is T-Mobile's first major hotspot contract with a hotel franchise. No financial details of the deal were released.
The deal is a coup for T-Mobile, which beat out hotspot rival Wayport for one of the last remaining nationwide hotel WiFi contracts. Wayport dominates the paid-access WiFi sector for hotels. Wayport has recently emerged as the defining player in the paid-access hotspot market thanks to the company's growing hotel network and its recent nationwide hotspot deal with McDonald's.
Meanwhile, most investors and financial analysts are down on the paid access hotspot business model. This market pessimism has grown worse since hotspot service provider Cometa Networks closed its doors last month.
Date; May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TELECOMUNICATIONS – EUROPE - MOBILE VIDEO MARKET


Mobile Video to Generate US$5.4bn by 2008
Europe : In a new report entitled Mobile Video: Worldwide Market Analysis and Strategic Outlook 2003-2008, industry analysts ARC forecast that the mobile video market will generate worldwide revenues of US$5.4bn in 2008.
ARC Senior Analyst Rupert Reid, takes a quick look at recent developments in the mobile video space to ee how they measure up against ARC Group's forecasts and whether there is any substance behind the hype.
As the latest in a line of applications touted to turn around flagging ARPUs and kick-start the dawn of a new mobile multimedia era, mobile video has been much in the spotlight recently. Whereas the adoption and usage levels of 3's much publicised video telephony services have not exactly set the industry alight in the early days of its launch, the underlying trends nevertheless point to a steady ramping up of interest in mobile video.
In the last 6 months, a flurry of activity across all elements of the value chain has witnessed the increasing momentum behind bringing mobile video applications and enabling technologies to market as players from platform vendors to content aggregators all attempt to carve an early lead in this nascent market.
Recent deals between Vodafone and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Mobilkom Austria and CNN and 3 Sweden and Endemol/Kanal highlight the growing focus placed on strategic partnerships between operators and content owners to target mobile video streaming, downloading and messaging services. By building up a rich ecosystem of branded content, 3G operators are clearly positioning their networks primarily as video-capable, and heavily promoting video streaming and video telephony services as a differentiator from 2.5G networks.
It is not just the 3G operators however who are pioneering video services as a number of 2.5G operators have launched video services of their own. For example, a number of European operators including Telefonica, TIM and O2 have launched a range of early video streaming applications through partnership with RealNetworks and its Helix Universal Platform. Likewise, the indications from Sprint PCS are very encouraging with PCS Vision customers having sent more than 100m picture messaging images and 15-second video messaging clips since November 2002.

Despite these promising early trends, there are challenges at every point in the mobile video value chain, which must be resolved before video takes off on a mass-market basis:
- Reducing the price of video-supporting handsets to gain mass
market acceptance
- Developing viable business models for video distribution which
include content protection,
- Resolving the interoperability, interconnect and roaming
issues for such services.

Top of these challenges remains the perennial problem of video-capable handset availability and a lack of well-defined and established standards across the value chain which are essential for operators to build a full service that includes content, servers, applications and handsets.

Nonetheless, ARC is confident that ongoing developments in high-performance, low-power multimedia application processors coupled with continuing improvements in high-resolution CMOS image sensors and high-resolution colour LCD screens, will see the mass market penetration of video-enabled handsets by 2006.
As with any forecast, the purchasing behaviour of end-users remains the key variable in assessing demand and also the hardest to predict. Nevertheless, on the balance of evidence, ARC believes that the widespread availability of video-capable terminals together with high-bandwidth networks supported by a rich distribution network of branded and mobile specific content will result in a steadily growing market for mobile video services over the next 5 years.

Mobile Video, from the ARC Group, forecasts that between 2003 and 2005 there will be a relatively slow rate of adoption, as the market is in its launch phase although from 2005 onwards strong growth is anticipated, and by 2008 it is forecast that close to 250m consumers will use mobile video services.
Mobile Video also predicts that video messaging will remain the biggest application category throughout the forecast period. In 2003, the figure of 5.1m users is mainly made up of the video clip messaging services that have been launched by operators in Japan. In Europe, initial video services have also been focused mostly on video messages, since user-generated content frees the operator from dealing with content copyright issues and content owners' DRM requirements. As MMS starts to enter the mainstream in Europe, it is expected that as camera phones in the European market evolve to support video, there will be a high adoption rate for video messaging services as an enhancement to regular MMS.

Video download is expected to be second to video messaging in terms of users until 2005, when video streaming will take over second spot, based on the higher penetration of 3G networks. After 2003, streaming will be a preferred method of consuming video content, since it has a much more immediate viewing experience than video download, and enables longer video clips and also live TV-like live broadcast services.
As a strictly a 3G service, ARC expect the total number of video telephony users to increase from 1.3 m in 2003 to almost 90m in 2008. Video telephony will continue to differentiate 3G networks from 2.5G networks, and the popularity of this application will rise as more possibilities become available to connect via video calling to enterprise video conferencing systems and consumer video devices in the broadband-connected home. This network effect of home, office and mobile video telephony devices will cause mobile video telephony to overtake video download services by 2007.
Source; ARC; May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INTERNET – WIRELESS BROADBAND

Wireless Hits WiMax Speeds
Standardized products that are expected to drive down the price of WiMax wireless broadband gear may be as much as a year away, most industry insiders say.
But Alvarion used this week's Wireless Communications Association conference in Washington, D.C. to roll out equipment that it says can be easily upgraded to support the emerging standard.
Alvarion already makes its own proprietary wireless broadband infrastructure, which it sells to carriers that want to provide high-speed Internet access over long distances. The BreezeMax product line introduced Wednesday, based on an Alvarion chip, includes wireless base stations that later will be able to serve WiMax CPE (customer premises equipment). All that carriers will need in order to support the new CPE is a firmware upgrade, according to Patrick Leary, assistant vice president of marketing at Alvarion, which is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Vendors including Alvarion and Intel are counting on high-volume production of WiMax silicon to drive down the price of customer gear and make wireless broadband a profitable carrier service. WiMax is designed to deliver data speeds comparable to cable modem and DSL services over a distance of as much as 30 miles. The WiMax Forum industry group expects to begin certifying WiMax products by the end of this year.

Changing the Channel
The group is working toward specifications for three pieces of radio spectrum, around 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 5 GHz, Leary says. Alvarion's platform introduced Wednesday, the BreezeMax 3500, will use the 3.5-GHz band. Once an Intel chip set that supports WiMax in the 3.5-GHz band is commercially available it will be integrated into new, standardized versions of Alvarion's CPE and its base stations, he says. Leary expects the chip set to ship around the middle of next year. That standardized, high-volume silicon should drive down costs significantly, Leary says.

The BreezeMax 3500 line will include "macro" base stations for dense urban areas and "micro" base stations for rural deployments, along with three kinds of CPE. One CPE device is for IP data only, one supports both data and voice over IP, and one has an integrated 802.11g wireless LAN access point for wireless hotspots or small businesses. For the CPE, Alvarion will charge carriers between $200 and $500 depending on volume, capacity and configuration. The micro base stations will range from $10,000 to $15,000 and the macro versions from $50,000 to $60,000.
Though much attention has been focused on the licensed 2.5-GHz and unlicensed 5-GHz bands, Alvarion is aiming at the initial sweet spot with a 3.5-GHz product, according to Leary. That band has already been licensed for wireless carrier services in many countries outside North America, he says. The 3.5-GHz BreezeMax products have been in trials at carriers in Europe and Asia.

The 3.5-GHz band is "the most stable environment in a regulatory sense, and it's where we believe mass deployment can be achieved most rapidly," Leary says.
Yankee Group analyst Lindsay Schroth agrees. Outside the Western Hemisphere, many major carriers already hold spectrum in that range, she says. By contrast, WiMax deployment in the 2.5-GHz range probably will have to wait for decisions by two big U.S. carriers, Sprint and Nextel Communications, Schroth says. Unlicensed 5-GHz services probably will remain the realm of enterprises and small rural providers, she adds.
"The U.S. market in general is kind of up in the air in terms of how quickly people will deploy stuff," Schroth says.
Source; IDG News Service, May 2004
Write; by Stephen Lawson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TECHNOLOGY – MOBILE DEVICES

Motorola to promote first megapixel phone with online film
Motorola said it will sell its first megapixel camera phone in the United States starting this summer.
The company also said it has teamed with Hollywood director Scott Sanders to develop an online “advertainment” film promoting the phone.

“By finding innovative ways to showcase Motorola's dynamic phone technology, we are serving the consumer in two ways. First, we are highlighting the important benefits of the V710, which include seamless mobility, creative expression and personal freedom,” said Jason Few, vice president of marketing for Motorola. “Second, we are demonstrating the role technology plays in opening doors for the development of creative content and platforms in the arts. The V710 truly is the gold standard in mobile phones."

