TechRadar: Networking news

Aruba Networks picks up apps for maps developer

Kane Fulton — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:08:00 GMT

Aruba Networks has acquired Meridian Apps, a US start-up that offers an app-making platform for creating indoor map services for mobile devices, for an undisclosed sum.

It's aiming to bring Meridian's platform together with its own wireless technology for smartphones and tablets to enable businesses to create services that combine locations with information gathered from users' devices.

This could enable businesses to send details of in-venue promotions and discounts, along with directions on how to find them, to customers' mobile devices.

Meridian's software is aimed at public-facing businesses including shops, retail centres, transport hubs and museums.

They can use the platform to create custom-branded apps to help people find what they have to offer, and detailed analytics about visitors' travel patterns.

Revenue enabler

Aruba recently revealed "disappointing" results for its latest financial quarter, which saw revenue decline 5% quarter-on-quarter to $147.1 million (£96.7 million), while product revenue decreased 7% quarter-on-quarter to $121.2 million (£80 million).

On a conference call with analysts, Aruba co-founder and CTO Keerti Melkote said the addition of Meridian will let enterprises "tap into all their information so that they can better engage with customers with personalisation and real time analytics".

He added: "This is a clear opportunity for Wi-Fi to become not only an enabling platform for 'bring your own device' but now across industries, a revenue-producing, customer engagement platform for the business."

Brocade puts brave face on storage slide

Mark Say — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:44:00 GMT

Networking company Brocade is toughing out a shortfall in revenues from storage area networking, after it announced a 6% year-on-year fall, and 10% quarter-over-quarter to $374.4 million (£246.4 million) for the period ending April 27.

It was part of an 8% quarter-over-quarter fall to $538.8 million (£348.1 million).

Brocade CEO Llyod Carney said in a statement that a slump in demand for storage was the main cause of the fall, but insisted the longer term outlook is more positive.

He played up the prospects for Brocade's Gen 5 (16GBps) Fibre Channel products, and said there has been growth in its IP networking sales.

New era

"Following a thorough inspection of the business during my first four months as CEO, I believe that Brocade is well positioned to be a leader in the new era of networking," Carney said, going on to highlight opportunities in data centre networking.

Brocade recently revealed plans for an on-demand data centre that combines its virtual and physical networking technologies.

Ofcom says 4G will cut voice 'not-spots'

Mark Say — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:14:00 GMT

The spread of 4G networks is likely to fill 'not-spots' for mobile communications in the UK, with extra 2G and 3G equipment backing up that made for the fourth generation, according to a report from regulator Ofcom.

Its new report on the availability of communications services in the UK includes a prediction that three factors will lead to improved coverage.

One is that wherever 4G networks are rolled out, 2G and 3G equipment will be installed alongside. More phones and dongles that use all three technologies are hitting the market and providing faster connections for users.

Second is that the agreement between Vodafone's coverage should improve on the back of its agreement with Telefónica's O2 to share infrastructure, and the obligation on the latter's 4G licence to provide indoor coverage to 98% of UK premises.

Third is that Telefónica's coverage advantage is likely to spur other operators to extend their coverage to compete for business.

Funding factor

The report says these factors should combine with others, such as funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and reforms in the planning laws, to improve mobile and broadband coverage around the country.

EE has so far led the way in extending 4G coverage, aiming to extend its network to 98% of the population by the end of next year.

Avaya centralises channel partners' portal

Kane Fulton — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:29:00 GMT

Business communications company Avaya is launching a new portal for its channel partners and distributors for ordering its services for unified communications, contact centres, networking and small and midsized businesses.

Named Avaya One Source, it has consolidated all catalogues and pricing files, quote tools and special pricing requests onto a landing page, which includes real-time pricing.

Avaya claims the new system, which has been in development for the past two years, can order times and allow channel parters to speed up its customer response time.

Until now, its partners have had to use different systems to get at discounts and price catalogues in different parts of the company's portfolio.

Michelle Jones, Director of EMEA Channel Development and Marketing at Avaya, told TRPro that the new initiative provides its partners with a 'one stop shop'.

"That level of simplification and consolidation has meant that the initial quote-to-order process has been hugely accelerated, which enables our partners to respond to customer needs and opportunities a lot faster," she said.

Jones added: "We took extra time to make sure the transition to One Source went as smooth as possible to minimise any disruption, and thankfully it's gone swimmingly today."

Avaya is also introducing three new packages in its Avaya Aura Suites fo mobility and collaboration, which it says helps simplify the pricing and delivery of such solutions.

'Foundation' includes core telephone, messaging and desktop video clients. 'Mobility' includes these features while adding capabilities for remote and mobile working, and 'Collaboration' offers power collaboration capabilities such as video and multi-user conferencing.

"These application suites bring SMBs all of the standard benefits in terms of improved customer service and lower total cost of ownership," Jones adds. "We've built the packages to bundle together the most likely applications to suite the customer needs rather than just baseline telephony."

Avaya's revenue dropped 11.1% year-on-year to $1.12 billion during its second fiscal quarter. Product revenue was also in freefall, sliding 17% year-on-year to $529 million, and global services revenue was down 5% to $589 million.

Blip: Manchester City's high-density Wi-Fi will bring live replays for Etihad crowd

Patrick Goss — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:01:00 GMT

Premier League giants Manchester City have announced that they will be offering their fans high-density Wi-Fi, as well as a live service that will let you watch live video, replays of the action and interaction.

The Cisco Connected Stadium Wi-Fi solution will be installed at the Eithad Stadium in the coming weeks and promises to deliver high speed wireless internet to 'thousands' of mobile phones and tablets. There's also an agreement with comms partner O2 to improve phone connectivity to boot.

And that obviously facilitates StadiumVision Mobile, which will offer up the video streams and a 'dynamic data channel' for stats, trivia competitions and multi-player games.

Some purists might be horrified at the prospect of people sitting in the stadium watching the game on their iPad - but it's definitely a forward-thinking addition from the 2011-12 Premier League Champions.

More blips!

And when you are sat there at half-time maybe you can check out more Blips

Citrix rolls out instant messaging for Podio

TechRadar Pro — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:24:00 GMT

Cloud computing company Citrix is adding instant messaging, audio and video chat features to its enterprise collaboration platform Podio.

The new Podio Chat service now allows business users to have one-to-one or group conversations through instant messaging.

Citrix says the video and audio chat, which is set to be released in summer, will allow business users to instantly get information on projects, tasks and business processes by interacting other online contacts.

The company claims the service is different to those of competitors in enabling employees to start conversations with people outside of the organisation, such as contractors and suppliers.

"The real value of IM and video chat is when it's used in the context of the work in progress – the tasks, projects and deliverables in action that require discussion to get done," said Tommy Ahlers, VP of Social Collaboration at Citrix.

