Lilia Guan

Avaya, has announced the first phase of its enterprise fixed mobile convergence (FMC) applications, developed with Nokia, for Series 60 platform devices.

These downloadable applications transform Series 60 platform mobile devices into virtual desktop phones by enabling mobile workers to access the features and functions of their Avaya Communication Manager office desk phone through an interface.

Avaya Mobile for Series 60 platform devices extends enterprise IP telephony by integrating mobile communications with the reliability and features of enterprise telephony services. The applications integrate mobile phones into an enterprise’s business operations, providing control of policies between enterprise fixed and mobile voice communications.  For example, through the one business number feature, calls made or received on both the desktop phone and the mobile phone can now be recorded or accounted for, which supports compliance with federal regulations, an issue of particular interest to financial services companies and institutions.

With the application, workers can receive calls either on their desktop or on their mobile phone, switching between them transparently as needed.  Calls made from a mobile phone appear as if they came from the desktop phone.

 “In cooperation with Nokia, we are bringing this solution to market within six months of commencing the joint project, and after conducting extensive testing with customers across the globe,” said Geoffrey Baird, Avaya vice president and general manager, Communications Appliance Division.  “By bringing together enterprise and mobile networks, Avaya and Nokia are helping companies see the tangible benefits of fixed to mobile convergence.”

Avaya Mobile for the Series 60 platform is currently supported on the following Nokia Mobile Devices:  Nokia 3230, 6600, 7610, 6620, 6260, 6630, 6680, 6681, 6682.

IDC says the second quarter of 2005 saw the Australian smart handheld device market post record growth yet again.

According to IDC the converged market continues to exhibit strong growth and the pen-based market making a recovery from the previous quarter. Converged shipments accounted for 89 per cent share of the total market, while pen-based devices grew 14 per cent sequentially from the Quarter one of 2005.

“The growth in pen-based shipments in Q1 2005 was largely driven by the launch of new models as well as various promotional and bundling activities by vendors. However, the future of PDAs continues to be questionable as converged devices continue to gain popularity among users opting for a two-solution data and telephony device both for personal as well as business use. It is anticipated that adoption levels of mobile devices by businesses in Australia will increase, but hardware vendors and wireless carriers should focus more on critical issues such as security, flexibility and scalability,” said IDC Analyst, Mercie Clement

From an overall operating system (OS) perspective, Symbian maintained its lead with 68 per cent share of the total market. Microsoft maintained its second place with 20 per cent share. The Proprietary and Palm operating systems finished with 7 per cent and 5 per cent share respectively.

In terms of vendor rankings for the combined PDA and data-centric device market, Research in Motion (RIM) climbed to the number one position, with 17.9 per cent share. 02 finished the quarter with 16.1 per cent share while HP gained the number three spot, with 14.9 per cent share. Rounding out the top 5 were Palm and Carrier Devices with 14.5 per cent and 9.2 per cent share respectively.

IDC’s preliminary results for the combined Australian Desktop and Notebook market for 3Q 2005, shows the Australian PC market grow by 20% from the same period in 2004.

The third quarter of 2005 performed very much in line with the season, with no major tenders to be seen and the SME and whitebox markets making up a greater share of the market. Additionally, the third quarter saw the introduction of new Media Centre devices in the consumer space and a change in the component mix sold with these PCs.
Michael Sager, Senior Analyst PC Hardware believes the sub-AU$1,000 notebook PC space continued to be a significant new part of the market, but the sell through in some channels during the second quarter slowed this market growth, this is in partly due to a significant growth in other low priced products such as projectors and low end single function printers.
“Additionally, the PC market is beginning to regain its sensibility with vendors with strong core strategies being rewarded. In this crowded market, the gold nuggets are beginning to emerge and 2006 will certainly be a year to watch in the vendor rankings,” said Sager.

The rankings for the top six in the third quarter, 2005 remained unchanged from the previous quarter with HP still heading the pack. HP led both the desktop and notebook PC markets and was solid across the board in the third quarter. Dell also had a strong third quarter, having a very strong showing, especially in its desktop business. Acer continues to chip away and maintained its third position overall.
Sager said, “Lenovo finished in fourth position in the overall market and is being watched closely by everyone as to their eventual launch into the consumer space. Toshiba came back in a big way, gaining over a point of market share from 2Q, and finished just behind HP in the notebook PC market. Rounding out the Top 6 was Apple, who continues to work on leveraging its iPod success in Australia.”

Sony Ericsson has launched two new mobile phones wearing Sony’s iconic Walkman brand.

WiMax is one of the hottest growing telecommunication technologies emerging across the globe.

Phone companies like Motorola are gearing up for a WiMAX offensive on a global scale. However most users are waiting for the 802.16e standard, which includes full mobility, instead of deploying 802.16d or proprietary solutions which only support fixed wireless or nomadic services.

In order to address the issue Motorola and Intel are now teaming up to establish a WiMax Forum on implementing the mobile version of the wireless broadband technology.

The WiMax Forum consortium includes vendors and service providers, currently working on certifying fixed WiMax products based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard.

Tom Mitoraj, director of WiMax business development at Motorola said, “what Motorola hopes to bring to the table is insight into mobility issues, such as battery life and heat generation, that have not been relevant to the fixed WiMax technology now being certified by the WiMax Forum. We can ensure that some of the essential elements are given proper consideration and that we take advantage of the 20 years of cellular and mobile experience that we have and avoid a bunch of false starts.”