Motorola’s CDMA V710 features a 1.2-megapixel camera, video capture and playback, an MP3 player and 10 megabytes of internal memory. Motorola did not name a carrier to sell the phone, although Verizon Wireless in the past has said it is testing the device.

Under Motorola’s promotion with Sanders, the filmmaker wrote and directed a short film “starring” the V710, which is available at hellomoto.com/producer. Motorola said the cliffhanger ending to the film will be released online when the V710 becomes available this summer.

In other phone news, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. released three new third-generation wireless phones, which feature 2-megapixel cameras and video capabilities.
Source;RCR; May 2004
Write; by Mike Dano

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SCIENCE – ASTRONOMY

Cassini will unlock Saturn’s secrets
The international Cassini-Huygens mission is poised to begin an extensive tour of Saturn, its majestic rings and 31 known moons. After nearly a seven-year journey, Cassini is scheduled to enter orbit around Saturn at 10:30 p.m. EDT, June 30, 2004.

"The Saturn system represents an unsurpassed laboratory, where we can look for answers to many fundamental questions about the physics, chemistry, evolution of the planets and the conditions that give rise to life," said Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, Washington.

Cassini was launched Oct. 15, 1997 on a journey covering 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles), Cassini is the most instrumented and scientifically capable planetary spacecraft ever flown. There are 12 instruments on the Cassini orbiter and six on the Huygens probe. The mission represents the best technical efforts of 260 scientists from the United States and 17 European nations. The Cassini mission cost approximately $3 billion.

The Cassini/Huygens mission is a four-year study of Saturn. The 18 highly sophisticated science instruments will study Saturn's rings, icy satellites, magnetosphere, and Titan, the planet's largest moon.

The spacecraft will fire its main engine for 96 minutes during the critical Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) maneuver. The maneuver will reduce Cassini's speed, so Saturn can capture it as an orbiting satellite. Cassini will pass through a gap between the planet's F and G rings, swing close to the planet, and begin the first of 76 orbits around Saturn's system. During the mission, it will have 52 close encounters with seven of Saturn's 31 moons.

There are risks involved with orbit insertion, but mission planners have prepared for them. There is a backup in case the main engine fails, and the path through the ring plane was searched for hazards with the best Earth and space-based telescopes. Particles too small to be seen from Earth could be fatal to the spacecraft, so Cassini will turn to use its high gain antenna as a shield against small objects.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, and it is the second largest in the solar system, after Jupiter. Saturn and its ring system serve as a miniature model for the disc of gas and dust that surrounded the early sun, which formed the planets. Detailed knowledge of the dynamics of interactions among Saturn's elaborate rings and many different moons will provide valuable data for understanding how the solar system's planets evolved.

The study of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is one of the major goals of the mission. Titan may preserve, in deep-freeze, many of the chemical compounds that preceded life on Earth. Cassini will execute 45 flybys of Titan within approximately 950 kilometers (590 miles) of the surface. This will permit high-resolution mapping of the moon with the Titan radar-imaging instrument. The radar can see through the opaque haze of Titan's upper atmosphere.

"Titan is like a time machine taking us to the past to see what Earth might have been like," said Dr. Dennis Matson, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. "The hazy moon may hold clues to how the primitive Earth evolved into a life-bearing planet," he said.

On Dec. 24, 2004, Cassini will release the wok-shaped Huygens probe for its journey to Titan. Huygens is the first probe designed to descend to the surface of the moon of another planet, and the most distant descent of a robotic probe attempted on another object in the solar system. On Jan. 14, 2005, after a three-week ballistic freefall, Huygens will enter Titan's atmosphere. It will deploy parachutes and begin 2.5 hours of intensive scientific observations. The Huygens probe will transmit data to the Cassini spacecraft, which will relay the information back to Earth.

JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. A team at the European Space Technology and Research Center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, managed the development of the Huygens probe. The Italian Space Agency provided the high-gain antenna, much of the radio system and elements of several of Cassini's science instruments. JPL manages the overall program for NASA's Office of Space Science.
Source; NASA, May 2004



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOCUS

INTERNET – SOFTWARE MARKET

The Changing Face of E-Mail
Information overload will drive e-mail into the ground unless software vendors act now and make major changes to the 30-year-old technology, warned a leading Internet expert Wednesday.

During his keynote speech at the Inbox e-mail technology conference, Eric Hahn, CEO of antispam firm Proofpoint, called on software developers to stop treating e-mail inboxes as places to dump memos and start thinking of them as control centers that combine e-mail, instant messaging, voicemail and other communications.

Gmail service features a similar option.
Advanced e-mail search is also gaining in popularity. The feature allows users to leave all their e-mails in a single folder, where individual messages can be found later using fast searches. Both Gmail and Stata Laboratories' Bloomba software now offer advanced search.
Still, it's unclear when more popular e-mail products will adopt similar features. Yahoo's antispam product manager Miles Libbey said his company is working on a summer face lift for its Yahoo Mail service, but he declined to say whether it would include any major interface changes.

He did say, however, that the upgrade would likely include the addition of some sort of indicator next to messages in the inbox that would let users know if their e-mails came from authenticated senders. Authenticating senders is a goal of Yahoo's DomainKeys antispam technology, which is currently in its testing phase. The indicator would make it easier for users to detect so-called phishing scams that some spammers send out in an attempt to trick people into revealing their personal information.

Speakers at the Inbox conference will continue to present more ideas for making e-mail more useful and manageable through Friday. Inbox is the first of two major e-mail-related conferences taking place this month. The second event, aptly named the Email Technology Conference, takes place June 16-18 in San Francisco.
Source; Wired magazine, May 2004
Write; by Amit Asaravala

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

HIGHLIGHTS

INTERNET – ENGINE SEARCH

Google Desktop Search Tool Rumored & Software Principles Released
The New York Times is reporting that Google plans to release a desktop search tool in the near future. The rumor comes on the heels of a new "Software Principles" page the company posted yesterday.
Google already has a desktop presence in the form of its long-standing Google Toolbar and the Google Deskbar search applet released last year. But a full-blown desktop searching application is seen by some as a move Microsoft might make to lock-in users. The Google project appears designed to counter this threat, according to the report.
Among the major search engines, AltaVista offered its AltaVista Discovery desktop search tool back in 1998, but it was never widely used. More recently, Lycos introduced a desktop search tool in March.
Coincidental with the rumor - or perhaps not - Google released a new Software Principles page yesterday. It's a call to the software industry to be more transparent and clear with users about what exactly their applications will do.
Among the principles, Google suggests that software should
· Not trick people into installing it
· Provide clear disclosure of its functions
· Be easy to remove
· Be clear in responsibility for when it changes default behaviors
· Be upfront about personal data and other information gathered
· Not be bundled with other software that doesn't follow principles of good behavior
In other news, the Google Gmail email system that sparked amazement by offering 1 gigabyte of storage space in April appears to have increased that amount by 1,000 times to 1 terabyte, for some users.
Aaron Schwartz and Dave Winer are just to reporting this has happened to them. Checking my own Gmail account, I don't see this happening. Gmail still tells me that I have 1000 MB of space in total, with 17 percent of it currently used. Personally, I suspect a bug.
Google's move came after Lycos recently offered 1 GB of space to its email users and Yahoo declared it would greatly increase the free space offered to those using its email service.
Write; by Danny Sullivan

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TELECOMUNIATIONS – MOBILE

Bank Espirito Santo launches 3G mobile banking
Portuguese bank, Bank Espirito Santo, has announced the launch of its bank services specially designed for the recent Portuguese UMTS platform.
Their wish is not only to maintain their domestic leadership of the mobile banking sector, but also to immediately assess the impact of the 3G mobile telephony in banking activities.
In order to help the spread of the use of this new service, the bank also announced its intention to help the costumers to purchase 3G handsets with special prices and credit conditions. The first available service will be based on the BES Internet Banking on the I9 TMN Portal. It will be possible to check accounts, transfer funds, and recharge mobile accounts.
At some point in the future, customers will also be possible to perform other transactions normally available via Internet banking such as stock exchange orders, and services payments.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INTERNET – WI-FI

Tin.it launches wi-fi ‘virtual tokens’
Tin.it, Telecom Italia Media’s Internet service provider, has announced that it is to launch "virtual tokens" for for its wi-fi Internet service.
The tokens offer a temporary access code that may be purchased online via credit card from locations that host Tin.it hot spots, such as hotels, shopping centres, bars and yacht clubs. The token is available in three different denominations. One-hour, five-hour and twenty-four-hour tokens cost €2.95, €4.94 and €14.95, respectively. The twenty-four-hour tokens are on special offer throughout 2004 for €9.95.
Launching on 15 May, the service is aimed at business travellers and tourists who need to access the Internet.
Tin.it has 364 hot spots in the country, 245 of which 245 are up and running.
Source; TIN.it, May 2004



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOCUS


INTERNET – MARKETING

Reciprocal Linking: A Disturbing Trend
In the world of Internet Marketing, and Web site promotion, nothing changes faster than the parameters that rule good Search Engine rankings and placement.
This has led to a developed new science in the last few years, SEM (Search Engine Marketing). This new science, SEM, has been a boon to both Web Masters and the merchants that maintain Web sites as a way to increase exposure and revenue for their products and/or services.
SEM has become a much sought after entity, with SEM specialists, who focus on optimization of a site, routinely adding linking campaign management to their overall repertoire of services. This has resulted in a large influx of Web sites focusing on linking campaigns and reciprocal linking as it has been established that good, solid reciprocal linking campaigns increased traffic and visitors to a site exponentially.

