Olaf comments on the Mobile Industry Evolution at UMTS Report

I recently had the pleasure of being asked for an Interview at UMTS-Report, to comment on the Mobile Industry. See it here. Posted by mobiletechnology ( May 20 2007, 03:24:32 PM CEST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Big News - Integration of the leading Internet Community Services and Vodafone goes India

Last week I wrote

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"Part of our future planning is also to think about where the future of the market goes - Core IT consumed a lot of Compute Cycles in the past, but grows somewhat along the lines of GDP - not enough as Compute Power grows exponentially (related to Moores Law still) - Lucky for us that Bandwidth to the end user grows even faster and enables a range of great new Services - say Google Earth, MySpace, YouTube - and great online games like World of Warcraft (WARNING: Extremly addictive, use with care).

No coincidence then that Vodafone just announced an exclusive MySpace on the Mobile partnership as well as eBay on the Mobile"

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Sometimes I get right on - Vodafone also announced a YouTube partnership and Google Search and Google Maps (well I was one off there, I would have preferred Google Earth but we will get there), and Yahoo Instant Messaging.

I guess that makes it a good list of the cool, social networking communities.

Vodafone also got themselves access to a huge population to use these on the mobile - buying Hutch Essar in India, the Future Vodafone India (they had only a minority stake in Bharti there before). How about a couple of hundret million customers to these services on mobile devices?

Olaf Posted by mobiletechnology ( Feb 13 2007, 08:06:06 AM CET ) Permalink Comments [0]

Telco 101, 201, ...

A mobile network is complex - and we have to deal with Technology from the Datacenter to the Radio Network and Terminal (cell phone..) - thus we started a Series of "How do I explain that to my Salesperson and Customer" Modules - the first introductory one is now at SunandVodafone.com. There is a huge wallpaper laying out in Detail the technology pieces required today - and in "Telco 201" tomorrow - that we use to explain the technical setup of a mobile Carrier - and Vodafone in particular. Come see us if you want to experience this as well.

A Wallchart, a Tablecloth, a Presentation, a Web Module - still, how would you make your Kids understand something while having fun? Stay tuned, we will let you know what being snowed in in Düsseldorf for a day can create (We want to test it first on our Team at the next Meeting - did I hear "guinea pig"?

Part of our future planning is also to think about where the future of the market goes - Core IT consumed a lot of Compute Cycles in the past, but grows somewhat along the lines of GDP - not enough as Compute Power grows exponentially (related to Moores Law still) - Lucky for us that Bandwidth to the end user grows even faster and enables a range of great new Services - say Google Earth, MySpace, YouTube - and great online games like World of Warcraft (WARNING: Extremly addictive, use with care).

No coincidence then that Vodafone just announced an exclusive MySpace on the Mobile partnership as well as eBay on the Mobile

The good news is: Vodafone and Sun coincidentally move exactly in the same direction, and Sun's Product portfolio of the future, with great Software around Identity Management, SOA/JCAPS and the multi-core low-power CoolThreads Servers based on the UltraSparc T1 Processor - and the followon Products in this family you will see soon.

Even in gray Winter the future seems bright again - and we are glad to be a part of it.

Olaf and Adrian

Posted by mobiletechnology ( Feb 07 2007, 04:15:55 PM CET ) Permalink Comments [0]

Telco 101 Update

Well it is 2007 and we have finally started to digest the Telco 101 project ... URL will be released soon

In addition to the Flashing lights and Multi Media experience, I have gone for the good old traditional Text method. Below is a rather dull extract on how a Telco works, but it may be of value an remember the text will appear on the web site in the form of audio clips using a rather cool actors voice.

To begin the understanding of how a mobile telecommunications network actually works we must first level our understanding of what “Technology Innovations” have occurred with the mobile telecommunications market. You will here around the industry many acronyms and a lot of terminology and jargon all of which is the “Language of Telo”, a language we all need to have a simple understanding off, but let’s start at a very high level …. The Mobile telecommunications market ahs seen many evolution during it existence and many more come, we have moved threw GSM, GPRS and on 3G (UMTS) with 4G flagged to arrive in the future, but what are these terms ?

GSM – Definition - GSM

(Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephony system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of time division multiple access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephony technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency band.

