October 27, 2009

Nokia Siemens Networks Completes First LTE Handover Test

Nokia Siemens Networks, the worldwide leading infrastructure provider, announced on Monday the completion of the first LTE (Long Time Evolution) handover test in the world, which has been made on a commercially available base station and on software fully compliant with standards. According to the company, the new test is aimed at showing whether the LTE handover procedure is being made correctly by both the LTE test terminal and the Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Multiradio base station.


According to the infrastructure vendor, handover is one of the key features of the mobile radio technology. The newly completed LTE handover test is the first one fully compliant with 3GPP’s March 2009 baseline LTE standard (3GPP is said to be the relevant LTE standards body). The handover in this test has been made between LTE cells of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Flexi Multiradio base station, the company also added.

“Our focus at Nokia Siemens Networks is on commercial hardware and software, not pre-commercial intermediate solutions,” said Marc Rouanne, head of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Radio Access business unit. “We’ve already shipped LTE-capable Flexi Base Station hardware to over 100 customers and this LTE handover on our standards compliant software is another step on the road to the commercial deployment of LTE.“

Nokia Siemens Networks also stated that the handover support was required so as to enable seamless connectivity when the mobile call handling is switched from one mobile cell to another, something that usually occurs when the user is moving. The company also verified handover support on its Evolved Packet Core solution for LTE core networks, such as the Flexi NG and Flexi NS products.

According to the company, the standard compliant LTE network products and terminals are a necessity for the LTE deployments and should offer users the possibility to choose from various products delivered by different vendors. The infrastructure vendor also added that it would sustain the commercial uptake of LTE, offering end-to-end solutions that deliver an easy and cost efficient option to upgrade to LTE.
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Windows 7 Logo Built with 7,000 Domino Pieces

For those who have watched closely the launches of Windows Vista and Windows 7, one thing must be perfectly clear. There is less hoopla when it comes down to the latest iteration of the Windows client compared to its precursor, a smaller footprint Wow as far as marketing efforts are concerned. Nowhere is this more true than in India. While Windows Vista took center-stage at the Taj Mahal, Windows 7 got just a logo built out of 7,000 domino pieces, of course designed to incorporate the number 7 into the launch.

At the bottom of this article you will be able to see the domino extravaganza that went into the launch of Windows 7 from Microsoft India (Being Manan via The Windows Club). Sure enough, the extravaganza was tuned down compared to Windows Vista’s launch. For the official Windows 7 release, Microsoft no longer hijacked the Taj Mahal. Instead 22 company employees at Microsoft’s Hyderabad center built a Windows 7 logo out of 7,000 domino pieces.

In fact, Windows 7’s worldwide launch didn’t even come close to Vista’s, as the Indian release is no exception, but the actual rule. And as ridiculous as the Windows 7 Whopper might have been, as far as meat monstrosities go, it doesn’t even come close to the marketing and publicity stunts Microsoft pulled for Windows Vista.

"Proactive engagement and feedback thereof with partners and consumers was fundamental to the development of Windows 7. It has helped deliver what is the highest quality OS in the history of Windows. It enhances the user experience by its sheer simplicity and caters to their connected lives across work and play. We are delighted by the initial reviews from partners and the technology community. Over 90% of testers from around the world have rated it as "good" or "extremely good" and consider Windows 7 to be responsive, simple to use and stable," noted Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India, on October 22nd.
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October 21, 2009

Google to Launch Self-Branded Android Phone

In order to spur further growth in the mobile market Google has dedicated a lot of resources to Android, the open-source Linux-based operating system for mobile phones, and the results are starting to be felt with a flurry of new Android-based smartphones hitting the market recently or in the short term future. But it now looks like the company isn't content with letting others build Android phones, as it is apparently close to launching its own device, which should be available at retailers as early as this year.

Google is working with an unnamed smartphone manufacturer and from the details so far it looks like the phone will be one of the most competitive on the market and similar to the highly anticipated Motorola Droid. It may in fact be more powerful than Droid, which is already the fastest Android-powered device to hit the market. The Google phone will sport a Qualcomm processor though it isn't clear if it's going to be one from the Snapdragon family. It will also run the latest version of the Android OS, 2.0, which has so far only made its way into Motorola Droid.

The new phone was revealed by Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar who claims that Google will launch the self-branded phone this year but, in an unexpected though not completely surprising move, the phone will be available unlocked through the retail channel. This comes in stark contrast with the usual way of doing things in the industry as phone makers usually rely on deals with the network operators to sell their phones bundled with a mobile plan.

Not even Apple has been able to move away from this type of deals and it has an infamous exclusive arrangement with AT&T. Google though would prefer to sell the phone without any restrictions to the features and capabilities and is probably one of the few companies that can afford to do so, though the phone's success is far from guaranteed.

What's more, the new Google phone will most likely be available from the mobile carriers too as the search giant has to be careful not to alienate them too much. Google is also in a tricky position with the rest of the phone manufacturers that are using Android, as this puts the company in direct competition with them and there may be worries that it will use its privileged position to favor its own device over the ones from third parties.

Google has been pushing hard into the mobile market recently. As mobile Internet use continues to grow at an accelerated pace, the search giant has its eyes set on the potentially very lucrative market, one that would be a perfect fit for its cloud offerings. The company isn't interested in the devices themselves, which is why it chose to offer Android for free hoping it will spur growth in the mobile space but now it looks like it's taking matters into its own hands to offer an uncompromisable experience, but one that will likely be closely tied to its cloud services and products.
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