However, like with everything else online, the idea of SEM and linking campaigns has spread like "wildfire", with sites seeking links seemingly endlessly. This has led to what can only be termed, "linking explosions", with many sites posting links to everything and anything in an effort to increase their Search Engine rankings and placements.

The actual attainment of effective linking campaigns, is a work oriented, tedious undertaking, with literally months spent developing a good campaign. While a good linking campaign does increase rankings overall, with the Search Engines, the question remains, "does it increase sales"? After all, consumers are the ingredient that facilitates the sale of a product/service in the long run, not the rankings or placement of a site. Questions about whether linking campaigns increase revenue for a site are coming into play now.

Recent data has shown that consumers, now more than ever, are arriving at Web sites via "search features", not by direction to a Web site via another Web site link. The use of "search features" to arrive at a site has increased by almost six percent in the past year. In addition, direct navigation by visitors to a Web site, has also increased from a year ago, by almost ten percent. In direct contrast, Web link "arrivals" of visitors has dropped in the past year, by a somewhat staggering, twenty percent!

The World Wide Web quite obviously has now become more utilitarian to consumers, and linking campaigns, as a result, may become more ineffective as time goes on. Linking campaigns, by their very nature, promote "browsing" and the consumer finds time-consuming “visiting” of many sites, before the product/item/service. As the Web progresses and consumers become increasingly discerning in their overall approach to the Web, they are now going right to the source, more often, via "search features" and direct navigation.

Accordingly, then, the "digging around" on other sites, has diminished over the past twelve months, and in all likelihood, will continue as a trend well into the future, hampering the effectiveness of linking campaigns overall. This trend reflects an international shift towards this method of finding information on the Web, and is not localized whatsoever, crossing many demographic and geographic barriers.

It's really difficult to effectively pinpoint the cause in this shift for consumers. However, the sheer magnitude of the linking campaign craze that is so prominent now, may account, at least in part, for the shift in the attitudes of consumers. Because of the popularity of linking campaigns as a method of increasing rankings and placement, attaining "quality" links (those with a Page Rank of 5 or higher) has become more difficult for Web masters. In addition, the sheer volume of linking requests to pages with a high ranking, has also increased, to the point where higher ranked Web sites are inundated daily with linking requests, interfering with their ability to attend to their own business.

Web masters have now oftentimes taken to using any links whatsoever; as long as the links added have the appropriate Page Rank. Little thought seems to be given at times, to the theme of a links page or the relevance of links that have been added, leaving visitors to some sites confused and frustrated. This will in all probability lead consumers to turn to the Search Engines and direct navigation even more in the future, not less.

This could have dire consequences for many Web sites down the road, as those at the bottom of search listings could conceivably be forced out of business.
There are methods however that can aid in the retention of top rankings and listings with the Search Engines, in and above linking campaigns.

These methods would also hold greater appeal for consumers in general, as they would add quality to a Web site, as well as content, something that will add "longevity of appeal" to a Web site:
1. The writing of good, content oriented copy, which imparts value to a Web site. Good copy has always been utilized to establish good overall traffic and conversion patterns. Even Search Engines seem to understand this and routinely rank Web sites with good pertinent content, higher than other Web sites.
2. The placement of ads on high traffic sites. Just one good ad, placed on another Web site with good overall traffic, will significantly increase rankings and placement by the Search Engines.
3. The submitting of a Web site to all possible, pertinent directories. Directories were always a good method of increasing rankings and placement, and they still, to this day, are a good choice.
4. The optimization of all other aspects of a Web site, from the meta-tags to the design. Meta-tag optimization, like directory listings, continues to be a good overall optimization technique. The design of a Web site can also enhance rankings and placement, as the site needs to be "readable" to the Search Engines, and some flash and other enhancements, can prevent "readability", thus hampering rankings and placement.
5. The enhancement of traffic by offline marketing campaigns. This is one facet of Web site traffic management that many individuals neglect, but that can successfully increase rankings significantly.
6. The use of PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns. While these can be expensive, if care is not given to the bidding, they can also enhance traffic to a Web site, as "traffic begets more traffic", establishing a ranking pattern for the Search Engines.
7. The addition of keywords that are relevant to a site, throughout the copy, the title, and the meta-tags and any other text, such as articles and reports. Keywords are the "guides" that the Search Engines use to find a site and rank it. The addition of good relevant keywords always enhances rankings and placement.
Linking campaigns, as you can see, while having their overall place in effective rankings and placement within the Search Engines, are not the "be all and end all" of optimization or rankings. Many various fundamentally sound methods of optimization still exist, and should be utilized in any well-rounded Search Engine Marketing campaign.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INTERNET – WEB PORTALS

Search Engines & Web Portals Going 1GB Email Crazy
Making news yesterday, Lycos Europe introed a paid 1GB email service which beat the slow paced Google GMaillaunch. However, GMail’s functionality may make it stand out to users and web emailers more so than its added storage size. Besides, other established mail servers have already or are starting to offer 1GB mail accounts. Here’s a comparison of search related email account offerings from Pras at Cinematic Rain
Yahoo! Mail:
- Upgraded their free accounts to 100MB 1GB mail coming soon
Lycos Mail:
- 1GB available for about $6 a month
Google GMail:
- Still in beta testing
- No news of when it will officially be launched to the public
SpyMac:
- 1GB email accounts
- 350MB combined storage

The “All-You-Can-Eat Buffet” Effect
Finally the mailbox providers are realizing its not about how much storage people are really going to use, but instead of actually offering a whole lot of space. Its like a buffet, you offer tons of food and unlimited servings. But out of the potential diners, only a few will gorge themselves till they’re racing to the restroom.
All that aside, one must ask, where is Hotmail nowadays? Are they happy to be stuck with 2-4MB storage? What does MSN have up their sleeve, if anything?
Yahoo and Hotmail don’t change their ways, their advertising cluttered email pages will send mass pilgrimages over to Google GMail and other similar offerings, about two of the best-known e-mail services, MSN Hotmail and Yahoo Mail (my least favorites), I visualize their ad-laden, cluttered screens.

GMail knocks Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail hard. Speed is extra ordinary. It simply is too fast that you fear if it’s indeed a secure service.” Mittal adds his opinion on GMail’s controversial email content targeted Google Adwords advertising, I did not see many ads. In fact most pages did not have any. One big mail with some good content showed the adsense ads, which are creating furors in the market. They are not intrusive, irritating. They just are present at one side. It’s not something that’s in your face. And that is something wonderful. Compare that to Yahoo’s big flash ads and Microsoft’s heavy pages.
Just when things were starting to heat up in the big search engine version of King of the Hill, Google came out with their 1GB GMail, stirring the pot and starting a new battle trying to get registered mail users to their search friendly email systems. It should be interesting to see how MSN, Yahoo and others fully respond.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

HIGHLIGHTS

IT – Software Tech

Citrix tests Web conferencing service
Citrix Online hopes to build on its popular GoToMyPC service for remote computer access with a new Web conferencing program.

The company, a division of networking software seller Citrix Systems, plans to begin offering a free preview version of GoToMeeting on Monday. The service enables customers to present PowerPoint slides, run applications and handle basic collaboration tasks over the Web.

The service will compete in an increasingly crowded market dominated by Web conferencing specialist WebEx. The niche has drawn attention from major software makers such as Microsoft and Macromedia.

Citrix Online will distinguish its service partly through simplicity, said Klaus Schauser, chief technical officer for the Santa Barbara, Calif., and company. Instead of loading the service up with complex interactivity and polling features, GoToMeeting will focus on what actually happens in meetings: talking and looking at PowerPoint slides.

"We're focusing on everyday meetings--this is not a Webinar product; this is not a training product," Schauser said, making the comparison with online seminar products. "Our motto has always been that 'simpler is better,' even though there are some pretty sophisticated capabilities in the product. We can very quickly go from something that's presentation-only to something that's more interactive."

