ITU to host workshop on ‘Internet of Things’ trends

ITRealms:

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has advanced plans to host a full-day workshop on Internet of Things (IoT) – Trends and Challenges in Standardization, to be held on 18 February at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, reports ITRealms.

The event, ITRealms gathered will be audio cast; live and archived for media unable to attend in person, with spotlight on emerging next steps for standards developers.

According to Chief, Media Relations and Public Information at ITU, Ms Sarah Parkes affirmed to ITRealms that the event aims to facilitate the global expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) through a better understanding of trends, including standardization needs.

“Results will inform the drafting of the future technical standards (ITU-T Recommendations) that will be fundamental to the smooth operation of networks potentially supporting billions of interconnected devices,” she said.

In addition to examining the status of IoT and machine-to-machine communication (M2M) standardization initiatives across other Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs), ITU says, the event will report on progress of related standards and protocol development in the research and open-source communities.

Also, ITRealms learnt that the event will incorporate exhibits from industry, government, research institutes and academia. STMicroelectronics will showcase its Smart Home concept, and EPFL its OpenIOT project.

Further, ITRealms gathered that Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications (NICT) will display its medical body area network, as well as Yokosuka Telecom Research Park (YRP).

In addition, Daniel Faulk, representing new ITU-T member SAP, will deliver a keynote presentation on Internet of Things, Creating new Opportunities for the Enterprise.

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Pix; Dr. Hamadoun Toure, ITU Secretary General

Lenovo Vibe X, six other smartphones debut in Nigeria

ITRealms:

A total of seven brand of Lenovo, Tuesday in Lagos, debut into the Nigeria’s mobile market at a ceremony held in Sheraton with Vibe X model leading the pack of smartphones, reports ITRealms.

Stressing that the seven smartphone including its flagship Vibe X, will be available in first week of March 2014 and available at all major retailers nationwide.

Nigerian consumers, he said would be the first in the African content to get their hands on seven models, with each Lenovo smartphone designed with specific customer needs in mind, maintaining that Lenovo offers a range of carefully considered design innovations and functionality that fits every style, personality and need. 

For the Director of Operations, Middle East and Africa, Mr. Shashank Sharma told ITRealms that Lenovo smartphones the range includes entry-level devices, such as the A369i, A516, A680, and A859; the stylish models like S650 and S930; and the picture perfect and sleek Vibe X.

“All Lenovo smartphones will come with a one year local warranty,” he said.

Further speaking, Braum told ITRealms that Lenovo’s entry to the Nigerian smartphone market, has prospects, especially with over 120 million mobile subscribers, thus Nigeria represents a strategic market for Lenovo’s smartphone business.

“Smartphones are fast becoming a primary platform for work, entertainment and social networking for consumers and we are thrilled to announce the launch of our exciting line-up today in Nigeria. Innovation is in Lenovo’s DNA; our team strives to deliver ground-breaking devices with distinct, elegant design. Today’s launch marks the first time customers in Nigeria can purchase Lenovo smartphones locally and we are excited to see the market’s reaction,” Braum said.

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Pix: Dr. Phil Osagie of JSP, Mr. Braum, Ms Monique and Mr. Sharma of Lenovo.

Chehade cautions on fragmented Internet

ITRealms:

The Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Mr. Fade Chehade has cautioned activists in the domain name industry who may be agitating for a fragmented Internet, reports ITRealms.

Speaking recently at the just ended World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, made this known while chatting with HuffPost, pointing out that the essence of the Internet is that its oneness and openness remain intact.

He warned that once the development of the Internet crumbles to that level, it could amount to re-inventing the wheel, because the processes would need another kind of path to be followed, which defeats the purpose of the founding fathers of the current Internet.

"If we cannot find a way to govern the Internet in an equal footing, in an open transparent way this year, we might descend into a fragmented version of the Internet," Chehadé declared.

He, however, sounded a note of warning on the implication, asserting, "The moment we fragment the Internet it is possible there will be tariffs between borders, there will be rules ... it will not be the internet as we know it."

ITRealms recalls that in more technical terms, ICANN coordinates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, which are key technical services critical to the continued operations of the Internet's underlying address book, the Domain Name System (DNS).

