From ptownson Thu Apr 20 07:46:13 2000 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id HAA15961 for \ptownson; Thu, 20 Apr 2000 07:46:12 -0400 (EDT) Received: from xuxa.iecc.com (N123-104@xuxa.iecc.com [208.31.42.42]) by massis (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id HAA15952 for ; Thu, 20 Apr 2000 07:46:10 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 28685 invoked by uid 166); 20 Apr 2000 07:46:21 -0400 Delivered-To: virtual-db-editor@telecom-digest.org Received: (qmail 28679 invoked from network); 20 Apr 2000 07:46:16 -0400 Received: from del3.vsnl.net.in (HELO delcluster1.vsnl.net.in) (202.54.96.3) by mail2.iecc.com with SMTP; 20 Apr 2000 07:46:16 -0400 Received: from manish ([203.197.212.219]) by delcluster1.vsnl.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id RAA25764 for ; Thu, 20 Apr 2000 17:17:03 -0500 (GMT) Message-Id: <200004202217.RAA25764@delcluster1.vsnl.net.in> From: "Telcomine" To: "editor@telecom-digest.org" Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 17:16:57 +0550 Subject: Telcomine:Trends in Telecom Technology Reply-To: telcomine@infozech.com Organization: ISPL MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 Status: RO =======================TELCOMINE============================ TELCOMINE - The monthly newsletter that brings the latest trends and developments in frontline IT Technologies. To subscribe mail to: nl@infozech.com To advertise mail to: telcomine@infozech.com ============================================================ **You may forward TELCOMINE to your friends and colleagues** ===================TELCOMINE================================ Trends in Telecom Technology Volume 3, No 4, April 2000 Visit: http://www.telcomine.com ============================================================ ======= IN THIS ISSUE======================================= 1. Mobile Users Beware: Today it is Cronje, Tomorrow it could be you >From your best friend your mobile phone could turn your deadliest enemy. This was proved by the sacking of South Africa's cricket captain Hansie Cronje on match fixing charges. Their cellular phones provided tell-tale proof of their wrong doing. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr100.shtml 2. Bollywood Stars Launch Movie Portals Bitten hard by the Internet bug, artists and producers of the Indian film industry are not only setting up their websites But also setting up software and Internet companies. The industry seem to have cottoned on to the dotcom phenomenon pretty fast and their plans are liberally smattered with words like dotcoms, portals along with television software and state-of-the-art studios. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr200.shtml 3. Mobile Telephony Standards War is On Microsoft Case Verdict will hurt Monopolies Attempts by Motorola and Nokia to enforce uniform monopoly standards in wireless telephony are clearly doomed following the historic verdict in the Microsoft anti-trust case. It has established once for all that competition is the soul of trade and must not be sacrificed to monopoly for any other advantage. At stake now is the future of the American Qualcomm standard called the 'CDMA' against Motorola's '1Xtreme'. Obviously the future of Internet and mobiles lies in multiple standards and new technologies that are perfectly inter-connectable at the user's end. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr300.shtml European Institute Proposes M- commerce Standards In an effort to develop a cross-industry exchange both in technology and business model the European Telecommunications Standards Institute plans to spearhead a worldwide mobile commerce partnership program that will work towards addressing business models, security issues and technical standards. 4. When Mobile is Your Purse, Cash and Bank Card Can you think of a life without ready cash? Within five to ten years your mobile phone could be your purse. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr400.shtml 5. Clinton calls India a 21st Century Software Superpower US President Bill Clinton's five - day visit to India in March has given a boost to Indian economy. In farm-yards, schools, stock exchanges and the offices of the state and central governments, "Internet" and "Software" are the new operative words. Almost everyone seems only too eager to work towards the realization of Clinton's vision of India as a "21st century software super-power". Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr500.shtml Hi - Tech Films and Venture Capital Boom Software shares continue to zoom in the stock market. A new indicator is the boom in tele-film shares with more and more movie stars and celebrities jumping on the Internet bandwagon. Indian Bollywood film exports are slated to jump from $100 million last year to $250 million in 2000. Industry circles expect five million Internet connections in India in two years, from one million now. 6. US IT Industry Wants More Entry Permits for Foreign Programmers Information Technology industries in US have appealed to the government to raise the immigration quotas for software engineers. According to estimates 1.5 million "slots" will have to be filled in IT related areas in the next few years. A large number of these may remain vacant to the detriment of the US economy, unless urgent steps are taken to let engineers in. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr600.shtml 7. University Authorities Crackdown on Cyber Plagiarism To control the increasing cases of cheating through the Internet, a new software has been developed that by checking the finger print pattern would help detecting if the material written by university students are original and are not lifted up from the Internet. