Rainer Neumann, CEO of Orga Systems GmbH, has decided to leave Orga Systems in order to pursue other interests, and the company has appointed Ramez Younan as new Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. Ramez, an ex senior Executive of Oracle Corporation, comes with a wealth of Telecommunication experience, established and ran global organizations advancing BSS and OSS systems and solutions at Telecommunication providers worldwide in over 45 countries globally.
 
During his seven years tenure as Chief Executive Officer Rainer Neumann has played the leading role in Orga Systems' conversion to the leading specialist in real-time charging and billing of mobile telecommunications services. Now, thanks to Rainer Neumann's dedication, Orga Systems has convergent real time billing solutions that set the standard for future products and provide more than 40 of the worlds leading mobile network operators with the services they require.

Ramez Younan's main focus will be on the further internationalization and growth of the Orga Systems Group to strengthen the strong relationship Orga Systems enjoys with its customers and extend Orga Systems' portfolio of products and services to future worldwide customers. Ramez Younan believes that Orga Systems' current portfolio and its leading position in the industry builds a strong platform for expansion in existing and new markets.

"I'm delighted to be part of Orga Systems' future. I strongly believe in its leading products, range of services, competence of its employees and commitment of its shareholders.  I'm committed to drive the continued excellence at our customer base and extend it to new customers and regions", Ramez states.

According to a new Juniper Research report – ‘Endpoint Security for Business: Desktops, Laptops & Mobile Devices 2009-2014' – the value of data on corporate mobile handsets, and the need to protect it, will boost the number of corporate devices using security software to 77.7 million by 2014, even though an anticipated flood of malware that was expected to hit the mobile device has not materialised.

The report also found that Europe will dominate the market for mobile security, owing to its thriving smartphone market, followed by US, China and South East Asia. 

 "Improvements to the underlying security of the mobile operating system, shorter replacement cycles and concerted efforts by the mobile industry to avoid the problems seen in the PC world have so far kept the malware threat to the mobile device at bay," says Anthony Cox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research.

However, the report notes that the increasing value of information held on the mobile device will be a significant factor in driving the uptake of security on the corporate mobile handset.

Further findings from the Endpoint Security research include:

• Security software manufacturers have focused on the need for Encryption and device locking and remote-wipe features
• Protection will be higher in developed markets with both Western Europe and North America at the forefront, largely on the back of companies' obligations to abide by data protection legislation
• Corporate mobile device protection levels will rise from 5.6% in 2008 to 18.6% in 2014

The report, which includes major analysis of both mobile and Endpoint security (desktops and laptops) contains comprehensive six year forecasts for key security parameters including Basic antivirus and firewall security; Encryption and advanced authorisation functions; Advanced firewalls, Intrusion detection and prevention, Virtual private networks (VPN); Security policy management, endpoint security updates and provision; Security of corporate mobile devices.

The Hamburg Sports Club (HSC), one of Germany's oldest and most successful football clubs, has deployed a 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) system from Ruckus Wireless in its football stadium, HSH Nordbank Arena.

"We aim to provide our customers and visitors with optimum comfort at the stadium," saod Heiko Möller, head of the HSC's arena and events management.  "These days, this also includes providing wireless internet access."

To this end, the HSC recently decided to wirelessly network the playing field, the access area, all the conference rooms, all the press boxes, and the press area by means of an 802.11n WLAN.  Additionally, this WLAN is used for internal communications between management and house automation.

The HSC was referred to Ruckus Wireless and its dynamic beamforming technology after a recommendation by its long-standing sponsor, Deutsche Telekom.

"Dynamic beamforming provides the infrastructure for a reliable wireless network with relatively few access points and high bandwidth in large areas with many physical obstructions.  This technology is not available from any other provider.  Reliability as well as the price-performance ratio is also attractive," explained Möller.

Ruckus Wireless identified where the 24 ZoneFlex 7692 dual band 802.11n access points (APs) and seven ZoneFlex 7762 outdoor APs had to be located to ensure optimum coverage.  AP's behind the goals are installed to support the photographers for image transfer directly from their Wi-Fi enabled cameras back to the newsrooms.  In less than one day, Ruckus APs were installed by the HSC's IT department.

The installation passed its practical test during the first home game of the 2009 season.  Since then, visitors in the VIP boxes and the conference area, as well as the journalists in the press centre and on the sidelines, have been using the broadband WLAN.