Mobile services based on GSM technology were first launched in Finland in 1991. Today, more than 690 mobile networks provide GSM services across 213 countries and GSM represents 82.4% of all global mobile connections. According to GSM World, there are now more than 2 billion GSM mobile phone users worldwide. GSM World references China as "the largest single GSM market, with more than 370 million users, followed by Russia with 145 million, India with 83 million and the USA with 78 million users." Since many GSM network operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators, users can often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to other countries. SIM (Subscriber Identify Module) cards holding home network access configurations may be switched to those will metered local access, significantly reducing roaming costs while experiencing no reductions in service.

GSM, together with other technologies, is part of the evolution of wireless mobile telecommunications that includes High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HCSD), General Packet Radio System (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS)

GPRS Definition

General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) is a packet-based wireless communication service that promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users. The higher data rates allow users to take part in video conferences and interact with multimedia Web sites and similar applications using mobile handheld devices as well as notebook computers. GPRS is based on Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication and complements existing services such circuit-switched cellular phone connections and the Short Message Service (SMS).

In theory, GPRS packet-based services cost users less than circuit-switched services since communication channels are being used on a shared-use, as-packets-are-needed basis rather than dedicated to only one user at a time. It is also easier to make applications available to mobile users because the faster data rate means that middleware currently needed to adapt applications to the slower speed of wireless systems are no longer be needed. As GPRS has become more widely available, along with other 2.5G and 3G services, mobile users of virtual private networks (VPNs) have been able to access the private network continuously over wireless rather than through a rooted dial-up connection.

GPRS also complements Bluetooth, a standard for replacing wired connections between devices with wireless radio connections. In addition to the Internet Protocol (IP), GPRS supports X.25, a packet-based protocol that is used mainly in Europe. GPRS is an evolutionary step toward Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telephone Service (UMTS)

UMTS Definition

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) is a third-generation (3G) broadband, packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia at data rates up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps). UMTS offers a consistent set of services to mobile computer and phone users, no matter where they are located in the world. UMTS is based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication standard. It is also endorsed by major standards bodies and manufacturers as the planned standard for mobile users around the world. Once UMTS is fully available, computer and phone users can be constantly attached to the Internet wherever they travel and, as they roam, will have the same set of capabilities. Users will have access through a combination of terrestrial wireless and satellite transmissions. Until UMTS is fully implemented, users can use multi-mode devices that switch to the currently available technology (such as GSM 900 and 1800) where UMTS is not yet available.

Previous cellular telephone systems were mainly circuit-switched, meaning connections were always dependent on circuit availability. A packet-switched connection uses the Internet Protocol (IP), meaning that a virtual connection is always available to any other end point in the network. UMTS also makes it possible to provide new services like alternative billing methods or calling plans. For instance, users can choose to pay-per-bit, pay-per-session, flat rate, or asymmetric bandwidth options. The higher bandwidth of UMTS also enables other new services like video conferencing or IPTV. UMTS may allow the Virtual Home Environment (VHE) to fully develop, where a roaming user can have the same services to either at home, in the office or in the field through a combination of transparent terrestrial and satellite connections.
The electromagnetic radiation spectrum for UMTS has been identified as frequency bands 1885-2025 MHz for future IMT-2000 systems, and 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz for the satellite portion of UMTS systems.

A lot of facts, but thsi should hopefuly show why we are using Multi Media to pull this poroject together

Posted by adriangjohns ( Jan 04 2007, 10:15:36 AM CET ) Permalink Comments [0]

Cut all wires - well, or so I thought

I (Olaf) will get really busy next week - I move to a new house. While this is a mixture of excitement and horror, now that most things are organized the joy dominates. Adrian moved just a few weeks ago, and it seems he survived ok. Christmas will be busy.

Last spring, when I started to plan this move, I looked at my job and made a descision: The time is up to have a wireless home - and refuse even the so-far standard last mile wire for telephone. Fixed line replacement, yes thats the game to play, and I decided to eat our own dog food and try it.

This was the plan:

• use only cell phones, with a local fixed line number ported to them for some
• go 3G network for network connectivity. Use WLAN/Wireless router with a 3G Card to cover the house
• Stream Audio and Films
• Oh, almost forgot, we need a fax, as our Jobs require lots of signed papers to go back and forth at times

Sounded doable. I have been using a cell phone and 3G Card for a long time as a mobile worker, around the globe, and am usually happy with it.

