Posts Tagged ‘Software’
Nokia Siemens Networks now makes 45% of its revenues from sales of services as equipment sales decline
July 17th, 2009 | 
Author: The German/Finnish joint venture, along with Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems Inc., Ericsson AB, and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., is a major supplier of hardware and software systems to telecom operators worldwide.
But as carriers cut back their capital expenditures, and look for ways to outsource more of their operations in an effort to reduce day-to-day costs, so NSN has seen its traditional equipment sales squeezed and its services opportunities grow.
Indeed, NSN believes the potential captive market for telecom outsourcing and managed services is worth €200 billion ($282 billion) a year, double the size of the telecom equipment market.
That balance in value is starting to show in NSN’s financials. Commenting during today’s earnings conference call, Nokia Corp. CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo noted that NSN’s Services division, which provides carriers with a broad range of outsourcing, integration, consulting, and maintenance services, now generates 45 percent of NSN’s revenues.
With NSN’s second-quarter revenues running at €3.2 billion ($4.5 billion), that puts the Services division’s second-quarter revenues at €1.44 billion ($2 billion).
Kallasvuo noted that of NSN’s five divisions, Services and Radio Access (mobile access infrastructure) recorded the best sequential growth, while Services boasted the best gross margin growth (though exact figures were not available).
And as if to highlight the Services division’s ongoing potential, NSN today announced a new five-year managed services deal with Brazilian fixed and mobile carrier Tele Norte Leste Partricipacoes SA (better known as Oi) worth €1.1 billion ($1.55 billion). Kallasvuo claims NS is “by far” the market leader in the Latin American telecom managed services market.
NSN isn’t the only major vendor benefiting from the growing trend for carrier outsourcing.
Alcatel-Lucent expects its Services business, which has been landing some impressive deals and forging some important relationships of late, to be the only part of its operations that will grow its sales this year.
During the first quarter of 2009, AlcaLu’s Services business grew by more than 20 percent year on year, and generated just over 22 percent of the vendor’s total revenues of $4.8 billion.
And Ericsson’s Professional Services division generated nearly 26 percent of its first-quarter revenues of $6.2 billion.
Of the major vendors that offer the full range of telecom fixed and wireless hardware and software technology, Huawei is the one that has yet to pump up its services offering. But, as with the other sectors where Huawei has lagged its rivals in the past, it could be just a matter of time before the Chinese vendor is mixing it with its more mature adversaries.
Global unified communication market totaled $523.4 million in 2008
ANALYST NOTE
“The unified communication market (unified messaging and communicator software) did well in 2008, growing 16% sequentially, a respectable performance given the deterioration in the economy worldwide and its effect on enterprise spending. While reduced enterprise spending will be a drag on the market, revenue in the communicator segment, the most important measure of the overall unified communication market, is expected to nearly double in 2009. Unified communication enables workers to communicate more effectively with mobile and geographically dispersed colleagues, and to integrate multi-modal communication services to help increase productivity. These drivers, combined with aggressive bundling by PBX vendors to increase the competitiveness of their offerings (and to fend off the threat to the PBX business from Microsoft) will push the UC market to relatively good growth in 2009,” said Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics Research’s directing analyst for enterprise voice and data.
MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
– The worldwide unified communication market (unified messaging platforms and communicator software clients) totaled $523.4 million in 2008
– Shipments of communicator clients grew 47% in 2008, to 1.4 million worldwide, after nearly tripling in 2007, when the then newly formed Nortel-Microsoft alliance drove significant growth
– In the fast-growing communicator market, Cisco rose from the no. 5 spot on the revenue market share leaderboard to no. 1 in 2008, followed by Siemens and Avaya, who are neck and neck in second and third, respectively
– The worldwide IP contact center market is growing at a healthy clip, up 54% in 2008 to $956 million, driven by the transition from TDM to IP and demand from Asia Pacific
– Avaya continues to lead in IP contact center revenue market share, followed by Alcatel-Lucent, then Cisco
Infonetics Research: Cisco leads fastest growing segment of UC market
Posted in Communications | 
Tags: blog, blogs, business, communication service, Communications, Health, Mac, market share, microsoft, Mobile, research, Software, world | 
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Mobile: Malware found that would enable a hacker to create a botnet of phones
The Symbian Trojan, which Trend Micro detects as SYMBOS_YXES.B, poses as a legitimate application called ACSServer.exe and calls itself ‘Sexy Space’. It steals the user’s subscriber, phone and network information, and connects to a website to send that information back to a hacker. It can also target the victim’s contacts with spam SMS messages, and pull the content in those messages from the malicious website.
“In short, it appears to be a botnet for mobile phones,” wrote Jonathan Leopando of the Trend Micro technical communications team in a blog post on Wednesday.
However, the malware itself is classified as low risk, with a low distribution potential, according to a Trend Micro analysis.
Leopando added that there may be a problem with digital signing by the Symbian Foundation. Digital signatures, which are cryptographic security features, are designed to provide a level of certainty that a message or piece of software actually comes from the organisation it appears to have come from.
However, Leopando wrote in the blog post that SYMBOS_YXES.B was similar to another phone malware that Trend Micro detects as SYMBOS_YXES.A, and that both pieces of malware had been signed by Symbian Foundation.
“The signing process — undertaken by the Symbian Foundation itself — is supposed to ferret out instances like this, but somehow this slipped through,” wrote Leopando. “It may well be a coincidence, but it does not reinforce confidence in the signing system.”