Tutorial: How to stream files from Raspberry Pi to a smartphone

Mayank Sharma — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

The best thing about the Raspberry Pi is that, besides being an excellent educational device, it can double up as a very capable headless server - now even more so with the increased memory.

Contrary to popular belief, not every server task requires lots of processing power. For example, if you wish to download files and share them with users on the network irrespective of their operating system or device, you don't need a machine with a multi-core processor. In fact, using an old Linux computer as such a seedbox is a popular way of rescuing discarded hardware.

The only downside of this approach is that it consumes a lot of electricity. Most modern routers have a USB port, and will share the plugged-in device with all computers connected to this router. But what if you have an older router and want to do more than just share files?

With the RPi, you can do all this and a lot more without the costs associated with a traditional computer, and without the restrictions of dedicated devices such as routers.

Gather the ingredients

We'll use a revision 2 RPi with 512MB of RAM, but it should work fine on older versions. It'll be powered by the latest version of Raspbian (version 2012-10-28-wheezy-raspbian). The best thing about the newer releases is that they can use all of the increased memory without any tweaks. They also ship with SSH enabled, which allows users to access and set up the RPi without ever connecting it to a monitor.

Download the latest version of the Raspbian distro and flash it to an SD card, either with dd on Linux or Win32DiskImager if you are on Windows. While you can use a USB wireless adapter to connect the RPi to the internet, it's best to use the Ethernet port and pull up a cable to the router.

After connecting and powering up the RPi, head to your router's admin page (check the router or its documentation for the address). In all probability, your router is using DHCP to hand out IP addresses to connected devices.

Explore the admin interface, look for a list of all connected devices and note down the IP address the router has assigned to the RPi. Later, you'll have to assign it a static IP address to ensure the RPi is always accessible at the same address.

For now, let's assume the dynamic IP address assigned to the RPi is 192.168.3.100. With this bit of information, we're all set to connect to the RPi and prepare Raspbian via SSH.

Every Linux distro ships with an SSH client. Windows users can use the PuTTY tool. To connect from a remote Linux machine, launch a terminal and enter the command:

$ sudo ssh pi@192.168.3.100

After agreeing to add this address to the list of trusted hosts, you'll be asked for the login credentials. On a fresh, unconfigured Raspbian install, the password for the default 'pi' user is 'raspberry'. From this point on, the commands in this tutorial will be the same irrespective of whether you are connected to the RPi from a Linux or a Windows machine. That's because the commands are run on the Rasbian Linux distro on the RPi.

Since this is a fresh install, you'll be asked to configure it before going any further. Enter the command:

$ sudo raspi-config

This will bring up a screen with lots of options. Scroll down to the bottom of the list and select the Update option, which will grab the latest version of this configuration utility.

Once it's done, the RPi will restart and you'll have to reconnect via the ssh command, or PuTTY like earlier. You'll have to do this every time you tweak any setting and restart the RPi.

When you're back in the utility, select the expand_rootfs option to allow the Raspbian partition to take over all the space on the SD card. Finally, select the memory_split option, which lets you split the RAM on the RPi between the GPU and the CPU. Since we'll be accessing the Pi only via a remote connection, make sure you assign the bare minimum memory to the GPU, which is 16MB.

Next, you should add other users to the RPi. Later on, we'll restrict access to certain directories on an attached USB device to certain users as well as to a group of users, while still having public areas on the device.

$ sudo adduser bodhi

This will add the user and create the appropriate directories. The command will ask for the user's password and other details. Then add this user to the users group with

$ sudo usermod -a -G users bodhi

To the dance floor

When you're done, it's time to make the RPi accessible to users on the internet. For this, we'll use Samba, which allows us to share files via the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol. To install Samba on the RPi, type:

$ sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin

When it's done, you'll have to add users to Samba. To do this for the default pi user:

$ sudo smbpasswd -a pi

You'll then be prompted for a password. It's usually safe to use the same password as the user's account password. Repeat this step for every user on the system.

Samba is controlled via a configuration file that you need to tweak before you can use it. It's always a good idea to back up existing configuration files before making changes:

$ sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.old

Now use the nano command-line text editor to edit the configuration file:

$ sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

In the file, search for the section marked Authentication. Under this section, remove the hash sign at the start of the line that reads:

#security = user so that it now reads security = user

This will ensure that Samba allows only those users to log in who have home directories on RPi. To let users access their own home directories, look for the [homes] section, and make sure that browseable = yes and read only = no.

To exit nano, press Ctrl + X, then y to save the file, followed by the Enter key when it shows you the name of the file. Every time you make any changes to any service, you need to restart it before the changes are enabled. To restart Samba:

$ sudo service samba restart

It's now time to plug in the USB device to the RPi. Although the RPi has a couple of USB ports, it's a good idea to plug any additional USB devices via a powered USB hub, especially when connecting large USB storage devices that consume a lot of power.

Also, pay close attention to how the drive is formatted. By default, many USB flash drives are formatted as FAT32. It might be the best format in terms of operating system compatibility, but it is by far the worst for sharing files over the network.

Then there's NTFS, which is used by many large external USB drives. This isn't the format for you if you want to stream media off the remote drive, which is best served via EXT4. Use EXT4 only if the drive will be used over the network or on Linux machines.

After plugging in the drive, find out its location with sudo fdisk -l. The will list the devices attached to the RPi and the partitions in them. Scan the output and look for the disk whose size matches the USB drive that you have plugged in. The device will probably be at sda and the partition we want to mount at sda1.

Create the mount point and mount the device:

$ sudo mkdir /mnt/usb
$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb

The USB drive will remain mounted until you reboot the RPi. To avoid having to remount the device, first find its UUID:

$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="ntfs" UUID="3B5C053D35CAD865" TYPE="ntfs"

Now add it to list of devices that are mounted at boot:

$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
UUID=3B5C053D35CAD865 /mnt/usb ntfs defaults 0 0

Samba is designed to share files and folders that are defined in its configuration file. To share folders on the USB device, let's assume it has a bunch of folders:

$ ls /mnt/usb documents downloads music videos

To share the downloads folder, open the /etc/samba/smb.conf file with nano, scroll down to the bottom and enter:

[Downloads]
comment = Place all your downloads here
Path = /mnt/usb/downloads
browseable = yes
writable = yes
read only = no
valid users = @users

This block of text will share the /mnt/usb/downloads directory with all users in the users group. Later, we'll mount this directory on both Linux and Windows computers. Users will then be able to configure their download managers to save the files directly to this folder on the USB device attached to the RPi, from any computer on the network.

You can also restrict access to some folders to certain users only:

[Documents]
comment = Important eyes-only PDF files
path = /mnt/usb/documents
browseable = no
writable = yes
read only = no
valid users = pi, bodhi

This will let only the users pi and bodhi mount and modify the contents of folders.

Install the torrent server

Torrents are the preferred mediums for sharing open source content. Most Linux distros are distributed this way either via their own trackers or via linuxtracker.org.