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr700.shtml 8. FTC Drive Against Sites Offering False Get-Rich-Quick Schemes The Federal Trade Commission of US has announced a massive drive across 28 countries to target fraudulent, get-rich-quick schemes on the Internet. The crackdown which is the largest of its kind has highlighted more than 1600 suspect websites. The sites would be told to stop or change their claims. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr800.shtml 9. Could Robots, Genetic Scientists wipe out Humanity by 2030? A Futurologist's Nightmare Could robots with super-human power or scientists armed with genetic or micro-electronic forces that could "self replicate" with the force of the Big Bang) wipe out the human race in no time? By no means entirely new, the question has been posed with a fresh sense of urgency by the well known philosopher – scientist Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems. In the style of Orwell's "1984" Joy predicts this should become technically feasible by 2030. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr900.shtml Five GNR- Triggered Doomsday Scenarios Citing several leading scientists, Joy discusses five GNR- triggered doomsday possibilities. It could be set off by a "Unabomber" or Luddite acting on his own. It could be the cascading effect of a limited experiment in a self-replication going out of control. Financial and competitive pressures of the unchallenged system of global capitalism could lead to the development of a product or products capable of destroying humanity. As the new GNR systems gain in complexity and acquire a momentum of their own one simple mistake or miscalculation in handling them might bring an end to the world as we know it. And, it might well be caused by a mere "accident". God, Nietzche and Big Bang In pointing to the dangers inherent in self-replication at lightning speed Joy and other scientists may have hit upon the deepest of the secrets of the universe. The creation of the universe through the Big Bang represents the ultimate limits and possibilities of such self- replications. If billions of galaxies could spread out in a flash, as it were, replication as a "fundamental" force of creation could trigger another Big Bang. And the universe could wind up as rapidly as it came into being (to unfurl again after aeons of time!). 10. Harrod Fayed Wins Dodi Al Fayed's Domain Name Dispute In a remarkable case Harrod Fayed, father of Dodi Al Fayed, who was killed along with Princess Diana in a car accident, won 'dodialfayed.com' domain name dispute case. A US resident had registered Dodi Al Fayed's personal name as Domain name and had tried selling it off at an auction website, greatdomains.com, for $4,00,000. He was accused of capitalizing unfairly on the fame and public interest in Dodi. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1000.shtml 11. Security Alliance Offers Free Anti-Hacking tools In the wake of the denial of service attacks that had paralyzed various popular e-commerce sites in February this year, icsa.net, is offering an anti -hacking tool, at no cost. The tool would determine if a site's filters and security systems are in place and configured properly, so that it does not become a victim to another attack. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1100.shtml 12. FBI alerts on New Deadly "911 Worm" Virus The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in April, alerted about a new virus that erases hard drives and makes bogus 911 calls. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1200.shtml 13. Billing Solution 'eBill' Makes a Hit in Ireland Using Infozech's 'eBill' Billing Solution the Ireland based Orbitel Communications has successfully billed its customers for local, national and international calls and has expressed deep satisfaction in eBill- Infozech's billing solution. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1300.shtml 14. IBM's New High Speed Copper Chip Saves Mobile Phone Power IBM has claimed that batteries of mobile phones equipped with its latest copper-wired chip will have 50 percent longer life. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1400.shtml 15. Internet to Get More Ads Than TV New York based Economic Research firm in its latest study revealed that by 2005 the global online advertising spending will jump from $5.28 billion to $45.5 billion by 2005, surpassing the, TV. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1500.shtml 16. Cell Phone to Read Out e-mail, Internet Content to you Lernout & Hauspie have developed a cell-phone that can read out to you your email or any other information from the Internet that you might ask for. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1600.shtml 17. Wireless Portal adds Voice to Its Services Oracle's Oramobile which is the first comprehensive consumer wireless Internet portal will now allow callers to talk directly to the page and have the web content read back to them. This facility will allow the non-WAP enabled mobile users to get the same services. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1700.shtml 18. Japan - US Tussle on Telecom Rates The two-way feud between Japan and US over the "cost-oriented interconnection rates" reaches a turning point when Japan answered back US Threatening of, going to the WTO, by saying that they are doing their best to cut telecom rates. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1800.shtml 19. Boeing, Lockheed, BAE and Raytheon Launch Exclusive Aviation Net Exchanges Coming close on the heels of the auto exchange, four aerospace giants have now announced a similar net convergence exchange to handle their $ 71 billion transaction. This opens up a new trend of industries creating exclusive pocket all over the Internet. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr1900.shtml 20. Digital TV to Overtake PC for Home Run e- Commerce All e-commerce operation can now be handled by a "remote" operating an interactive Digital TV from the comfort of a sofa or a bed. Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr2000.shtml 21. MAILBOX "Make Money By Hacking Hackers" Details: http://www.infozech.com/articles/apr2100.shtml ================================================================== Mobile Users Beware: Today it is Cronje, Tomorrow it could be you ================================================================== >From your best friend your mobile phone could turn your deadliest enemy. This was proved by the sacking of South Africa's cricket captain Hansie Cronje over match fixing charges. Their cellular phones provided tell-tale proof of their wrong doing. The success of the Delhi Police in fixing not only Cronje, but also four businessmen by breaking into their worldwide mobile network, casts the entire field of mobile telephony and M-commerce in a new light. The Delhi Police has presented what it calls "overwhelming evidence" not only against the alleged culprits in a sensational international scandal but also against their main tool, the mobile phone itself. Consider what the case has revealed: 1. The cell-phone is too personal. By constant use the cell phone becomes part of your identity like your signature or thumb impression. It is your daily diary, your, and only your, record of social and business transactions. 2. It creates a long trail of your movements and activities. Being mobile and attached to your person you are leaving behind on its central data bank not only your own footprints but of all those with whom you communicate. 3. It makes you a sitting duck. If you have a "roaming mobile", those watching you do not have to follow you, or form inter-city or inter-country teams to watch you at airports and hotels. Only one person sitting in a quite corner with electronic access to the control center of your personal cell-phone provider can merrily collect nearly all the information he needs on you and your associates. 4. Not only governments, but individuals also can watch it all. Elsewhere in this issue of Telcomine we carry a review of a long essay by the philosopher- scientist Bill Joy which shows that within a few years such detective powers will become a common property. Eric Drexler, the famous nano technologist and futurologist has shown how an invisible micro-electronic or micro biological particle attached to an instrument could secretly transmit data hundreds of miles away. And from Israel now comes the news that its researchers have discovered design flaws that allow the descrambling of supposedly private conversations carried by hundreds of millions of wireless phones. These are only some of the daunting scenarios that should make our mobile maniacs pause and ponder. ================================================================ Bollywood Stars Launch Movie Portals ================================================================ Bitten hard by the Internet bug, artists and producers of the Indian film industry are not only setting up their websites but also setting up software, Internet companies and state of the art studios. Film exports are estimated to fetch $250 million this year against $100 million last year. Devgan Entertainment & Software, a company owned by star couple Ajay Devgan and Kajol, intends to set up a state-of -the-art digital studio in Mumbai, produce and market television software as well as launch a full fledged entertainment portal. Boney Kapoor, producer and director of many hit films, also has plans to launch portals and enter the software sector. Online is producer Subhash Ghai of 'Taal' fame and music company 'Tips'. The technology for editing, recording and dubbing provided by India's Romoji film city is considered at par with the best in the world. ================================================================ Mobile Telephony Standards War is On Microsoft Case Verdict will Hurt Monopolies =============================================================== Attempts by Motorola and Nokia to enforce uniform monopoly standards in wireless telephony are clearly doomed following the historic verdict in the Microsoft anti-trust case. It has established once for all that competition is the soul of trade and must not be sacrificed to monopoly for any other advantage. At stake now is the future of the American Qualcomm standard called the 'CDMA' against Motorola's '1Xtreme'. Obviously the future of Internet and mobiles lies in multiple standards and new technologies that are perfectly inter-connectable at the user's end. Motorola and Nokia together have called for wireless technology standards based on Motorola's "1Xtreme", a wireless transmission method capable of handling voice and high speed Internet access for future wireless networks. Wireless Carriers expect to launch mobile Internet services Over hones and higher-speed connections as a prerequisite to Offering much more -- graphics, video images-- than the simple text messages and content such as stock quotes and sports scores - that the current systems allow. Both the third generations wireless technologies, from Qualcomm to the Motorola-Nokia combination aspire to solve the capacity problem. The '1Xtreme' proposal enables real time voice, data and multimedia services on existing cdma 200 networks allowing end users to browse the Internet from a personal computer or access email while moving. According to Nokia '1Xtreme' will offer operators a cost effective migration path to provide integrated