The IANA functions include the coordination of the assignment of technical protocol parameters including the management of the Address and Routing Parameter Area (ARPA) Top-Level Domain;  and the administration of certain responsibilities associated with Internet DNS root zone management such as generic (gTLD) and country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD).

 

In addition, ICANN via IANA allocates the Internet numbering resources; and other services as well as performs the IANA functions under a United States (US) government contract.

 
Remmy Nweke
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Pix: Fade Chehade, ICANN CEO

Promo: Glo says be in My Phone Bolt plan, enjoy double data

ITRealms:

Globacom has launched a new high-speed internet data promo that will instantly give double data bonus to subscribers on the network. Dubbed My Phone Double Promo, the offer will enable Glo subscribers on the My Phone Bolt plan to get more data volume to browse the Internet and download or upload data, reports ITRealms.

Globacom’s Marketing Coordinator, Mr. Adeniyi Olukoya told ITRealms that with the promo, subscribers on the My Phone Bolt plan who would have received 800MB of data at the price of N2,000 will now get a double data volume of 1,600MB valid for 30 days at the same price.

“This is a great promo from Globacom designed to ensure that we deliver more value to our Glo Bolt subscribers in the New Year. With double data volumes to browse the web, they will be able to do more, thereby becoming unlimited as they work towards achieving their dreams and aspirations for the future,” he said.

He explained that the new plan works like any Bolt plan and shares all the Bolt attributes as it is giftable, shareable, auto renewable and available for prepaid and post-paid subscribers.

Olukoya equally said that this is another way Globacom empowers upwardly mobile Nigerians to remain in constant touch with the world. He encouraged those who are not yet on the network to grab this great opportunity. 

“All they need to do is to walk into any Gloworld shop, buy a SIM, register it and choose My Phone data plan”, he said.

To enjoy the data promo, a subscriber can send “55” by SMS to 127 or dial the USSD code *127*55#. Alternatively, the subscriber can log on to htpp://hsi.glo.com to begin to enjoy the new offer. The promo will last for 3 months.

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Heirs Holdings invests heavily in Planet Labs 'doves' technology -| DSBNews

The pan-African proprietary investment company founded by Tony O. Elumelu, has invested heavily an undisclosed sum in a United States (US) start-up, Planet Labs’ innovative satellite manufacturing technology.

Heirs Holdings invests heavily in Planet Labs 'doves' technology -| DSBNews ... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

AWT launches TETRA PIM analyzer: S1L TETRA MK2

ITRealms:

The AWT Global founded by AceWavetech has launched a new Passive Inter-modulation (PIM) analyzer for Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) and Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) tagged S1L TETRA MK2 Series, reports ITRealms.

TETRA, formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver, popularly known as a walkie talkie.

ITRealms gathered that TETRA was specifically designed for use by government agencies, emergency services namely the police forces, fire departments, ambulance; for public safety networks, rail transportation staff for train radios, transport services and the military.

While the UHF is a designate of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 Mega Hertz (MHz) and 3 Gega Hertz (GHz).

President, AWT, Mr. Wolfgang Damm disclosed to ITRealms that the new PIM analyzers were designed for measuring TETRA and UHF networks in the 400 MHz frequency range.

“They come with a wide variety of test modes for different tasks including, field measurement mode, analyzer, multi PIM display, Rx sweep, PIM vs. time and single carrier mode for insertion loss (IL) and coverage measurements,” he said.

On the Distance-to-PIM option, he said, it has been embedded in the system, reconnecting antennas is not required, although lower frequencies have higher wavelengths, which demand larger sized components.

According to him, AWT’s engineers have managed to embed the complete system, including options into a compact and convenient single-body enclosure.

“TETRA or Terrestrial Trunked RAdio is used globally by many public safety organizations, such as police, fire departments, border patrol, cost guard and many more. It is mandatory that these networks work perfectly. The issue is here not just about a nuisance with low data transfer or dropped calls. Problematic emergency networks may cause people getting hurt and even lives are at stake,” Damm said, stressing  that TETRA utilizes sophisticated modulation schemes, thereby increasing data transmission rates, but this makes it unfortunately also more suceptibility to interferences.

Aa said by him, TETRA channel frequency configuration may cause cross band intermodulation problems, yet both issues make the PIM testing of networks paramount.

