New Technology for New Generation Telecom

A new technology, the LAS-CDMA technology and I-schematic device, which is developed on the basis of China's independent intellectual property, recently passed the formal test by the Ministry of Information Industry.

The technology, which is invented by Prof. Li Daoben, chief scientist of a telecom technology company limited in Beijing, effectively overcomes the serious defects of the existing CDMA, such as being subjected to the interference of multiple address, inter-coding and neighboring area by its unique characteristics of "interference-free window". The frequency spectrum efficiency realized by the technology is six times higher than that of the existing CDMA. It is compatible with the current wireless communication standard, and is meeting the requirement of future IP network development as well, thereby giving a great fillip to the upgrading of telecommunication products as well as the sustaining enlargement of telecom service. The great innovation of CDMA technology has been confirmed as one of the three international standards juxtaposed with the program put forward by Motorola and another company at the International Conference of 3GPP2 of CDMA. Currently the development of the practical system of this new technology is advancing at full speed.

EU issues guidelines for mobile TV

The European Commission has taken a decisive step towards the promotion of competitive mobile TV services in the EU. It has published a set of guidelines for the authorization of mobile TV to accelerate roll-out of the service across Europe. Mobile TV revenues worldwide are expected to reach more than €7.8 billion (US$10.4 billion) in 2013.

The commercial services launched before summer 2008 in some European countries show that there is an increasing consumer demand: In the Netherlands alone, 10,000 users had already subscribed to the service at the beginning of autumn. Authorizations from member states for mobile TV services are needed before any commercial launches by operators. Along with the addition of the DVB-H standard to the EU list of official standards in March 2008, these guidelines underline the Commission's strong commitment to the promotion of new services for European consumers.

"Successful commercial launches of mobile TV in Austria, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands have proved that efficient authorization procedures are a key factor for the fast take-up," said Viviane Reding, EU Telecoms and Media Commissioner. "In Austria, 5,000 citizens were using mobile TV within the first weeks of its launch. With predicted growth in sales during the Christmas period, many more Europeans should have the opportunity to watch TV on the go. "This is why we want to give member states guidance on how to allow industry to get these innovative services on track as quickly and smoothly as possible. We stand for a collaborative approach between all actors involved including broadcasters, mobile operators and platforms operators, and we oppose heavy regulation or burdensome authorization procedures for the introduction of Mobile TV in Europe."

In close cooperation with member states and industry, the Commission has identified the main principles which regulators and governments in the member states should follow when authorizing operators to provide mobile TV services. The Commission today published these principles in a new Communication that will help member states to make mobile TV a reality and success for operators and consumers without delay.

To date, only a few member states, such as Austria, Finland, France and Germany have adopted legislation for new mobile TV services. The Commission's guidelines aim to keep up the momentum for mobile TV at EU-level, in order to create a coherent and favorable regulatory environment for take-off and take-up of this new service. The guidelines say that a straightforward, transparent and non discriminatory procedure for awarding licenses is the key to a successful approach avoiding delays.

The quality of the service delivered to customers, including indoor coverage and transmission quality, should be part of the award conditions. The guidelines furthermore recommend that frequencies made available for mobile TV should be withdrawn if the service has not started within a reasonable period of time. They also advise regulators to keep the authorization process open to all industry players and create conditions which encourage cooperation between telecoms operators (providing the service) and broadcasters (providing the content). Finally, they call upon the industry to make sure that DVB-H based mobile TV services in every EU country work together. One way to do this is choosing non-proprietary technologies, which all consumers would be able to use without extra plug-ins and regardless of which device they use, to access mobile TV content.

Light regulation and clear licensing regimes will give industry the legal certainty needed to rapidly launch mobile TV offers. The Commission will keep a close eye on progress made and will not allow any unreasonable demands to delay progress in Europe. It will continue to promote the exchange of information, experience and best practice between national authorities and other stakeholders. Moreover, the switchover process from analog to digital TV and the Telecoms reform will facilitate access to new spectrum, which can be used for the provision of mobile TV services.

why.. indonesian risk management?

If the events of Sept. 11 had not already done so, the Oct. 12 Bali bombing provided the catalyst for multinational companies operating in Indonesia to place a greater emphasis on asset protection - both people and facilities.

Issues surrounding terrorism are likely to be core features of many corporate risk management strategies in Indonesia for some time to come. Facilities, plans, and procedures developed in Indonesia at key installations in the past have not been designed with the latest threats in mind. There is a pressing need to design effective security risk management strategies that address these new threats both in the immediate and foreseeable future.

Certain Indonesian provinces have traditionally been assessed as “lower risk” in comparison to the Central Java environment. The focus of risk management and security planning has, up until recently, been primarily on Jakarta. The terrorist attacks in Bali have forced a radical revision of this practice with potential threats now switching to perceived “soft targets” nation-wide to include provincial operational centers, popular western gathering places and most recently the Jakarta international schools.