voice and data a speed up to 5.2 mega bits per second on a single 1.25 MHz code division multiple access carrier. It is slated for commercial service in 2002. America's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) transmits simultaneous signals over a shared portion of the spectrum. It is less costly to implement, requiring fewer cell sites than the GSM and TDMA digital cell phone systems and providing three to five times the calling capacity. It provides more than 10 times the capacity of the analog cellphone system (AMPS). CDMA transmission has been used by the military for secure phone calls. European Institute Proposes M- commerce Standards In an effort to develop a cross-industry exchange both in technology and business model the European Telecommunications Standards Institute plans to spearhead a worldwide mobile commerce partnership program that will work towards addressing business models, security issues and technical standards. ETSI stresses that it wants the program to tackle issues such as how mobile and fixed e-commerce applications will work together. In March it has finalized the transposition of the first series of 3GPP Release 99 specifications into the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) standard. This release will enable industry to proceed with the development of the system, which is planned to come into service in Japan in 2001, with progressive launches around the world in 2002. According to Joanne Taaffe in EMAP Media, the ongoing introduction of wireless Application Protocol (WAP) followed by GPRS networks has created a momentum for group standards work. The operators stress that cross-industry co-operation is needed. Visit: http://www.etsi.org =============================================================== When Mobile is Your Purse, Cash and Bank Card =============================================================== Can you think of a life without ready cash? Within five to ten years your mobile phone could be your purse. Producing instant "virtual" cash for all you may wish to buy with your money in the bank. Banks , financial institutions and mobile phone companies are now teaming up to make this dream a reality. Their target: one billion e-commerce ready mobile phones hitting $500 billion in trade transactions in 2005, to double in another five years. Over 1 billion e-commerce-ready wireless phones will exist within five years. Demand for mobile banking, payments, shopping, entertainment and other applications are burgeoning. M-commerce will revolutionize the banking sector. According to a report released by Yankee group, titled -"Mobile Banking : Paving the Way for Wireless Commerce in Europe" -"banks and mobile operators are clearly mutually dependent. The provision of services and the development of the market is contingent on the establishment of alliances and cooperative agreements between financial institutions and network operators". "Banks are among the prime movers in e-commerce development not least because their target market comprises third parties, as well as users end," says Jonathan Doran, analyst at the Yankee Group Europe. The report focuses on mobile banking and financial services, as the Yankee Group believes that these applications constitute the stepping stones towards a wider mobile e-commerce environment. Wireless operators, Internet retailers, content providers, smart card manufactures, mobile device retailers and system integrators will all benefit immensely from the rise of mobile e-commerce. ================================================================ Clinton Calls India a 21st Century Software Superpower =============================================================== US President Bill Clinton's five - day visit to India in March has given a boost to Indian economy. In farm-yards, schools, stock exchanges and the offices of the state and central governments, "Internet" and "Software" are the new operative words. Almost everyone seems only too eager to work towards the realization of Clinton's vision of India as a "21st century software super-power". The real revolution seems to have occurred in the minds of the youth who are making a beeline to schools and institutions imparting skills and knowledge of Internet use and software development. In the short run this promises a mushroom growth of ill-equipped private software coaching centers, out to make a fast buck. But state and central governments are rushing in with budgetary support to start computer courses in some 10,000 schools. Centers of excellence in information technology for hundreds of students are to be set up in all the 25 states of the country. The central government plans to create 25 software technology parks (or hi-tech townships) one in each state. There is a new thrust towards "Internet for the rural masses" in the new vision statement issued after Clinton's visit by Pramod Mahajan, Minister for Information Technology. Clinton was most impressed by a milk dairy transacting its business over computer as part of a state-wide dairy chain in Rajasthan during his visit to the state. But the major thrust in all this comes from the private sector. Almost everyday hordes of foreign businessmen are landing in different IT- hub cities in India with money and projects to take advantage of the Internet boom. The government for its part has lined up billions of dollars worth of infra-structural facilities to help them. Hi - Tech Films and Venture Capital Boom Software shares continue to zoom in the stock market. A new indicator is the boom in tele-film shares with more and more movie stars and celebrities jumping on the Internet bandwagon. Indian Bollywood film exports are slated to jump from $100 million last year