The simplicity goal will also extend to pricing. Citrix Online will charge a flat monthly fee based on the number of simultaneous users, rather than the per-minute pricing typical of the market.

Matt Reid, a senior vice president for product marketing at Citrix Online, said the goal is to make online meetings an everyday choice to improve productivity and cut down on travel and other expenses.

"People like the technology around Web conferencing--they just aren't using it as much as they could," Reid said. "And the product needs to actually get used to generate the savings. That's why we really want to make sure it's affordable for the masses to use."

The paid version of GoToMeeting is set to launch in July. The basic service will cost $49 per month, or $468 per year.

Citrix Online is mainly known for GoToMyPC, a product it acquired from specialist Expertcity that allows any PC to be accessed remotely over the Web.
Source; CNET News.com, May 2004
Write; by David Becker

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Telecommunications – Mobile

Kejian launches GSM phones in India
China Kejian Corporation has launched several GSM phone models in India; the prices range from Rs 4,905 to Rs 16,650. All phones come with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.
Kejian has entered into an exclusive relationship with the Rajgarhia group, under which Trust Telecom Technologies, a new entity floated by the Rajgarhias, will represent, sell and service Kejian handsets in India and the SAARC region.
India is the first foreign market where Kejian has launched its products, and the company is aiming to invest heavily in positioning and branding here.
Source; Express Computer, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Telecommunications – VoIP

Hanoi Telecom Interconnects with T-Systems in Vietnam
Hanoi Telecom has interconnected its network with T-Systems, allowing Hanoi to have its international calls routed over T-Systems' IP network.
T-Systems established nine PoPs within the country. T-Systems is using VocalTec's packet tandem switching solution for the deployment.
Source; Hanoi Telecom

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Internet – Legislation

FCC Plan Would Use Vacant TV Channels For Internet Connections
Lengthy Rulemaking Process Under Way
Washington - Federal regulators have endorsed a plan to use vacant TV channels for high-speed Internet connections. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell says it would "dramatically increase" the availability and quality of wireless Internet connections - especially for people in rural areas. Powell says it would be like "doubling the number of lanes on a congested highway."
But TV broadcasters oppose the proposal. They argue that it would interfere with over-the-air television signals for millions of people. The FCC commissioners voted unanimously to begin the lengthy rulemaking process for the plan.
Source; Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IT - Law

Lebanon still the pirates haven
Music piracy levels in Lebanon are still over 70 per cent, way ahead of the next worst Egypt at 50 per cent, according to the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry. Piracy is reckoned to cost the global music industry some USD4bn annually.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Internet – Airlines

Connexion and Lufthansa Launch World’s First Airborne Internet
Connexion by Boeing and Lufthansa German Airlines made history today on flight LH 452 from Munich to Los Angeles by giving passengers the opportunity to be the first in the world to experience real-time, WiFi-based, high-speed Internet connectivity on a commercial flight route. The successful launch of Connexion by Boeing’s commercial airline service was confirmed by e-mail at 3:18 a.m. Pacific time when David Friedman, vice president of Marketing and Direct Sales, sent the following message to his team on the ground: “Hello from 33,000 feet above Germany. The system is on and everything is A-OK. Lots of buzz on board, as this is the start of a new era of communications and aviation history.”
Source; Lufthansa Airlines, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOCUS

Telecommunications – UMTS

Russia Preps for 3G
The huge boom in Russia’s cellular industry has led carriers to plow investment into regional W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) network trials, with analysts touting the country as a potential hotbed of 3G activities.
By the end of April 2004 wireless penetration in Russia had reached 30.8 percent, taking the total to 44.7 million subscribers, according to analysts at Moscow-based J'son & Partners.
With GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) technology dominating 95 percent of the market’s current cellular services, Russia is expected to adopt the European W-CDMA standard as its 3G technology of choice.
The W-CDMA air interface is part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Standard (UMTS). Used with existing GSM core networks, the theory goes, W-CDMA-compliant handsets and base stations can increase wireless data transfer rates to a potential maximum of 2 Mbit/s.
In its latest report, J'Son & Partners states that Russian carriers have conducted extensive trials of W-CDMA networks over the past three years.
Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) the country’s largest carrier (16.1 million subscribers), has trialed kit from NEC Corp.; Tokyo: 6701), Siemens AG; and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Number two, JSC Vimpel-Communications (VimpelCom) (13.9 million) has tested equipment from Alcatel SA; Third-place MegaFon (8.1 million subscribers) is testing kit from LM Ericsson NEC, Nokia Corp. and Siemens.
J’Son claims that 3G licenses are likely to be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of 2005, with network deployment slated for the second or third quarter of 2005. Commercial 3G-service launch “in major Russian cities” is expected in the first and second quarters of 2006.
The Russian 3G market has a great potential to develop through a combination of positive circumstances. The government has a key role... by limiting the influence of market inhibitors and ensuring success through a timely and intelligent development of 3G.
The attraction of Russia’s cellular industry has already led a number of Europe’s Tier 1 carriers to take significant stakes in the market’s three main players. T-Mobile International AG has a 25 percent stake in MTS, and Telenor ASA, which is keen to build a growing presence in the region, holds a 29 percent stake in VimpelCom. Scandinavian powerhouse TeliaSonera AB that is also amassing mobile assets in Northern and Eastern Europe owns 43.8 percent of MegaFon.
Vodafone Group plc is also rumoured to be making a move on the market following its failed bid to take over AT&T Wireless Services Inc. (NYSE: AWE - message board).
Strategically, Russia is a very important market for carriers, there is the potential for huge growth, and many global carriers will be gauging the opportunity for 3G. The fact that licenses are set for award in the next twelve months is another reason why Vodafone may be eyeing up the market.
Source; market sources and corporate data, May 2004-05-18
Write; by LuisB

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

HIGHLIGHTS


e-Business – Asean

Piecing together a Chinese software giant
Hong Kong-based chinadotcom, considered a "pioneer of China’s Internet," is reinventing itself as a provider of enterprise software to Chinese manufacturers. The company rose to prominence as a major player in the Chinese Internet portal market, but has now embarked on a series of acquisitions and partnership agreements in the USA, Canada and India to beef up its presence in the enterprise software market. Also on tap: plans to turn the company into a "software outsourcing shop." While most tech analysts are bullish on the company’s prospects, the article points out that chinadotcom "will face plenty of competition" from enterprise software rivals in China such as SAP and Oracle.
Source; Business Week, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Business – Technology

Sun Microsystems opens smart-tag plant
Sun Microsystems plans to open a 17,000-square-foot RFID test facility in Dallas as part of a strategy to help manufacturers meet a January 2005 deadline imposed by Wal-Mart for using RFID tags. According to Sun, Wal-Mart suppliers will be able to load pallets of actual products in their original packaging and "run them through mock-ups of loading docks," enabling them to test whether RFID-tagged products can be read by Wal-Mart systems. Three other tech firms - Nortel Networks, Texas Instruments and i2 - will join Sun Microsystems in the RFID initiative. If all goes according to plan, Sun will open a similar RFID facility in Scotland by the end of the summer.
Source; AP, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Business – Corporate

SCO cuts jobs to reach product profit
In an effort to restore its core business to profitability by the end of July, the SCO Group has made an across-the-board reduction in its workforce. The company did disclose the exact size of the layoffs, noting only that less than 10% of the workforce would be affected. SCO also noted that the move to shore up financial performance was not the result of pressure applied by BayStar Capital, which earlier threatened to pull its $20 million investment. In its most recent quarter, SCO posted a net loss of $2.25 million on revenue of $11.4 million.
Source; News.com, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Internet – Entertainment

Sony launches online music service
Sony Connect, the latest entrant in the increasingly crowded digital music market, will offer more than 500,000 songs from artists on major and independent labels at the standard price of 99 cents each. In addition, Sony Connect will offer full album downloads starting at $9.99. Sony - like its competitor Apple iTunes - hopes that its online music service will lead to additional sales of its audio devices. But, as critics point out, the company’s late start in the market may be difficult or impossible to overcome: "They're behind the curve already and they have to play catch-up on two fronts, on selling their audio players and getting people to use their music service. There's roughly three to four million people that have already placed that bet."
Source; AP, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Internet – Business