While things may seem chummy between the phone giant and the chip maker, Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney is slightly more cynical about the partnership and warns Motorola and Intel may be looking to make their own technology approach dominant at the group.

“Don’t be so sure these companies have the interests of the WiMax Forum at heart,” Dulaney said.

Acer Computer Australia has today launched the PD100 a small, yet powerful projector.

Ideal for small to medium training rooms, classrooms, living rooms and meeting rooms, the Acer PD100 offers SVGA picture quality with a brightness of 2,000 ANSI lumens for crystal clear images. The PD100 features a contrast ratio of 2000:1 and 51inches and 2m throw ratio.

The compact and portable projector, the PD100 weighs just 2.17 kilograms and comes in a stylish silver design. It comes with a remote control and the Acer PD100 gives the user access to Acer’s unique Empowering Technologies.

All Acer projectors come with a 2-year warranty and offer 6 month replacement warranty on the lamp. The Acer PD100 is priced at $1,299 inc. GST and is available now.

Research and analysis on the global information technology industry, Gartner Group says the use of PDA has increased and has the numbers to prove it.

According to Gartner worldwide PDA shipments totaled 3.6 million units in the second quarter of 2005, a 32 percent increase from the same period last year. The market is on pace to reach 15 million units shipped by the end of 2005, surpassing the record 13.2 million shipped in 2001.
 “The steady growth in the PDA market can be attributed to a combination of factors,” said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner’s Computing Platforms Worldwide group. “Wireless PDAs are increasingly seen as an adjunct or alternative to notebook computers, while favorable exchange rates have enabled more Europeans to purchase PDAs at an attractive price. These factors have aided in the recovery of the slumping PDA market of 2002-2004.”
The Western European PDA market grew 94 percent to 1.3 million units in the second quarter of 2005. Western Europe accounted for 37 percent of worldwide shipments, up from 25 percent a year ago. PDA shipments in the United States totaled 1.4 million units, a 1.3 percent increase. Although the U.S. market was stagnant, according to Gartner this was the result of the continuing decline in Palm OS PDA shipments, and aging product lines among Microsoft licensees. PDA shipments in Asia/Pacific grew 24.7 percent with approximately 402,000 unit shipmens.
Research in Motion’s BlackBerry shipments grew 64.7 percent in the second quarter, as the company was the No. 1 ranked vendor in worldwide PDA shipments. Dell and HP’s market share continued to suffer, however, refreshes to their aging product lines are expected in the second half of 2005. Strong growth in shipments of T-Mobile’s Sidekick II and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices pushed Dell out of the top 5 ranking.
Microsoft maintained its position as the leading PDA operating system (OS) supplier, as it accounted for 46 percent of worldwide shipments in the second quarter of 2005. In the battle for the second position, RIM extended its lead over Palm OS with 23.2 percent of the market. Palm OS PDA shipments declined 40.9 percent from a year ago.

Claritas Technology has unveiled its One Terabyte Media Centre– five times the storage capacity of personal video recorders.

With a full Terabyte users will be able to store up to 800 hours of standard definition digital TV and still have room for thousands of CD’s worth of music. The Media Centre includes twin tuners, which can simultaneously record two TV shows, while users are watching something they recorded earlier. Claritas’ Media Centre uses IceTV’s electronic program guide (EPG) and includes a one year’s subscription to IceTV’s EPG.

The system features High Definition 7.1 Surround Sound. And with support for Dolby Digital Live, any audio feed can be converted in real-time to a home theatre experience. It uses the Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre edition as the operating system and the 7 inch screen displays the full menu, so users can locate files and run programs without turning on the TV. 

According to Laritas’ Managing Director, Andy Welch, he wanted to design a machine that would give users more storage space so they wouldn’t lose back episodes of show or other stored files as they overwrote them with new programs.

“We’re giving them stacks of storage so users won’t lose out on the quality of what they store. They will also have all their media in one place,” said Welch.

The Clairtas Media Centre is available in 600Gb, 800 Gb and 1 Terabyte versions priced from $4799 to $5999. Claritas was fromally known as Opus Technology.

NetComm has released an Ethernet-over-power adaptor called HomePlug to allow networking computers and peripheral devices over electric circuits for the home and office.

HomePlug allows users to take advantage of their existing power wiring to network their computers and peripherals without the expense or complexity of having dedicated network cabling installed. An ADSL modem router into a HomePlug and immediately share broadband Internet access to any room with a power point. It can also connect up to 15 devices – computers, printers, modem routers, etc into a HomePlug network. Also connects a gaming console to the Internet for online gaming and a network a printer so that everyone in the house/office can print to it.

According to NetComm HomePlug is not a replacement for wireless, but a complementary product. In a wireless ‘dead spot’ the signal can be boosted by connecting a Wireless Access Point into a HomePlug in the area requiring coverage. The product also comes with a PC software utility to turn on security to prevent ‘eavesdroppers’ from accessing the network.

HomePlugs must be on the same electrical circuit to communicate with one another. However, this is not an issue in most homes or commercial buildings because all of the power points usually run on one circuit while lighting is on a separate circuit. The NetComm adaptor is based on the HomePlug 1.0 specification developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, an international organisation made up of leading information technology and consumer electronics manufacturers and retails at $199.