Number Portability Forum now October 30th...gets more backing

Following the expression of interests from more stakeholders in the telecommunications sector to be part of the deliberations at the Nigerian ICT Summit series on Mobile Number Portability earlier scheduled to hold on Wednesday 26th September at the Golden Gate Paradise, Ikoyi Lagos, the organizers of the event, Private Media Mart Limited and Princelink Communications have announced a new date of October 30th. This is even as NCC and its technical partners on MNP are scheduled to be actively involved in the event.

The event, tagged Number Portability – opportunities and pitfalls, according to the CEO of Private Media Mart Limited, Mr Ejiofor Agada was being organized to give adequate interpretation to the Number portability regime which the country is about to adopt.

Agada said that many subscribers were lost on what they stand to gain when Number portability is implemented in Nigeria and were beginning to entertain unnecessary and unwarranted fears, due to low awareness created for the system in Nigeria.

He noted that the overwhelming interests as well as different questions the subscribers and other stakeholders were expressing since the event was announced clearly indicated that people needed to know more about this system.

For Agada “we regret to announce the shift in date of this event. But it is all for good because we want to accommodate every stakeholder that can add value to the reason the event was muted in the first place as the sheer number of questions received daily about this event, clearly shows that there needs to be more awareness created for the subscribers on Number Portability.

“We are giving opportunity for more speakers and more participants so that at the end of the day, Number portability would have been demystified totally for the benefit of even the commonest subscriber” he added.

Corroborating, the event coordinator, Mr Prince Osuagwu, added that “this is not actually postponement in the real sense of it. It is just a deliberate shift in date to ensure that no stone is left unturned in making every Nigerian subscriber understand where he or she stands in the proposed Number Portability regime”.

Osuagwu said that the event which has received the endorsement of virtually all ICT stakeholders and groups in the country, would not only help the subscribers but also would provide a platform for the implementers, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to educate all on the technical, operational and beneficial aspects of the proposed MNP to Nigerians.

HP poised to re-enter smartphone market with 'Bender'

Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard admitted the company is “working on” a new smartphone product with which to succeed in the market. The firm famously acquired Palm with the very same intentions only to be “met with utter defeat,” according to financial magazine Forbes. Incidentally an HP smartphone has recently appeared in benchmark results, codenamed “Bender”, the phone runs Android ICS and is powered by a Qualcomm S4 dual core processor.
It wouldn't be the company's first foray into the mobile market. In 2010, HP purchased smartphone maker Palm for US$1.2 billion and developed webOS, its own mobile operating system. Its TouchPad tablet and Pre smartphone failed to dazzle in the competitive market.
Whitman's predecessor, Leo Apotheker, decided to kill the OS and its corresponding products after about 16 months on the market. Apotheker wanted HP to focus more on cloud services and software than mobile devices, and was ousted after less than a year on the job. That effectively ended the use of their WebOS platform. The WebOS platform has since gone open source.
By buying Palm, HP was attempting to buy its way into the market with an established but affordable and credible player. However, much to the distress of WebOS fans the firm didn’t really put enough effort into its smartphones. The company strategy wasn’t helped by getting through a string of CEOs in quick succession, one of which decided, the day after the launch of the Palm Pre 3 to abandon the company’s WebOS product line.
A Fox Business News reporter in an interview with Meg Whitman asked “Where is the HP smartphone? Have you guys got something up your sleeve?” to which Ms Whitman replied “We did take a detour with the smartphone (Palm) and we have to get it right this time.” She said she wants HP to be able to offer IT solutions all the way from workstations, to desktops, to laptops, to tablets and convertibles, and also to smartphones.
Appearing in GLBenchmark test results online is an HP branded smartphone codenamed “bender”. The phone runs Android ICS 4.0.4 and is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 dual core processor. The screen size is a very wide 1366x720, does it bend or fold in two? Is it bent like a banana? Who knows...
A report in the WSJ also quoted Ms Whitman as likening a company-issued HP laptop to a brick. The financial orientated website says that she intends to fight to keep HP above Lenovo as the world’s biggest PC maker by volume. Sadly HP seems to have been left behind, she says by innovation and “something that is more beautiful”. Putting money-in-mouth-position, the company has doubled the in-house design team to 60 people.
Analysts speaking to the WSJ agree that better presented, more expensive products are better suited to HP than a bunch of cheap generic looking PCs. One of the first products to emerge from the new design regime is the HP Envy X2. But in the view of a market analyst, "I can't really see an 'HP angle' in this - after all Samsung have got the design angle sewn up. Only real USP I can see for Bender is if it's OS is somehow extended to fit more easily into a corporate environment - so it prints to wireless printers (HP ones of course), has one-step integration into Exchange, etc, etc. Smartphones are a bad idea, tablet on the other hand, not so much... ".