There's no dearth of torrent clients for the Linux desktop. What sets Transmission apart from others is its easy-to-use web interface, that resembles the desktop one. We'll install Transmission on Raspbian and then access it from any browser on any computer to add, monitor and control torrents.

To install Transmission, SSH into the RPi and type:

$ sudo apt-get install transmission-daemon

This will install and start the Transmission daemon. But before you can use it to download torrents, you need to configure it. Before making any changes to Transmission's configuration file, ensure that its daemon isn't running:

$ sudo service transmission-daemon stop

Also, before going any further, add the transmission user (debian-transmission), which is created automatically when the daemon is installed, to our group of users:

$ sudo usermod -a -G users debian-transmission

Now create a public share on the USB device, where we'll download the torrents. First, create the public share on the USB and assign the transmission user as its owner:

$ sudo mkdir /mnt/usb/public
$ sudo chown debian-tranmission /mnt/usb/public

Now add this share to Samba's configuration file:

[Public]
comment= Public share for torrents
browseable = yes
path = /mnt/usb/public
public = yes
writeable = yes
guest ok = yes

Restart Samba to make the share available to everyone. With the public share in place, it's time to configure the Transmission daemon. Its settings are defined in:

/etc/transmission-daemon/settings.json

Open the file in nano and first change the "rpc-whitelist-enabled": true parameter, to "rpc-whitelist-enabled": false to allow users to connect from all computers.

Next, specify the download directory with:

"download-dir": "/mnt/usb/public/downloads/Complete"

You can also separate incomplete files by keeping them in a different folder. First, enable the option by changing the "incomplete-dir-enabled": false parameter to "incomplete-dir-enabled": true and then specify the directory that'll house the incomplete downloads with "incomplete-dir": "/mnt/usb/public/downloads/Incomplete"

User authentication

Since we have given the ownership of the /mnt/usb/public directory to the transmission user, it'll automatically create any new directories. While the downloaded torrents are public, you can ensure that not everyone can queue torrents for downloads.

One way of doing this is by asking users to authenticate themselves before allowing them access to Transmission. For this, first change the "rpc-authentication-required": false parameter to "rpc-authentication-required": true

Then, define a password in the "rpc-password": "<password>" parameter, which Transmission will automatically encrypt. Now, save the file and start the Transmission daemon with sudo service transmission-daemon start.

By default, Transmission runs at port 9091. In our example, the complete URL for Transmission's web user interface would be 192.168.3.100:9091. Launch a browser and head to that address.

If you've enabled the password parameter, you'll be asked for login credentials. The username is transmission and the password is the one you specified in the configuration file.

Before you can download a torrent, you need the location to the .torrent file. Go to Transmission's web interface and click the Open Torrent button. Paste the URL in the window that pops up and click Upload to start the download.

The interface is easy to navigate. By default, it shows all added torrents, but you can use the pull-down menus to view torrents as per their download state or trackers. When you right-click on a listed torrent, it displays a context menu.

Once a torrent has been downloaded, as per our configuration, it'll automatically be moved to the publicly accessible /mnt/usb/public/downloads/Complete directory. The easiest way to access a share in Linux is to enter its address in the default file manager. Most modern Linux file managers, such as Gnome's Nautilus, support Samba. Launch Nautilus and press Ctrl+L to access the address bar.

Now enter smb:// followed by the IP address of the RPi running Samba. In our case, this would be smb://192.168.3.100. To access a particular share, you can also append its name to the end of the address, such as smb://192.168.3.100/documents. Or you can mount the share from the command line:

# mount -t cifs -o username=pi,password=raspberry //192.168.3.100/usb/downloads /mnt/downloads

To mount this share automatically, you can add it to the /etc/fstab file:

//192.168.3.100/usb/downloads /mnt/downloads cifs username=pi,password=raspberry 0 0

You can map the remote USB device on a Windows box. On a Windows 7 machine, go to My Computer and click on the Map Network Drive button. In the window that pops up, select a drive letter, and enter the location of the network folder. Here, this would be something like 192.168.3.100\usb\videos. You'll then be asked for your authentication information, then the drive will show up in My Computer.

Accessing shares on an Android device

1. Search and install

The Android Play store is full of file managers that can work with Samba shares. We use the popular ES File Explorer File Manager.

2. Configure

In the app, change View from Local to LAN, and then head to Menu > New > Server and enter connection and authentication details.

3. Browse and stream

Depending on your permissions, you'll be able to download, upload and stream files and access public and private areas on the share.

Sony Xperia Z zips thru FCC with T-Mobile LTE aboard

JR Bookwalter — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:28:00 GMT

T-Mobile US is likely too busy popping champagne corks over its merger with MetroPCS to notice, but Sony's latest Android handset appears headed their way in the near future.

Engadget reported Wednesday that the Android-powered Sony Xperia Z smartphone finally popped up on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) radar, where it passed scrutiny with flying colors.

Unlike more secretive companies (ahem, Apple), Sony appears to have nothing to hide with its latest handset, currently only available in the U.S. unlocked and carrier-free from the likes of Amazon.com.

Judging from FCC documents, that could soon change with the discovery of T-Mobile-friendly radios, despite no official word from the "uncarrier."

Strutting its stuff

Xperia Z recently received a 4.5 rating (along with a "buy" recommendation) from TechRadar for its "cutting-edge camera" and "super-slim design," making it Sony's most highly anticipated smartphone in recent memory.

The handset variation the FCC approved this week includes AWS LTE on Band 4, pentaband HSPA+ as well as Wi-Fi calling, making it a perfect match for the newly expanded T-Mobile US.

Still not convinced? A startup guide included with the FCC approval shows both Sony and T-Mobile logos, making it a pretty sure bet that this particular Xperia Z flavor will soon find a home on the magenta network.

All that remains is for T-Mobile US to make things official - hopefully, with a price tag more attractive than the international model currently making the rounds.

EE takes 4G into 12 more towns

TechRadar Pro — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:11:00 GMT

Mobile network operator EE is extending its 4G network further into 12 more towns around England.

It is switching on networks for Aylesbury, Berkhamsted, Billericay, Blackpool, Brentwood, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Lytham St Annes, Marlow, Pontefract, Thame and Windsor.

EE says that its 4G service now covers more than half of the UK population and that it will introduce it to another 18 towns and cities, bringing the total to 80 and covering 70% of the population, by the end of the year.

EE has been forcing the pace in the provision of 4G services, which are promising higher bandwidth wireless to users, in the UK. Olal Swantee, its Chief Executive Officer, said it is aiming to extend the network to 98% of people by the end of next year, and that it will launch double speed 4G this summer.

In its first quarter financial results, the company said 381,000 customers had signed up and that it is aiming for 1 million by the end of the year.