to $250 million in 2000. Industry circles expect five million Internet connections in India in two years, from one million now. The biggest indicator of the transformation is in the salaries of the top software professionals which have shot up from thousands to hundreds of thousands of rupees, at least a twenty - time jump, in 10 years, and are still rising. The happiest trend is a reverse brain drain, with many Indian expatriates in America looking homeward, lured by the prospects of harvesting the new Venture Capital tide sweeping the IT industry. ================================================================ US IT Industry Wants More Entry Permits for Foreign Programmers ================================================================ Information Technology industries in US have appealed to the government to raise the immigration quotas for software engineers. According to estimates 1.5 million "slots" will have to be filled in IT related areas in the next few years. A large number of these may remain vacant to the detriment of the US economy, unless urgent steps are taken to let engineers in. The entry quotas for some countries have been exhausted and next year's quotas will become operative only after October 2000. The matter is now before the US Congress. ============================================================ University Authorities Crackdown on Cyber Plagiarism ============================================================ To control the increasing cases of cheating through the Internet, a new software has been developed that by checking the finger print pattern would help detecting if the material written by university students are original and are not lifted up from the Internet. The new software assigns a virtual fingerprint to each student which shows their style - how long their sentence and paragraphs are, how often do they use adjectives and adverbs. By checking this pattern, it can detect instantly whether a student is presenting his or her own material. Around 117 students at the University of Edinburugh were accused of using e-mail to copy each other's course work . A similar product was featured in Telcomine's March issue in which a standard computer with the help of an embedded fingerprint-scanning device can establish the true identity of the user. The mouse ensures that only authorized users gain access to computers and website. Article: Mouse That Can Establish User's Identity http://www.infozech.com/articles/mar1800.shtml ================================================================ FTC Drive Against Sites Offering False Get-rich-quick Schemes ================================================================ The Federal Trade Commission of US has announced a massive drive across 28 countries to target fraudulent, get-rich-quick schemes on the Internet. The crackdown which is the largest of its kind has highlighted more than 1600 suspect websites. The sites would be told to stop or change their claims. The FTC press release said the team will launch prosecution against the sites which continue to make fraudulent or deceptive claims through their get-rich-quick schemes. According to Jodie Bernstein, Director Bureau of Consumer Protection , FTC, "this is the largest ever international law enforcement project to fight fraud on the Internet, with 150 organizations in 28 countries on 5 continents, including seven US federal agencies, 49 state consumer protection agencies, 34 state attorneys general and 39 Better Business Bureaus." ================================================================ Could Robots, Genetic Scientists Wipe Out Humanity by 2030? A Futurologist's Nightmare ================================================================ Could robots with super-human power or scientists armed with genetic or micro-electronic forces that could "self replicate" (with the force of the Big Bang) wipe out the human race in no time? By no means entirely new, the question has been posed with a fresh sense of urgency by the well known philosopher - scientist Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems. In the style of Orwell's "1984" Joy predicts this should become technically feasible by 2030. "Self-replication" is the key to Joy's thesis. "It is even possible that self -replication may be more natural than we thought and hence harder - or even impossible- to control", he says in an article in the April issue of Wired magazine. His primary concern, however is not the process of self- replication but the fantastic speed it has acquired in each of the three GNR (Genetics, Nanotechnology and Robotics) technologies. The potential of mischief is in the speed with which, for instance, "tough omnivorous 'bacteria' (produced micro-electronically) could outcompete 'real' bacteria. They could spread like pollen, replicate swiftly and reduce the biosphere to dust in a matter of days,...", he says quoting Eric Drexler, Founder of Foresight Institute and well known author of "Engines of Creation". In the fusion of the GNR technologies (with his own information technology or robotics as the bedrock perhaps.) Joy sees the possibility, emerging for the first time, of this tremendous destructive power falling into the hands of individuals anywhere by 2030. Five GNR- Triggered Doomsday Scenarios Among the dangers he visualizes is the emergence of a robot more intelligent than man. How soon can such an intelligent robot be built? The coming advances in computing power seem to make it a reality by 2030. And once an intelligent robot is created, it is only a small step to a robot species which, many scientists believe can wipe out humans. Citing several leading scientists, Joy discusses five GNR- triggered doomsday possibilities. It could be