intoPIX product selected for integration in new Visual Unity “4K Gateway” product

intoPIX, the leading provider of JPEG 2000 compression solutions, and Visual Unity, an international Systems Integrator providing turnkey solutions for the broadcast and film industry, has announced their strategic collaboration in Visual Unity’s new 4K Gateway product.

 “With the broadcast market discovering the 4K format for Over-the-Top (OTT) delivery and the 4K format taking off in the East-European film industry, there is an increasing call for faster-than-software based compression solutions,” says Jakub Kabourek, CEO of Visual Unity.  “Integration of the leading intoPIX JPEG2000 FPGA-based compression technology allows 4K Gateway to meet the new challenges of this growing market.”

“We feel proud to be selected as JPEG2000 technology provider by Visual Unity and its technology partners,” says Katty Van Mele, Director of Business Development at intoPIX. “Visual Unity’s 4K Gateway is a unique hardware compression solution that enables real-time streaming of content, even when bandwidth is limited, when multiple streams are simultaneously transported over gigabit networks or when broadcasting to multiple screens.”

intoPIX is a leading supplier of image compression technology to audiovisual equipment manufacturers, offering a higher quality image experience and have developed FPGA IP-cores and boards solutions that enable leading-edge JPEG 2000 image compression, security and hardware enforcement. On its own part, Visual Unity is an international Systems Integrator bridging the gap between broadcast, IT and IPTV to help clients reach and engage audiences – wherever they are.

TSL Systems to supply production and transmission workflow for MediaCorp

TSL, leading systems integrator for the broadcast industry, has announced at IBC, that it has been awarded a contract to supply MediaCorp, Singapore's leading media company, with a new end-to-end file-based production and transmission workflow for its Caldecott Broadcast Centre.

With specialist expertise in media asset management (MAM) and IT-based workflows, TSL was awarded the systems integration contract following an extensive tender process which included the submission of detailed conceptual designs and major proof of concept (POC) sessions. TSL's POC demonstrated how MediaCorp's existing tape-based workflow could be improved if replaced with state-of-the-art file-based systems, from ingest to production, post production, transmission preparation, playout and media archiving.

Kelvin Ma, Vice President, Media Technology, Architecture & Support at MediaCorp Technologies commented: "We had been developing plans for our file based operations for some time and spoken with many system vendors. TSL, as an independent SI, brought a high level of expertise and experience which helped us redefine the architecture and workflow and developed a cost effective multi-vendor solution which will integrate with our existing operations".

TSL has already started work on the detailed design of this complex project which will positively transform the way MediaCorp produces and manages programmes, significantly improving efficiency, increasing output, enhancing control and achieving a better return on investment when it comes to adding channels and delivering content to multiple platforms.

The highly experienced SI will also provide procurement services, a pre-build facility, installation and commissioning with training and on-going support. The first phase includes integration of the file-based systems with existing studios, video and audio post and transmission, as well as the digitizing of MediaCorp's 60,000 hour archive.

The project falls in line with the MediaCorp's plan to transmit all free-to-air channels in digital format by December 2013 under the DVB-T2 television standard. As Singapore's only terrestrial broadcaster MediaCorp's transmits seven channels - Channel 8, okto, Suria, Vasantham, Channel U, Channel NewsAsia and Channel 5, which already transmits in HD digital via HD5). The existing analogue TV signals will continue to be broadcast in the next few years alongside the digital TV signals until the transition to DVB-T2 is completed by 2020.

