Africa’s most comprehensive RFID event 25 – 28 October 2005 Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa Keynote speakers Raymond Chegwidden Solutions Architect Nissan, South Africa Johan Stoop Senior Manager – MES Assembly Toyota, South Africa Lynne Stewart Manager GS1, South Africa Tracking Co-located with The RFID conference that will provide your organisation with the latest information regarding this revolutionary technology • Learn about the proper and complete implementation of RFID • Smooth out the integration process and how obstacles can be overcome • Reduce inventory shrinkage and critical order cycle times while improving demand forecasting accuracy • Hear about the rapid progress that has been made in terms of global standards For more information regarding this event, contact Megan Hainsworth, Marketing Manager on (t) +27 (0)11 516 4052 or e-mail megan.hainsworth@terrapinn.co.za Media partner Organised by www.worldofcards.biz/2005/rfidza Terrapinn0181
User and developer communities Fixed-line telecoms are examining waysofutilisingtheirnetworkstoprovideasmanynewservicesaspossible, tocounteractvoicerevenuedecline. Fixed-line operators are competing against the decreasing price and increasing reliability of mobile calls, and the tendency of many mobile userstochoosetohavejustonephone andonenumber.Theyarealsofighting the threat from cable companies that offer triple play, television, telephone and broadband, services combined. Fixed-line operators are fighting back with attractive bundles of broadbandaccess,cheapervoicecalls, soontocomeIPTV(InternetProtocol television) and, at times, mobile telephony. Today,applications,servicesanddigitalcontentareincreasinglytargetedto eachspecificcustomer,sotheimportanceofcustomeridentityandidentitymanagementisgrowingforoperators, content owners and customers. Today, too, telecommunications is highly virtualised because of packetbased communications, VoIP, GSM, CDMA,etc.Thewirelineisgone,and withitthedirectconnectionbetween carrierandcustomer.Whatremainsis thedigitalidentityoftheconsumer. Telecommunicationsservicesareconverging, and so are digital identity services. For example, the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture’s HSS (Home Subscriber Server), the network database that identifies the user, especially while roaming, to the local system, is the growthareaforthemoderncarrier. ThecarrierviewinEMEA andUSA In 2005, EMEA carriers are working torebuildprofitability.Theyareevaluating IMS deployment while maintaining legacy networks. Many carriers will also begin IPTV exploration anddeployment.Thetopthreeissues fortelecomsinEMEA,asforallbusinesses, are: ways to reduce cost and complexity, the quick and efficient delivery of new services (i.e., voice, data,pictureandvideo)andreturning to,andmaintaining,profitability. In the future, it will be the servers, storage,softwareandservicesthatwill make it possible to offer the ‘one-tomany’ or ‘machine-to-machine’ messagingservices,themobilewebservices and the enterprise-class applicationsthatwilldriverevenueandusage during the coming years. Partnering "Today, applications, services and digital content are increasingly targeted to each specific customer, so the importance of customer identity and identity management is growing for operators, content owners and customers." between equipment makers, software vendors and carriers offering managed services is alive and well in the USA.Thefocusisuponbringingcapabilities and services to market based upon the IMS convergence architecture,VoIPapplications,videoconferencing,multi-playergamingandringtonedownloads,alltogivethecarriers moretosellthanplainoldvoice. <strong>World</strong>wide, rollouts of IMS are just beginning.IMSrequiresanewgeneration of carrier-grade hardware platforms, next-generation blade platforms,capableofsupportingthehighbandwidth telecom services that they support. Blade server technology is makinggreatinroadsintocarrierdata centres. It is particularly suited to optimise voice and data convergence on next-generation networks. Enterprise software, running on advancedoperatingsystemsthatmanageidentityprofilesandpermissions, provides operators with a solid foundationtodevelopIMSapplications. Java,acasestudyfor community The community and participation modelisevidentinthemanycompaniesandindustriesthathavespunoff from Java. Java created an environment that facilitated great growth in applicationsdevelopment,byenabling the communities of developers who took open development platforms to heart.Businessapplications,information gateways and massively scalable networkgames,whichsimplydidnot exist before the widespread adoption ofJava,arenowincommonuse. Securitymustbebuiltintoeverything these days, not just provided as optional add-ons – you must bake securityintoproductsatthedevelopment stage. The Java platform, for example,wasdevelopedwithsecurity asafundamentalprinciple,soitcannotbeusedtocarryorspreadviruses to the operating system or a phone. Java’sopenmodelmakesitappealing to developers and carriers, who seek low development and ongoing operationalcosts. Ovumprojectsworldwidemobiledata servicesrevenuesofUS$137billionby 2008. That means the market will growroughly21percentannuallyfor the next four years! With more than 700 million Java-enabled handsets deployed,theJavadevelopercommunity will grow to develop the new applications this growing market demands. Economicandsocial progress NotallofplanetEarth’scitizenshave equal access to technology. Not just governments, but large global firms need to dedicate themselves to improving network accessibility and eradicating the digital divide. Enablinganewwaveofnetworkparticipants,betheydevelopingapplicationsforhealthcare,education,manufacturing or gamers, will deliver untoldeconomicandsocialprogress. AttheUnitedNationsthispastJune, wejoinedotherscommittedtophilanthropiceffortstodriveparticipationin this new age. China, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya received millions of dollars in Academic Excellence Grants and donations during the last two years, and tens of thousands of students in China now have free access to webbased courses. These and other programmes focusing specifically on increasing participation will continue under the Share the Opportunity umbrella. Today, those without an education andthosewithoutaccesstocomputers mustalsoplayapartinthegrowing, interconnected,communitythatleverages the Internet, technology and tools.Theywillhelpdefinetheneeds, the applications and services that build better lives, a better economy andabettersocietyforall. They too, and their children, will be part of the next generation of engineers, scientists, diplomats, business leaders, journalists, artists and consumers.Theyneedthenetworktoparticipateinthenewinformationsociety.Weareworkinghardtoexpandthe opportunities for everyone irrespectiveofculture,nationalityoreconomicmeans. 41
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