hitting the wire*

Radio over IP - recapturing the spirit of the Internet

(I'm being lazy here and reproducing the blog post I've just done for Umoya, but as there are probably a good few HTW readers who don't frequent the Umoya site, it might be the first time you see it.)

Users of the internet can thank the US military for its existence. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network or ARPANET as it was known then, was born in the early 1960’s when J.C.R. Licklider, then head of the Behavioral Sciences and Command and Control programs at ARPA, the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, set out to design and build what he termed an "Intergalactic Computer Network".

"For each of these three terminals, I had three different sets of user commands. So if I was talking online with someone at S.D.C. and I wanted to talk to someone I knew at Berkeley or M.I.T. about this, I had to get up from the S.D.C. terminal, go over and log into the other terminal and get in touch with them. I said, oh, man, it's obvious what to do: If you have these three terminals, there ought to be one terminal that goes anywhere you want to go. That idea is the ARPANET." [Bob Taylor]

It was a common myth that the architects of ARPANET set out not only to ‘bridge’ disparate computer communications systems, but to make the network resilient under disaster situations like a nuclear attack where a communications node had been destroyed. The internet protocol did provide the building blocks for creating a cheap yet resilient network, but this was not the primary aim.

Recently, Umoya was asked to consider expanding its uniti product to solve a major issue faced by Disaster Management during the Confederations Cup; that of different state agencies not being able to communicate across departments. A SAPS two-way radio mere yards away was unreachable from an EMS radio, which in turn was not compatible with a SANDF radio. Different terminals, functional silos, islands cut off from each other. Not good for effective collaboration.

Over the last few months, Umoya have successfully demonstrated a technology known as Radio over IP, where it is possible to link not only disparate radio handsets and talk-groups, but to link fixed and mobile telephones to radio talk groups. All over IP. A Disaster Management team member sitting in a Joint Operations Centre in Joburg can link a VoIP enabled netbook in George to an NSRI radio talk-group in PE and an EMS radio talk-group in Bloemfontein; using and “drag and drop” application. Not only that, but a manager in his car can monitor and participate in that conversation from his cell phone.VoIP has always had a special place in my heart for the way it is liberating the telecoms voice market. RoIP in these scenarios is for me even more exciting. Coupled with the benefits of uniti as a unified communications platform, this offering looks to add significant value in managing the 2010 Soccer World Cup more effectively.

#RadioOverIP FTW!

IT, Telecoms

This is the kind of mail a Marketing guy/chick gets turned on by.

I work closely with the guys at Umoya Networks. They're great guys: they're straight arrows, they're bright and they're fearless. Today, Peter, the CEO, forwards me an email. The Director of Marketing at a school in Grahamstown is looking for some database driven software to take care of a diverse range of needs. She mails a bunch of colleagues (32 of them - I counted) across the country to ask if anyone has a recommendation.

"...We are looking at trying to standardise our data bases, including those used for admissions, marketing, Old Boys, archives, etc, etc ! I know from past experience that there is never one system that does it all and there are so many out there including Pencil Box, EduAdmin, DevMann, etc. If anyone had been through this process recently and has found a system that suits them and works (or doesn't!), I would be really interested to hear from you.

Many thanks in advance,..."

The headmaster of a school in Worcester who has recently adopted the staffroom school admin software suite from Umoya hits reply to all (never have I liked that feature until now!) and proceeds to say this:

"Hi all

We recently signed up with Staffroom from Umoya. This is a fabulous product and has revolutionized our administration, assessment admin, reports and so on. It is highly customizable, locally designed and is a high quality product. Training is given to your staff and the customer service is phenomenal. They will also come visit your school for a demo should you require it.

I highly recommend the product and the company. You can take a look at the following website for further info : http://www.mystaffroom.net

Feel free to contact me should you require further info, otherwise call Umoya on 021 702 4848

Kind regards..."