This was reality (I _really_ tried!):

First to go was no 3. The contract requires us to take and use cable anyway. Plus IPTV offers over 3G are not quite it yet. I like HDTV and projection, so I told myself thats why I have to take cable and give IPTV over the air a break.

Imagine my disapointment when I learned the cable provider does not offer HDTV or digital cable as well.

Then came the realization that No 4. was the next problem: Faxing without a telephone line. There are a few solutions in the market to have a fax proxy box that then sends out to the 2G/3G network. Last years just never worked. This years are promised to be better, but its horrendously complicated a solution (you would think it just connects an analogue fax to the telephone net, but hey, this one needs to proxy, set up VPNs, group calls and all sorts of stuff in the GSM net, scary). It is brand new, complex and the last generation failed - fax is mission critical for us, so thats a no go for me personally right now.

Ok. So I do need at least one simple phone line for the fax.

Enter bundles. Check out any provider here, all you see is bundles of phone, dsl and various flat rates. I spend about 15 minutes each in several hotlines to dig out if they even _sell_ simple single phone lines. Most do not. Other do not want to, and make that known commercially. It just does not compute, you are forced to take a bundle or end up getting less for more overall.

Sigh. So I will have DSL in the house and not do Data over 3G when at home. Here goes No 2.

No 1 - did I tell you the bundle contains free calls to Germany? Half of No. 1 goes. (I will refuse to connect a regular phone still, just to be a rebel).

Total bliss came last - I had to realize that the street I move to is new. All the "check if our service is available" tools do not have it, thus say "sorry no service". I can not count how many times I had to explain that to customer agents drilled to make this check their first action - and that there _is_ service, their tool just does not show it yet. I gave up on the smaller providers who could not handle this, and expected 4-6 week turnaround times for just a request if they can offer service in the area.

Ordering with the big players is not easy either. They suffer the same issue - but i persevered, called a few times, pressed lots of numbers to get to a human, found one speaking a language I also speak, and tried to order. Via phone they could not add the hardware I wanted. Thats only available online...

So online ordering. After I figured out that you cannot pick your price plan, then hardware, but the other way around I came to the "enter your future address" box. Oh no! They would not... yes they did "There is no service at that address".

Eventually I convinced them to manually book it in. Last status is "Due to our large backlog, we will send you a order confirmation within a week and let you know when we can start service within the next 2 months".

I move next Thursday. My fault. I should have known better. At least its healthy to experience reality at times. I know what we need to work on, and will not be surprised with customer acceptance numbers any more.

Eventually, we will get there. My house, for now, will have wires. If they connect them eventually.

Signing of for now, if you read me again, I will be back on the net. Merry Christmas, and a happy new year.

Olaf

Posted by mobiletechnology ( Dec 07 2006, 03:33:13 PM CET ) Permalink

Stepping up the pace

Two postings below today - don't miss them. Posted by mobiletechnology ( Oct 19 2006, 02:49:34 PM CEST ) Permalink

Introducing - Daniel Berg, Executive Technical Sponsor for Vodafone globally

May I introduce - Sun's new Executive Technical Sponsor for Vodafone, Daniel J. Berg. He completes our Sponsors team by joining Sun's CEO and President, Jonathan Schwartz, who is and remains Vodafone's Executive Sponsor. We have had the pleasure to Interview him recently during Sun's Customer Engineering Conference (read Dan's blog about it ).

Making the right connections

He’s a best-selling author – but does not enjoy writing. He’s also one of Sun’s leading technical experts - but admits to feeling ‘intimidated’ by his new role … as Technical Executive Sponsor for the Sun/Vodafone global team. However, he’s a good listener and has the know-how and skills to get the right people talking to each other. Connection caught up with Daniel J. Berg to discover more.

Q: Daniel, can you tell us about your other roles for Sun?

DJB: Sure, I really have two primary roles at Sun. One is the Chief Technology Officer for Global Sales & Services, looking after the technical strategy and direction of the GSS organisation. The other is the Vice President of EMEA Systems Engineering, in which I am responsible for the technical pre-sales organisation.

Q: We understand that you are also a Distinguished Engineer?

