Category: Software

MUMBAI: In its eleventh flight, conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, this afternoon (April 23, 2007), ISRO‘s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C8, successfully launched the 352 kg Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE, into a 550 km circular orbit, inclined at an angle of 2.5 deg to the equator.

PSLV-C8 mission was unique in many respects. In this mission, PSLV was flown, for the first time, without the six strap-on motors of the first stage. Also, for the first time, PSLV launched a satellite into an equatorial circular orbit of 550 km. PSLV-C8 was the first major commercial launch the contract for which was won against stiff international competition.

Along with the Italian satellite, AGILE, an Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), weighing 185 kg, to test advanced launch vehicle avionics systems like mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems, was also flown on PSLV-C8. All the operational flights of PSLV so far have been successful and thus PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO.

After the final count down, PSLV-C8 lifted off from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at SDSC SHAR at 3:30 pm with the ignition of the core first stage. The important flight events included the separation of the first stage, ignition of the second stage, separation of the payload fairing at about 116 km altitude after the vehicle had cleared the dense atmosphere, second stage separation, third stage ignition and third stage separation, fourth stage ignition and fourth stage cut-off. AGILE was placed in orbit 1370.7 sec after lift off.

With a much lighter payload and the low inclination of the orbit in which AGILE was to be placed, PSLV-C8 was configured, for the first time, without the six solid propellant strap-on motors of the first stage. Also, the propellant in the fourth stage had been reduced by about 400 kg compared to the previous PSLV flight. The core-alone PSLV-C8 had a lift-off mass of 230 tonne.

PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO with ten consecutively successful flights so far. Since its first successful launch in 1994, PSLV has launched eight Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, HAMSAT, a recoverable space capsule, SRE-1, and six small satellites for foreign customers into 550-800 km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO). Besides, it has launched India‘s exclusive meteorological satellite, Kalpana-1, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). PSLV will also be used to launch India‘s first spacecraft mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, during 2008.

In its standard configuration, the 44 m tall PSLV has a lift-off mass of 295 tonne. It is a four-stage launch vehicle with the first and the third stages as well as the six strap-ons surrounding the first stage using HTPB based solid propellant. PSLV‘s first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world. Its second and fourth stages use liquid propellants. PSLV‘s bulbous payload fairing has a diameter of 3.2 metre. The vehicle has S-band telemetry and C-band transponder systems for monitoring its health and flight status respectively. It also has sophisticated auxiliary systems like stage and payload fairing separation systems.

AGILE is an X-ray and Gamma ray astronomical satellite of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Rome. The design, development and fabrication activities of the satellite were led by Carlo Gavazzi Space, Milan, Italy. The launch was arranged by Cosmos International through Antrix Corporation. The satellite carries scientific instruments capable of studying distant celestial objects in X-ray and Gamma ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Authority of India has recommended to the GOI‘s department of telecommunication, inter alia, that there should be “stringent penalties” for all Internet service providers who do not announce and accept all their routes (including that of their downstream providers) at the National Internet Exchange of India nodes or at direct peering point.

The provision for penalties may be made in the licensing conditions to curb the tendencies of misuse at any interconnection points by ISPs, according to a set of recommendations Trai has sent to the GOI on April 20, to make the Nixi more effective and hence, bring down costs for consumers.

Trai also wants all domestic Internet traffic to be either routed through National Internet Exchange of India (Nixi) or through dedicated domestic peering of ISP with international Internet bandwidth providers.

However, Trai has said that before extending the Nixi nodes to state all capitals (from the existing four at Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai) a detailed study should undertaken.

Trai has sent a set of six specific recommendations on the Nixi to the GOI after issuing a consultation paper and receiving stakeholder responses because “Nixi‘s infrastructure has not been utilised optimally, as only 27 ISPs out of 135 operational ISPs have joined Nixi nodes at four locations.

Studies show that the total number of connections to Nixi from these ISPs are only 53.

“A lot of domestic traffic is still not routed through Nixi, defying the very purpose of setting up Nixi,” Trai chairman Nripesh Mishra has said in the signed report issued on April 20.

Trai, Mishra says, has taken “a light regulatory approach… at present and different options to improve effectiveness of Nixi have been recommended”.