Qube Cinema Brings Single-Server 4K 3D to Giant Screens

Giant Screen theaters are rapidly converting to digital cinema and at the GSCA Conference later this month in Sacramento, California, visitors can see the latest technology from Qube Cinema. The Qube XP-I server will stream a single high bit-rate 4K 3D DCP through two Qube Xi 4K Integrated Media Blocks (IMBs) in two Barco DP4K-23B projectors. This high bit-rate, 4K 3D projection from a single DCP through a single server greatly simplifies exhibition for Giant Screen theaters.

The Qube system has already been installed in the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Giant Screen theater, which was converted to digital in March 2012 when they installed a Qube XP-I server and two Xi 4K IMBs.

“Our conversion from 70mm film to digital cinema couldn’t have been smoother,” said Charlotte Brohi, VP giant screen operations and film production at the HMNS. “The projectionists found the move to digital seamless and, because of the decrease in troubleshooting that comes with digital – for example, there is no film breakage –we only need one projectionist in the booth, saving labor costs.”

The HMNS, which could only have three films at a time on its schedule prior to the conversion, intends to launch a film festival later this year with five or six movies. “Audiences are still getting the pristine, immersive experience they were used to and, although attendance is stable, our net revenue has increased because of the lower operating costs,” said Brohi. “We also plan to convert our library of self-produced films to digital so we can continue to offer them to other Giant Screen theaters.”

At the GSCA Conference, the Qube XP-I server will be paired with two 4K Xi IMBs installed in two Barco DP4K-23B projectors. The XP-I server is capable of synchronizing the IMBs and can stream up to 1 GB of data – or 500 Mbps per projector – through a dual Gigabit Ethernet interface, supporting dual projectors at up to 60 fps for 4K projection and up to 240 fps for 2K content.

“This Qube system is ready to ship to other Giant Screen venues around the world,” said Eric Bergez, Qube Cinema’s director of sales and marketing for the Americas. “As digital conversions sweep the industry, our advanced technology couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Aviat Networks to provide Managed Services for Etisalat Nigeria...gets AT&T deal

Aviat Networks Inc, a provider of microwave networking solutions, has announced the signing of a service level agreement (SLA) to provide Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), operating as Etisalat Nigeria, with a comprehensive suite of Managed Network Services. The agreement, financial details of which were not available, covers establishing a network operations centre, providing an element management system and implementing spares management programme.

This is coming on the heels of the company announcing its earnings results same week, where the company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.02. It is worth knowing that the company’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

But with this new deal, Aviat Networks will be establishing a Network Operations Centre (NOC) to operate 50 hops of Etisalat's Enterprise Data Network, comprising 100 radios of the Eclipse Packet Node microwave networking solution, on the mobile operator's network nationwide within Nigeria.

It is Aviat’s first deal with Etisalat, said Olawale Osimosu, the Californian Company’s country director in Nigeria. “Aviat Networks managed network services are designed to give Etisalat a cost-optimized solution by leveraging its existing staff in Nigeria and resulting in a better network quality of service for its end users,” said Osimosu. “Overall, this is a great opportunity for us to showcase our market leading capabilities in managed services among all the microwave specialist providers.” 

In addition, the company will implement ProVision, its carrier-class element management system (EMS), for total network surveillance, fault escalation and reporting with up to six months of performance data stored for analysis and also its Comprehensive Spares Management Program (SMP) for the quick replacement of mission-critical components in the field.

The company and the Etisalat Operations team will jointly set up the NOC at Etisalat headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. The NOC will be capable of 24/7 network self-management, with Aviat Networks-trained personnel working from a central site, collocated within its data centre. This will be Aviat Networks' first Managed Network Services SLA with Etisalat of the UAE, a mobile telecommunications company in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In a related development, the microwave networking solutions expert Aviat Networks, Inc., said it has been named as the microwave subcontractor on the AT&T government Solutions' team to compete for orders to provide tactical communications equipment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS awarded the contract with potential of up to $3 billion in business over a five-year period of performance to 30 companies for commercial-off-the-shelf equipment, infrastructure and related services.

