************************************************* Telcomine (http://www.infozech.com/telcomine.html),=20 a monthly newsletter from Infozech. Telcomine brings=20 you the latest trends and developments in frontline=20 IT Technologies. To subscribe send a mail=20 to nl@infozech.com ************************************************* *****TELCOMINE************ Wealth of Information about Telecommunications Volume 2,No1, January 1999 IN THIS ISSUE 1. Euro launch not a software success story: Though a major sensation in stock markets around the world, the euro was not a software success. It was like a major Coca-Cola launch in a country without delivery vans and outlets or even bottling plants. 2. She Got 463 suitors on Internet: Sighted on an agency website, Zarna Mehta, a New York based girl received 463 suitor responses on Internet before she finally chose Shalabh Garg, a Citibank Executive in Zurich, Switzerland. 3.Mobile Phones can cause cancer: New findings More than 20 people who believe they have suffered from brain tumors, memory loss or damage to their immune systems line up to seek legal redress from mobile phone companies. Scientists believe microwave radiation emitted by these phones may affect the brain in the way a microwave oven cooks food. 4. Rest your fingertips, dial with your voice: Cheap powerful software -- developed by IBM, Microsoft, Dragon Systems, Lernout & Hauspie, General Magic and others -- is hitting the market allowing people to talk to their machines. 5. Make your telephone ring from your website: A unique new product, Webcallback, from Globalphone Corp, links a visitor and a company hosting a web site by telephone. By clicking on Webcallback hyperlink, the visitor can make secure transactions, review a site with the host company, ask questions and obtain answers over the telephone. 6. Alert on Hole for Hackers in Internet Language: A computer security watchdog has alerted that a "hole" in the underlying language of the Internet (TCP/IP) could allow hackers to cause an array of disruptions to targeted Web sites and Internet systems. 7. Pacific Bell warns billing firms on fraud Pacific Bells warns billing firms of termination of contracts if they did not stop cramming - a fraud which occurs when charges show up on the consumer's bills for products or services that consumers either never ordered or didn't receive. 8. Product Goof-ups of 1998: Every year we have our share of product mishaps - and 1998 was no exception. Have a look at some of the blunders of the year gone by. 9. Ebill for Hong Kong giant Magictel Magictel, a Hong Kong based telecom service provider, chooses Infozech's billing solution eBill to bill for its IP Telephony services. 10. Mailbox "No cars, please!" A reader's objections and our comments on why we used the "Driverless car story" in our December issue. ********************************************** Euro Launch Not A Software Success Story ********************************************** Though a sensation in the few major stock exchanges across the world, the Euro was hardly visible in the markets anywhere mainly because the software systems needed to release the new currency was nowhere in place. It was like a major Coca-Cola launch in a country without delivery vans and outlets or even bottling plants. Even in Brussels, the Euro capital where the dollar challenger was born, "from historic taverns to venerable stores selling lace and chocolate to suburban malls gripped with January sales fever, prices posted in Euro were scarce. Shoppers using credit cards who want their purchases accounted for in Euros, are still rarer" says an AP report. Few enterprising business houses are, however, ready for it after much effort and expense. The launch was preceded by preparations on a war footing. Merrill Lynch, a global investment bank had spent 7,00,000 man hours preparing for the euro and had at least 2,000 separate tasks to complete globally before the markets opened on January 4 1999. The budget for Deutsche Bank's euro conversion programme is an astounding $700 million. Software industry analysts have estimated work on modifying existing systems to adapt to the euro standards will exceed that of Y2K-related contracts. Executives must not only change applications to accept the euro, but decide how far back to convert their business and accounting history in data spreadsheets, sales and bank statements. ********************************* She Got 463 Suitors on Internet ********************************* Sighted on an agency website, Zarna Mehta, a New York based girl received 463 suitor responses on Internet before she finally chose Shalabh Garg, a Citibank Executive in Zurich, Switzerland. Such alliances through marriage bureaus on the Internet are becoming increasingly popular. The clients are mainly Asians in Europe and America but lately lots of others including Americans are opting for this system. Says Shalabh, "I was working for Citibank, Zurich, Switzerland and she was working in New York, USA. So we were communicating across Europe to the US. I traveled to New York for 14 days out of which I spent 7 days in January 1998 with her. After that I traveled 6 more times to meet her. We also spent a lot of time on phone. We both went to India to get married. Zarna has given up her job in New York to move to Europe with me. I am joining Harvard University's MBA program in the US this fall, so we will both move back to the US in August