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Pix: S1L TETRA MK2 analyzers

CWG’s Tier-3 data center debuts in Lagos, unveils future direction

DigitalSENSE Business News:

Pan African Information and Communication Technology multinational, the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) plc, recently launched a Tier-3 ultra-modern data center in Lagos, just as the company unveiled its future direction, classified as CWG2.0, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

The Group Chief Executive Officer, CWG plc, Mr. Austin Okere, told DigitalSENSE Business News at the event which saw to the unveiling of CWG 2.0 direction, revealed that the state of the art data center, located at Lekki phase 1, was specifically built for CWG’s cloud computing business, which has excess capacity to enterprises, especially banks for use as a disaster recovery data centre on a co-location basis, alongside growing online companies such as Jumia and Konga to avail themselves of the facility.

According to him, CWG’s data center has been equipped with what he described as N+1 power and environmental management infrastructure, with generate capacity of 0.7MVA. Stressing that this would ensure incoming main power is conditioned and available at all times, in addition to redundant and modular 250KVA Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Even as the UPS functions as bull-mark against power surges and blowout.

Okere speaking specially on CWG 2.0 noted that having majorly completed the pillars for Information Technology as a Service (ITaaS) strategy, by creating a platform for rapid Pan African growth and repositioning service model to cater to the new cloud computing mind-set, CWG is on target to achieve the objectives of being the the number 1 IT utility enabler on the continent.

By launching three cloud services in Nigeria, namely the MTN SaaS for Microfinance banks in conjunction with MTN Nigeria, the Diamond Yello Account bringing Financial inclusion to the 55 million MTN Mobile subscribers in partnership with MTN and Diamond Bank, and the CWG SMERP, which is a vertically modular Enterprise Resource Planning application for Micro, Small and Medium scale enterprises (MSME); which could be used on a subscription basis by hotels, hospitals, spare-parts dealers, and farmers among others.

“We consider the refocusing of our business into a subscription based model as a dual advantage play. In addition to being a more sustaining strategy, it maximizes our social impact investing on the economy of Africa, and helps to create jobs by empowering entrepreneurs. This in essence defines the new CWG plc, which we have christened CWG 2.0” he declared.

Okere also explained that MSMEs are regarded as the engine of economic growth, which statistically shows that there are 17m+ MSMEs in Nigeria.

“This compares overwhelmingly with the 260 listed companies on the stock exchange. Without accurate business records, they are unable to generate the accounting reports that banks and financial organizations can depend on to provide financing. Without credit, they are unable to grow their businesses aggressively,” he said, pointing out that CWG SMERP could provide these organizations with a strong foundation for growth and sustainability and also provide these firms the opportunity to exploit the internet to access a bigger market.

“The substantial cost of utilizing ICT is a big barrier for these firms to take advantage of ICT to grow their businesses,” Okere said.

On the explosive impact of MSME on the economy, Mr. Okere asserted, “… Do you that by just employing only one additional staff each, the 17m MSME would have created 17million jobs?’

He to DigitalSENSE Business News that present setup by CWG requires payment only on a subscription basis which completely removes the CAPEX requirements of ICT usage, adding that for effective nationwide coverage, CWG will use a franchise model to enable smaller IT firms and consultancies to assist the MSMEs as business support organizations, and by so doing spur a secondary growth in IT MSMEs which will create thousands of additional jobs.

Remmy Nweke

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Pix; Ndukwe cutting take of the data center (2) Ndukwe, Okere and Lanre Ajayi at the event.

Unitel, Ericsson demo first LTE-Advanced in Africa

ITRealms:

In effort at showcasing its advanced technology, Ericsson has partnered Angolan leading mobile operator, Unitel to demo on the first Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) in Africa, reports ITRealms.

The demonstration, ITRealms gathered is the first Africa’s data transmission on combined 

1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a commercial network on the continent.

Vice President, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, Magnus Mchunguzi, confirmed this to ITRealms, saying that by using LTE, operators could increase their network capacity and enhance the mobile broadband user experience, enabling up to 1Gbps data rates in the future.

“This demo places Unitel on the very limited list of operators in the world to demonstrate LTE-A in a live network using a commercial terminal. We are very proud to have partnered with Unitel in this achievement, further extending our long-standing relationship with Unitel,” Mchunguzi said.

Stressing that LTE advanced technology helps Unitel to match its spectrum assets, while enabling higher data speeds to increase network capacity and enhance end-user experience.