Blip: Fantasy fiction project brings new worlds to your smartphone

Sarah Ditum — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:07:00 GMT

Piggybacking on weirdly named and unsecured wireless networks is one of the joys of city living. But if you try to siphon off some Wi-Fi while walking around Bristol in the next few days, you might find yourself accessing not your own email, but a whole alternative universe.

The city is currently home to an experiment in digital storytelling called These Pages Fall Like Ash.

Participants download portions of narrative to their smartphones from Raspberry Pi terminals concealed in various locations. Of course, you'll need a guide to find and understand these, and that comes in the form of a beautiful wood-bound notebook that you receive when you purchase your ticket.

The story is based on a collaboration between academic Tom Abba and art collective Circumstance, with input from fantasy authors Neil Gaiman and Nick Harkaway. Does it work? Well, when we tried it out, we found a few glitches with the terminals - and our iPhone battery choked before we could get the whole story. But the idea of a secret city layered over familiar streets is seductive and beautifully executed.

These Pages Fall Like Ash continues until May 8 but has sold out. However, the creators have plans for similar events in other cities - we recommend joining in if you get the chance.

More blips!

To get even more blip for your buck, just click here.

Dutchman nabbed on suspicion of one of the largest web attacks ever

JR Bookwalter — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:01:00 GMT

The owner of a Dutch web hosting firm is allegedly the mastermind behind one of the biggest slowdowns in internet history last month.

BBC News reported today that a 35-year-old Dutch citizen has been arrested in Barcelona, Spain following one of the largest Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks to date.

The Dutch public prosecutor who requested the arrest identified the suspect as only "SK" - believed to be Sven Olaf Kamphuis, owner and manager of Netherlands-based web hosting firm Cyberbunker.

The arrest follows what prosecutors described as "unprecedented heavy attacks" against anti-spam firm Spamhaus, an assault which also slowed data speeds on neighboring networks.

Revenge by DDoS?

Non-profit anti-spam firm Spamhaus maintains a blacklist which companies use to identify unwanted junk mail and keep it from flooding their customers' email inboxes - including those hosted on Cyberbunker servers.

The blockade reportedly didn't sit well with Kamphuis, who argued in the press that Spamhaus had no right to decide "what goes and does not go on the internet."

Suspect "SK" is accused of launching a massive DDoS attack which flooded Spamhaus web servers with upwards of 300 gigabits per second of data over several days in late March - substantially more than traditional attacks that push only 50Gbps by comparison.

The arrest in Barcelona was a cooperative effort with other EU authorities, and Spanish police are expected to soon transfer the suspect to the Netherlands for prosecution.

Ofcom to run 'white space' pilot

TechRadar Pro — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:19:00 GMT

Ofcom is testing the water for 'white space' technology in the hope it can improve broadband access in rural areas, Wi-Fi services and 'machine-to-machine' networks.

The communications industry regulator has announced plans for a pilot of white space, which uses gaps in the broadcasting spectrum to allow devices to transmit and receive wireless signals.

Ofcom is inviting industry to take part in the pilot, which is intended to take place in the autumn and will focus on spaces between airwaves reserved for digital terrestrial TV.

It will involve testing the inter-operation of white space devices, databases and the processes to prevent any interference to current spectrum users.

The regulator hopes the technology can be rolled out during 2014, enabling the use of white space devices across the country.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: "Ofcom is preparing for a future where consumers' demand for data services will experience huge growth. This will be fuelled by smartphones, tablets and other new wireless applications.

"White space technology is one creative way that this demand can be met. We are aiming to facilitate this important innovation by working closely with industry."

The idea is that a white space device will not be able to start transmitting without clearance from a database qualified by Ofcom. It will maintain information on where the white spaces are and the maximum power level for devices.

A consultation on the technical requirements was published last November.

In Depth: Are wireless signals really dangerous?

Simon Pickstock — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT

While we are surrounded by radio waves emitted by the Cosmos, we have only known about them since the 1890s, when wireless transmission was first demonstrated.

However, It wasn't until the late 1980s, with the advent of the first mobile phones, that radio transmitters first started entering the home, and even then, it took until the early-to-mid 1990s before mobile phones became commonplace. The mid-1990s also saw the first consumer use of wireless networks, and just as with phones, only took a few years to become mass-market products.

Look around a modern home and you will see that we are now surrounded by devices which emit radio waves, from our mobile phones to laptops and tablets, wireless routers, baby monitors, cordless phones, wireless games console controllers, some TV and Hi-Fi remotes (although most use Infra Red), wireless burglar alarm systems, Bluetooth headsets, keyboards and mice, wireless weather stations and more.

So does all this electromagnetic radiation pose any sort of health risk to us? This is a question that many scientists have been struggling to answer and it seems that trying to get a definitive answer is not easy.

There's no doubt that Radio Frequency (RF) energy can be powerful and dangerous. Microwaves ovens use radio waves to heat food, which is why they need proper shielding to be safe. High-powered radio transmitters, such as those used on military vehicles, have warnings to keep away from the antenna, because coming into contact with it while the radio is transmitting can give you a nasty burn (known as RF burn).

Microwave ovens use a frequency around 2,450MHz (2.45GHz), Bluetooth 2,400MHz to 2,408MHz, and Wireless LAN uses 2,412MHz to 2,484MHz. Other devices, such as baby monitors and burglar alarms tend to use FM frequencies (e.g. 433MHz).

Mobile phones vary from country to country and cover a wide spectrum of frequencies although the most popular are 850MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz and 1,900Mhz. While any radio wave with a frequency between 300Mhz and 300GHz is classed as a microwave, it doesn't mean that they all have the same characteristics.

How bad are microwaves?

Microwave ovens are able to heat food for three reasons; the waves are highly focused, the metal box of the oven prevents the waves from dispersing, therefore they are fully absorbed by whatever is in the oven and thirdly, the emission power is very high (up to 1,000w). In contrast, a Bluetooth headset, wireless land or mobile phone's RF emissions are unfocused and unconstrained, while the emission power is much lower.

Bluetooth devices range from 1mW to 100mW, Wireless LANs between 32mW and 200mW, while 3G mobile phones have a maximum power output of 2 Watts, but will typically be operating at around 500mW, although the first analogue phones had a peak output of 3.6W.

From this it's fairly obvious that the amount of RF energy emitted by most devices, is incredibly low. However, any device which operates near the same frequencies as a microwave oven, i.e. around the 2GHz mark, could potentially generate some of the same effects, including localised heating of tissue. It is this heating effect which has led some to believe that microwave frequency radio waves are detrimental to health.

What about phones?

In 2011 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified mobile phones as possibly carcinogenic, although the World Health Organisation has said that "to date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use". A number of studies have been carried out, but as mobile phone use has only been widespread for around 15 years or so, so far, there has no direct evidence of a link between mobile phone use and cancer.