The issues on which the recommendations have been made include Interconnection of ISPs at Nixi; Domestic Traffic Routing; Segregation of Traffic; Installation and Interconnection of Nixi nodes; Upgradation of Nixi Nodes and Quality of Service; miscellaneous issues like need to encourage data centre and WEB hosting in India, etc.

Because the infrastructure is yet not being fully utilised, Trai has naturally set aside the issue of Nixi nodes at all state capitals for the moment.

Its recommendation is, “It will be desirable to make detailed analysis of present domestic traffic, CAPEX and OPEX required to setup Nixi node and optimum capacity utilisation of existing nodes before taking any decision to setup any additional node.”

The recommendations also say that all the ISPs who are providing International Internet IP port in India shall be permitted to have peering for exchange of domestic traffic with other ISPs provided such integrated ISPs segregate domestic and international traffic using any technique/ technology suitable to them, it has been recommended.

On the issue of interconnection of ISPs at Nixi, Trai says that all ISPs or their upstream providers should either be connected at all Nixi nodes or to International internet bandwidth provider through separate domestic peering link.

All the ISPs providing international Internet bandwidth should be connected at all the four nodes of Nixi and in case of multi-homing ISP, such ISP will decide one of the upstream provider to carry domestic traffic to Nixi or to ISP providing International Internet bandwidth through domestic peering link.

Regarding segregation of domestic and International traffic Trai has recommended that all the ISPs who are providing International Internet IP port in India shall be permitted to have peering for exchange of domestic traffic with other ISPs provided such integrated ISPs segregate domestic and International traffic using any technique/ technology
suitable to them.

According to Trai, the interconnection of the four existing Nixi nodes “if not found financially attractive by Nixi members… may be deferred for the time being.

Trai feels it is desirable that Nixi may setup test bed to exchange IPv6 routes between IPv6 enabled networks as well as IPv4 networks based on overlay tunnel.

“This may be completed in time bound manner, say six months so that Nixi is able to commercially support IPv6 exchange of routes,” it has explained.

Interestingly, Trai has recommended structural change in the Nixi.

It is suggested that there is a need to modify Nixi‘s structure from a limited liability company to a mutual not-for-profit organisation, the report recommends.

It was also suggested that ISPs should have “member status and rights, obligations to seek the best strategic direction and promote best practices operations”.

The National Internet Exchange of India (Nixi) was set up on the recommendation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) by Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, in 2003 to ensure that Internet traffic, originating and destined for India, should be routed within India.

However, Trai has said that Nixi‘s infrastructure has not been utilised optimally due to limited number of ISPs joining Nixi. Therefore a need was felt to revisit the framework of Nixi to provide impetus to effectively exchange domestic Internet traffic.

MUMBAI: Global satellite services provider Intelsat has announced a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract with Arqiva for satellite capacity to carry digital programming for the BBC following its digital switch over.

Intelsat is providing space segment capacity on its IS-907 satellite at 332.5? E which Arqiva will use as part of its distribution solution to around 90 main terrestrial transmitter sites in the UK.

Arqiva Terrestrial Media Solutions MD Steve Holebrook says, “We are happy to entrust Intelsat with this important task which provides us with cost-effective coverage of the UK as part of the distribution system for the BBC’s digital channels. The capacity on IS-907 provides us with an excellent technical solution, based on its high-power UK coverage. Intelsat was also flexible in its approach, helping us meet the commercial and technical needs of the BBC.”

Intelsat regional VP, Europe and Middle East Jean-Philippe Gillet says, “Intelsat has played a key role for many years in the distribution of terrestrial television signals with Arqiva. The addition of the BBC’s digital switchover programme reinforces the high-performance, high-reliability solution we are able to provide to our video customers.”

MUMBAI: Mobile handset major Nokia has announced that its operating profit for the first quarter ending 31 March 2007 was down by seven per cent.

Its net profit came down to $1.3 billion from $1.4 billion in the first three months of 2006.

It incurred restructuring charges of 32 million euros. Its device market share was 36 per cent at the same level as the previous quarter and marginaly up from 35 per cent in the first quarter of last year. Nokia‘s average selling price (Asp) in the first quarter 2007 was 89 euros down from 103 euros in the first quarter 2006 and at the same level as in the fourth quarter 2006.

The lower year on year ASP in the first quarter 2007 was primarily the result of a significantly higher proportion of entry-level device sales, where the industry growth especially in the emerging markets has been strong and where Nokia‘s share has been growing.