DJB: Correct, I am a DE, which means I am lucky enough to be a part of a small group of incredible engineers at Sun. The DE program has been a great way for Sun to recognise its top engineering talent.

Q: We have seen other DEs present at JavaOne and other conferences. Do you do this sort of activity as well?

DJB: Yes, I consider that a big part of my job. Interacting and speaking at conferences on all kinds of subjects (Java, middleware, internet computing, etc) is a great way to let people know about Sun's technologies as well as to meet with some really great people in our industry.

Q: How do you feel about joining the Sun/Vodafone global team?

DJB: Like many other people, I’m a big mobile user. I have two handsets: one for the US and one for Europe (my family lives in Prague). So from that perspective, it’s a great match, but as for the role, I’m intimidated! This is a very important account for Sun and an important company in the industry. Vodafone knows where it’s going and what it needs to be successful. For the moment, it’s right for me to listen rather than wax poetic!

Q: Even so, do you see issues likely to be high of the agenda?

DJB: Yes. Like many other large organisations, it’s likely that Vodafone will view IT increasingly as a service, which raises lots of technical issues, from remote management to the complexity of architectures. However, this understanding of computing becoming a utility will become more widespread. The good news is that it’s right in line with Sun’s strategy and vision.

Q: Are there any other major changes we can expect?

DJB: I believe that innovation in ‘general purpose’ computing will once again disrupt our industry. I think we will see general purpose hardware and software mixed together in new and interesting ways to create unique solutions and applications. For example, breaking down traditional views of what servers actually ‘do’, like our new X4500. The possibilities are intriguing and may make bespoke computing services much cheaper for customers such as Vodafone.

Q: Vodafone is working towards a global standard and centralisation of IT. How do you see Sun helping in the process?

DJB: Standardisation and consolidation is key. As an industry, we not only have standards for software and hardware but also standards for operations management. Sun is and has always been an open company, meaning that we adopt open standards and always give our customers a choice. We are very well positioned to help Vodafone specifically in this area with our best practices, industry standards-based hardware, software and services. However, this is also where the Sun/Vodafone team can teach me about its needs – and I can leverage this back into Sun. In my role as Chief Technologist I report directly into Greg Papadopoulos (Sun's CTO and EVP of R&D) and his CTO team. So this is a short link for anything that colleagues can tell me in helping to drive Sun's R&D strategy and direction. Sun will be very responsive to what’s needed and I see it as my role to get the right people talking to each other.

Q: We’ve heard you’ve written a few books. Do you have time for more?

DJB: I hope I never write another book in my life! I just don't enjoy writing. It started a number of years ago when I was looking for a book on multi-threading and realised none were available. Someone suggested I write one myself – which I did. But then publishing companies come after you to do more. I’ve written seven books covering multi-threading, Java & Java threads and Internet architecture and development methodologies. The last one was in early 2000. But I hope it really is the last. I think as an engineer it is critical that you communicate, however at this point I would rather talk to people rather then write.

Q: But you still write for the web?

DJB: Yes, I have a blog at http://blogs.sun.com/djberg which is good for sharing what’s on my mind, what happens in my travels and of course plenty of drivel. It isn’t writing a book but it’s a good way to stay connected to people you would never have the time to meet individually.

Thank you Daniel.

You can find this interview and more on the Accounts Website http://www.sunandvodafone.com. Also read Dan's Blog.

Posted by mobiletechnology ( Oct 19 2006, 01:50:40 PM CEST ) Permalink

Telco 101 - Understand Telco Technology

Understand Telco Technology – Telco 101 Project

The Telco 101 project, is a project designed to map where we make a difference on our account (a huge mobile telco company) from a technical leadership perspective and where today Sun plays a key component role in there Architectural direction. The Telco 101 project is a real opportunity to understand how we technically lead and is designed to cover all areas of Technology from the Handset, to the IN network, to the Service Delivery, to the Back end OSS & BSS systems and Back to the developer community for the deployment of new innovative services. The output of this project will be a detailed technical diagram, a written overview, User cases and example of how the technology works and a usable slide deck, all designed to help us fully understand the global footprint and enable us to to push Sun products and partner solution across our Global account.

The Project will map around 60 countries IT architectures ... WOW this will be big and will involve many many technical points of view.