One of the largest studies was carried out in Denmark and involved around 420,000 people, who had been using mobile phones for 21 years (1982 to 1995). Despite the fact that the users would have been using the higher powered analogue phones, as well as lower-powered digital phones, the researchers concluded that there was no evidence for an association between tumour risk and mobile phone use, even in long-term users.

So what about other health risks? There have been many stories which claim that RF exposure can interfere with sleep patterns. Research here is contradictory, with one Finnish study showing no ill effects, others have found that pulsed RF can have an effect on the brain. Some people even believe that being soaked in radio waves has other effects upon the body, such as fatigue, lack of concentration, headaches or memory issues, and this is known as Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity.

However, in 2010, a review of 46 studies into electromagnetic sensitivity found that there was no robust evidence for the existence of electromagnetic hypersensitivity. In double-blind tests, those who claim to suffer from hypersensitivity were unable to conclusively determine whether a RF emitting device is on or off.

Reducing exposure

While RF emission power levels are regulated by national legislation, some manufacturers, it seems, take extra steps to reduce your exposure. It has been discovered that in Apple's latest iPad, there is apparently a proximity sensor, which will reduce the power of the device's 3G radio, when it detects a solid object (such as any part of your body) within 10mm top of the screen. However, according to Pong Research, it's not just human tissue which triggers the sensor, most iPad cases do as well.

Pong does have a vested interest in these claims, however, as it markets a range of cases which it claims not only stop the proximity sensor of the iPad activating, when fitted with a case, but which also direct the RF energy of your mobile device away from your head., using a passive, coupled antenna. Unfortunately these are claims we can't verify, as we simply don't have access to the necessary testing equipment, however, Wired has an extensive writeup on Pong's claims and comes to the conclusion that yes, these cases do in fact live up to their claims, when tested in a compliance testing lab.

One of the points Pong makes is that most SAR (Specific Absorption Rate – a measure of how much RF energy is absorbed by the human body) tests are done on models of adults heads. The argument is that a child's head, especially one under the age of 10, has a much thinner skull than an adult and the brain is more vulnerable to the effects of RF radiation.

This is a fair point and while some more recent tests have been conducted using head models based on MRI scans of a child's head, most studies have been based on adults. Studies that have used models of a child's head have shown increased absorption of microwave frequency radio waves.

So, the question is, should you be worried about the emissions your wireless devices are giving off? This is the billion-dollar question and to our minds, still hasn't been answered. So far the evidence would suggest that adult users are at very low risk, but more research needs to be done. For children, the risks would certainly appear to be higher. Trying to police your child's phone use is probably impossible, so reducing exposure seems like the next best option.

Using a Bluetooth headset is certainly one way to reduce the amount of RF radiation your head is exposed to from your phone, although they are not the easiest things to use and far too easy to misplace. Using a case that directs radiation away from the head would seem to be the next best option and Pong's cases would certainly seem to fit the bill.

Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

Dan Grabham — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

This week we've looked at the HTC First, the first phone with Facebook Home pre-installed as well as Nokia's bottom-rung Lumia, the 520.

We've also got hands on with the new Kobo reader as well as TomTom's brand new Sport watch.

So let's get stuck in. Here's our round-up of the hottest tech we've played with this week.

Nokia Lumia 520

The Nokia Lumia 520 is Nokia's fifth Windows Phone 8 handset. It's a phone which slots into the very bottom end of the range, just below the Nokia Lumia 620. And we do mean just below - the specs of the 520 and 620 are remarkably similar, meaning that Nokia's main competition at the bottom end of the market is itself. Otherwise, its biggest rival is likely to be the recently launched Huawei Ascend W1 - a low-end handset that we're rather fond of.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 review

With the Galaxy Note 8.0, which bridges the space between the Note 2 and Tab 2 10.1, it's clear that Samsung is continuing its approach of throwing out as many devices as it can in an effort to catch as many consumers as it can. The question is, do the customers care about all this subtle differentiation, or is Samsung just creating confusion in an oversaturated market? A scaled up Samsung Galaxy Note 2 it may be, but there are a lot of positives on offer thanks to that larger screen.

HTC First review

Facebook is so big, so everywhere, so omnipresent that it's already on everyone's phone, but apparently that's not enough for the sharing mogul. Now Facebook has decided to completely take over devices with Facebook Home, and has collaborated with HTC to create the HTC First, a phone meant to show just what that experience can be. The First moniker comes from being the first phone with Facebook Home preloaded. It's a well built, unassuming little handset, nowhere near as big, flashy or as fast as the quad-core HTC One.

Hands on: TomTom Multi-Sport GPS Watch review

TomTom has always been about getting from A to B in the fastest, simplest way. So the announcement that it would be focusing more on the space in between those points was a surprise to many, despite the fact that TomTom's mapping system makes its GPS watch feel like a no-brainer in many ways. But with wearable tech the current hot topic of discussion, the initial surprise around TomTom's sports watch has rapidly turned into intrigue. So TechRadar got wrist-on and personal to see whether TomTom could bring its solid reputation as a mapping service to the realm of sports tech.

Nikon Coolpix P520 review

Competition in the bridge camera market at the moment is pretty fierce. It's one of the only growing segments in the compact camera market, as users look for something much more advanced than their phone, especially in regards to zoom functionality. It's a bit of an oxymoron that bridge cameras are lumped into the compact genre when, in actuality, many of them are roughly the same size as entry-level DSLRs. Where the difference lies, however, is in the size of the sensor. The Nikon P520 houses an 18 million pixel, 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor. This is the same size as those found in many "normal" compact cameras. However, where this camera, and other cameras of its type, trumps the larger sensored DSLR is the zoom flexibility.

This week's other reviews

Cameras

Nikon Coolpix A review

Panasonic Lumix GF6 review

Nikon Coolpix P330 review

Ricoh GR review

Accessories

Thrustmaster Y-250C review

Klipsch Image ONE (II) review

Chrome Sentinel Laptop Backpack review

SteelSeries World of Warcraft Wireless MMO Mouse review

Mobile phones

Motorola Razr HD review

Samsung Galaxy Mega review

Networking kit

Archos TV Connect review

Devolo dLAN 500 AV Wireless+ review

Speakers

Edifier e10 Exclaim review

Storage

LaCie Blade Runner 4TB review

Transcend Wi-Fi SD Card review

Tablets and ereaders

Archos ChildPad review

Amazon Kindle Fire HD review

Kobo Aura HD review

Citrix launches GoToWebcast

TechRadar Pro — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:42:00 GMT

Citrix is aiming to extend its reach over the webcasting market, bringing out a self-service, subscription based webcasting tool, GoToWebcast, that it says can handle up to 5,000 attendees using desktop or mobile devices.

The move is the latest in its effort to establish itself as the "go to" company for business collaboration services. It now has a portfolio of collaboration tools to give it leverage in a broad market.