In addition, certain ageing higher end products in its portfolio were viewed as less competitive in various markets. Sequentially, first quarter 2007 ASPs were impacted by a higher percentage of entry-level device sales. That sequential development was offset by strong sales of its higher ASP devices, particularly from the multimedia business group.

First quarter net sales decreased five per cent to 5.6 billion euros compared with 5.9 billion euros in the first quarter 2006. Strong overall volume growth was not enough to offset a significant ASP decline year on year, driven primarily by a higher proportion of entry-level sales. Net sales decreased in all regions except the Asia-Pacific. Net sales were down
significantly in the US and to a lesser degree in Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Europe and China.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo says, “I am encouraged by Nokia‘s first quarter 2007 performance. Our profitability was strong, with both gross and operating margins up sequentially, excluding special items. We also saw good year on year device volume growth that led to an increase in our market share, further solidifying our number one position in the industry.

“Our multimedia business group achieved record net sales and operating margin in a seasonally challenging environment. Multimedia continues to lead in the convergence space, with close to eight million Nokia Nseries devices shipped during the quarter, including the ground-breaking Nokia N95 multimedia computer.

“Our Enterprise Solutions business group showed improved results, bolstered by sales of the new Nokia E65, and we are targeting break even for Enterprise Solutions in the second quarter 2007. Mobile Phones mid-range portfolio was strengthened by the Nokia 6300, which began initial shipments in the first quarter.

“We are excited that Nokia Siemens Networks started operations on 1 April, 2007. We believe that this new company will have the scale, portfolio and innovation to assume a leading position in the communications infrastructure market.”

Converged device industry volumes increased to an estimated 23.5 million units, compared with an estimated 17 million units in the first quarter 2006. Nokia‘s own converged device volumes rose to 11.8 million units, compared with 8.5 million units in the first quarter 2006. Nokia shipped close to eight million Nokia Nseries and more than one million Nokia Eseries devices during the first quarter 2007.

First quarter 2007 net sales of multimedia handsets increased by 28 per cent to 2.3 billion euros compared with 1.8 billion euros in the first quarter of last year. Net sales increased year on year in all regions except the US where net sales continued at a low level. Multimedia net sales year on year growth was
fastest in Latin America and China. Net sales growth was driven by high volumes of Nokia Nseries multimedia computers, especially the Nokia N73 and Nokia N70, combined with a stable ASP year on year.

Multimedia reported operating profit in the first quarter 2007 grew 31 per cent to 424 million euros, compared with 323 million euros in the first quarter of last year, with an operating margin of 18.8 per cent. Operating profit growth in the first quarter 2007 was driven by strong net sales growth and effective operating cost control, compared to the first quarter 2006.

MUMBAI: Chip major Intel and Tandberg Television in the US have announced a collaboration that will bridge the gap between the PC and TV with a new broadband television programming solution.

This provides entertainment programmers with a way to develop and deploy broadcast-quality content over the Internet to Intel technology-based devices and PCs, such as those based on the Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The new broadband television publishing solution will combine Tandberg Television‘s content management software with Intel‘s programming configuration tool and enable programmers to more rapidly publish popular content and create original programming for online consumption. The solution includes the custom development of publishing templates for Intel technology-enabled platforms, including pre-programmed consumer interfaces with embedded functions such as online video players and mobile TV front ends.

The templates have the flexibility to include new forms of integrated advertising, live or on-demand television streams and fun, interactive content and community features that can immerse the consumer in the experience of a brand as well as convey a unique look and feel.

Intel‘s Digital Home Group VP Kevin Corbett says, “Our goal is to make delivering the Internet TV experience a simple extension to the tools already used today by many top TV broadcasters around the world. Our joint solution with Tandberg Television will deliver a standard set of tools that simplifies the complex, multi-step process of delivering a compelling Internet TV experience to Intel® technology-based PCs and devices, and provides simple integration to their existing backend media delivery infrastructure.”

The two companies will jointly market the broadband television solution to professional content owners, programmers and broadcasters later this year.

Tandberg Television president and CEO Eric Cooney says, “Intel and Tandberg Television represent a powerful combination of excellence in computer and broadcast engineering and television content development and management.