and Zarna will then find a new job at that time." Zarna belongs to Bombay and Shalabh to New Delhi. True to its name Internet just puts you in contact anywhere to anywhere on the worldwide web. The rest is upto you. In 1993 one such marriage bureau, "The International Indian Marriage Center", was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as a window to the arranged marriage system of India. There are however a number of agencies on the net such as the "Transpacific Marriage Agency", which specialize in arranging contacts, with an eye towards marriage," between Western men and Japanese women. Another focuses on Russians. ********************************************** Mobile Phones Can Cause Cancer: New Findings ********************************************** Scientists now believe mobile phone radiation can cause brain tumors, memory loss or damage to immune systems. Microwave radiation emitted by these phones whenever calls are made may affect the brain in the way a microwave oven cooks food, though at a much higher power. More than 20 people who believe they have suffered from brain tumors, memory loss or damage to their immune systems are lining up to seek legal redress. Says Ralph Mills, who has been using mobile phones for a period of 12 years," I never thought my mobile phone could ruin health". Ralph suffers from brain tumor and is preparing to sue the manufacturers of the phone for failing to warn him of alleged health risks. Mobile phone companies will disagree but evidence is piling up to point to adverse links between mobile phone radiation and health. "Our work has shown that there is an increase of 50 percent in damage to DNA when it is exposed to mobile phones," says Dr Henry Lai, an expert in non-ionising radiation from the school of Medicine and College of Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, America. As concerns intensify, the industry maintains there is no risk. "Our position is that there is no substantive evidence to link the use of mobile phones to any adverse health effect," says Tom Wills-Sandford, from the federation of the electronic industry which represents mobile phone companies. However the actions of these phone companies suggest that they are worried. Six leading manufacturers of mobile phones have taken out patents for phone components aimed at reducing health risks. Several of these applications were made more than five years ago - suggesting the companies have long considered there was at least a potential hazard. ******************************************** Rest Your Fingertips, Dial With Your Voice ******************************************** It looks as if the days of dialing the phone with your fingertips are numbered. Cheap powerful software - developed by IBM, Microsoft, Dragon Systems, Lernout & Hauspie, General Magic and others -- is hitting the market, for just $62.95 allowing people to talk to their machines. Registry Magic is rolling out a "virtual operator" that answers incoming calls and connects them to the appropriate extension. No caller is ever put on hold. And customers don't have to press buttons to navigate a menu. The number of human operators answering calls to directory assistance and corporate switchboards already has fallen to about 160,000 in 1996 from 250,000 in 1983 says Commonwealth Associates, the main financial backer of Registry Magic. Wireless phone carriers such as AT&T Wireless and Software Sprint PCS recently introduced wireless handsets and services that offer hands-free voice dialing. Fonix is developing a voice-recognition application that will allow radiologists to speak into a computer and generate = transcribed copies of their reports in 3 hours instead of three days, spokesman Steven Hansen says. Public acceptance of the technology is growing. According to Commonwealth Associates, "the telecommunications speech-recognition market will exceed $5 billion by 2001, up from $407 million in 1997." ******************************************* Make Your Telephone Ring From Your Website ******************************************* A unique new product, Webcallback, from Globalphone Corp, promises to provide an entirely new level of customer service to the World Wide Web. This service links a visitor and a company hosting a web site by telephone. By clicking on Webcallback hyperlink, the visitor can make secure transactions, review a site with the host company, ask questions and obtain answers over the telephone. A call can be launched by anyone on the Internet. It does not require any kind of prior authorization by Globalphone - the providers of the webcallback service - or the goods/services supplier or any other agency. This is how it works: The visitor clicks on the webcallback link and enters his or her phone number. The link immediately triggers a call to a specific phone number at the company. The company staff person picks up the phone. Globlphone announces that they are being connected to a website visitor. The two parties are conferenced together and the company staff person can effectively close the sale or answer the visitors questions. Phone calls are placed within seconds of clicking on the webcallback hotlink. Recent studies show that 60% of web visitors who initiate an online purchase form never complete it. Webcallback allows a greater percentage of sales to complete because it allows the consumer to speak to a live person at the critical moment when they are