Telcomine: A Telecom & Technology Newsletter http://www.infozech.com/telcomine.html .............................................. Telcomine (http://www.infozech.com/telcomine.htm), a monthly newsletter from Infozech. Telcomine brings you the latest trends and developments in frontline IT Technologies. To subscribe send a mail to nl@infozech.com ............................................... *****TELCOMINE************ Wealth of Information about Telecommunications Volume 7, July 1998 1 Software on hire online from IBM, Microsoft: Piracy may be reduced: With IT giants Microsoft and IBM-Lotus, plunging into the software renting business, it seems that in the future software needs may be largely met by the Internet. 2. Etching 1.6M Microfilms on a Disc: Norsam Technologies of Los Almos, Mexico, claims to have found a way of directly etching 1.6 Million pages of microfilm on a single disc making information everlasting. 3. Direct Satellite linked Mobile Phones coming: The mobile phone need not be "cell" bound anymore. Very soon a new mobile phone directly linked to a global network of 66 satellites should be available at any point on earth , providing "a truly universal global mobile service". 4. Handhelds to overtake PCs for Net Access Desktop PC may be supplanted by cheap handheld devices for Internet access by the mass-market within the next six years. 5. Instant Credit Card Processor: ICVerify Producing packages for instant processing of credit cards has come as a big challenge to the software industry. ICVerify is one such product. 6. Y2K litigation costs to surpass $1 trillion The litigation costs over Y2K service and product failures could soar to an alarming $ 1trillion or more. 7. After Korea, Ebill set to enter China and Europe After expanding its successful American operations into Korea, Infozech now looks to the Chinese and European Markets for its billing solution, eBill. For more details on eBill please visit http://www.infozech.com/ebill.htm ******************************************** Software on Hire Online from IBM Microsoft : Piracy may be reduced ******************************************** Buying software may become a thing of the past. Big IT giants like Microsoft and IBM-Lotus are now plunging into the software renting business. Initially their goals are modest. But it seems like a writing on the wall that eventually most software needs may be met by Internet. According to reports, already the response is "tremendous" from clients ranging from ordinary users to big companies. At one stroke this could banish the vendor's nightmare of software piracy and the user's dilemma: to buy or not to buy expensive software. The move seems to be an improvement over the rival Network computer (Net PC) launched by Oracle and Sun, which offers the customer both hardware and software, accessible through his dumb terminal like PC. In this case the user will have wide options of configuring his own desktop unit to be able to use a variety of software packages available on his Internet Service Provider's system. BENEFITS: The biggest benefit may accrue to the software vendor, since the renting system would eliminate software to the extent its use is routed through licensed Internet Service Providers. By paying a monthly fee to an ISP, outsourcer, or similar entity, who rents out the applications to be processed online on its servers, users need not worry about installing the application, running it and upgrading to the latest version. Companies that can't afford to buy expensive software outright can now use the same software at a small rental fee. The users can drop the service any time, and of course, shop around for better deals and switch to the latest more suitable options. LOTUS LEADS Presently, Lotus leads the movement for rentable applications. It hopes this will help to sell its Notes applications and related groupware products to companies that can't afford to buy the software outright. Along with its business partners, it is expected to bring out a wide range of applications into the rentable space over the next few months. IT executives are excited over the rental business. There is a feeling amongst them that small businesses will not need much convincing to adopt the approach - the benefits are obvious. According to Charters, vice president of Internet services at US West "about 1 million small businesses in US West's territory are strong candidates for this scheme." With so many different entities having a vested interest in the success of rented applications, it would not be a surprise if one day you have people knocking on the door, who for once, aren't trying to sell something. Instead, they'll want you to rent it. ************************************** Etching 1.6M Micro-films on a Disc ************************************** Wonders will never cease. Norsam technologies of Los Almos, Mexico, claims to have found a way of directly etching 1.6 million pages of microfilm on a single "everlasting" disc. Those who think that digital or genetic computing is the last word in micro-electro-mechanical systems are in for a surprise. It has combined etching metal for image making with etching silicon to produce the HD-Rosetta process which etches microscopic reproductions of human eye-readable images from microfilm, original documents or other media onto a pancake disc from which low cost distribution copies can be made. Norsam claims that the disc will be able to carry some 1.6m A-4 pages, or 250 times as much as can be stored on a compact disc of equivalent size. Capable of surviving most fires, all that is required to read the disk is a powerful microscope like IBM's near field microscope that can see objects five times the size of an atom. Apparently, Norsam took an interest in this as it is impervious to the electromagnetic effects of nuclear weapons. So, even if there is a nuclear war in the future, historians would know where to look for good written records of what led to it. ********************************************** Direct Satellite Linked Mobile Phones Coming ********************************************** Very soon a new satellite-linked mobile phone should be available at any point on the globe. In short, the mobile phone need not be "cell" bound. Instead, it will have direct ariel connection with a network of 66 satellites orbiting 780 Km above the earth, constituting what is called the world's first "truly global mobile service." You can carry this multi-media mobile phone to any point on earth so long as you are not in a closed building. You can, however, operate it from near a window or even inside a car whose thin metal roof does not interfere with the micro-wave contact with the satellite. Called Iridium, the service is about to be launched on the September 23 by a consortium backed by the troubled electronics giant Motorola. It will exploit recent advances in satellite technology to offer mobile satellite services(MSS). MSS subscribers will be equipped with a dual-standard phone that will switch to a satellite when a ground connection is unavailable. Subscribers will pay a higher standing charge to their normal cellular operator and a premium on MSS calls. By far the largest number of subscribers is likely to come from the "cellular roaming market. These are users of land-based cellular phones who want