Citrix has also released a beta version of GoToWebinar with HDFaces – its high definition screen service - supporting its plans for up to 1,000 attendees. This follows the provision of HDFaces for up to 100 participants in GoToWebinar and GoToTraining sessions.

"It's becoming ever more important for organisations to find new and engaging ways to connect with a geographically distributed audiences," said Bernardo de Albergaria, VP and GM of SaaS Products and Markets for Citrix. "Video is proven to make meetings more productive and attendees more involved and attentive."

Buffalo brings out PoE switches for SMBs

TechRadar Pro — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:42:00 GMT

Buffalo Technology is launching a range of Power over Ethernet (PoE) network switches aimed at small and midsized businesses.

The BSL-PS-G21xxM range of Smart Managed Layer 2 business switches is pitched at smaller companies, aimed at providing an easy solution for complex network expansions. The come with eight or 16 ports, with a maximum power supply of 30 watts per port.

The BS-POE series of Managed Layer 2 switches is aimed at larger firms, with extra features that include integrated security settings. They also have a maximum port power supply of 30 watts, with enough capacity for concurrent use of 2.4GHz and 5GHz with 1Gbps bandwidth, and are available with eight, 16 or 24 ports.

Both series include PoE profiler functions, which automatically turn the switches on and off at a scheduled time or date, and with the Loop Guard warning function, which signals when a network problem arises.

Buffalo says that devices attached to the switches do not need to be within reach of a power outlet, and that only one local area network cable is required for both data and power. Other features include virtual local area network tagging and supported USB flash recovery.

Dell SecureWorks teams with Reliance Globalcom

TechRadar Pro — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:38:00 GMT

Dell SecureWorks has set up a reseller agreement with telecommunications services firm Reliance Globalcom to provide a managed service for security and networking.

It will bring together Dell SecureWorks' Counter Threat Unit (CTU), which monitors the internet threats from around the world, and Reliance's Global Security Operating Centre, and its expertise in wide area network connectivity and network management.

Stuart Curzon, Senior VP Europe for Reliance Globalcom, commented: "The demand for managed security services among our customers is growing exponentially and we are now able to offer them protection against potential and current threats from a recognised industry leader."

Dell releases new data centre tools

TechRadar Pro — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:06:00 GMT

Dell has updated its network portfolio with new software tool and a switching platform to support the development of converged, virtualised and private cloud environments.

It says they are aimed at supporting a move to virtualised and cloud data centres, backed by software defined networking.

The Dell Active Fabric Manager software automates the tasks involved in planning, designing, building and monitoring the fabric – the connections of nodes and links - of a network.

Its features include a design wizard with a graphical interface; automated provisioning, validation and configuration to save time and reduce errors; integration for other tools in a data centre; and role based access for different departments to monitor different aspects of the fabric.

Dell has accompanied this with the introduction of the Dell Networking S5000, its first 1U 10/40GbE switch for local and storage area networks. It accommodates four modules that can be bought one at a time, allowing a company to scale up rather than make the investment in one go.

It also comes with high density LAN/SAN convergence, which saves on the number of switches and rack space required, and support for several features for storage networking including Fibre Channel over Ethernet and compliance with iSCSI standards.

Tom Burns, Vice President and General Manager of Dell Networking, said: 'We're challenging conventional wisdom with new products and solutions designed to accelerate our customers' migration to virtualised and cloud data centre environments."

Is 10GbE ready for the small office?

Mary Branscombe — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

The 1Gbps bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet has been the standard for business computing, in laptops and servers, for several years. But now increasing demands for bandwidth, affordable high-speed fibre connections and falling prices on 10GbE equipment are making it time to think about upgrading your wired office network.

The first 10Gb Ethernet technologies used optical fibre connections, which has made them pricey to install and best suited for high bandwidth data centres and server rooms. But 10GbE over copper uses familiar Ethernet cables with RJ45 connectors, and the prices and power consumptions of 10GbE switches are falling.

For example, the line of switches Netgear is launching this month will be about £85 per port rather than the £300 we've seen so far. It's part of a trend that is making it realistic for a small business to consider putting in a high speed network.

Ironically, one of the drivers for getting more bandwidth on a wired network is demand for wireless connections. As more employees bring phones and tablets to work they will want to connect via Wi-Fi.

The new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard allows one access point to offer higher speed connections to devices with faster wireless and slower connections to older devices, rather than dropping the speed of all connections to the lowest common denominator. It can also combine multiple streams to offer higher bandwidth to devices that have fast wireless chipsets.

When 802.11ac becomes common in devices and wireless access points, "you will see the amount of traffic going through an access point jump tenfold" predicts Perry Correll of access point supplier Xirrus. That will require a faster connection between the wireless access points and an internet connection.

The roll out of BT Infinity and the latest packages from Virgin Media offer speeds of up to 80Mbps at prices within the budget of most smaller businesses (and 160Mb BT Infinity, using a fibre connection all the way into the office, is starting to become available). Although 1Gb Ethernet is faster than these high speed connections, the faster the wired network the more you will get out of your broadband because the office network won't be congested or overloaded.

Employees should have a better experience using VoIP and web conferencing services like Skype and Webex with a faster wired network in the office, especially if they're using video chat or sharing their screen. Also, the popularity of cloud storage services does not actually reduce the load on the office network, because users will be syncing existing files from the cloud and uploading new ones.

Virtualisation drive

But the biggest driver for 10GbE in the smaller office is virtualisation and server consolidation.

"When you only have one application running on a server, a couple of Ethernet ports at 1Gb is more than enough bandwidth," points out Shaun Walsh of converged network company Emulex. "But when you're running five or 10 or maybe 15 applications on a single server, you will need more."

You could add extra 1Gb network cards to your server, but 10GbE is the logical next step. And if you want to do storage virtualisation, 1Gb is not fast enough.

While Netgear recommends the 12-port $2,000 (£1,325) ProSAFE XS712T for storage virtualisation, for a smaller office you could use the Storage Spaces features in Windows Server 2012 with the $1,000 (£660) 8-port ProSAFE Plus XS708E switch.

You need to have 10GbE in the rack as well as on the server, and the price may hold back adoption (the 24-port Netgear ProSAFE XSM7224, which has features like iSCSI targeting and is designed to sit on the top of a rack, costs $6,000 or £4,000). Another factor is that servers come with 1Gb Ethernet ports on the motherboard at no extra cost, and increasingly that's four Ethernet ports rather than just one.

But the prices of network adapters have been dropping as well, Walsh says, so the premium is less than it used to be: "If you buy a quad port 1Gb NIC you pay $500 (£330); you can get a 10Gb card for $700 (£460)."

Depending on your setup, you may be able to use existing cables. For distances under 45m you can use Cat5e cables, although if you want 55m and over, you need Cat6.