“With this broadcast solution, programmers will be confident that their content is secure from piracy, look pristine and deepen their brand connection with users through these standard TV interfaces that convey a unique look and exciting experience for consumers.”

Building on its August 2006 acquisition of Zetools, TANDBERG Television recently formed a new broadband television business unit to advise content owners and distributors in solving key challenges in their transition to TV 2.0 through turnkey solutions for creation, management and delivery of broadcast-quality content for the broadband world. This agreement with Intel expands the business unit‘s distribution capabilities.

MUMBAI: AT&T, Ericsson, France Telecom, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Siemens Networks, Sony, and Telecom Italia have announced the founding of the Open IPTV Forum.

This is an industry consortium that will work to define an interoperable end-to-end specification for delivery of IPTV services.

The forum, which is fully open to participation across the communications and entertainment industries, will focus on development of open standards that could help to streamline and accelerate deployments of IPTV technologies, and help to maximize the benefits of IPTV for consumers, network operators, content providers, service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers and infrastructure providers.

While standardisation bodies are already addressing specific elements of IPTV, the pan-industry Open IPTV Forum will work to aggregate today’s diverse standards into a complete delivery solution, with the goal of accelerating the full standardization of IPTV-related technologies. The Open IPTV Forum plans to establish requirements and architecture specifications as well as protocol specifications later this year.

The evolving IPTV service has many advantages, including personalization, interactivity and on-demand access for all forms of digital content. Unique possibilities exist for integration of content and communication services offered across mobile handsets and home devices. By ensuring the interoperability between consumer equipment and services compliant to the Open IPTV Forum’s specification, the end users can easily access their choice of contents and services among multiple service providers.

With this scope in mind, the Open IPTV Forum will work on the basis of suitable open-standards technologies, and will also address key technology elements such as content protection, necessary interfaces that allow IPTV services to be delivered over both managed network environment and the public Internet, and adequate measures to ensure interoperability between such services and retail consumer devices. Candidates include, but are not limited to: IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA).

Initially the Forum will consist of the founding member companies, but will be open for other companies at a later date.

MUMBAI: The steady growth of IPTV subscribers and service revenue continues on an upward trend in Europe and Asia and, to some extent, in North America, according to the new MRG report IPTV Global Forecast Report—April 2007.

Driving the market’s successful growth in the past six months is fast growth in Europe, especially France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe; in Asia, especially China, Japan, and Hong Kong; and in North America, especially Verizon, the IOCs (Independent Operating Companies) and Canada.

MRG director of IPTV analysis Len Feldman says, “Our forecast shows service provider revenue growing from $3.6 billion in 2007 to $20.3 billion in 2011. Europe continues to be the biggest market for IPTV, with France easily leading the growth spurt through IPTV operators Free, Orange France Telecom and Neuf Cegetel.”

MRG president Gary Schultz says, “Success is also driven by seasoned operators who have mastered critical competitive operations like continuous quality improvement and content negotiations. By mastering these challenges, the experienced operators are successfully differentiating themselves and moving into sustained growth periods.”

The underachieving operators continue to be those, like AT&T and Deutsche Telecom, who rely on Microsoft’s beleaguered middleware that has been “architecturally challenged” with its inability to scale. The report conjectures that further delays at AT&T will result in replacement of the MS middleware by mid-to-late 2007. However, the lack of MPEG-4/AVC set-top box chips, which was causing a drag on the market in late 2006, has been resolved, and should result in a continued uptake through 2007.

MUMBAI: Gaming portal Zapak.com and Zod! Cub Wear have come together to give their style conscious players something to vie for.

Customers who buy a Zod! Club Wear shirt will get a scratch card with a password. Enter this on the registration page of clubzod.zapak.com.

This registration enables you to play the ‘four-Wheel Fury’ game on Zapak.com for the grand prize of a ‘4-Wheel Fury ATV Quad Bike’ worth Rs 200,000 in a lucky draw.

Zapak Digital Entertainment chief marketing officer Arun Mehra said, “The young, trendy ZOD! Club Wear consumer is a potential gamer if not already an avid one. This initiative between ZAPAK & ZOD! Club Wear taps the mindset of this consumer and draws him to start playing on-line.”