The traditional “relationship-based” security models with heavy reliance on the Police/ Military often employed in Indonesia by the mineral extraction industries in remote areas are being hastily up-graded to a more self-reliant and internationally benchmarked design. In today's Indonesia, “official” resources are increasingly deployed in restive provinces or stretched by rising levels of urban crime. Those responsible for security management should seek to maintain key relationships where appropriate but provide a comprehensive set of integrated contingency plans and operating procedures catering for the new challenges presented by terrorism, rising crime, labor unrest and a need for better community relations. In short, self-help and sustainability are key factors.

The world's markets are becoming increasingly inter-related and interdependent. Strategic investment and operating considerations of ten extend beyond national borders. Critical decisions for domestic and international corporations are affected by the larger issues of national economies and political trends, as well as global financial and capital markets. Accordingly, the threats faced by multinational corporations at home and internationally derive from a combination of internal and external sources. The country executive is often challenged by an overseas head office at times ill informed or whose views on the local security situation can be heavily influenced by the domestic media. This "perception-versus-reality" struggle is an almost daily survival battle for many Jakarta based executives.

Terrorist incidents are believed to have increased more than tenfold over the last decade, and 67 percent of those incidents are focused on attacks on business. Fraud, in its various forms, is estimated to amount to losses totaling US$400 billion. Some 82 percent of major fraud cases are found to involve the company's own employees. The American Society for Industrial Security estimates that intellectual property theft costs the U.S. economy $250 billion per annum.

Historically, the security industry has enjoyed an over-all annual growth of between 7 percent and 9 percent with certain sub-sectors, such as investigation and IT security, experiencing higher growth rates.

This growth has been fueled by the impact of globalization and the trend of outsourcing in manufacturing and services. At the same time the proliferation of modern technology (e-commerce networking and data sharing) is continuing to increase the exposure of corporations to threats against their facilities, people and assets.

Indonesia has certainly seen its own spikes in demand for security services, which have largely been reactive and event driven. However, medium to long term prospects for the industry will ironically depend upon issues, such as lasting improvement in the security situation, better law and order and the integrity of the judicial system to attract new investments, which are likely to require risk management and security support.

The recent international incidents such as the Sept. 11 attacks and the Bali bombings have forced governments, corporations and individuals to revise substantially their approach to security.

There corporate and personal behavioral changes are still unfolding amongst Jakarta's expatriate community, many of whom are accustomed to the more a familiar risks of political instability and social unrest but did not sign up for the risks of terrorism.

Worldwide, and lately Indonesia included, executive and facilities protection has been scaled up and programs to screen employees, vendors and sources of goods implemented. A survey carried out by the International Security Management Association on trends and challenges after Sept. 11 showed that the number of respondents with plans addressing biological, chemical and nuclear contamination more than doubled to 70 percent of respondents. Additionally more than 67 percent of the respondents predicted additional funding for the corporate security department in 2002-2003.

Unlike the past, short term or cosmetic security improvements are not likely to be sustainable in addressing the prevailing risks in Indonesia. A paradigm shift in operating those and everyday security awareness is required to reflect the reality of the current operating environment.

By Craig Foster
Country Manager
PT. Hill Konsultan Indonesia

bumming plankto is born

Massive plankton blooms are the plague of the oceans. They starve local species by exhausting an ocean of its food and oxygen, they turn vast areas of sea to the colour of milk and have a profound effect on the ocean food web.

But where do they come from? Nobody knows. At least they didn’t until Mathias Sandulescu and buddies from Carl-von-Ossietzky Universitat in Oldenburg Germany, started hunting for the origin. And they reckon they’ve found it.

Plankton blooms, it turns out, are born in the wake vortices that form downstream of islands. But there’s a caveat: the blooms only form in certain circumstances.

Sandulescu says that the essential extra factor is an upwelling of nutrient rich waters upstream of the islands and has tested the idea using mathematical models of the ocean currents around the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.

The model shows how nutrients become trapped in the downstream vortices and provide a steady source food on which the plankton feast as they bloom. When the bloom gets large enough, it escapes from the vortex and heads out into open water.

Of course, this is a perfectly normal process. Most blooms never get to the size of small countries and never wipe out entire ecosystems of ocean life.But now we know where they come from, it may be possible to monitor their production and the way in which they grow after their birth.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0802.3532: Biological Activity in the Wake of an Island Close to a Coastal Upwelling

What Is Plankton

Plankton is made up of animals and plants that either float passively in the water, or possess such limited powers of swimming that they are carried from place to place by the currents. The word plankton comes from the Greek word planktos, which means ‘wandering’ or ‘drifting’. Plankton dominates the well-lit surface layers of the world's oceans.

Plankton range in size from tiny microbes, which are invisible to the naked eye, to jellyfish metres long. Apart from bacteria, planktonic organisms are the most abundant life form on earth and play a crucial role in the marine food chain. Without plankton, there would be few living organisms on earth, and certainly no Great Barrier Reef. Planktonic organisms are food for a range of animals from barnacles and sea squirts to large fish and whales. The largest fish in the world, the Whale Shark, is a plankton feeder as are many of the largest whales.