set off by a "Unabomber" or Luddite acting on his own. It could be the cascading effect of a limited experiment in a self-replication going out of control. Financial and competitive pressures of the unchallenged system of global capitalism could lead to the development of a product or products capable of destroying humanity. As the new GNR systems gain in complexity and acquire a momentum of their own one simple mistake or miscalculation in handling them might bring to an end the world as we know it. And, it might well be caused by a mere "accident". God, Nietzche and Big Bang He then goes on to discuss philosopher Nietzeche's warning of the dangerous consequences of quest for (scientific) truth "at any price" and adds that "truth that science seeks can certainly be considered a dangerous substitute for God if it has the potential to lead to our extinction". In pointing to the dangers inherent in self-replication at lightning speed Joy and other scientists may have hit upon the deepest of the secrets of the universe. The creation of the universe through the Big Bang represents the ultimate limits and possibilities of such self- replications. If billions of galaxies could spread out in a flash, as it were, replication as a "fundamental" force of creation could trigger another Big Bang. And the universe could wind up as rapidly as it came into being (to unfurl again after aeons of time!). Perhaps Nietzeche was referring to this cosmic force which Christianity calls God's will to which man can aspire through science, rather than faith, only at his own peril. Eastern philosophies see this phenomenon as a cosmic manifestation of His will. Says the Gita: Yea! this vast company of living things- again and yet again produced - "expires at Brahma's Nightfall; and, at Brahma's Dawn riseth, without its will, to life new born..... The worlds - even Brahma's world - roll back again from Death to Life's unrest". ================================================================ Harrod Fayed Wins Dodi Al Fayed's Domain Name Dispute ================================================================ In a remarkable case Harrod Fayed, father of Dodi Al Fayed, who was killed along with Princess Diana in a car accident, won 'dodialfayed.com' domain name dispute case. A US resident had registered Dodi Al Fayed's personal name as Domain name and had tried selling it off at an auction website, greatdomains.com, for $4,00,000. He was accused of capitalizing unfairly on the fame and public interest in Dodi. A complaint was launched by Harrod, for misusing the trademark 'Dodi Fayed'. As this is a violation of rightful trademark in cyberspace the case was filed with WIPO's (World Intellectual Property Organization) arbitration center. The WIPO ruled that the commercial impression is that the domain name is associated with goods and services sponsored by Dodi. It was also clear that the respondent has no right or legitimate respect of the domain name since he has offered to sell it off for a large amount. The WIPO panel has directed a name transfer of the domain name to Harrods. ================================================================ Security Alliance Offers Free Anti-Hacking tools ================================================================ In the wake of the denial of service attacks that had paralyzed various popular e-commerce sites in February this year, icsa.net, is offering an anti -hacking tool, at no cost. The tool would determine if a site's filters and security systems are in place and configured properly, so that it does not become a victim to another attack. The tool, NetLitmus, will be available to anyone who joins the alliance. It can not only detect any misconfigured systems in an organization, but will also determine if the organization's ISP is doing its job. According to the icsa website, early testing with this tool shows that the majority of companies do not have meaningful filtering in place. Less than 15% of the initial corporate users of the tool had appropriate filtering. Similarly, less than half of the corporation's ISPs had functional filtering for spoofed or fake addresses. The alliance was formed in February after the denial of service attack against yahoo, ebay and other major Internet sites. Till now more than 650 ISPs, security vendors, major corporations and industry leaders have joined the force. To become the member of the alliance, organizations must pledge to adopt security measures that address DDoS. Visit : http://www.icsa.net ================================================================ FBI alerts on New Deadly "911 Worm" Virus ================================================================ The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in April alerted about a new virus that erases hard drives and makes bogus 911 calls. The FBI's advisory warned that the 911 Worm, also known as Chode or Firkin, could delete the contents of a victim's hard drive, and use the computer's modem to place calls to 911 emergency lines. The FBI said the worm infects Windows 95/98 PCs connected to the Internet and which have had Windows file or print sharing enabled. The FBI and NIPC are continuing to investigate the virus. The NIPC - National Infrastructure Protection Center-- brings together representatives of the FBI, governments agencies and the private sector to protect the nation's computer networks. According to NIPC , the virus spreads by attacking computers with Windows operating systems set up to allow users to share files over the Internet. ================================================================ Billing Solution 'eBill' Makes a Hit in Ireland ================================================================ Using Infozech's 