Umoya should be paying this guy! But of course that would ruin the impact.

You know you're getting something right when a customer refers to your product as "fabulous" and "high quality", claims it has "revolutionised" their lives, calls your customer service "phenomenal" and recommends your company highly.

well done Umoya - proud of you guys.

Software, Sysdev, Telecoms, Telecoms, Web2.0

Are Vodacom blocking VoIP? Nope - it's AT&T and Apple!

Warning: This is a rant.

I'm on the road today, between a client site in Westlake and the home office when I discover that Vodacom have decided I don't need to talk to anyone. I call my wife 3 times in a row to hear her repeating "HELLO?" in more and more exasperated tones while I bellow fruitlessly into my headset, then rip the headset out of the phone just in case it is on the fritz, not the network. Nada. No joy.

A colleague calls me. Same story.

So I think, no problem, I have Skype and Fring on this pocket rocket-phone, I'll just call via Skype-Out.

Yawellnofine. First this:

Which irritates me intensely, so I think maybe Fring... :

at which stage I'm beyond irritated. If they could have heard me, I'd have called 111 just to vent at them. I resort to an SMS to inform wife and colleague that I'll call when I reach a landline. By the time I'm at the office, Vodacom are allowing me to make calls which involve two-way speech again. How nice of them. They charge us far more than they should for calls, duck and dive when they're pressured to reduce prices, and then it appears they block us from making use of VoIP over 3G.

I need to look into what they're admitting to here and what right they have to do this. Probably find that hidden in their Ts&Cs they have taken the right to dictate what I may and may not do with my phone. If so, that is just wrong. #vodacom #brandfail

Update (2009/10/15)

Thanks to Tim Keller for insight into the real problem here. Typical of the arrogance displayed by the likes of Apple and AT&T, we're impacted. I'm sure Vodacom were not complaining though.

Telecoms, Telecoms

TechCentral doing well.

TechCentral, a new online media site covering ICT related issues in South Africa launched at the beginning of this month and seems to be flying from the quality of the articles, the debate in the comments about those articles and their click-through rate on ads (acc. to Duncan Mcleod). Duncan ended a long run at Financial Mail, to start out on his own, having spotted a significant "online" shift in journalism happening.  

I was a little taken aback to be asked to contribute an opinion piece from time to time, after all there is a distinct difference between writing the odd blog post on a piece of digital real estate you own and can abuse as you see fit, and airing your views in a genuine online publication!

But what the heck, the first column is out there ("From digital janitors to enablers of business"). I digitally shredded the first attempt and notice Duncan has done a fine job of editing the second attempt. If nothing else, this might force me to improve my writing style and start writing a bit more often.

I am truly grateful that it is only once a month or so - I'm not sure how these journo's churn out vaguely sensible stuff day in and day out.

IT, SysDev, Telecoms, Telecoms

Is funding for SA startups not the real issue?

Justin Spratt of IS has a thought provoking article on TechCentral on what is lacking in stimulating growth of technology startups in SA.

A nice graphic of the funding continuum:

Darren Gorton has a nice blog post here which lists a good few local funding options - would be good to accumulate these plus incubators, accelerators and mentors somewhere... maybe on Vinny's Silicon Cape? ;)

VSAT cheaper than Diginet? Surely not.

It's really cool when you discover something pleasantly surprising right under your nose.

I've just discovered that VoIP over VSAT works really well if configured properly and that VSAT could be a darn good replacement for a large Diginet network. Depending on how long you take a contract for and what you need it for, you can see significant savings like those shown below. Details here.

Renewable Energy scholarship for postgrad study in 2010 & 2011

The Doug Banks Renewable Energy Vision initiative has just issued an invitation for applications for a scholarship for post grad study in Renewable Energy for 2010 & 2011. It has been a slow and tiring process of getting many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in place, but we're finally reaching a point where we have something tangible to show.

