Took a well deserved day off Yesterday (Friday, 27th).
As always, you can access my Flickr page for more photos, but here is a sample:
Playing for Change in Daiwa Securities Ad
I have been following Playing For Change on twitter and their website as I was quite taken by the music and the ideas.
I know Playing for Change also has a business/financial side, but I was quite shocked to see Daiwa Securities Ads using Playing For Change Video and music.
UQ WiMAX is Failing
Finally, some figures on WiMAX adoption in Japan are available.
Number of subscribers: 21,700. That’s an average of about 7000 users per month since the official launch date. Quite sad, isn’t it?
The article continues to review the technology, laptops supporting the technology and the competition (Emobile), which came out with the 100 Yen Notebook campaign a few months before the official WiMAX launch.
UQ WiMAX did create a lot of hype around the WiMAX technology and the speed it supports, signed multiple MVNOs, but that was not enough to attract customers.
Yours truly decided not to use UQ WiMAX services, as my house was not covered , coverage around Tokyo is growing, but still cannot beat Emobile service.
UQ still plans to continue to deploy WiMAX around Japan, which means more investment in infrastructure and Base Stations. These are obviously bad news for KDDI and Intel (biggest investors in UQ) as well as for Mobile wiMAX technology.
Alvarion's BreezeMax Extreme
My initial intention was to praise Alvarion for their BreezeMAX Extreme line, how “D” like basestations and CPE with Mobile WiMAX (“E”) technology makes sense.
But, as I was going through Alvarion website and datasheets, I got irritated by some mis-information and inaccuracies. So, I still think Alvarion are doing a great job with the Exterme line and their License exempt offering, but the following post will focus on the “fails” rather than successes.
Sequans Press Release clearly states:
Sequans provides a comprehensive Mobile WiMAX product line that includes the award-winning SQN2130 base station ASIC and the SQN1130 mobile station system-on-chip, both of which are WiMAX Forum Certified™. Sequans’ solutions feature superior receiver sensitivity along with Sequans’ patent-pending technology, mimoMAX™, which combines a maximum likelihood decoder on the downlink with two transmitters on the uplink. The latter enables uplink MIMO for greatly improved link budget and cell coverage
Key Points: CPE as well as Base Station, WiMAX Forum Certified, mimoMAX for uplink MiMO
Now, let’s try to find the information on Alvarion website.
CPE – Alvarion’s BreezeMAX Extreme page does not mention a CPE. End User Devices Page does not mention a license exempt CPE.
WiMAX Forum Certified – it is not. A simple search in WiMAX Forum Certified products page shows only BreezeMAX Macro base station. Where is the Extreme?
Uplink MiMo – BreezeMAX Extreme datasheet clearly states that MiMo matrix B is not available yet, not to mention uplink MiMo.
I am sure Alvarion’s (under NDA) customers receive all the information, but why does the website launch/publish only partial information which confuses rather than educate?
(And again, I would like to say that I think the Extreme line will be quite successful as it addresses real customer needs).
Airspan's MacroMAXe Certified
More than 1 year after Alvarion first certified Mobile WiMAX Base Station , here comes Airspan’s MacroMAXe.
I guess it is better late than never.
Disclaimer: I am a former employee of Airspan, but not involved since Dec. 2008
Alvaroin Plan Another Lay Off Round
Israeli Media reports another Lay Off raound in Alvarion.
Globes reports this is the 3rd round, following Dec. 08 and April 09.
The Marker (Hebrew) – doesn’t seem to provide more information except a summary of recent Financial report and CEO transition.
Alvarion will report Q3 on Nov.11
Cisco's Starent Acquisition
The Tech blogs and news agencies are excited about the recent Cisco acquisiton.
Some newspapers discuss the sums Cisco recently paid (~$3 Billions for Tandberg, ~$3 Billions for Starent Networks), some like the LTE angle, another speculates Juniper will be hurt. From every angle, the recent acquisitions are interesting.
Tandberg: For years, Cisco supplied Video conferencing equipment, OEMed from several manufacturers, including Israeli Radvision (RVSN). What has triggered Cisco to change their business plan and buy a manufacturer? Market Growth? Deep Pockets?
Starent Network: Signals that Cisco is also going into the Wireless world. Starent equipment is indeed in the networking space, but strongly coupled to Wireless deployments.
My take: Cisco has the money (deep pockets), found the chance (economic downturn) to acquire good companies with great products and bright future. This is yet another step outside of the their core business, growing into a more diverse Corporation (flirting with Monopoly).
WiMAX Forum Website Fail
It always amazes me how a webpage can look so wrong, but still deployed for everyone to see.
Something wrong with WiMAX Forum website:
Hatoyama Cabinet Email Magazine – Yu-Ai
The first Hatoyama (Japan’s prime minister) cabinet email magazine was distributed yesterday. Titled Yu-Ai (友愛 －ゆうあい), which means fraternity, friendship, but also selected for the English word play of “You” and “I”. I found it quite amusing that someone felt the need to name the newsletter.
An interesting statement which all politicians give, but few actually fullfil:
We will fundamentally change the politics of Japan in order to restore it to the possession of the people. We will realize a government led by politicians who connect with the minds of the people and who will directly reflect the people’s voices in the administration of the national government. That is, we will create a government that is led by the people of this country.
And one last thing, within the first month of Hatoyama’s cabinet, he managed to travel abroad twice, once for the G20, the second for Olympic appeal. I certainly hope he finds the time to run the country.
Indian Visa Anomaly
As I am planned to visit India next month for business and my previous Visa expired, I visited the Indian Visa Application Center website to understand what I need to arrange beforehand.
As I was browsing, I found a strange anomaly in the Employment visa section:
Visa for Israeli citizens cost 10 (6 months period) to 5 (1-5 years) times than a Visa for US citizens.
I wonder why? Is it because Israeli are richer than US citizens? Do Israeli application requires a different and more expensive process?
See below (and on the website):