Mehra adds that Zapak will be entering into tie-ups with more retail outlets in the future. Zod! Club Wear VP marketing Imraan Surve says, “Since 2002, we pioneered on-line apparel marketing that targets the young, trendy male thru strategic alliances. ZAPAK offered the perfect fit with it’s on-line gaming. Our consumers get a value-add through the scratch card that gives them chance to win a 4 wheel Quad bike”

The ‘The Reel to Real World’ promotion is being rolled out through over 180 retail outlets that stock Zod! Cub Wear and is supported with an online campaign by Zapak.

MUMBAI: Indian games publishing company Jump Games has released their new mobile game based on the franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT).

A Turtles film has just been released theatrically in India. Jump Games signed an exclusive contract with uclick,– the licensees of TMNT Mobile content – to release and distribute two Mobile game titles based on the turtle characters.

The games will be launched on all carriers in India. Along with the games, Jump will also offer a range of mobile content, such as ring tones, wallpapers, screensavers and themes.

The first game to be released by Jump is called TMNT – The Power of Four . The game is based on the recently released movie. The mobile game lets the players be a part of a high octane, high-flying adrenaline rush of collaborative combat and adventure uniquely designed for Mobile phones. They can play the game as any of the four Ninja turtles and defeat opponents to claim victory

The second game to be released is TMNT – Ninja Training NYC. It’s a cartoon-based game that fast-forwards the players 100 years into the future with the Turtles as they take to the streets in Manhattan.

TMNT is based on a fictional team of four mutant turtles – Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. It was conceived in early 1980s. TMNT’s popularity has gone on to inspire three television shows, four films, video games and a range of toys and merchandise.

Jump Games CEO Salil Bhargava said, “This is for the first time that TMNT is being released in India and we’re really excited to bring the age-old classic to our audiences here. Also, with the recent release of the movie, we’re sure that these mobile offerings will be widely accepted.”

uclick VP product development Jeff Webber said, “The Turtles have a fan base that spans generations and continents. This is the first time these world famous characters have ever been available on mobile phones, where they can reach legions of fans in a way they never have before.”

MUMBAI: Global Insight, which provides economic and financial analysis and forecasting has announced the findings of its inaugural report produced by Global Insight‘s new Telecoms Intermodal Forecasting Service.

The report concluded that China and India will remain the world‘s growth engine for wireless services, accounting for 60 per cent of the 1.2 billion predicted new mobile subscribers over the next five years.

The report compares the world‘s 20 leading developed and emerging markets between 2006 and 2011, and predicts that over the next five years, market penetration of wireless services will grow from 34.8 per cent to 69.1 per cent in China; and from 13.4 per cent to 31 per cent in India.

According to the report, China will also outpace the other 19 markets in terms of broadband growth, accounting for more than one-third of the 350 million-plus new broadband subscriptions anticipated over the next five years. By 2011, China, with broadband revenues of more than $19 billion and four times the subscribers, will surpass Japan as the world‘s second-largest broadband market.

However, the US will continue to maintain its position as the world‘s largest mobile and broadband market by revenues over the forecast period.

Global Insight Telecom Products director Julian Watson says, “The bulk of the revenues for the sector will still come from the developed markets. Another notable conclusion is that the so-called death of the landline has been overstated, even if traditional landline revenues will take a massive hit. “

More than $50 billion in revenues will be lost world-wide over the forecast period due to fixed-line subscriber declines and the migration of voice traffic to mobile and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) networks. A 4.5 per cent decline is predicted in traditional fixed-line accesses as the growth in the China and India markets fail to offset the erosion of traditional accesses in markets like Japan, South Korea, and Europe; the latter of which has already seen extensive migration of accesses from fixed lines to mobile.

“Primarily as a result of substitution, the next five years will see a fundamental shift in the revenue make-up of the global telecoms industry. In these 20 markets, fixed-line‘s share of total telecoms revenues will collectively fall from 39 per cent in 2006 to 21 per cent in 2011; while by the end of 2011, mobile will account for over two-thirds of total telecoms revenues in those markets.

“But as our research shows, disparate local regulatory, competitive, and economic conditions will mean that the pace of substitution will vary greatly across the 20 markets. Traditional telcom firms are seeking to offset or reduce substitution effects by moving into multimedia and convergent markets such as IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and Fixed-to-Mobile Convergence (FMC), but this will not always be sufficient to protect and enhance their revenues,” he concluded.