The purpose of the Doug Banks Renewable Energy Vision:

* We aim to attract, identify and mentor bright, capable young people who want to both study further in Renewable Energy; and have a desire to solve the challenges of Africa's future energy needs.

* We intend to partner with sponsors who share our desire to develop Renewable Energy intellectual capital in South Africa, in order to build a trust fund which can to a large degree sustain itself.

* We wish to form a network of professionals who wish to see bright young minds mentored in Renewable Energy.

* Through this, we aim to create a living tribute to Dr Doug Banks and to carry forward his vision and passion for Renewable Energy

If you know of anyone studying engineering at the moment that might be interested in making their career in Renewables, please point them to the website http://dougbanks.co.za/

rgds,

Dave

Alchemysts wanted.

ViaData are looking for Systems Development Alchemysts - are you up for creating some SysDev magic?

SysDev

Here, there and everywhere!

Despite some rather obvious encouragement from Joe across at SwimGeek, I've not found my muse for "the wire" again just yet.

I have helped Craig Byren get a post together on the ViaData blog called "Have we been ripping off our customers for years?" - ouch!

I've blogged at Umoya's site on "7 good reasons to use VSAT".

I've joined the crew at The Mac Blog to see if I can add value there - first post was "10 reasons I love my Mac" - somewhat corny, but it was interesting to try and quantify exactly what it is about this piece of technology that gets under your skin like it does.

Do not use Incorporex to register your newco

When you use an agent to register a NewCo, you expect to be paying a bit more than you would have by going directly to CIPRO, but suffering far less pain for the extra cost not so?  

More than 90 days from the day I paid Incorporex close on R1,800.00 I still have no tangible proof that they have done anything with my money other than an SMS giving me a reg number and suggesting that the documents will be following. That was 20 April 2009. It is now 29 May 2009 and I have heard nothing despite progress enquiries, which appear to be ignored.

This is what a recent mail looked like:

Pamela an Stanley
I have only word to describe the level of service I have received from your company:
PATHETIC!
Pamela promises to facilitate the registration of a pty ltd for me and indicate that it takes about 6 to 8 weeks.Pamela neglects to collect the documents I courier to you on 25 February 2009 until I call 3 weeks later to ask for a progress report.Stanley calls me to apologise and undertakes to do whatever is possible to ensure that the process is expedited.On 24 March 2009 I emailed asking for an update. Pamela has never replied.I email Stanley on 8 April 2009. No reply.I hear no more until I get an SMS on 20 April 2009 to give me the reg number and indicates that the documents will be following.Since then - nothing.I email Stanley on 20 May 2009 again asking for an update. Nothing.I call your call centre today and cannot get to speak to anyone at all.
90 days later and I have no registration papers with which I can open a bank account and start billing my customers.
At this stage, I'm asking what I paid you R1,799.00 for - to make my life more difficult? I could have done the work myself by now at less cost!
If I do not have my documents by Friday 29 May 2009 16h00, I am listing Incorporex on HelloPeter.com & will be seeking legal advice on obtaining my registration papers from CIPRO without delay.

And did you know that they can place a document on their website saying they are authorized by DTI/CIPRO to register companies on CIPRO's behalf, but I get told by a DTI call centre agent that DTI have no governance authority over the agent and I must lodge a case with the SAP. Say what?!

HelloPeter here I come.

***update as at 2009/05/29***

Contacted SA Chamber of Commerce who were helpful but doubtful about their chances. Then got hold of CIPRO in Cape Town who asked me to formally raise a complaint, which I did. Also got hold of Incorporex's CEO's cell phone number and called him - no credible reason for why I'm being ignored and admits they had "misplaced" my documents (for over a month?!?!?) and he would see they were couriered to me over the weekend. He's SMSd me a tracking number, so who knows, he might be on the level.

Total and utter incompetence and no idea of what it means to provide any modicum of service level.

Sorry mate, but the deadline was today and I think it wasn't unreasonable.