"Visitors now have T-Mobile HotSpot access during the game," says Ekkehard Barth, from Deutsche Telekom AG.  "Based on our excellent experience with the Ruckus products that we had used in the past, we were confident that Ruckus Wireless could ensure the reliability of our HotSpot service in the challenging environment of a football stadium with thousands of spectators."

"The fast wireless internet access has considerably improved the working conditions for the members of the press, in particular.  It has also made life easier for organisers and participants in other events.  For example, speakers can now download presentations directly from the internet or show web content," continued a satisfied Möller.

The HSC now plans to extend its WLAN coverage for the final game of the UEFA Europa League, which will be held at the HSH Nordbank Arena on May 12, 2010.

European mobile content companies, Mobile Streams and mobivention, have joined forces to provide more choice for mobile subscribers it was announced today.  As part of the agreement, Mobile Streams will provide a range of content wallpapers and videos to games and applications for distribution by mobivention to partners throughout Europe, including: Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Italy as well as Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

With mobile penetration in Europe continuing to grow steadily, the new partnership a range of content for mobivention's operator partners from Mobile Streams' library that is said to include content from some of the world's leading brands and media companies. The content will also be available through mobivention's D2C portals in Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

"We are delighted to have partnered with mobivention.  They are a good match for our business and for our ongoing distribution plans for the European mobile market," commented Mobile Streams COO, Arnd Aschentrup.  "We look forward to a longstanding and rewarding relationship".

Dr. Hubert Weid, CEO of mobivention added: "Our aim is to retain our position as a leading provider of content in Europe thanks to building relationships with quality providers such as Mobile Streams.  We continue to offer the best available content to our operators and direct-to-consumer clients for the enjoyment of the millions of mobile phone users in Europe".

SwissQual, the independent Swiss network quality measurement company, says that 2009 orders increased nearly 30 percent over 2008 levels, and the company has added new customers in ten new territories.

"In the recession, mobile operators are buying products and services that enhance network performance and help them to reduce capital spending", said John May, SwissQual's CEO. "Our focus on product quality, service, and superior technology has brought us exceptional growth in markets where operators are utilizing established 2G and 3G technologies."

Wireless operators now have demanding performance requirements and SwissQual's customers regularly test HSPA+ mobile networks at speeds in excess of 7.2Mbits/sec in the field, and at more than 17Mbits/sec in the laboratory.  The Swiss company says its benchmarking and optimization tools have kept pace with these testing requirements and it is also enhancing its products ready for the arrival of LTE technology.   With three new products launched in 2009, SwissQual gained ground in their established benchmarking business, in the optimization tools market, and in the market for unattended benchmarking tools.

According to John May, "Our compatible suite of hardware and software platforms has demonstrated its reliability and flexibility in the market sectors allied to benchmarking.   More customers are now investing in our total solution, including the optimization tools. In cooperation with our scanner partner PCTel Inc, and with both companies being focused on today's technologies and on LTE, we are confident that we have the best product set in the market for benchmarking and for optimization."

Goode Intelligence has announced that 54 percent of organisations surveyed in its 2009 Mobile Security Survey (Part Two) are planning to deploy mobile anti-virus products and services.  Of these organisations, 33 percent plan to deploy mobile anti-virus products and services by March 2010 and the remaining 67 percent plan to deploy by September 2010.   

The survey, carried out in partnership with Acumin Consulting during September 2009, is claimed to be the most comprehensive vendor-independent survey on mobile phone security to date, and provides a snapshot of the current state of mobile security within organisations across the globe. 

"The threat from mobile viruses is currently low but with the rising adoption of data-centric applications on Smartphones, including financial services, we feel that the threat will rise from 2010 onwards" said Alan Goode, Managing Director, Goode Intelligence.  "Research for the new GI Analyst Report on mobile viruses/malware has discovered that mobile operators are struggling with growing mobile spam and malware. In the last couple of years the percentage of mobile messaging traffic (SMS/MMS/Email) that is defined as spam or malware has risen from approximately two percent to between 20-30 percent of total traffic and more significantly, between 14-22 percent of this figure is considered to be malicious."

The survey reveals that while nearly 71 percent of organisations currently feel that the threat from mobile phone viruses is low, this number drops significantly for the perceived threat by 2011 with only 21 percent believing the risk to be low and 29 percent forecasting that the risk will be high or very high.

