High Tech Coalition Lobbies on DTV Transition

The High Tech DTV Coalition, whose members include senior executives from leading high-tech firms, issued an open letter calling on the House and Senate Commerce Committees to enact a "hard date" now for the successful conclusion of the transition from analog to digital television.


The High Tech DTV Coalition stressed the economic benefits of using the newly freed spectrum resulting from the transition to extend broadband Internet access and next-generation mobile services to all Americans. The companies estimate 1.2 million jobs will be created by extending broadband access to all Americans.


The Coalition's members include Alcatel, Aloha Partners, AT&T, Dell, Cisco Systems, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, QUALCOMM, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile, Information Technology Industry Council, National Association of Manufacturers, Business Software Alliance, the Semiconductor Industry Association, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Rural Telecommunications Group, TechNet and the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies.
http://www.dtvcoalition.com/

Read More

Congress Considers April 2009 Transition Deadline for Digital TV

The Senate Commerce Committee is considering draft legislation that would set April 7, 2009 as the deadline for the final transition of analog TV to digital TV. The bipartisan draft bill under discussion reportedly does not address the "must carry" issue for multiple digital signals from individual stations, but it does require the FCC to auction 60 megahertz and set aside 24 megahertz for public use from the spectrum freed through the migration.
http://www.senate.gov

Read More

Kagan Projects Cable Broadband to Crest in 2005

Kagan Research published a report predicting the growth in new high-speed data (HSD) customer additions for cable operators in the U.S. will crest in 2005, but the continued migration of dial-up customers promises continued expansion for the industry. Kagan forecasts cable modem subscribers will top 38 million by 2009, amid intense competition from DSL providers.

Some highlights of Kagan's HIGH SPEED DATA OUTLOOK include:

• Cable currently dominates the HSD market with approximately 60% market share. Kagan projects that will shrink to 53% by 2009, with telco providers growing share from 35% in 2001 to 40% in 2009.



• The average recurring monthly revenue from a cable sub is more than $41, leading to a total annual revenue of $9.5 billion. in 2004. The average recurring monthly revenue from the average DSL sub at $32 generated annual revenues of $5.76 billion. in 2004.



• BellSouth at the end of 2004 had the highest penetration of DSL subscribers to total access lines at 9.8%. With an estimated 16.9% penetration of DSL subscribers on primary access lines, BellSouth was second only to SBC's 22%.

http://www.kagan.com/HSD/101405

Read More

Akimbo Debuts VOD for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition

Akimbo will make its Internet to television video-on-demand service available on Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Currently, the Akimbo service is available only on the company's own Akimbo Player. Akimbo describes its service as "a complement to existing broadcast, cable and satellite services - bridging the gap between broadcast and broadband."


Starting in November, Akimbo will support Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, including streaming high definition video to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system as a media extender.


The Akimbo Service will be available through the Online Spotlight feature in Media Center Edition 2005, where consumers can view all the programming available and sign up for a free two-week trial subscription.


Akimbo offer video programming from more than 150 providers with over 75 categories of video selections. Content partners include BBC, National Geographic, Discovery, and the Hallmark Channel, as well as hard-to-find specialty offerings, such as independent film from IFILM and Underground Film.


At this week's DigitalLife show in NYC, Akimbo will be showing Major League Baseball playoff games delivered the next morning in a ten minute condensed version to Akimbo subscribers. In addition, Akimbo will preview high-definition video capabilities that are enabled by Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
http://www.akimbo.com

• Akimbo is based in San Mateo, California and is funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sprout Group and Zone Ventures.

Read More

Treo 650 Gets Blackberry Functionality

Palm and Research In Motion (RIM) are working to bring BlackBerry Connect to the Palm Treo 650 smartphone. The companies expect the solution to be available in the United States and internationally starting in early calendar 2006.