E-biz strikes again!
The disruptive power of the Internet means, "big companies are again under assault" in a number of very different industries. As during the late 1990s, the Internet is "threatening to force down the prices charged by traditional players, squeeze their margins, and even put some out of business. New technology, new ways of doing business and new approaches to cutting out the middleman mean the old pricing power is collapsing in a series of industries…" Business Week trains its eye on six industries that are about to be disrupted: jewelry, bill payments, telecom, hotels, real estate, and software. While nobody is claiming that this is "1996 redux," the fact remains that the online players that survived the brutal Internet shakeout are stronger, savvier and leaner than their boomtown brethren.
Source; Business Week, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

e-Activities – Internet

Blogs counter political plottings
Political activists are embracing the power of the Web – especially online community networks and blogs - in order to "re-engage people" in grass-roots political movements, according to panelists at a recent journalism conference at UC-Berkeley. According to one social networking expert at the conference, the Howard Dean campaign has been a key catalyst: "We'll look back and see (the Howard Dean presidential campaign) as the beginning of the change." The key, say political activists, is to understand the "traditional ways campaign work" - and then use new Internet-based tools to counteract these tactics. Included: a few tips for motivating blog audiences and re-energizing social networks.
Source; Wired News, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOCUS


Telecommunications – Canada

Canada's phone giants face Internet threat
Examines the impact the emergence of VoIP service geared is having on the Canadian communications industry and the regulations that govern it. At issue is the same debate that rages in the U.S.: whether VoIP service will be taxed or regulated at all. The article notes that the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently began a review of existing regulations as well as relays the comments of some of Canada's fixed-line providers who say existing rules discriminate against them. The CEO of Bell Canada Enterprises, for instance, said in recent remarks that regulators must recognize that "once-separate industries have become one common industry, that needs common public policy treatment."
Source; New York Times, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Government – India

Pension contest looms in India
Government plans to open up retirement-investment market
New Delhi - Sanjay Sachdev visited six Indian ministries over eight years to push for an overhaul of the country's pension system. He says it was time well spent.
"India has the potential to be one of the largest pension markets in the world," said Sachdev, managing director of Principal Mutual Fund, the Indian subsidiary of Principal Financial Group, the biggest provider of retirement plans to U.S. companies.
After more than a decade of debate, the Indian government this year plans to license private fund managers to invest the savings of India's 400 million public and private workers - about 90 percent of whom have no retirement security, according to a government-commissioned report.
Principal, ING Groep, Merrill Lynch, Aviva and about 20 other asset managers are vying for access to a market that India's Finance Ministry forecasts will be worth $100 billion within a decade. The number of licenses has not been decided.

"The pension business in India has the potential to grow up to $350 billion during the lifetime of a generation," said Yvo Metzelaar, managing director and chief executive of the Bangalore- based ING Vysya Life Insurance, a subsidiary of the largest Dutch financial services company. "Pensions have become a top priority for us."

Metzelaar has concerns, too.

India has no social benefits system and most workers earn less than $1,000 a year, meaning they will struggle to build pension assets.

"The presence of a social security system in India is very important for a thriving pension system," Metzelaar said. "A social security system provided by the government will cover the basic minimum level of pensions these people need."

The pension process is unlikely to be straightforward in any case. Last year, the Indian government set up an interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority to frame rules that will be enforced by a new, independent authority. Parliament must still approve that new watchdog - a move that is on hold until after a five-phase general election ends on Monday.

License applicants may face further delays because the current pension plan does not provide any government guarantee, said Mukesh Anand, an economist at the New Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

The Finance Ministry says details about the number of pension licenses, the method by which they will be awarded and rules governing both funds and contributors will be published by the end of the year.

License holders then must overcome the challenges of distribution in a country with 1 billion people.

Uncertainties have not cooled the enthusiasm of companies. Indians, about half of whom are under 25, deposit $78 billion a year into fixed and savings accounts in commercial banks, according to a government survey. Their savings make up 14 percent of the economy.

"The challenge is to channel these savings into long-term investments to finance infrastructure that India needs," said Sachdev at Principal. "That's where pension fund companies come in."

HSBC Holdings, ABN AMRO Holding and Deutsche Bank are among banks to set up asset management companies during the past three years in anticipation of pension reform.

Insurers such as American International Group, the Munich-based Allianz and Standard Life Assurance, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, have established joint ventures with Indian partners in line with a rule limiting foreign investment for insurers to 26 percent.

"When we entered the insurance business in India, the understanding was that the pensions market would also be opened up," said Stuart Purdy, chief executive of the New Delhi-based Aviva Life Insurance, a subsidiary of Aviva, Britain's largest insurer by premiums.

Aviva, which started selling Indians life insurance in 2002, will apply for a pension license. "It's such an under-provisioned market and the savings rate is huge," Purdy said.

The prize license will cover India's 3.2 million federal government workers. Since Jan. 1, about 50,000 new employees a year have had to contribute 10 percent of their wages to a fund still to be set up.

The government is matching that contribution, with all funds held by India's controller-general of accounts until licenses are awarded.

Previously, the government paid all contributions for its current workers and 7 million retirees, or their surviving dependents, from its revenue. Its pension bill quadrupled to $3.5 billion in the decade to March 31, 2003, Finance Ministry figures show, or 3.2 percent of total spending.

"Reforms are overdue - people are living longer and they need security," said K. C. Mishra, director of the National Insurance Institute. "The government's own pensions bill is becoming unmanageable."

Whoever wins the government-fund license also will have access to voluntary contributions by about 350 million self-employed workers and seasonal contractors, from rickshaw drivers to doctors.

Workers in India's 28 state governments and its state-run companies, such as Indian Railways, the world's biggest employer with 1.5 million workers, are expected to join as well.

"The numbers will grow," said Mukul Asher, a public policy professor at the National University of Singapore who advised the Indian government on pension changes. "Overseas investors are right to get excited."
Source; Bloomberg News, May 2004
Write; Cherian Thomas

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

POLICY NEWS

e-Democracy – Political

Electronic voting still in infancy, critics say
The Election Assistance Commission established by Congress to guide the transition to electronic voting is having its first meeting today. With only six months until the presidential election, no policy is in place to govern the development and supervision of e-voting machines, reports the piece, and "the federal research intended as the basis of the standards has not been financed, much less begun." Most pressing is the widespread desire for e-voting machines to leave a paper trail due to security concerns. Doug Chapin of www.electionline.org: "If you think of election problems as being like a forest fire, the woods aren't any drier than they were in 2000, but more people have matches."
Source; Washington Post. May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Internet – Intellectual propriety

Report: Other nations doing more to combat piracy
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Monday released the Special 301 report, its annual report on intellectual property rights, praising countries like Poland and the Phillipines for passing anti-piracy legislation. The article reports that the European Union made USTR's "Priority Watch List" for countries or unions slacking on intellectual property protection or enforcement. According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, the U.S. economy lost ""about $10 billion to intellectual property theft in the 52 nations listed in the report in 2003, not including Internet piracy."
Source; InfoWorld, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

BioTech – Research

Sea of dreams
A good overview of the growing field of industrial biotechnology with discussion of the efforts of Craig Venter's Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives and companies such as Diversa that are prospecting for genes that could be used in chemical and industrial processes. The article says the industry's in its "infant" stage but is "rapidly developing" as researchers search for ways in which to make "useful chemicals via genetically modified organisms." As an example the piece presents the case of Diversa and its search for genes that can be exploited for such purposes in locales such as hot springs, ocean beds, and the Arctic tundra. A prediction worth noting: McKinsey says that about 5% (by value) of the world's chemical output is bioetch-based, a number that's expected to grow to 10% over the next six years.
Source; The Economist, May 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Humanitarian - Korea

Korea crash stirs South's hearts, hopes
South Korea, Seoul - The images of the burned faces of semiconscious children have tugged at South Koreans' deepest sensitivities, as well as their purse strings, following the North Korean train explosion that killed at least 169 people and injured more than 1,300 others.
Source; The Christian Science Monitor, May 2004
Write; by Donald Kirk

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOCUS

Technology – Security

Identity crisis
From hospital wards to the boardrooms of oil companies, biometric technologies are being used increasingly to authenticate access to IT systems. But does this all spell the end of the password?

There can be few less likely places to find the application of seriously cutting-edge technology than the boardroom of a staid oil giant. But one such organisation has kitted out its independent directors with the latest in biometrics - technologies that analyse physical characteristics for identity and authentication purposes. When this venerable collection of ex-politicians, lawyers and business leaders gather for board meetings, they bring with them custom-made handheld computers that can only be accessed by placing a fingerprint over a scanner built into the device.

For this ageing group of men, the selling point appears to be that they no longer have to remember PINs and passwords. For the company, the upside comes from faster decision-making, assured security and lower support costs.

The same benefits are being seen elsewhere. Intensive care doctors and nurses at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in London are using a combination of smartcards and fingerprint readers on keyboards to access patient records at the bedside. The hospital's head of IT and networks, Steve Pickup, says there have been some teething problems - the readers may not function properly if fingertips are too dry or too greasy - but generally the project has been a success: records are more secure, and they can be accessed quicker, saving valuable time. "It's our ambition to put a fingerprint access terminal on every bedside in the hospital," he says.

