Telstra Enterprise and Government customers can now bundle their video conferencing much like they do a mobile phone with the hardware, data access, connectivity and usage available as a monthly capped plan.Telstra Executive Director, Convergent Sales, Paul Geason said Telstra was adopting this new approach to HD video conferencing, known as 1 Touch Video, in response to the growing headache reported by customers overwhelmed by the complexity of bringing video conferencing to life in their organisation.
“Video conferencing is fast becoming a critical tool in the business tool-box and 1 Touch Video service makes it accessible by removing the complexity traditionally involved with dealing with multiple people,” says Geason. “Customers can pay a flat monthly fee, similar to a mobile plan, for a HD video conferencing service that takes care of the design, install, network and maintenance, with no upfront costs.”
The 1 Touch Video service will initially offer customers the choice of a meeting room sized HD video conference over dual screen on the Polycom HDX 8004 or the smaller Polycom HDX 4002XL designed for the executive office or home. Australian-based company, Broadreach Services, has worked with Telstra to deliver the video capability within the Telstra Next IP network. The service will initially be available for metro sites with plans to roll out to regional Australia in the new year.
Mike Wheeler
Vodafone Cuts Cisco Deal
Vodafone has released a new business package aimed at small-to-medium enterprises, which it says will help integrate companies’ mobile, fixed line, voice and data requirements.Working together with Cisco and Research In Motion, Vodafone Business One includes a WiFi package, outlined as five service bundles, which expand on the original Vodafone Business One service. Service bundles are platforms for businesses to build their own telecommunications service around. These bundles are then supplemented by additional service features and hardware infrastructure.
“Vodafone Business One uses Cisco Unified Communications to ensure the service evolves to meet ongoing business requirements,” says Ian Ross, Head of Managed Services Innovation, Cisco Australia and New Zealand. “Feature enhancements and services add-ons are already part of the roadmap – including tight integration with PC applications, visual communications, web collaboration tools and physical security.
“These solutions will help businesses to manage their communications more effectively by using the network as the platform for productivity improvements.”
In addition to providing a wireless email and data solution, it enables customers to make and receive WiFi phone calls while leveraging the strong security, authentication and management capabilities of the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS) technology and BlackBerry Enterprise Solution.
Hand Cleaner Has Massive Kill Rate
InstantFOAM is claimed to be the first alcohol-based foam hand sanitiser to reach the Australian market, which requires no water and has a hospital-strength formula that kills 99.999 percent of germs instantly without any sticky residue.
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Local and international scientific research has found hands to be the most insidious vehicles for the spread of germs in the workplace. Germs spread easily from person to person by shaking hands and touching common surfaces such as telephones, lift buttons, door handles, desk surfaces, keyboards and pens.
Custom designed for the industrial and commercial sector, InstantFOAM is a specialist, hospital-grade product only available by direct order. It comes available in dispensers and foaming pumps.
RRP
TBA
Harvey Norman Profit Drops 29.6 Percent
Consumer Electronics retailer Harvey Norman who are now under pressure from both Dick Smith, JB Hi Fi and current market conditions has reported a 29 percent fall in first-half profits which fell from $174.14 million for the same period last year to A$123.5 million at December 2008.
Despite the bad numbers, Chairman Gerry Harvey is bullish and sees only better things ahead for the company. “Trading conditions remain challenging, but our core segments are resilient and our brands are growing market share in all key product categories,” he said in a statement. He did admit to his Irish operations struggling. “Trading conditions in Ireland remain extremely difficult. We have taken an impairment charge of $17 million against the written down value of our plant and equipment in Ireland.”
The franchising operations segment results were down from $171.24 million in HY2008 to $149.42 million HY2009 a drop of 12.7 percent.
Sales from the company were up slightly from $764.67 million to $770.35 million, while its EBIT was almost halved to $181.6 million in HY2009 compared to $344.28 million in HY2008.
Tax Man Targets BMW Owners
Luxury car owners are set to be hit by the ATO, just a week after the Federal Government increased the tax on vehicles with a sales price over $57,123.
This time the ATO is trying to snare car owners who have purchased a car valued over $57,009 between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2007.
Under the guise of the tax organistion’s conspicuous wealth programme, they are targeting those with suspiciously low levels of income but have expensive vehicles. The ATO will gather registration information from all the territories and states and cross-reference it with its own information system to try and catch out those who have suspiciously low incomes, but expensive cars.
Talking to the Financial Review, Porsche Cars Australia spokesman Paul Ellis said, “It [is] an unfair stereotyping of people who buy Porsche motor cars. It’s insinuating that people who purchase expensive luxury cars are fraudulent, or maybe under suspicion of fraud, and that is ethically and morally incorrect.”
However, the ATO is unrepentant stating that it is only after those who are declaring low incomes, but have accumulated wealth out of proportion to their income. They back up their assertion with figures from a similar 2006 programme that showed 25% of tax payers they targeted had missed filing a tax return between 1997 and 2006.
Lightweight Tripod For Snappers In A Hurry
Velbon has released the all-new V-Pod, which allows compact camera and camera-phone photographers to be ready for night scene long-exposure shots, family and event shots where the photographer wants to be included in the image, and to improve between-image registration for multi-image Panorama stitching.