Through RIM's BlackBerry Connect licensing program, Palm will enable its Treo 650 and future Palm OS based Treo smartphones with secure, push-based wireless email via BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The solution will enable the following:

• push-based email using BlackBerry Connect with Palm's VersaMail email client;



• support for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino;



• wireless calendar synchronization;



• remote address lookup of corporate email directory;



• email-attachment viewing;



• Triple DES encryption; and



• IT policy enforcement and commands (such as remotely disabling or wiping email and PIM data from a device in the event it is lost or stolen).

http://www.palm.com
http://www.blackberry.com

Read More

D-Link to Use Pure's "Network Magic" software

D-Link will incorporate Pure Network's Network Magic software on its Wireless Networking solutions for quick and simple home network configuration and maintenance. Available nationwide, Pure's software is bundled with currently shipping D-Link Air G and Xtreme G wireless routers, including the new D-Link Xtreme G with MIMO 2XR Wireless Router.


Pure's Network Magic software resides on each computer within a home network, connecting and unifying the many different PCs, routers, gateways, and networked devices into a seamless home network. To manage and repair the home network, Network Magic shows a visual Network Map of all computers and devices on the home network, making it easy for the average PC user to understand and run his or her own home network. When installed, Network Magic automatically configures a Windows 98 and above PC to access and share with others. A "Repair" button and the Network Map help to eliminate a common frustration of broken internet connections by allowing anyone to fix the Internet connection or their home network when trouble occurs.


Pure Networks is also introducing a Net2Go service that gives users remote access to the shared files on all PCs in their home from any web browser. Users get an encrypted password and can also upload to their home networks. In addition, users can remotely view the online status of all the PCs in their home network. With its dynamic DNS service, Net2Go also acts as a personal home web server.


A new Dynamic File Directory Service Dynamic File Directory Service: Using SmartShare, Network Magic 2.0 automatically creates a dynamic easy-to-use central directory of all shared files on the network and instantly updates it and notifies other users on the home network when new folders are added. Using the Dynamic File Directory, users can access shared files on any PC in the home without needing to know the location or remember complicated UNC paths.
http://www.dlink.com/http://www.purenetworks.com/

Read More

BT and Yahoo! Extend Partnership, Eye 8 Mbps Services

BT and Yahoo! announced a deepening of their relationship and four tiers of broadband packages. The said it decided to forge deeper links with Yahoo! and enhance the features available across the packages in order to offer customers better value. This has resulted in a long-term extension of the strategic partnership between the two companies with BT naming Yahoo! as one of its key global strategic partners.


Each of the four broadband tiers features premium Yahoo! broadband service, enhanced security features and the option of cheap internet telephony. The packages will come into effect from October 24. Prices range from £17.99 a month (up to 2 Mbps download and 2 GB usage guideline) to £29.99 (up to 2 Mbps download and 40 GB monthly usage guideline).


Previously, the premium Yahoo! Broadband experience was available only on BT's most expensive broadband packages.


Separately, BT Wholesale announced the next trial phase for its ADSL broadband Max service, delivering up to 8 Mbps downstream. Following successful technical trials of the service in London and the Strathclyde region of Scotland, the wider market trial phase will include an initial 25 exchanges, rising to 53 exchanges as the trial progresses. Depending on the successful progress of the trial, BT aims to extend the availability of the trial to up to 150,000 end users, which could see additional trial exchanges enabled for higher speed broadband. The market trial will apply to BT Wholesale's BT Datastream service and BT IPstream service, provided the customer is on either capacity or usage based charging.
http://www.btplc.com

Read More

European Commission Acts to Open Telecom Competitive

The European Commission is taking action against nine Member States -- Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovenia -- to ensure competitive conditions in these markets.


Formal notices have been sent to seven EU Member States for so far failing to notify it of electronic communications market reviews required by the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications. The Member States concerned now have two months to respond to the Commission's concerns. Further infringement proceedings have been opened against Estonia because of legal deficiencies regarding definition of markets and transitional regime; and against Cyprus and Slovenia, where the independence of the national telecom regulator is not yet in line with EU law requirements.http://europa.eu.int

Read More