There are further flavours of biometrics. Rather than roll out fingerprint-based systems, the EHS Brann advertising agency chose to install iris readers on every door when it moved into new premises in London's fashionable Clerkenwell area. "We wanted to make it a groovy, high-tech office," says Kathy Gruzas, the agency's IT manager. But there was a more serious consideration - the vulnerability of non-biometric security. "In our last office we had swipecards, which caused endless hassle - people kept losing or sharing them, and it was expensive to administer. The biometrics system works very well."

Early adopters they may be, but the positive experiences of these organisations are likely to persuade others to take a closer look. Indeed, according to some observers, biometrics is finally about to make the long-talked-of crossover from expensive, futuristic toy to fundamental enterprise security technology.

One big difference is that increasing numbers of people are about to become a lot more familiar with biometrics. Defying privacy campaigners, David Blunkett, the UK's home secretary, wants to put biometric identifiers on national ID cards, while the European Commission is exploring the possibility of making fingerprints mandatory on all European
Union passports. Already visa holders entering the US are being electronically fingerprinted as they enter the country and that data matched against their machine-readable passport information.

"We're starting to see government organisations using biometrics," says Carl Gohringer, head of new business development at NEC Security Systems, which is providing biometric systems to an ongoing UK passport trial. "They are the first to take it up for their internal employee management too."

New post-Enron corporate regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, have also fuelled demand. Biometric systems are helping to fulfil the need laid down by such new rules for a full audit trail of users' document access and transaction execution.
Traders at Dutch bank ABN Amro, for example, are using fingerprint authentication on every desktop terminal to speed up the authorise transactions - a critical business advantage over passwords when price fluctuations can determine the difference between a profit or loss on the deal. The system also plays another key role: it identifies exactly who authorised the deal.
As well as improving security, biometric systems are sold on the basis that once installed, they save money. There are few major costs after installation, say suppliers, and IT staff are largely freed from time-consuming administration that results from lost or forgotten passwords. In the first year, the costs of implementation are usually equivalent to the annual costs of administering a password-based system, say analysts; payback is generally obtained after about 18 months.

Companies with high staff turnover can particularly benefit. NEC Security Systems says that a major UK retailer, prior to adopting one of its biometric systems, found the job of managing passwords for its large and constantly-changing workforce so big that it felt compelled to employ six IT staff to do nothing else.

Steve Barnett, chairman of ISL Biometrics, the software specialist behind the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital project, outlines the cost savings his fingerprint authentication systems brought for a customer that had outsourced its IT department. The customer's IT services supplier charged $70 each time it had to reset a password, which tended to generate big fees: the customer had about 4,000 employees, each using around six passwords. According to ISL figures, password management generally costs about $120 a year per employee, while a fingerprint access system has one-off costs of around $100 per user plus ongoing software support.

The eyes have it
Different biometric methods have their proponents. Some say that fingerprint-based systems are the most cost-effective solution. Others, such as Professor John Daugman of Cambridge University, who holds the patents for all iris scanning processes currently used, sees iris scanning technology as more foolproof. "The great strength of iris recognition is that it never makes false matches," points out Daugman.

But when choosing between different biometric methods, businesses should not base their decision only on the upfront cost, says Anthony Allan, an analyst at IT market consultancy Gartner. "With biometrics, you get what you pay for," he says. "Security for under $100 per user is very attractive but the characteristics are not good enough for enterprise use." Companies should budget for at least $200 per user, he suggests.

One problem that cheaper iris scanning systems encounter, for example, is that they can be fooled if a photograph of an authenticated user is held up to the reader. Daugman says this risk is eliminated by more sophisticated systems that check for signs of movement in the pupil or eyelid. Equally, the Japanese mathematician who managed to fool an older biometrics system by building moulds of fingerprints from the type of gelatin typically used to make confectionary might not have been successful if he had been testing costlier silicon sensors. Still, the Japanese test has alarmed experts. "If he could do this, then any semi-professional can almost certainly do much, much more," says security guru Bruce Schneier.

Professor Brian Collins of Cranfield University, a former director of technology at the government's signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, notes that there are other ways of abusing biometrics. By knocking out the database that holds biometrics information, 'denial of service' hacker attacks could be just as harmful on a large scale as the compromising of the data itself.

He warns that organisations must take seriously the process of enrolling new users. "Screening someone on the basis of only one credential [such as a birth certificate] is a very dangerous thing to do," he says. "Proof of originality, as opposed to identity, starts to become the main problem." Birth certificates really need DNA-based biometrics verifying them, he says.

There are other security issues. Samir Kapuria, director of strategic solutions at digital security services company @stake, says most of his corporate customers see biometrics as "an art form, not a science". Just because the technology works well in trials, it does not necessarily mean it will scale well or prove resilient to as-yet-undiscovered threats, he says. As that underscores, the technology is still maturing. Errors from some fingerprint and iris scanning systems tend to be as high as around one in every 100 people tested, say experts. Cases in which unauthorised users gain entry to a system are extremely rare, but when they occur they pose a bigger risk than when, say, a single password is hacked.

These are not insurmountable problems, but even some suppliers accept that they must be resolved before biometrics will appeal to the mainstream corporate market. "Interest is still outstripping implementation by quite a long way," admits Jackie Groves, UK managing director of Utimaco, which develops biometrics hardware and software products as well as other security products.

More of a lead bullet
As an example of a business that has so far failed to convert interest in biometrics into a widespread implementation, the case of Nationwide Building Society is instructive. In recent years, it has tested just about every available biometrics system imaginable, from iris recognition to speech verification. Although the trials were deemed successful - in that users were not unduly fazed and the installations went smoothly - executives remain reluctant to roll out biometrics. "We continue to take an active interest," says David Followell, the head of Nationwide's business futures and usability unit, "but we will only progress with it once we are convinced of the customer and business benefits of doing so." Amid the hype, it is easy to forget that biometrics is only another arm of IT security. General security principles apply; given the degree of faith that users tend to place in biometrics, it is important to follow them.
David Porter, head of operational risk at specialist IT consultancy Detica, accepts that biometrics is not the security sector's 'silver bullet'. "I don't think any technology will ever be 100% reliable, because you will always have people and sloppy processes involved. A seemingly foolproof biometric system can still be scuppered by employees using it in the wrong way."

Given that, biometrics should form only one part of a wider ID management system, he says. "I'm afraid you'd be crazy to use biometrics on its own. This nirvana of 'the end of password' is not true." He advises combining biometrics with another system - 'second factor authentication' in the jargon - such as smart cards. John Madeline, director of corporate and business development at RSA Security, agrees. "We are just beginning to see second factor authentication moving mainstream. Most people are still only taking the initial steps towards understanding that just a password is not good enough and a second factor is going to be key," he says.

Indeed, it may be several years, at least, before the corporate use of biometrics becomes commonplace. One day, all PCs and wireless devices may come with some form of biometric reader; already, one of the world's biggest computer makers, Hewlett-Packard, is issuing staff with PDAs that are activated through built-in fingerprint readers. The hope is that such identity systems will be a key part of a single sign-on system that will automatically grant pre-defined privileges to the user, perhaps removing the need to tap in PINs and passwords to access different systems.

Even then, however, biometrics are still likely to form only one part of a much wider identity and authentication system. But when the technology matures, its use could go from the niche to the universal. Fingerprint readers or voice authentication could be indispensable to the use of wireless commerce through mobile phones, while fingerprint-activated smart cards could soon replace credit cards and loyalty cards.

Biometrics may not necessarily spell the end of the humble password, but it ought to herald a new wave of security applications. It should also one day remove many of the costs and the vulnerabilities of the current generation of security systems.
Author: Tim Bradshaw

Technology – Software

Gates presses ahead with 'Longhorn' despite EC ruling
Bill Gates appeared to brush off the European Commission (EC) ruling against his company and its alleged market abuses by insisting that test copies of the next major update of Windows will be shipped as planned by the end of 2004.
Gates, appearing at analyst firm Gartner's conference in San Diego, also said it was "valid speculation" that the commercial versions of the 'Longhorn'-codenamed operating system would appear some time in 2006.

He added, however, that it was not a "date-driven release", unlike some Microsoft products.
'Longhorn' has been subject to delays in the past, but an informal timetable of late-2004 for the 'alpha' version and late-2006 for the commercial version is believed to have been in place for some time. Significantly, its release does not appear to have been affected by the EC ruling.

Speculation that Microsoft might feel compelled to alter the make-up of 'Longhorn' – perhaps by selling some components separately – has been rife since the EC judged that its practice of 'bundling' new features, such as video applications with the Windows operating system, amounted to an abuse of market power.