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Supplied with a suitable adaptor to securely attach a mobile phone, the Velbon V-Pod also comes together with a soft protective pouch that takes almost no extra space, but prevents abrasions to the tripod from the occasional knock.
Specifications:
Extended Height: 1.01M /39.49 inch
Folded Length: 290 mm/11.42 inch
Net Weight: 260g/0.57 lbs
Maximum Load: 2.0kg.
Leg construction: 4-section O-Tube, 15mm diameter
Head: Ball head with tilt/pan handle
Brace: Hinged, central column attachment
Adjustable Height: Elevator for fine height adjustment of camera and panhead
Locking controls Elevator height lock, Panhead lock, twist-section leg lock
Finish: Black
RRP:
$49
Mobile Printer For Those On The Move
Canon’s PIXMA iP100 portable inkjet printer is said to provide professional documents and photos from any location. Canon has designed the printer for mobile businesspeople and busy students looking for a portable printer that will meet their needs in today’s modern environment.
It is small enough to fit in a work travel bag and has no power cords because it includes a battery for added mobility, enabling users to print out approximately 290 documents on one three-hour charge.
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An optional in-car adaptor unit allows for recharging the printer via the vehicle, while the optional Bluetooth adaptor delivers prints wirelessly from your laptop.
Having 9600dpi high-speed printing, black and white documents can be quickly printed up to 20ppm and colour at 14ppm. When it’s time to share photos, the PIXMA iP100 includes four colour photo printing for lab-quality results, and can print borderless 6-inch by 4-inch photos in approximately 55 seconds. PictBridge on the PIXMA iP100 allows for photo printing from compatible cameras and mobile phones, while Auto Image Fix brings is included in the package.
Height Adjustable Work Stations From AME
The Ultimate activConsole from AME can accommodate up to 10 small LCD monitors or a combination of small and large monitors, each of which is adjustable for optimum viewing angle.
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Richard Winnicki, founder of AME System in Clayton (Melbourne), is an international leader in ergonomic electric height adjustable workstations in the biotechnology, avionics, electronics, control room, trading, data processing, command, surveillance, engineering, design and entertainment environments.
“It is extremely beneficial for our bodies, for our concentration levels and productivity to have the flexibility to sit or stand at the push of a button,” says Winnicki. “The activConsole range (there are three) takes into account every body shape and adjusts when the operator feels the need to sit or stand. It’s ideal in 24 hour working environments with rotating operators with different physical requirements.”
The Ultimate (dual) activConsole has a light, but sturdy aluminium frame and a four leg system with a height range of between 700mm – 1200mm electrically adjusted at the push of a button.
The lifting capacity of each console surface is an impressive 140 kg. The dual console unit has an electrical duct with 20 outlets.
The work bench surface is 1210mm and 640mm deep. The LCD monitor surface is 1970mm wide and 450mm deep. The surfaces are available in 17 colours and grains.
RRP
From $5200
Telstra Increases Data Download Limits
In a move sure to up the ante with its rivals, Telstra has released increased download limits on most data plans on its Next G network. Long the bane of tech aficionados, the increase in amount download is sure to get a reaction from Optus and Vodophone.
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As well as access to faster internet and in more places, Telstra also offers a host of mobile BigPond content such as 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, BigPond TV, Mobile FOXTEL from Telstra, Yellow Mobile search, breaking news, weather forecasts, coverage of AFL and NRL including exclusive full match replays and more.
Changes include:
- $10 mobile data packs will now include 150MB of data – up from 20MB.
- $29 mobile data packs will now include 300MB of data – up from 80MB.
- Excess data usage rates have been reduced on these two data packs.
Telstra customers already using a $10 or a $29 browsing pack will automatically have the additional data allowance added to their plans over the coming months. Customers who don’t have a browsing pack can visit their local Telstra Shop or dealer to discuss their data needs.
Customers are sent a reminder SMS when they are getting close to their included data allocation (at 80 per cent) and again when the data pack is finished (100 per cent). They can also check their data use on the web.
It will be interesting to see how Optus and Vodophone react to the new pricing scheme and whether they will meet or better Telstra’s offering.
Gefen HDMI Splitter For Simultaneous HDTV
Gefen’s new 1:5 splitter for HDMI v1.3. accepts one HDMI signal from Blu-ray players, DVD players, set-top boxes, digital video recorders and game systems.
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With support for the full scope of the HDMI v1.3 format, this Gefen splitter passes through HDCP-compliant video in resolutions up to 1080p full HD with deep colours. Multi-channel audio is delivered alongside in Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio formats with lip-sync for demanding applications such as games.
Installation is plug-and-play easy, requiring a source connection to the splitter’s HDMI input using the six-foot HDMI cable that comes in the package. Five flat-panel displays and projectors connect directly to the Splitter’s five HDMI outputs.
CEC pass-through compliance, simple installation and support for the expanded HDMI v1.3 format makes the splitter a valuable addition to any digital signage, entertainment, staging or corporate installation. Gefen also offers a 1:2 HDMI v1.3 splitter for smaller home theatre and presentation applications.
RRP
1:5 Splitter $967