As a Sneaky Peak of this project I have attached a very small segment of my Telco 101 Drawing . Today the 101 project is on a 9 foot square piece of paper and growing by the day and this of course will become to big to handle and involve a lot of poor orphaned trees - So we are joining the digital age and having it processed into a lovely set of electronic web pages appearing soon at a web site near you "http://sunandvodafone.com".

So why are we doing this ..... To Fully understand how Sun impacts this rather large account from the Handset to the Network and to understand where our technology is used today and where we can position and grow our technology footprint in the future ... But this is not just about us, it is also about our partners and there many cool solution and innovative strategys for the telco market.

If you went to the CEC in San Fran a few weeks back you would have seen myself and Olaf present the Telco 101 project, if you did see us what did you think ? (nice comments I hope) In addition we covered our overall Technology engagement from and Industry trends from Service Delivery, Mobile Devices futures, Java, Desktop, Content, OSS & BSS etc

If you want to know more about this cool and critical mapping of our technology onto a "Real" Telco Network operator stayed tuned - we will share more on our next team con call and as we speak the information is being digested for the "http://sunandvodafone.com" web site

Share your views on how technology really makes a difference .....

Regards Adrian Johns

Posted by adriangjohns ( Oct 19 2006, 01:36:50 PM CEST ) Permalink Comments [0]

On the origins of Bag Pipes - and why Pyramids matter

Recently I had the pleasure to visit Egypt - a definite emerging market with a vivid Vodafone being very active. A fascinating mix of old and new, with a deserved proud feeling for history make for a thrilling experience. And as always, visiting a place makes you understand a lot more about why business there is as it is. Take this, what is odd about this picture:

What's odd is that nothing is odd. I always associated bag pipes with Scottish Highlands. I learned it has a much longer history and definitely belongs to the ancient egyptian "music scene". Who would have thought?
Have you been traveling recently? Getting off the airplane, you have a good chance of a greeting by Vodafones John Tranter:

As a truly global company with networks in 27 countries and partner networks in another 33 (if I ever heard about a clever "franchise" model, this is one!), a whole new set of opportunity - but also challenges arise. It is a good part of our job to help with that. Meeting in Cairo, we had the opportunity to share ideas with people from Sun, Vodafone and partners from around the globe. There is no better place to do this, and everyone went home with an added feel for the great things we can do in emerging markets and around the world if we share our ideas.

Almost five thousand years looking at us - a sight that will be hard to surpass - a giant achievement to build the pyramids - and make them last for so long. It really gives you a perspective on large challenges - imagine you where the poor little fellow laying the first stone for that.
Eventually great achievements are completed and delivered - Sun had one such moment July 11 (and I am happy to say we have a number of those last year, and continue that tradition this year). We announced our new X4600 8-Socket Opteron Server - 16 cores - a _lot_ of compute power.
Even more interesting really is what our Boss Jonathan writes about here: the X4500 data server, 24 Terrabytes in 4 Rackunits with 2 Socket Opteron:

Tim O'Reilly had a bunch of good commets on Web 2.0 and X4500 - this is the device for the new emerging Internet.
The Industry has gone round and round on Blades - let me have Andy Bechtolsheim, a Sun founder, tell you why.
And if you wondered what you could do in reality with all of the above, introducing the new worlds 7th largest Supercomputer, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, build of out these systems.
What does this mean for Vodafone?
First, Solaris on x86 has more ISV applications than RedHat or Suse - and way more than HP-UX, a very dead OS - plus you get all the advantages of Solaris. There is no difference in functionality between Solaris on x86 and Sparc - Containers/Zones, dTrace, ZFS, all the good stuff. ZFS alone means you never need to pay Veritas for a Volumemanager again - nor do you even need to worry about Volume Management. Way over 5 million Solaris licenses downloaded to date - yes they are free, Sun makes money on the support if you want it - and most of them running on HP, IBM and Dell servers - who would have thought Sun quickly becomes the OS Vendor for HP, IBM and DELL?
Jonathan likes to be quoted with "Frankly, Dell, HP and IBM are now channel partners." - way to go. And once you run Solaris, the step to realize you should put on the Java Enterprise System Software stack from Sun as your Middleware, Availability, Web, Applicationserver and Identity Solution is a small one. Vodafone already has a Java Enterprise System license in most areas, licensed per employee - no more core/processor or user counting.
Then the X4500 "Thumper" Server serves as a data staging, media streaming and bulk storage device, and also as an applicane for running applications requiring a lot of storage - e.g. indexing and data mining.