By sticking to Longhorn's informal schedule, Microsoft is indicating that its plans for the release have been unaffected by the developments in Brussels.
Leaked copies of initial versions of 'Longhorn' suggest the operating system will be bundled with new security features, an updated file server and an embedded search engine product.
While some Microsoft executives and legal advisers have expressed barely disguised dismay at the EC's judgement, Gates gave little away when pressed about his reaction.

He acknowledged that there were issues still to be resolved, although there "will be several more years of process in Europe" to get to that point. He added: "People want more capability in Windows. There are some legal issues about how we package that up, how we license it, how we engineer it."

The EC imposed a record fine of $615 million on Microsoft last week. It also ordered it to open up key product interfaces to competitors and told it to unbundle its Media Player package from Windows.

Importantly, the ruling is designed to set guidelines for Microsoft's future actions as well as punish it for alleged past transgressions. Although it is a matter of conjecture, legal experts argue that Microsoft might face fresh legal challenges if it continues to bundle new features already available from other suppliers in future versions of Windows.

The ruling has provoked anger among many US politicians and the EC has reportedly come under intense pressure to reach a settlement with the software giant.
Author: Dominic Tonner

e-Business – Shopping online

BA considers options for Opodo stake
British Airways is reportedly planning to offload its stake in travel website Opodo to travel technology firm Amadeus.
A report in the Mail on Sunday said that Amadeus is planning to take full control of Opodo by buying BA's 20% share and adding it to its current EU33m or 17% stake.
Opodo issued a statement today saying that it would not comment on speculative matters. It did however say: "We can confirm that the executive board and shareholders of the company are looking at ways of growing the business. This may take the form of acquisitions, moving into new markets, additional investment, or changes to shareholder structure."
Opodo added that its shareholders were all still 'fully committed to Opodo', which was launched with the backing of nine European airlines in 2001 to compete in the fast-growing online travel sector.
BA followed up with a supporting statement: "British Airways and the shareholders of Opodo are currently looking at ways of how to grow the Opodo business. This may or may not lead to a change of shareholding structure, however, as no decisions have been taken, any reports are premature and speculative."
The airline added that it would continue to use use Opodo as a distribution channel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Internet – ISP

Wanadoo To Stop Using Freeserve Brand Name
Wanadoo, a European ISP, will replace the name of its Freeserve provider this summer with its own, the Guardian said, without saying where it got the information.
Source; The Guardian, March 04

FOCUS


Technology – IT Services

IT Services in Germany: 6.3% Decline in 2003
A recently conducted survey among IT services providers in Germany showed on average that the employee number declined by 6.3%. Less than 20% of service providers could increase the number of employees. Marketing and PR have been hit the most, sales the least. In detail, the numbers are as follows (2002 vs. 2003): marketing -9.8%, PR -8.7%, sales -0.3%. PR and marketing are used as "breathing space." The strategic sales force - a species with the rare skill to sell services engagement - was left intact.

Information technology – Market

Government Spending
When compared to private industry, the public sector is investing similarly in IT (4.1%, with some organizations spending as much as 20% of their budgets on IT and as little as 1%). The private sector is investing, on average, 4.4% of its total annual operational expenses on IT. However, not surprisingly, government organizations tend to spend less on business transformation and growth than the private sector (which invests on average 61% on "lights on" activities). This implies that government spends more on basic, run-the-business IT, as a percentage of total operational expenses, compared to the private sector - nearly 20% more. As government budgets continue to tighten, these organizations will be pressured to focus on nothing other than keeping lights on. These organizations will need to optimise IT in order to get the credibility to obtain funding for growth and transformation.

Technology – Security

Five Ways to Fight ID Theft
What's more valuable than your own good name? Identity theft is the fastest growing white-collar crime in the country. What's a CSO to do?

When John N. Stewart tried to buy his wife a motorcycle, things did not go well. He had trouble getting credit and, to be honest, he had expected to, since he himself had issued a fraud alert with the credit bureaus warning creditors to be leery of anyone claiming to be John N. Stewart. He had no choice. Someone had forged a California driver's license in his name and used it to take out $3,500 of instant credit at an automotive repair shop in which he, the real John N. Stewart, had never set foot.

The motorcycle shop that his real feet eventually walked into needed to confirm that John N. Stewart was indeed creditworthy.
But they couldn't.

"When you say to a person from whom you're buying something, 'When you call to check, they might deny my credit,' cynicism sets in at the other side of the desk," says Stewart, director of corporate security programs for Cisco and former CSO for the Cable & Wireless subsidiary Digital Island. "They look at you like you're just a deadbeat that can't manage your credit."

For 16 months, Stewart worked to prove he wasn't a deadbeat. He pored over copies of his credit report, made explanatory phone calls and filled out legal documents. Still, when he walked down the street, he had the strange feeling that everyone he saw thought he had bad credit. It didn't matter that eventually he got the motorcycle. He felt angry and on edge all the time. "It becomes a very personal experience," he says, "and it's almost embarrassing. OK, it is very embarrassing."
What's more valuable than your own good name? Hardly anything, if the millions of dollars' worth of preapproved credit offers that litter Americans' mailboxes annually are any measure. That's why tales such as Stewart's strike fear in the hearts of the bill-paying populace. Identity theft is, after all, the fastest growing white-collar crime in the country.
A recent Federal Trade Commission study suggests that nearly 10 million Americans discovered in the past year that they had been the victim of some kind of identity fraud, ranging from simple credit card fraud to complicated cases of identity takeover. This type of crime costs individual victims an average of $500 each and businesses an estimated $48 billion a year. The problem is so acute that, in December, President Bush signed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003, which is intended to help consumers control and monitor their credit ratings.
Identity theft is difficult enough to prevent that even someone as security-savvy as a CSO can himself fall victim, as Stewart learned the hard way. But even if you don't work in the financial services industry, which is on the front line of preventing financial fraud, your customers and fellow employees are counting on you, the CSO, to keep it from happening to them.


The More Perfect Crime
People's identities, not pocket money, were the target of one sophisticated pickpocket ring busted by the New York City Police Department. Organizers quickly forged New York state driver's licenses using the names of women whose wallets had been stolen. Within hours of the purse-snatchings - before the victims had canceled their credit cards - women dressed in mink coats and high heels were flashing fake photo IDs as they charged expensive items in stores.
"If I go and rob somebody, how much am I going to get? Maybe $100, $200," says Lt. John Otero, commanding officer of the NYPD's Computer Crime Squad, who worked on the case. "If I steal someone's identity, I can get from $4,000 to $10,000."
In the simplest instances of identity theft (which are more accurately described as identity fraud), criminals use a stolen credit card number, or perhaps a stolen PayPal or eBay account name and password, to purchase expensive items for personal use or resale. In more complicated cases of identity theft, thieves open new lines of credit or access bank accounts. And in the most serious cases of identity takeover, they use forged or even government-issued driver's licenses or passports to do all that and more—renting apartments, obtaining medical care, even identifying themselves as the identity theft victim when charged with a crime.
The weapon? Personal information, including the victim's name, address, mother's maiden name, date and place of birth, and the most coveted number of all—the Social Security number, which cannot be changed even after it's been stolen. "Once they have this information, they own you—they are you," Otero says.
The Internet makes this type of crime even more efficient. With "phishing" scams, criminals send out bogus e-mails telling recipients that they need to confirm certain account details to reactivate their accounts or claim prizes. The messages appear to come from a reputable business and often include logos and text lifted from company e-mails and websites. But the links actually go to phony but convincing websites set up solely to gather information, whether it's ISP passwords or Social Security numbers.
"It's just so much easier and cheaper than going around to people's mailboxes and stealing credit card applications," says Dave Jevans, chairman of a new industry association called the Anti-Phishing Working Group and a marketing senior vice president at Tumbleweed Communications. "And it can be done long distance."
Consumers can protect themselves by staying informed about the latest Internet scams, by removing their Social Security numbers from their wallets, by shredding sensitive trash and the like.
But there's only so much one person can do. In another case Otero worked on, criminals took out second mortgages on victims' homes to the tune of $8 million. All the victims had purchased cars from the same auto dealership in the previous year, leading police to believe—although they never proved it—that an employee of the car dealership was selling customers' personal information. The victims had done nothing more, it seemed, than apply for auto loans.
"Most of the time, it's beyond the consumer's control," says Mari Frank, an attorney who made a name for herself as a consumer rights advocate after having her identity stolen in 1996. Her imposter ordered her credit report online, then used her good credit to take out new credit.