Price and power

Walsh points out that pushes up the price: "Instead of $3 a cable you're spending $12 and if you're buying a hundred cables, it adds up." But for server consolidation, 45-50m will be enough for smaller server rooms; and the power savings from running fewer servers and switches could be enough to make the capital investment worthwhile.

A server setup affects how much a 10Gb infrastructure will cost in other ways, Walsh explains.

"If you have a blade configuration, the switching coming out of the blade server can already do the translation from 10Gb to 1Gb; with blade servers it's actually cheaper to deploy 10Gb than 1Gb. With rack servers, 10Gb is still more expensive than 1Gb, but I expect that to change by end of this year."

He believes that when Intel ships Ivy Bridge CPUs for servers later this year, there will be more demand for 10GbE as part of general server upgrades. "It's another generation of improvements, you're going from 40nm to 28nm and power consumption is dropping significantly."

Netgear has already reduced the power consumption of 10GbE copper switches to be comparable with fibre at under 200W. The new range could also help with the complexity of 10Gb networking.

Going from an unmanaged to a managed network is usually expensive and requires knowledge of networking. But the company says the 'lightly managed' ProSAFE Plus offers smaller businesses some control without the cost and complexity.

Options such as this could help small businesses take advantage of 10GbE without a big increase in costs.

Oracle buys network technology firm Tekelec

TechRadar Pro — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:21:00 GMT

Oracle has moved to increase its presence in the communications market with an agreement to buy Tekelec, a provider of network signalling, policy control and subscriber data management solutions.

The acquisition gives Oracle access to technology that helps service providers deliver personalised communications services, complementing Oracle Communications' operational support systems, service delivery platforms and business support systems.

Bhaskar Gorti, Orcal Communications' Senior Vice President and General Manager, said that intelligent network and service control technologies are now needed to bring together devices, applications and IP networks.

"The combination of Oracle and Tekelec will provide service providers with the most complete solution to manage their businesses across customer engagement, business and network operations, service delivery and end user applications," he said.

Oracle is further pressing its credentials with communications service providers (CSPs) that want to expand voice, video and data services with a new carrier grade development platform.

Named Oracle Communications Converged Application Server 5.1, it has integrated support for Java, web services and IP Multimedia Subsystem standards.

The company says it can reduce implementation costs with a converged load balancer, which it says removes the need for any third party technology. It also has pre-built components to create services, support for virtualisation and a function to integrate multiple services.

Bhaskar Gorti said: "As CSPs evolves to all-IP and converged networks, they must monetise those investments by deploying differentiated, value added services to their customers. The latest release of Oracle Communications Converged Application Server offers an open development ecosystem to support innovative application development."

Huawei exec admits US growing pains after security concerns

JR Bookwalter — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:59:00 GMT

Last fall, a scathing report from a U.S. intelligence committee painted Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei as a national security threat, effectively stunting the company's growth potential in the country.

The good news for Huawei is that it's been able to make that up with growth in other parts of the world.

MarketWatch reported today that a marketing exec from Huawei Technologies Co. painted a bleak picture for supplier's core wireless network business in the United States this year.

Huawei (pronounced "Wah-way") Vice President of Wireless Network Marketing Bob Cai confirmed in an interview that the Chinese manufacturer is looking elsewhere for wireless growth in 2013.

Strong European market

While Huawei and fellow Chinese supplier ZTE Corp. denied U.S. allegations claiming their equipment could be used by the Communist Chinese government to spy on American businesses, the October report effectively shuttered any growth potential for both companies.

Despite this setback, Huawei appears poised to make up for the loss in its own backyard by suppling chipsets to three Chinese state-owned carriers, who are ramping up plans to build out two competing 4G LTE networks.

Huawei already generates roughly 70 percent of its total revenue abroad, with Western European countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany among its biggest wireless network customers.

The company anticipates "at least" 10 percent growth in 2013 compared with 11 percent the previous year, bolstered by sales in emerging markets such as Indonesia, even after being cleared of any wrongdoing in the U.S.

Although the company's 2012 earnings won't be revealed until later this month, marketing executive Cai claims 10 percent growth this year is "not an ambitious target," considering the network business alone took in 45.91 billion yuan (US$7.4 billion) in 2011 alone - nearly 23 percent of Huawei's total fortunes for the year.

Software defined networking: the business boost

Kate O'Flaherty — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

One of the most challenging aspects of enterprise IT is controlling data flows in a market where applications, systems and networks are constantly changing.

Virtualisation has gone some way to streamlining applications, but software defined networking (SDN) is fast emerging as the next step.

With SDN, the control plane, which draws the network map, is separated from the data plane, which decides what to do with the information packets. The former is managed through software within the servers while the latter is run through the network hardware.

This reduces costs for configuration as companies can easily reconfigure the connectivity of systems. It also makes it easier for firms to integrate a cloud services and increase the return from their investments.

While virtualisation has already produced more flexibility, it won't have reached the network entirely until SDN is in place. SDN technology's potential is so far-reaching that the global market will grow from $1 million now to $1 billion in the next few years, according to the Accenture Technology Vision 2013 report.

The report, which examines future of enterprise IT and makes recommendations for how companies can take advantage of technology and software, hails SDN as a tool to improve competitiveness and flexibility for businesses.

It hasn't quite reached the market yet, but there are signs that it is being taken seriously by the industry. It is being backed by giants such as Cisco, which emphasises the increased need for network management as billions more devices are connected to the internet, and most large IT vendors are poised to launch their own SDN offerings soon.

In addition, the Open Network Forum (ONF) has been set up as a non-profit consortium dedicated to the commercial success of SDN.

Using bandwidth efficiently

The most important selling point of SDN is that it enables applications to 'talk' to the network and signal to provide more bandwidth if necessary, increasing its efficiency.

"SDN is using the true capacity that is needed, exactly when you need it. It is a smart type of network and can work out how much bandwidth is needed for a particular task," says Mike Sapien, Principal Analyst at Ovum.

This can be particularly valuable when using applications such as video and VoIP, to which the more traditional, hierarchical networks are not so well suited.

SDN can make businesses more flexible as it allows users to set up networks more quickly and manage them with less complexity. It also reduces vendor lock-in because firms don't need to replace existing network devices in order to integrate them.

"The problem with many existing IT systems is they are inflexible," says David Bradshaw, Research Manager, European SaaS and Cloud Services, IDC. "Anything that increases the flexibility is going to make the IT more effective."

SDN also promises efficiency savings in the same way virtualisation savings are made in the data centre, says Brent Lees, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Riverbed Technology.

"SDN proposes a virtual network connection that can be brought into and out of service rapidly," he says. "Clearly this makes a lot more sense than a nailed down, always on, offer from traditional solutions."

An SDN foundation

The technology should begin to infiltrate larger enterprises this year, and creep into SMBs over the next three. However, the latter group should be looking at what they can get from their providers now.

When the technology does hit the SMB market, firms will not be buying SDN, but products and services that include an SDN capability. For this reason it's advisable to look at services which are built on an SDN foundation.