Last but not least the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System - finally a blades System which will last you 5-7 years including all the processor upgrades AMD and maybe others do in that time - it has the cooling and power to do that. It is really impressive - we got the "Very well engineered, did we already buy some of them?" from Vodafone last week on a presentation. Ten 8 way blades per chassis, two chassis per rack. And when AMD launches Quad-Core, say 16 way blades. Octal Core anyone?
Blades in the market are pretty wrong so far - they usually lump CPU and IO onto the blade. The Sun Blade 8000 disassociates IO from the Blade, look at the rear:

While the blades have CPUs, memory and hot-swap discs their PCI-Express goes out a passive backplane to the rear, where you get two dedicated PCI Express Modules (an industry standard, hot swap PCI-Express cards you can buy from many vendors) per blade plus the shared virtual Network IO Switches in the middle - and when you upgrade either blades or IO you dont have to touch the respective other side. More even, as the Chassis only contains a passive wire backplane, it will outlast many updates on IO Technology. Very well engineered indeed, and managed exactly the same as all the other Sun x64 boxes, using N1 System Manager.
And while all this is "just" Hardware - these are some of the new infrastructure building blocks for solutions, and we should never underestimate the importance of that over all the solutions talk. And while Sparc is a very much alive platform with the UltraSparc T1 based servers just delivering stunning performance at lowest energy consumption - we blogged about this earlier - Sun's x64 Server line is a must see.
Talk to you soon,
Olaf
Posted by mobiletechnology ( Jul 24 2006, 08:17:03 AM CEST ) Permalink

Upside Down - Emerging Markets change the world

Grown up in Europe? Then your fixed line phone was the old, uncool thing. Fixed. Always had it. Eventually the copper lines got a bit cooler when DSL showed its face, and we got High Speed Internet at Home (you bought into "fiber to your home is it" story a few years back? Too bad, ADSL over copper was the name of the game). Mobile phones where the new thing - and luxury. Mobility was more expensive. Fixed line for the poor, Mobile for the rich. And despite Mobile telephony becoming a mass phenomenon, it is still the more expensive way to communicate, voice and data.

Growing up in India? The world turns upside down. Its all about volume - providing communications to over a billion people. Many can now afford mobile phones, and the masses are being connected to the world via wireless services. If you are rich and want to be cool - then you get a land line. Because you can afford it that someone actually strings some copper wires to your house and connects them. A country grows into mass communication in the wireless enabled time - and the question becomes how to provide volume voice services to the millions joining your network every month. And the old wire becomes the luxury only few afford.

Emerging markets (like India, China, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa) pose very different challenges than "mature and saturated" Markets (like Europe and the US) - this is extreme in mobile communications. Emerging Markets also have the biggest business oppertunity for those that get it right.

Realizing this, Vodafone recently adapted their organization and strategy (document and presentation) to reflect this.

I had not been to the middle east before this Winter. As everyone, I had a picture in my mind when I was flying to Dubai, UAE. It proved to be wrong. This place is amazing - I hear 25% of the worlds large cranes are here, used for the crazy construction going on. Everything is being build. Whole towns - the famous "The Palm" and "The World" (in case you always wanted to own a mini-version e.g. of Germany) artificial islands, the Burj al Arab Hotel (hey, thats a few years old, it's getting surpassed by something even grander being built nearby). So much money being spent to total luxury, on business and oil infused growth.


They could easily go for tourism as well - great Beaches and all. But here it is about enabling growth and lifestyle in a money-infested environment. Why would anyone string copper lines in such an area? That just seems too slow. Waiting for a line to be strung to your construction site? When that is ready you should already be finishing the building, not start with it.

Vodafone has a great little fixed-line replacement box - just plug in your old land-line phone, fax, and computer and all your internet, phone and fax traffic now flow to the box and then on over the air. Just power required, and you can have your office set up anywhere in the world really, with your home phone numbers, in Minutes. If thats not a great thing for a place breeding construction sites like no other! Fixed line - in Dubai I think thats just too slow to keep up with life. We will be in Cairo next week - another of those places where Sun and Vodafone make a lot happen. We will let you know when we get back.