to be able to extend the range of their handsets when they are travelling through areas of poor or incompatible coverage. It is estimated that by the end of this year there will be around 275m subscribers worldwide for this service and in another two years the figure could reach 500m.Tom Watts, an analyst at Merril Lynch, an investment bank estimates that with just 2.3% of cellular users by 2007, MSS (Mobile satellite services) could secure 32m subscribers and $32 billion in revenues. ****************************************** Handhelds to overtake PCs for Net Access ****************************************** Access to the web may not be restricted to the desktop PC anymore. A report recently released by the IDC (International Data Corporation) predicts that the desktop PC will be supplanted by cheap handheld devices for Internet access by the within the next six years. IDC reports that demand for handheld devices will nearly triple in annual volume from 1997 to 2002, and exceed PC unit sales by 2004 or 2005. The report doesn't go so far as to say that the PC will fade away, however. But as prices of simple devices like handheld units, Web-enabled phones, or set-top boxes fall below $100, they will become more popular than PCs. Much of this growth will be fueled by Web merchants, says Frank Gens, says senior vice president of Internet Research at IDC . He predicts that PC vendors will eventually get into the low-cost Internet device market, or risk missing a passing wave. Industry watchers, however, are of the opinion that cheap access devices will experience a rapid growth, but not until people find more compelling reasons to browse the Internet. "Acceptance will happen when there's a convergence of entertainment and information media," on Internet says Ron Rappaport of Zona Research. "We're starting to see that today, but it will take some time." *********************************************** Instant Credit Card Processor: ICVerify *********************************************** In today's world without a credit card - in fact a number of them - one is a non-person. The system is sweeping across the globe like a wild fire replacing trillions of dollars worth of paper currency with electronic money. Producing packages for instant processing of credit cards has come as a big challenge to the software industry. ICVerify is one such product. Credit card processing always involves at least two steps: The first step is the authorization. When a credit card transaction for a sale is processed, ICVERIFY connects with a credit card processing network and submits the transaction request. The processing network takes the request and matches it with a database maintained by the bank that issued the credit card. If there's enough credit available, the transaction will be approved and the necessary funds will be held in reserve. Till now, no money transaction takes place. The next step is the Settlement procedure. A merchant must settle before the funds from any authorized transactions will be deposited in the merchant's bank account. After a settlement is performed, the money is transferred to the merchant's account within a predetermined period of time (usually 72 hours or less). What is ICVERIFY? ICVERIFY is an electronic transaction processing software, which provides credit card authorization/draft capture, check guarantee and debit/ATM card authorization functions. Merchants process their transactions through a Processing Network. There are over 80 of these networks in the United States, most of which process credit cards. The processor is the interface between the merchant and the bank - it checks the customer's account for availability of the required amount, approves the transaction and then routes the proceeds to the merchant's account. Why ICVERIFY? ICVERIFY processes VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diner's Club, Carte Blanche, JCB and private label cards. It's ease of use and flexible design makes it popular. Some of it's features are : * A single copy of ICVERIFY can process transactions for more than one merchant. This feature is useful for offices that perform billing functions for a number of merchant accounts. * ICVERIFY can be easily integrated with existing merchant software systems using a simple, quote-comma delimited ASCII textfile format. When integrated, ICVERIFY runs in the background and handles all transaction processing functions for the other application. * ICVERIFY stores up to nine year's worth of transaction data. Transaction information can be imported as ASCII textfiles into other applications such as order entry programs, point-of-sale systems, databases, Internet shopping carts, spreadsheets etc. * ICVERIFY can be configured to accept input from a variety of devices including 2-track Magnetic Stripe Readers for Credit Cards, 3-track Magnetic Stripe readers for credit cards and Magnetic Stripe Driver's licenses, MICR readers for checks and Magnetic Stripe Readers with pinpads for Debit/ATM cards. Integrating ICVERIFY with your application There are three methods by which an application can be integrated with ICVERIFY: * Request-and-answer files for DOS,UNIX, and Windows applications * Direct calls to the DLL using the ICVERIFY API for Windows applications * Object linking and embedding (OLE) for Windows applications For most applications, the request and answer file method is the primary mechanism for submitting transactions to ICVERIFY. The request and answer method supports up to 999 stations using a single modem. For applications running in a single-user Windows environment either the ICVERIFY API or OLE interface methods may be used as an alternative. *********************************************** Y2K litigation costs to surpass $1 trillion ********************************************** With the millennium storm clouds hovering above, the Gartner Group estimates litigation costs over Y2K service and product failures could soar to $1trillion or more. For Washington, Y2K might spell disaster but for most private computers, it might not be the end of the world. Read next issue of Telcomine for details ************************************************** After Korea, Ebill set to enter China and Europe ************************************************** Expanding it's successful operations in the United States into Korea, Infozech is now looking into the Chinese and the European Markets. Ankur Lal, President, Infozech, told the leading IT magazine Express Computers that the company is in negotiations with a Chinese firm and is expected to enter the market within a year. In Korea, Infozech would be addressing growing areas like IP Telephony, E-Mail-to-fax, fax-to-Email. "Korea is a growing market and we hope to do well there", he said. Infozech's flagship product, eBill provides software solutions for telecom services like Callback, toll-free numbers, calling cards, Internet services and Internet Telephony. It is also going to introduce automatic credit card verification on eBill, the article adds. For more details on eBill please visit http://www.infozech.com/ebill.htm ********************************* Information supplied on as is basis. If you have found Telcomine useful, please consider telling somebody else about it. E-mail: Telcomine@infozech.com Fax: 408-490-2840; Voice Mail: 408-490-2842