The Symbian Foundation had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: application, blog, blogs, Communications, Design, information, Mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, Network, sms, Software, Space, Spam, symbian, system |
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Spam: 80% of users doubt their computer are at risk
The results indicate a lack of awareness among consumers since industry reports indicate bots are responsible for generating much of today’s illegitimate email. MAAWG commissioned the study, “A Look at Consumers’ Awareness of Email Security and Practices,” to gauge users’ understanding of messaging threats and to identify how best to work with users in removing bots and viruses from infected systems. The report is based on 800 interviews with computer users in the United States and Canada who said they were not “security experts” and who used email addresses that were not managed by a professional IT department.
The survey data creates a picture of users familiar with general email-based threats but not necessarily as alert or cautious as they should be to proactively protect themselves against spam, online fraud and other email-related hazards. There also is no general consensus among consumers as to how network operators and industry vendors should interact with customers when addressing these issues.
“Spamming has morphed from an isolated hacker playing with some code into a well-developed underground economy that feeds off reputable users’ machines to avoid detection. Consumers shouldn’t be afraid to use email, but they need to be computer smart and learn how to avoid these problems,” said MAAWG Chair Michael O’Reirdan.
About two-thirds of the consumers surveyed considered themselves “very” or “somewhat” knowledgeable in Internet security. While most consumers use anti-virus software and over half said they never click on suspected spam, the survey also found that 21 percent take no action to prevent abusive messages from entering their inbox. A majority of consumers, 63 percent, would allow their network operator or anti-virus vendor to remotely access their computer to remove detected bots.
Offers a Framework for Working with Subscribers
Ferris Research, Inc., an industry analysis firm that tracks messaging issues, provided additional recommendations in the report for service providers and vendors based on the survey findings. Among their suggestions is that network operators and vendors consider offering remote bot mitigation capabilities to differentiate their services from competitors. Vendors also might consider refining spam filters based on the specific patterns defined in the study.
For example, the MAAWG survey found that users between the ages of 24 and 44 are more likely to use email for banking and bill statements, so industry vendors might focus on preventing phishing spam for these consumers.
Ferris Research Principal David Ferris said, “According to the MAAWG findings, about one in six people are prepared to make an effort to report spam and the industry should find more ways to tap into this potential. Conversely, the volume of people who still respond to spam is regrettable because it’s an economic incentive to spammers,” he said.
This is the first consumer survey commissioned by MAAWG, which is the largest global trade association tackling messaging abuse. Bots are one of the fastest growing email security issues.
‘Hey, Why Did You Reply to that Spam?’ Anti-Spam Group MAAWG Surveys Consumer Email Behavior and Security Awareness
See also A Look at Consumers’ Awareness of Email Security and Practices or ‘Of Course I Never Reply to Spam, Except Sometimes’
Get Ready; Windows Marketplace for Mobile Offers Millions of Potential New Customers
My name is Todd Brix and I am the Senior Director for Mobile Platform Services Product Management at Microsoft. I am on site at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans to talk about Windows Marketplace for Mobile and the terrific opportunity it represents for developers and partners. Given the enthusiasm we’ve seen around Windows Marketplace since we announced it earlier this year, I’m excited to have this opportunity to provide an update and hopefully address some of the feedback we’ve received.In terms of milestones, I’m pleased to report that Windows Marketplace is on schedule to open for submissions in 29 supported countries* on July 27th. We’re already working with a wide range of leading developers for both business and consumer applications and will soon be able to make available a new wave of applications that will be ready for download when Windows Marketplace launches with Windows Mobile 6.5 in the fall. To make things a little more interesting, later this month we’ll also be announcing the details of a developer contest that will kick off at launch.
We’re working hard to create a new experience for mobile users and developers alike; where users can easily discover and confidently purchase and download applications for work, life or play and developers feel good about the submission process and are able to reach a new market for their mobile applications. In fact, we’re announcing today that by the end of 2009 Windows Marketplace will also be available to Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 devices. This means that developers will have an opportunity to reach more than 30 million Windows Mobile devices. To help those millions of business users find what they’re looking for, we’re also unveiling the Windows Marketplace Business Center; a category in Windows Marketplace that will contain mobile business applications across several common industries and line of business functions from leading companies that include Avanade UK, Formotus, Ilium Software, Pyxis Mobile and WebIS. Business Center is another way for our partners to differentiate themselves and showcase their business applications, while making it easier for users to locate and purchase the latest mobile business tools.
(sample view of Windows Marketplace Business Center, subject to change.)
To recap the Windows Marketplace for Mobile announcements at Worldwide Partner Conference:
Application Submission Opens on July 27th: Windows Marketplace will open for application submissions from 29 supported countries July 27.
Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 Support: Windows Marketplace will be available for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 by the end of 2009 (in addition to Windows Mobile 6.5 at launch in the fall).
Business Center: Windows Marketplace will feature a “Business Center” category for business applications.
Developer Contest: Microsoft will be disclosing the details of a Windows Marketplace developer contest on July 27.
I’ll be on site at the Worldwide Partner Conference today talking to partners and presenting our Windows Marketplace strategy and even offering a brief demonstration on the main stage on Wednesday morning. Throughout the event, I’ll be gathering feedback and doing my best to drive registration and application submissions for July 27th. My team and I are eager to get your feedback and will do our best to address your comments and questions in the days and weeks ahead.
You can also view my video post here on Channel 9.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Posted in Windows Mobile |
Tags: amp, application, brazil, business, business applications, developers, line of business, Management, microsoft, Mobile, mobile application, mobile applications, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile platform, mobile users, pda, Software, t mobile, Windows, Windows Mobile, world |
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