'eBill' Billing Solution the Ireland based Orbitel Communications has successfully billed its customers for local, national and international calls and has expressed deep satisfaction in eBill- Infozech's billing solution. "The professionalism, commitment and technical expertise of all Infozech personnel involved to date is exceptional. We are delighted to progress our business relationship with Infozech to in the foreseeable future and have no hesitation in recommending them as a new technology business partner" said Andrew Dignam, Director of Orbitel Communications. eBill- the complete billing and customer care solution from Infozech has modules that will map every department of the company be it management, billing, customer care or sales agent. eBill provides software solutions for telecom services like Internet telephony, Internet fax services, toll free numbers, calling cards, Internet services and callback. For more details on eBill contact sales@infozech.com ================================================================ IBM's New High Speed Copper Chip Saves Mobile Phone Power ================================================================ IBM has claimed that batteries of mobile phones equipped with its latest copper-wired chip will have 50 percent longer life. The new 30 percent faster chip uses a material known as "low-k-dielectric" to shield its millions of individual copper circuits, reducing electrical "crosstalk" between wires that can hinder chip performance and waste power. According to John Kelly, General manager of the IBM Microelectric Division, "along with the move from Aluminum to Copper to improve chip wiring, we believe this will help IBM a one- to -two year lead over the rest of the industry." IBM has also announced a custom chip offering called Cu-11. It will support design up to an unprecedented 40 million "gates' or circuits. ================================================================ Internet to Get More Ads Than TV ================================================================ New York based Economic Research firm in its latest study revealed that by 2005 the global online advertising spending will jump from $5.28 billion to $45.5 billion by 2005, surpassing the, TV. According to Reuters that cited a study from Myers group, the rise in online ad expenditure will soon eclipse TV and Cable. The study found that network broadcast advertising revenues will grow from $16.8 billion to $19.2 billion or 82% of global online ad spending this year. By 2005, US spending will rise to $32.5 billion, accounting for 71% of the worldwide total of $45.5 billion. At the same time , cable ad revenue will grow from $10.1 billion in 2000 to $23.8 billion in 2005. The higher online ad spending will come from traditional industries such as autos, entertainment, financial services, telecommunications, travel and tourism. ================================================================ Cell Phone to Read Out e-mail, Internet Content to you ================================================================ Lernout & Hauspie have developed a cell-phone that can read out to you your email or any other information from the Internet that you might ask for. The prototype is essentially a mobile phone with a 2 by 3 inches LCD, a microphone and a speaker. It uses a 233-MHz StrongArm processor and runs on Linux. Marking the convergence of voice recognition and text-to-speech technology , the facility does away with the straining of eyes while scanning the small screen. The prototype has a large vocabulary, continuous speech dictation engine to send and receive e-mails, surf the web and conduct e-commerce transactions. According to Gaston Bastiaens, President and CEO of L&H, "The small size and portability of PDAs, handheld and mobile devices have made them tremendously popular and at the same time provided a huge opportunity for the speech industry. The pricing is expected to be in the range of $300 to $500. ================================================================ Wireless Portal adds Voice to Its Services ================================================================ Oracle's Oramobile which is the first comprehensive consumer wireless Internet portal will now allow callers to talk directly to the page and have the web content read back to them. This facility will allow the non-WAP enabled mobile users to get the same services. "We are giving people who don't have new, expensive (Web- enabled) phones the ability to access the service," said Jacob Christ, Oracle mobile's CTO. This portal will increase the availability of the Internet to hundreds of millions of people who have phones but may not be able to access PCs. The portal is a subsidiary of Oracle and it includes news, stocks and entertainment information as a free service over the wireless web and it expects to earn revenue for advertisements and small cuts of transaction revenues. The portal is based on Oracle's portal-to-Go(tm) technology. http://www.oraclemobile.com ================================================================ Japan - US Tussle on Telecom Rates ================================================================ The two-way feud between Japan and US over the "cost-oriented interconnection rates" reaches a turning point when Japan answered back US threatening of, going to the WTO, by saying that they are doing their best to cut telecom rates. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) had failed to implement "cost-oriented interconnection rates" which telecommunications firms must pay for access to NTT's local phone lines. The United States has complained that Japan promised to cut interconnection charges by only 22 percent by 2004. US wants cuts of up to 50 percent over two years in the charges. Tokyo has offered 22.5 percent cuts to be implemented over four years, insisting that bigger cuts would jeopardize NTT's profits and threaten its workers' jobs. Washington, the European Union and Japanese industry say Tokyo's plan for a four-year phase in of cuts would keep rates at a level that was far higher than in other countries with a liberalized telecommunications regime. US asserts that by keeping interconnection charges high, telephone charges to consumers are artificially inflated and competition is impeded. ================================================================ Boeing, Lockheed, BAE and Raytheon Launch Exclusive Aviation Net Exchange ============================================================ Coming close on the heels of the auto exchange, four aerospace giants have now announced a similar net convergence exchange to handle their $ 71 billion transaction. This opens up a new trend of industries creating exclusive pocket all over the Internet. The Boeing company of Seattle, MD based Lockheed Martin Corp., Britain's BAE Systems and Raytheon CO. of Lexington, along with Commerce One have announced the creation of an independent enterprise that will develop an internet trading exchange for the global aerospace and defense industry. All the four companies will have equal share in the joint venture. Commercial and military sales in the aerospace industry are worth more than $400 billion a year. The four companies purchase a combined $71 billion in supplies and parts annually. According to Raytheon Chairman and CEO Dan Burnham, "We are excited about the potential of this innovation e-commerce trading exchange. By bringing the supply chain management expertise of the industry's leaders to a single, online marketplace, we will put customers, suppliers and employees a mouse click away from achieving greater productivity, efficiency and cost savings." The exchange which will become operational by mid-year will be open to all aerospace and defense companies, airlines, their suppliers, manufacturers, government departments and service providers. ================================================================ Digital TV to Overtake PC for Home Run e- Commerce ================================================================ All e-commerce operation can now be handled by a "remote" operating an interactive Digital TV from the comfort of a sofa or a bed. No longer will PC and phones remain the only media to access the net. According to Forrester Research, interactive digital TV will overtake the Internet as the primary platform for home operated e-commerce in Europe by 2005. According to Noah Taskin, analyst with Jupiter's European Internet Strategies research practice, "Interactive DTV opens up vast opportunities for retailer financial services and others by creating a new channel directly into consumers homes, but it also disrupts the Internet economy, changing consumer behavior and rearranging the suppliers' landscape. Consumers can now choose to access e-mail, shopping and even the Web from their TVs or their PCs." Jupiter research shows DTV - Digital Television -- penetration will increase from seven percent in 1999 to 33 percent by 2003 in Western Europe. The number of households with DTV access will more than quadruple, increasing from 11.3 million in 1999 to 50.8 million by 2003. The UK, Denmark and Germany will enjoy the highest DTV penetration accounting for 52, 41 and 40 percent of households, respectively. Digital TV is experimenting with new broadband Internet services that could be offered via satellite if home sets had larger storage. ================================================================ MAILBOX ================================================================ "Make Money By Hacking Hackers" ! I love the story. (Indian Boy's Internet Privacy Software Makes History - Telcomine January 2000). It is about time youth who have the abilities to do hacking can now make money at their hobby.- Jason Dunframe Looking for software to detect if my computer is being used by hackers. Joseph Schnell We have featured one tool in our current issue itself -Security alliance offers free anti-hacking tools.- hope it solves your purpose. - Editor How can I get hold of the original article by George Gilder? - Mabud Hossain It was featured in Forbes ASAP magazine. - Editor If I want to have PC- to- phone services using a multimedia PC, what are the things that I need to consider?- Grace Ylanan Kindly have a look at our December 99 and January 2000 issue where we have featured such services. -Editor I am interested in subscribing to your newsletter. Please let me know what the procedure is.-Prof. Dr. Cees J. Hamelink Burg. Hogguerstraat Amsterdam I am a Malaysian and I would like to thank you for the helpful articles in your site. THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE ALWAYS TELCOMINE...- Chandra Reka Topics covered in this issue are informative and interesting. Keep up the good work.- Punit Shukla Heartiest thanks for an excellent newsletter on telecom. Please make it a daily publication.- R.K.Gupta ================================================================ Executive Editor: Pragya Singh If you have any ideas and suggestions to improve TELCOMINE Contact Editor: telcomine@infozech.com or simply reply to this mail with your idea. If you have a new product or service that you would like us to mention. Send details to telcomine@infozech.com If you have found Telcomine useful, please consider telling others about it. To Subscribe: nl@infozech.com Advertise: telcomine@infozech.com Fax: 408-490-2840 Voice Mail : 408-490-2842 ================================================================