Thats why we need to go to places to do business - you won't understand the challenges if you have not seen it live.
Talk to you soon,
Olaf
Posted by mobiletechnology ( Jul 05 2006, 06:45:55 PM CEST ) Permalink

Continuing the theme of Connected EveryWhere

On Monday 5th June Sun hosted the monthly meeting of the London Chapter of the Mobile Monday industry group. This is an open group comprising membership drawn from all aspects of the mobile industry, and the London Chapter is one of a number in major cities around the globe. Mobile Monday as the date suggests meets Every firsts Monday of the month around the world from London, LA, New York, France to Tokyo ... etc for reports from events around the world just go to Mobile Mondays.

By hosting the event we sought to raise Sun's profile as an active participant in the group and across its members, of which there are now close to 1,000. We set a target of 120 attendees, which was achieved resulting in few, if any spare seats, in the Da Vinci conference room in the CBC in our London City office

The subject of this meeting was Mobile Enterprise and featured presentations from Symbian, Consult Hyperion and Sun, for whom Adrian Johns (me) presented on the WorkSmart initiative that are driving at Vodafone (see last Blog entry, "Connected EveryWhere").

Well this was certainly an interesting experience and having done it once I would love to do it again. I had to stand up in front of around 120 people from all over the mobile industry and present on why I believe that we have a truly mobile solution that will enable a "True Mobile Enterprise" experience, a solution built using our products from Sun Sercure Global Desktop to SunRay.

The whole event was filmed and simultaneously Pod cast and Blogged (not sure if this is a word, but I like it) around the world.

My piece went well and we had a lot of interest during and after the presentation and many people were surprised at what we can achieve with our products and partners product solutions. The formal bit only lasted two hours and my piece was 10 minutes plus questions followed by a 20 minute panel review for further questions.

We all then retired for beer and pizza.

A write up on the event and a couple of photos can be found at:
http://www.torgo.com/mobilemonday/

Posted by adriangjohns ( Jun 22 2006, 11:25:58 AM CEST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Connected everywhere …

Connected everywhere … Is it a pleasure or is it a Pain??

The endgame for all wireless services providers today is seamless roaming anytime, anywhere with any device, and let’s not forgets continuity of service. The seamless part is a long way off, but with a little planning around how you wish to connect, a lot of money to keep buying the next “Great Device” and even more patience, you can stay connected anywhere on Earth - well in theory

So How Do we connect today?

In the OFFICE – via a cable or Wifi or if the connection is really bad with a UMTS 3G card.

At HOME - with Broadband, ISDN, Modem, Wifi or a UMTS 3G card.

On the MOVE – with a Laptop with WiFI Hotspot or a UMTS Card, using a DES card for secure access or just surfing the web. Or for the people who must have constant access to Mail a Blackberry RIM device.

Sounds almost like an old thing now? Consider this: We roam the globe with just a Vodafone 3G Card in the laptop and get the Internet almost everywhere - worked in Dubai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hong Kong, Auckland.. (Well, did not work in the US but thats worth a separate Blog entry).

The plane used to be a quiet (although horribly uncomfortable) safe haven on long flights - no phone, no email, you could just read or catch a movie after all off line work was done. Not anymore, Olaf just spent a flight on line via the Lufthansa FlyNET service now available on flights. Just use your wireless network to connect on the plane - very easy.

Being connected everywhere changes our behavior - every experienced a meeting where everyone had a Laptop open, and email and IM being constantly used on the side? People glancing at their Blackberry every few minutes and typing away wherever they are?

Linda Stone coined the term "continuous partial attention" for this as far back as 1998 and speaks about it frequently at conferences, something to think about.

The choices are endless and confusing and the net result in using all these devices can bring a lack of continuity between applications, a different look and feel for each device per application and your data spread across many devices causing data inconsistencies ….. but it is not all doom and gloom, far from it, the industry is creating truly mobile solution and this includes our account team … yes we have made a Proof of Concept called WorkSmart to fix this very problem, but first the perfect device.

The Perfect device in my view will be a platform that makes e-mail, voice mail, text and instant messaging accessible on a single device screen. This includes the ability to view all the major IM networks, including AOL, Google, Jabber, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo IM, as well as our Sun corporate platforms and applications. This Unified Messaging solution should also includes a data collection feature that lets a user see all the information relating to one contact—e-mail, voice mail and SMS (Short Message Service) messages—in a single view. In addition to all this the perfect device should allow me to access and of the above from any device and always give me the same data and insure that data continuity exists between devices.