For the first time in Africa, Ericsson, together with Angola’s leading telecommunications provider Unitel, has successfully demonstrated LTE Advanced (LTE-A) Carrier Aggregation technology. The demonstration was done on both 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a commercial network, using a commercial terminal, and took place on December 18, when Unitel transferred data across its live network in Luanda, Angola, carrying commercial traffic.

LTE Carrier Aggregation is the next step in the evolution of high-speed mobile broadband services, enabling operators to make the most of their existing spectrum assets by combining multiple spectrum bands to enable higher mobile broadband download speeds.

Amilcar Safeca, Deputy CEO of Unitel, said they will always innovate to enhance the customer experience. 

"With the global leap toward higher data access speeds for sophisticated video and mobility services; we are enhancing our network to ensure we continually provide high-quality services to our high-demanding subscriber base. With this demo, we are well on the way to launching the most advanced mobile network in Angola and perhaps Africa in the near future. We are working with Ericsson to make this happen,” Safeca said.

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UN names 55-man MAG for IGF’14, gets ready for Istanbul

ITRealms:

The United Nations (UN) has unveiled the new membership of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) for this year, 2014, reports ITRealms.

This is coming as the next IGF has been scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey between September 2 and 5, 2014.

ITRealms gathered that a total of 55 members, 18 among them new, have been appointed, whereas 37 were incumbents. 

The Advisory Group members are from all stakeholder groups and all regions, representing governments, the private sector, civil society and technical community.

ITRealms reports that all Advisory Group members serve in their personal capacity, but are expected to have extensive linkages with their respective stakeholder groups. 

The main task of the Advisory Group is to provide advice on the preparations for the next meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 2 to 5 September, this year.

Also, ITRealms reports that representatives of previous host countries and relevant intergovernmental, international and regional organizations are also invited to attend Advisory Group meetings.

ITRealms recalls that the Internet Governance Forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in 2005. 

In the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene a “new forum for policy dialogue” to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance and set out the Forum’s mandate.

Further, ITRealms notes that the Forum’s past eight meetings took place in Athens, Greece, in 2006; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007; Hyderabad, India, in 2008; Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2009; Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2010; Nairobi, Kenya in 2011; Baku, Azerbaijan in 2012; and Bali, Indonesia in 2013.

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Pix: UN Scribe: Ban Ki-Moon

Digital Direct set to expand to Abuja, PH, Awka

ITRealms:

An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) retail and consulting company, the Digital Direct has said its presence would soon be felt at some notable cities across the country, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this to ITRealms, Managing Director, Digital Direct, Mr. Tolu Ijogun, said the company whose retail model outlet is located in Lekki Phase 1 in Lagos, has plans to commence   expansion in 2014 in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Awka capital of Anambra State.

According to him, the new branches would bear the hallmarks of the Digital Direct outlet in what he described as breath-taking showroom with best prices for the latest technology/computing products, capacity for high volume transactions, grade A after sales support and a technology training center assured,

Ijogun said that the expansion programme was triggered by the success of the Digital Direct Experience store in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, judged not just from the outstanding financial performance, but also from the testimonies of satisfaction by clients.

He further stated that the new branches would continue with the tradition of triggering an encounter between the consumer and the technology of renowned Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) globally and locally with HP, Microsoft, Samsung, Dell, Zinox, Toshiba, Lenovo, Canon, Huawei, Cisco, and Dlink to name  a few.

He assured that, as in Lagos, there will be OEM presence in the new branches to cater for all technical and product enquiries, backed by highly skilled and efficient workforce to ensure maximum client satisfaction and service delivery.

In addition, each branch would have a training facility capable of training between 1-50 people on all Hardware and Software products under the Digital Direct portfolio.

Pointing out to ITRealms that Digital Direct offers a flexible payment plan for staff of corporate organizations and NGOs, with minimal interest rates to accommodate the cost of funds and would be bringing this and other Value Added Services (VAS) to all customers and corporate organizations in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Awka.

He emphasised that Digital Direct has a team of young Nigerian professionals from the United Kingdom; supported by leading international and local OEMs and ICT distributors, which aims at being the most trusted and No.1 choice for ICT hardware and solutions in Nigeria.

Remmy Nweke

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Pix: Managing Director, Digital Direct, Mr. Tolu Ijogun