"The threat to mobile devices from viruses is here today and growing" said Alan Goode.  "Last year's iPhone worms could be just the start of a concerted attack on Smartphones. The threat is increased by the proliferation of mobile app stores with users downloading applications, most of them free, to their Smartphones. Can the app store providers guarantee one hundred percent that their certification programs will capture all malicious code that may be lurking in a mobile application? This threat is dramatically increased if the user is running a jailbroken device. GI believes that companies must seriously consider the consequences of an unprotected corporate mobile phone being infected with malware that could upload all of that phone's data to a criminal server."

The survey is said to show that there are important challenges ahead for resourcing.  Gemma Paterson, Marketing Manager, Acumin Consulting said "With 40 percent of organisations planning on recruiting for mobile security roles in the next two years it is reassuring to see that mSecurity is being taken seriously and becoming more of a priority for the IT and Security functions.  It is essential to make organisations aware of this developing challenge and seeing as currently only 13 percent of organisations currently protect from mobile viruses, IT Security Managers will need to consider updating skill-sets and resourcing adequately for teams to ensure they are prepared for the risks arising from this transformation in the way we carry out business." 

Qualcomm today announced it is working with HP to design an Android-based smartbook device.  The design utilizes Qualcomm's Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset platform with integrated Scorpion central processing unit delivering speeds up to 1GHz.  The device demonstrates how long battery life, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity and a 'highly intuitive' user interface.

"Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform delivers significant competitive advantages to our customers, enabling them to feature exceptional performance, ubiquitous connectivity and powerful multimedia in devices ranging from mobile handsets to smartbooks," said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.  "Working together with partners such as HP, we will be able to bring a more valuable connected experience to consumers around the world."

"HP has a long history of providing consumers with an exceptional level of computing," said Steve Manser, senior vice president in the Personal Systems Group at HP.  "By leveraging the unique features of Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset and the Android operating system, HP is showcasing an entirely new type of mobile device designed specifically for consumers who live a large part of their lives online."

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon platform is enabling smarter smartphones, as well as a new class of devices called smartbooks.  Smartbooks last all day on a single battery charge and offer the best aspects of a smartphone experience – constant connectivity, instant-on functionality and customizable interfaces – all in a device with a larger display form factor.

Vodafone gets European deal

Google has officially launched the much anticipated Nexus One smartphone rival to the iPhone.

Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One will only be available through Google's own website.

Dubbed a 'superphone' at the launch, Google says it is aiming to challenge Apple's iPhone and offer consumers 'a new way to purchase their mobiles'. At the launch in California, Google unveiled a website where consumers can buy the phone without a carrier. However, Vodafone will offer a subsidised version of the Nexus One to become the first operator to sell the new handset in Europe. 

In the US, Google will be offering two versions of the Nexus One that will give people the option of selecting the wireless networks of other major carriers. Consumers can buy the Nexus One for $179 if they commit to a two-year service contract with T-Mobile USA.

The Nexus has a slightly larger screen than the iPhone with a 3.7 inch 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touchscreen and there is no physical keyboard. It is also slightly thinner and lighter than the iPhone. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 1 GHz core processor, and has a removable battery, 4 GB Micro SD storage card which is expandable to 32 GB and a 5 megapixel camera. Google says the phone's battery gives it up to 7 hours talk time, 250 hours standby and 5 hours of browsing.

UK based Horsebridge Network Systems has announced a new partnership with California's GO Net to supply the company's mobile wireless broadband systems. GO Net is said to combine ‘smart antenna technology' with cellular-mesh radio access architecture, said to provide a new level of Wi-Fi coverage and performance.

By using the GO products now available through Horsebridge, carriers can reduce their wireless network's footprint by up to 40%, reducing upfront CAPEX by around 50% and lower recurring OPEX for maintenance by 30-50%, it's claimed.

MBW architecture utilises ‘micro' 'pico' and ‘femto' Wi-Fi base stations to provide advanced Wi-Fi coverage.

Horsebridge offers the MBW 2000 to provide top-down micro-cellular Wi-Fi coverage, the MBW 1000 series to provide complementary street-level Wi-Fi coverage and the MBW 500 series as a gap filler for increased coverage and capacity injection.

According to Horsebridge, until now, Wi-Fi solutions have struggled to meet the challenges of varying RF environments, networking requirements, and user loads. GO has developed patent-pending xRF technology which makes these issues a thing of the past, it says.