Security will also have to be managed. The flexibility of SDN architectures allows firms to make changes more rapidly and even adjust them again afterwards; but they will have to provide more flexible levels of encryption to secure networks. Early adopters should be wary if they manage large amounts of sensitive data.

The move to software

It's clear that the future is more about software than about adding hardware; and the move towards cloud and virtualisation reduces the need for physical systems, in turn cutting costs, says Andrew Carr, CEO at Bull Information Systems.

"It's about what's critical to your business," he adds. "If it's just purely driven by cost, virtualisation creates hardware savings. It puts more into less."

But hardware isn't about to make an exit; it will always be needed along with the software for the physical storage of data.

To many, SDN is just another new term and when its capabilities do enter the market en masse, firms will be buying a service, rather than a package itself. As cloud and virtualisation infiltrate businesses of all sizes at some level, SDN will likely form a foundation for many new solutions.

Carr adds: "I don't think we should talk to firms about SDN, we should talk about services. You need to look at people using a service and that way of thinking will increase adoption."

T-Mobile and its colorful CEO unload on wireless networks at NYC event

Matt Hawkins — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:29:00 GMT

At a certain point in today's T-Mobile press event in New York City, which officially announced the $99 T-Mobile iPhone 5 and launched their new "Un-leash" campaign, CEO John Legere told the audience, "I hope I'm not coming off angry."

But, truth be told his anger was palpable, but Legere is trying to make a point: He sympathizes with wireless customers across the country who are burdened with binding cell phone contracts that are suffocating and even exploitative, as he put it.

The press event kicked off with a commercial that will spear-headed the upcoming promotional blitz, which shows four outlaws representing all the major mobile carriers in the U.S., going into an old western town filled with fearful citizens.

Then, out of the blue, one of them realizes that he's had enough of such dishonesty and decides to lead a more honest existence (to accentuate the change of heart, he replaces his cowboy hat with a pink one before going off on his own).

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N7_Oiunf1go

Immediately afterwards, Legere asked if we could tell which of the dirty, good-for-nothing scoundrels was print.

Legere said what?!

Legere, who doesn't mince words, addressed his critics and referred to how a major publication noted how he has relatively little experience running a wireless company.

To that, Legere felt it was almost a point of pride: "The worst fear is that someone on the outside of Oz would look at their industry."

Legere went on to explain how "the industry is broken" and we "know the villains… it's an industry that gives no rewards for loyalty," and added that everyone involved needs to "stop the bullshit."

He went on to list very specific examples: First, are rate plans that are made complicated. "They make no sense. Why? It's on purpose." Legere exclaimed. Next are contracts. "That phone that you walked out of the store with, how long is it before it becomes broken?" He asked. "Carriers are only nice to you every 23 months."

The casually dressed CEO - wearing the company's t-shirt in retina-frying magenta under a black blazer - addressed their new LTE network, which he described as "smoking fast," and how it will be just as good, "if not better" than their competitors.

In fact, their LTE networks will move into to seven different markets: Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore, Kansas City, Houston, Phoenix, and San Jose. New York City will get T-Mobile's LTE by this summer.

No more 'shell games'

Legere reiterated that the average plan for smart phones are "shell games," and the retooled Un-carrier plans are part of T-mobile's new mantra: unlimited everything, with no caps or overcharges. Just simple choices.

Mike Sievert, T-Mobile's chief marketing officer, took to the stage to elaborate upon Legere's points, and he had AT&T directly in his crosshairs.

Sievert first touted how T-Mobile will provide 50 percent more bandwidth than AT&T, and how the cost of a T-Mobile iPhone 5 will save a customer over a $1,000 after two years when compared with AT&T's contract.

But perhaps the most powerful moment came when Sievert addressed AT&T's (clearly there is no love between the two) abundance of plans.

He stopped by one of their stores the other day and brought with him several brochures, each detailing one of their plans. One was for family share, the other was for mobile share and both are designed to be confusing and force you into a plan, according to Sievert.

Legere on naming names

After the presentation TechRadar caught up to Legere and asked him about the bravado that he and his team demonstrated on stage.

"Well, I get very passionate about the subject matter. I believe I speak on the behalf of the millions of frustrated customers out there aching for a change," Legere said.

As for naming names, and the inherent risk of such a bold move. "Was it it risky, naming names? Why is it a risk in the first place? I want to have dialogue, we know who the other players are, we know what we do, and we're facing off against," he added.

And as for what the head of AT&T might be thinking after watching Legere and all that he had to say: "I bet they're in a board roam right now, wondering, how do we shut this guy up" Legere said through a laugh.

"The thing is, we're just 10 percent market share and we're ready to grow. If they want to go head to head and face off, then bring it on."

Avaya plans virtualised IP Office

Mark Say — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Business communications company Avaya is planning to launch a virtualised version of IP Office, its unified communications phone system for the SMB sector.

Nigel Moulton, CTO EMEA for Avaya, told TRPro that it should be available in the late summer.

IP Office is the company's flagship product for smaller businesses, and makes it possible to pull office phones, smartphones, home phones, laptops and tablets into a collaboration network.

The move will make it possible for service providers to run unified communications systems for a number of customers from a single platform. It will remove the need to provide a dedicated server on which to run the system.

"Companies will be able to share the same resource," Moulton said.

He added: "It comes from a couple of angles. One is to appeal to the service providers who want to develop a lower cost platform that will address the true SMB market, the sub-20 number of users.

"As for the SMBs themselves, they want to invest in a platform that they can see has some longevity and a roadmap that allows them to grow with the platform.

"So what we've been doing with IP Office is to add a significant amount of capability, such as video, and allowed it grow and scale. A year or so ago it was seen very much as 50-200 user platform, but it's now north of 1,000 users."

Users of IP Office can bring together IP, digital, analogue and session initiation protocol in one system, and add video if it's required.

Touchline Video adds to ZTE videoconference range

TechRadar Pro — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:02:00 GMT

Two new videoconferencing systems from Chinese company ZTE have been launched on the UK by its value added distributor Touchline Video.

The ZTE T700S 8MX-M and ZTE T800 12MX are both room based high definition systems. Their launch follows last year's release of the ZTE T700-4MX.

The ZTE T700S 8MX-M is rack mountable with a separate HD PTZ camera and embedded 5-way multipoint. It supports 1080p HD video resolution and H.264 High Performance to provide video at lower bandwidths.

It can be deployed in a meeting room and is aimed at small and midsized businesses.

The ZTE T800 is a more powerful system with A/V connectivity, suited to larger meeting rooms. It is designed to be rack mounted with a separate wide angle PTZ HD camera.

It supports HD resolutions up to 1080p/60fps, 1080p/30 dual streaming, H.264 High Performance and has an optional and an optional 6+1 multipoint hosting facility.