prepared to buy. For details please visit: http://www.webcallback.com *********************************************** Alert on Hole For Hackers in Internet Language *********************************************** A computer security watchdog has alerted that a "hole" in the underlying language of the Internet (TCP/IP) could allow hackers to cause an array of disruptions to targeted Web sites and Internet systems. Vulnerable systems could be subject to malicious packets sent to their machines, causing them to "crash, hang, or behave in unpredictable ways," according to an advisory issued by CERT(Computer Emergency Response Team), Co-ordination Center. The group recommends that vulnerable Web sites reconfigure their routers or firewalls and install filtering on the routers to prevent IP (Internet Protocol) spoofing attacks. ****************************************** Pacific Bell Warns Billing Firms on Fraud ****************************************** If our customers complain, you can take your billing elsewhere. This is the message Pacific Bell is giving to companies that generate the most complaints about "cramming" - a fraud which occurs when the charges show up on the consumer's bills for products or services that consumers either never ordered or didn't receive. This warning was issued out to companies that bill for third-party telecom services using the Baby Bell's customer billing system. Third-party companies can contract with Pacific Bell to bill for additional telecom products and services, such as paging and faxing. "Our goal is to significantly cut cramming complaints in 90 days, and we ultimately hope to soon eliminate it altogether," said Dick Oxler, Pacific Bell's director of billing and collections in a statement. Pacific Bell said it had stopped billing for more than 40 service providers that have generated excessive complaints. During the 90 day crackdown, Pacific Bell will not allow targeted providers to bill for any new products or services. ************************* Product Goof-ups of 1998 ************************* Every year we have our share of product mishaps - and 1998 was no exception. Have a look at some of the blunders of the year gone by. Windows 98 This was a product that a high percentage of users could not install properly. Even vendors recommended that new buyers not install the upgrade and wait until Microsoft released patches and BIOS (Basic Input Output System) fixes. SiN computer game Fans of this hot new computer game inadvertently installed a CIH virus along with the game which strikes computers on the 26th day of the month. Activision Inc., the games developer had posted an infected demo version of the game on its site. Galaxy IV Approximately 90 percent of the United States paging services were lost, when one little satellite, Galaxy IV went out of control due to chip malfunction. It took several days to reroute transmissions and completely restore services. Spam filters Microsoft outlook drew some free speech thunderbolts when its spam filter blocked any message with an exclamation mark in the subject line. Diamond's Rio player Diamond's portable digital musical player,Rio, was under attack from the music industry. It was feared that Rio users could download all the high quality music from the Net, crippling CD sales. After lawyers were called in Rio finally made it to market. ************************************* Ebill For Hong Kong Giant, Magictel ************************************* Magictel - the first of a new generation of telecom service providers to apply internet technology to telephone calls - has chosen Infozech's billing and customer care solution eBill to bill for its IP telephony services. Magictel is part of a global communications network known as Interline. The Interline global network reaches over 200 countries including local partners in HongKong, Japan, South Korea, Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand, Canada and China. eBill provides software solutions for telecom ervices like Callback, toll-free numbers, calling cards, Internet services and Internet Telephony. Details at = http://www.infozech.com/solution.html ********* Mailbox ********* "No Cars Please"! I believe Telcomine should provide me more information about telecommunication industry like new technology, source of information on new technology and deployment of new technology. I do not think that items like "Car and Chip Makers Join To Make 21st Century Driverless Car" should have a place in Telcomine. - Amar Kumar, India A driverless car on the road is inconceivable without a distinct component of sophisticated telecom technology. Telcomine and its readers cannot be indifferent to the fascinating intermingling of Internet and Information highway technologies in the software world. - Editor We are a system integrator and a Cisco Silver partner. More and more customers are asking about IP Telephony and I would like to get more knowledge of this from the marketing and technical point. - Harold Chan, Hong Kong This is a good site. Thanks very much. - Arumugham Sudalaimuthu, New Zeland *********************************** Information supplied on as is basis. If you have found Telcomine useful, please consider telling somebody else about it. Executive Editor: Seema Dhawan E-mail: Telcomine@infozech.com Fax: 408-490-2840; Voice Mail: 408-490-2842 Internet: http://www.infozech.com/telcomine.html Please visit us at http://www.infozech.com