Under this contract for the DHS Tactical Communications (TACCOM) program, Aviat Networks will provide DHS and other federal agencies with the capability to acquire leading microwave radio communication equipment, engineering, design, installation and maintenance services to meet mission-critical operations. The contract is for an indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity of tactical communications equipment and services. Other agencies such as the White House Communications Agency and the departments of Interior, Justice and State can also use the IDIQ to purchase equipment. IDIQs provide for an indefinite quantity of products/services for a fixed time and help streamline the contract process and speed service delivery.

MTN Nigeria looks to the future with Ericsson's SSR 8020 platform

Coming recently from being named as the only African brand to make it to the global top 100 brands, MTN Nigeria has become the first African operator to deploy groundbreaking SSR 8020 platform for wireless IP core network SSR 8020 that supports significantly more subscribers from a single Evolved Packet Gateway (EPG) than competing nodes on the market. This deployment will enable MTN to efficiently meet rapidly increasing demand for data services.

As Africa's biggest operator, MTN Nigeria will boost its ability to serve subscribers and their growing data needs, with the deployment of Ericsson's latest wireless packet core network technology. The Smart Services Router (SSR) 8020 platform allows operators to introduce newer, smarter functions and capabilities to enhance the mobile broadband experience for end users.

With over 120 million mobile subscriptions overall, Nigeria is the largest and one of the fastest growing telecoms market in Africa. Data traffic growth in Nigeria was 100 percent last year and the demand for mobile broadband is not slowing down as internet services are becoming increasingly essential for more and more facets of people's lives.  

MTN hosts over 42 million of those subscribers (about 50% of the market according to latest NCC data), and the company has always worked to meet, and exceed the expectations of its subscribers by improving the quality of its service through a very aggressive network roll out and optimization strategy.

The SSR has a backplane capacity of up to 16 Tbps, state-of-the-art signaling capacities, an easy-to-use administrative interface, and sophisticated availability and resilience capabilities. The router will support the current 2G, 3G, and Wi-Fi networks of MTN Nigeria, plus will also be able to support future upgrades to LTE. This ability to support all the different types of access networks brings significant cost savings to operators because fewer nodes with high scalability can efficiently handle the network bandwidth growth.

The EPG (Evolved Packet Gateway) application has the capabilities to support 2G, 3G and 4G and the rapid increase in demand for IP data services. This deal also includes deployment of the End-to-End Quality of Service solution in order to offer more innovative mobile broadband products.

Lynda Saint-Nwafor, CTO of MTN Nigeria, says: "Deploying this platform will make our network more efficient and scalable to cater for the growing data demands of our subscribers."

Lars Lindén, head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says: "The flexibility and capacity of the SSR platform will allow MTN Nigeria to introduce newer, smarter functions and capabilities which will enhance the mobile broadband experience for end users." This includes traffic management capabilities for quality of service differentiation and improved operator billing and rating options.

Ericsson service professionals will provide turnkey services including installation, integration and commissioning of the new SSR 8020 platform as well as support services. MTN will deploy the Evolved Packet Gateway on SSR 8020 by the end of 2012.

The Ericsson SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers provides operators with a highly scalable, consolidated platform that offers services for both fixed and mobile network infrastructure. It offers services such as IP/MPLS (internet protocol/Multi-Protocol Label Switching) edge routing, and Evolved Packet Gateway functionalities. The Smart Services Router enables complete network convergence so subscribers can access services from any devices or locations. MPLS is now the de-facto standard for many carrier and service provider networks and its deployment scenarios continue to grow.

The unique thing about this platform is that MPLS works by tagging the traffic, in this example packets, with an identifier (a label) to distinguish the LSPs (Label Switched Paths). When a packet is received, the router uses this label (and sometimes also the link over which it was received) to identify the LSP. It then looks up the LSP in its own forwarding table to determine the best link over which to forward the packet, and the label to use on this next hop.

ACG Research conducted an analysis of the sources of growth in control plane traffic: increases in end-user connections, device types, apps, app policy and control requirements, and mobility management requirements. This study projects data and control plane traffic growth at a typical packet core node and analyzes the scalability of the SSR 8020 IP service delivery platform and of a competing service router when configured to serve this traffic growth. The study finds that the SSR 8020 has lower total cost of ownership (TCO) by 66 percent and higher scalability by two to more than three times that of the competitor’s service router.