More than seven years later, there's still an edge to her voice when she speaks of the incident. "People want to put the blame on the bad guy, but the bad guy can only do what he can do when it's facilitated by others," she says. "The companies that have our personal and financial information are the ones who are in the position to prevent this."
More specifically, the CSO is in the position to prevent this. Here are five ways any CSO can make a difference.
1 - Practice good data hygiene. Got employees? Then you have information that could be used for identity theft, and nothing will help as much as just being good at your job in the first place. We're talking data hygiene 101: firewalls, background checks and security policies. "The reason that a CSO should be concerned over identity theft is because it fits in with so many other elements of a good security program," says Richard Lefler, the former vice president of worldwide security for American Express.
For instance, he says, background checks might help keep criminals from infiltrating your human resources department, where they could access employee records. Shredding policies could keep Dumpster divers from getting their mitts on sensitive customer data. And audit trails would help you determine the source of a possible problem if law enforcement spotted a trend that traced back to your company.
Sound paranoid? Perhaps. However, notes Lefler, although "criminal enterprises generally are small and loosely knit, they can be very large and very sophisticated.
"Other forms of white-collar crimes have become more difficult, so many of the criminals have migrated into doing identity takeover because they can increase their returns." In other words: Don't underestimate your enemy.
2 - Limit the use of personal information. The best way for individuals to protect themselves from identity theft is by not carrying their Social Security numbers in their wallets. Yet many insurance cards, student IDs and drivers' licenses still use this unique number as an identifier. (Only California has passed legislation making it illegal.)
And even businesses that aren't guilty of putting Social Security numbers on cards in people's wallets routinely put it on monthly account statements, which travel through the mail, which means that they can theoretically pass through the hands of everyone from envelope stuffers to mail sorters to, eventually, the garbage collector.
The CSO can protect customers and employees—and make everyone's job easier—just by limiting how many places this number appears. That's what Harriet Pearson did when she became chief privacy officer of IBM three years ago.
First, she worked with human resources to try to get Social Security numbers off of internal documents.
Then she turned her attention to the companies that insure IBM's half a million employees and dependents.
In early 2003, IBM asked all its 150 health insurance providers to stop using the Social Security number as an identifier. The 16 companies that did not immediately agree to the request received a letter from Pearson and the vice president in charge of health benefits "making the request a little more formal," Pearson says.
While they stopped short of making it a requirement, they did warn companies that compliance would be considered as part of the annual renewal process. By the deadline of Jan. 1, 2004, only Empire BlueCross BlueShield and two or three small HMOs had to request an extension.
Pearson understands that making the change can be an expensive and time-consuming process, but it's also one that your customers and employees will appreciate. "People notice that the SSN is not gone from the cards" of those carriers who have not yet complied, she says.
3 - Consider address change confirmations. One popular tactic of identity fraudsters is opening a new account with the victim's real address, then immediately changing the address. That way, the victim never gets a single bill or finds out about the account—at least not until she checks her credit report or, worse, gets a call from a collection agency. In response, a growing number of organizations, from the U.S. Postal Service to mutual funds companies, have started sending address change confirmations to both new and old addresses. This simple step alone would solve much of the identity theft problem, but there are still plenty of banks, stores, telephone companies and other groups that don't bother.
It's not free, of course. "You have to measure the expense against the loss," Lefler says, looking at how many of your customers have been victimized in the past year versus how much the additional mailings would cost. But identity theft is growing rapidly enough that the scales might have tipped in the past year.
And don't underestimate customer goodwill, either, says Frank, the consumer advocate. Even helping just a few people spot identity theft early on might be worth more than you think. "People do business with people they trust," she says.
4 - Phight phishing. At first glance, it seems you can't do a lot if your company is targeted by a phishing scam, in which a phisher spoofs your company's identity in an effort to gather personal information about your customers "It's pretty difficult" to deal with, admits the Anti-Phishing Working Group's Jevans. "You can say, we will never send you e-mail, or do not click on a URL in e-mail, but that makes it difficult to do any kind of e-commerce." What's more, when a bogus website is reported to law enforcement, Jevans says, it takes an average of 160 hours to get it shut down if it is hosted outside the United States—which applies to 40 percent of phishing sites. And by then the damage is done.
In this case, a little education can go a long way. Start by letting customers know that your company won't ever ask them by e-mail to divulge personal information, says Howard Schmidt, former vice chairman of President Bush's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and CISO of eBay. Common targets such as Amazon, AOL and eBay have set up phishing tutorials on their websites to educate their customers about the scams.
At the same time, make sure employees who correspond with customers don't ask for this kind of information. You'll also need a mechanism for consumers to report the spoofed e-mails to you, and for your company to report the scams to law enforcement. Then, Schmidt says, "it becomes a policy issue."
5 - Explore new technical solutions. Schmidt blames the success of such phishing scams on the fact that websites are still using static IDs and passwords for authentication, instead of more sophisticated identity management tools. Schmidt hopes that technical solutions will help strengthen authentication and in the process dramatically reduce identity theft, since thieves won't be able to accomplish so much with so little personal information. "I don't like to make predictions, but I'll be surprised if within the next year, we don't start seeing some commercialization of digital identities as ways to prevent identity theft and online fraud," Schmidt says.
That could work any number of ways. Companies could require customers to download digital certificates that would give them secure access to their account information. Or customers could log on to websites using smart cards or USB thumb drives that hold digital identification. And there's the long-awaited promise of biometric technologies that would let customers log on with a fingertip. Prices are coming down enough that it's possible to imagine a day when every new computer comes with this type of hardware; thumb scanners now cost less than $100.
In the meantime, it might be enough to advocate that your company begin digitally signing all outgoing e-mails. You might be forced to do so: Some security-savvy customers are already trashing all e-mails from businesses that aren't digitally signed.

A Stitch in Time
CSOs who don't protect customers and employees from identity theft may face a more onerous task: damage control. Just ask Bob Brand, security director for Cox Enterprises, who found himself in the unenviable position of trailblazing the role of the CSO in preventing and responding to the crime.
It started four years ago when some of the 80,000 employees of Cox Enterprises, an Atlanta-based media conglomerate, began getting notices from collection agencies about overdue store credit card accounts. The credit had been issued at Best Buy, Circuit City and Federated stores in the Atlanta area, but many employees were based in Ohio and Texas and had never even been to Atlanta. Gradually, through word of mouth, affected employees realized that it must be an internal problem. An investigation revealed that personal information about some employees had leaked through contractors working on a project.
Brand admits that Cox could have prevented the problem. "What happened with us happened with a lot of companies: We grew fast," he says. "You put the system in place and then you have to play catch up with some of the administrative issues."
And if it were partially his fault, the solution was also partially his. As security director, he took charge of helping victims restore their credit. "It wasn't pleasant," he says. Dispatchers didn't understand how to take down a report of identity theft because the issues cross state and even country lines. When the perpetrators were eventually convicted, Brand shared the victims' disappointment at the sentences—probation with no jail time. "We had an expression that unless you used the judge's identity, you weren't going to get punished," he says. Brand was so disturbed by the whole experience that he went on to help form the Georgia Stop Identity Theft Network, which brought together businesses, law enforcement and the attorney general's office, and has resulted in Georgia having some of the toughest identity theft laws in the United States.
Brand discovered at the business level what John N. Stewart had discovered on a personal level: It's still a whole lot easier to keep identity theft from happening in the first place than to repair the damage after the fact.
"This crime can be just devastating," Brand says. "It's bad business not to protect to the best of our ability an individual's personal information. Why would you want to do business with a company that does not protect your information?"


HIGHLIGHTS

e-Business – Linux

For Novell, Linux means new life
Thanks to a "remarkably ambitious" Linux strategy, Novell may finally be on its way to reinventing itself after a 10-year lull, according to a growing number of investors and Wall Street analysts. By March 2003, "the financial community had all but given up on the stock, which then traded at just above $2 with only one analyst covering it" – 12 months later, the company is "winning credibility" as a "play on Linux." In fact, the company’s share price surged to $14 in early February and seven more Wall Street analysts now cover the stock. The article reviews the buzz surrounding the company’s recent BrainShare conference, highlights key. Linux initiatives and takes a look at the company’s ongoing efforts to execute on a focused Linux strategy.
Source; Business Week, March 04

e-Business – RFID

Oracle joins race to bring RFID to retailers
Oracle plans to launch new RFID software offerings in an attempt to give retailers such as Wal-Mart the ability to "handle the deluge of data that RFID systems are expected to produce." According to Oracle executives, "The IT systems most companies use today are not equipped for a world in which billions of objects report their whereabouts in real-time." In addition to building in RFID data-processing capabilities in its databases and application servers, Oracle will release new device drivers in its software as well as "device driver frameworks." Other big-name IT vendors, such as IBM and Microsoft, are also actively exploring new RFID technology offerings.
Source; News.com, March 04