Based on an implementation of adaptive beam-forming and smart antenna signal processing algorithms, xRF is able to overcome the detrimental effects of multipath.  When receiving, it constructively combines the phase shifted signals obtained through reflections, resulting in significant improvements to the signal-to-noise ratio, particularly in multipath-prone non-line-of-sight scenarios, it's claimed.

In transmission the xRF focuses radio energy towards the client, effectively reducing the amount of multipath to which the client's receiver is exposed. This increases the system's range and throughput by 2-3 times compared to existing solutions, says Horsebridge.

GO xRF technology is alos claimed to be the only smart antenna technology that operates in a multi-channel access solution supporting both sectorial and omni-directional base stations.

Horsebridge says it has successfully installed the Go Net wireless solution in Northlew, Cornwall, a village previously un-serviced by broadband and the first of its kind in the UK to provide a wireless network for its residents.

In a new report published by Tariff Consultancy – ‘Pre Pay Mobile Broadband Services: Pricing, Trends & Products from around the world' – dynamic worldwide growth is predicted for Pre Pay Mobile Broadband, defined as being PC based internet connectivity usually using a USB flash modem which is capable of supporting download speeds of up to 384 KB and beyond.

Pre Pay Mobile Broadband services are being launched by more operators as 3G and HSPA services are being deployed, with over 300 HSPA networks currently in operation.

In particular, it is users in the Asia Pacific and Americas region who will lead Pre Pay Mobile Broadband subscriber adoption, says Tariff Consultancy. Asia Pacific Pre Pay Mobile Broadband subscriber numbers will increase 10 fold over the 3 year period to 160 million users over the period with the Americas region seeing a growth rate of almost 7 times, it says.

User take up of Pre Pay Mobile Broadband is being spurred by the increase in 3G and HSPA network deployments across all regions. Additionally in many countries as the majority of mobile users (as high as 90 per cent of mobile users across South America) are Pre Pay subscribers the availability of Pre Pay Mobile Broadband is required if Mobile Broadband is to become a mass market service.

Pre Pay Mobile Broadband providers are following a range of strategies, says TCL. In many countries providers are charging a premium for mobile internet connectivity with a relatively small data allowance.

But in other countries Pre Pay Mobile Broadband providers are offering high data allowances with a low cost per GB which are on a par with fixed Broadband services. For example, in Cyprus MTN offers a month to month contract (with no contract) with a data allowance of 25 GB, and in Honduras Tigo offers a data allowance of 16 GB, it says.

Other providers such as Virgin Mobile UK and 3 UK are offering Mobile Broadband services without a contract term as a hybrid month to month service. In the Asia Pacific region operators are launching Pre Pay Mobile Broadband services with low denominations of less than 1 Euro. They are also seeking to offset the once off purchase cost of the USB modem by offering a data SIM card only package.  

Daily Pre Pay Mobile Broadband rates are provided at an average of 3.4 Euro in the EMEA region, with a spread of pricing from 9 Euro to 1 Euro with weekly rates in the region cost an average of almost 8.9 Euro. The most popular tariff worldwide is a flat rate bundle of Hours or per flat rate per GB/MB followed by a Daily (24 Hour) flat rate.

Mobile operators around the world are seeking to differentiate their services in the face of market maturity by bundling additional services rather than competing on price. Service bundles now include the bundling of WiFi with the 3G mobile internet (for example by TMN Portugal). Examples of Pre Pay Mobile Broadband service bundling highlighted in TCL's report include the following:

  a.. Mobile Broadband USB modem with 100 Hours 3G internet usage plus unlimited Hot Spot usage offered by Globe Telecom in the Philippines,
  b.. Pre Pay vouchers which can be used both by both for a fixed line Broadband service and a Mobile Broadband service offered by CTM Macau.

"Data allowances are increasing and are buoyed by the introduction of a large number of data bundles which are becoming more complex," commented Margrit Sessions, Managing Director of Tariff Consultancy Limited. "For example both Optus in Australia, Reliance in India and Telkomsel in Indonesia are offering at least 8 different bundles with data allowances available of up to 8 GB," she added. "Although some operators continue to price their Pre Pay Mobile Broadband product at a premium, a large number of Pre Pay Mobile Broadband providers are in fact positioning their service to replace fixed line services".

In some countries such as India, the lack of existing copper infrastructure coupled with the mass market potential of pre pay services means that Pre Pay Mobile Broadband will become the norm for the majority of users to access the internet worldwide.