BUT is this the perfect work Mobility device? Will anyone develop such a Golden Challis of devices? And what do we really need, PIM or an entire set of applications? Device exist today that are very close but ultimately time and customer demand will tell...

So I said that our account team has developed a solution for a Enterprise Mobility, WorkSMart.

So what is it?

WorkSmart is an initiative to build a fully integrated Desktop solution with the capabilities to control session management, application delivery to multiple format devices including, SunRay, Laptop (MS & Linux), PDA , UMTS Products etc. It is designed to mobilize workforce from the Home, Office and whilst Mobile. To date we have built this POC and demonstrated both it function and business benefits. WorkSmart System Services is a service offering that manages the administrative and infrastructure aspects associated with providing office and enterprise applications, internal applications and portals to users dynamically from any device, anywhere, any time. Reducing the infrastructure requirements and Human intervention involved in managing the traditional desktop, portal, and application integration environment significantly reduces cost, improves responsiveness to internal users, and optimizes the use of infrastructure and software licenses. By offering a mechanism which allows the application to follow the user and deliver to any devices, smart phone; PDA, Laptop, PC, Desktop or thin Client Device, without break in continuity, through any communications medium; 3G, WIFI, GPRS, LAN and WAN.

To Date we have built the following services into WorkSmart:

PIM, Calendar, Mail, Star Office, CRM (CSC Application). Microsoft Office, Directory, Linux (JDS), Evolution. All the applications are accessed via many device types and to date we have used Sunray Systems, Microsoft Laptop, JDS Laptop running UMTS card, PDA devices running Linux, Palm and MS, fixed wire, Wifi and traditional hand held mobile devices.

Worksmart Does work and again is it the answer to the problem of mobility on the move? What do you think? is this perfect solution? And how does mobility affect your daily life? Adrian and Olaf

Posted by adriangjohns ( May 30 2006, 09:31:58 AM CEST ) Permalink Comments [1]

Merry Christmas ! Yes, we are Serious (plus how to build a new Datacenter today)

Life running the Vodafone business at Sun, do you spot what's odd?

Yesterday, we finally had our Teams Christmas dinner - on May 8th. We had to miss it around christmas this year because of a major tender and eAuction we had to cover. Well, admittedly, we won't make this our future business outfit:

By the way, thats how a Global Programme Director, Andy Ashwell, looks like during a christmas party - maybe it's the Army Background? Thank you for the picture Andy, you sure know how to party.

What kept us busy so much over the last 9 months or so, is a major initiative in Datacenter Consolidation, automation and standardization.
How would you build and operate such a new datacenter? A couple of key points drive a new design:

• Standardize your System builds and create a catalogue of components you want to use - restrict yourself as much as possible.
• How about small (T2000 (UltraSparc T1, how about getting one for a Free 60 Day Trial?), X4100 (Opteron, also available for a Free 60 Day Trial!) or Blade Systems), Medium (v890 (UltraSPARC IV+), 4 Socket Opteron Standalone or Blade System) and E25k (UltraSPARC IV+, yes, big databases still just run best on big SMP servers)
• Sun's CoolThreads Servers (did I mention the FREE 60 Day trial yet?) based on the UltraSparc T1 Processors (those nice, power efficient 32- Thread CPUs) for the front end. Webservers, Java, Application Servers, certain Databases will rock on these.
• Mid-sized and High End UltraSparc Servers as well as Sun's AMD Opteron Based servers and Blades for the Back End.
• Create standard Architectures / Building Blocks with a well defined set of properties (TCO cost, performance, scalability, availability, recoverability, ...) (Let Olaf know if you want any of these reference architectures, we have them all ready and nicely written up now)
• Every load a project is anticipating is mapped to a standard architecture using pre-defined metrics
• Build Resource pools of of your Standard Systems, and manage them using Automated Provisioning of OS and Services on top (Sun's N1 Product Suite) and virtualization (Solaris 10 and Containers)
• Drive a mapping of project to resource pools, not project based acquisition of resources
• Sun's ATCA standard Netra Blades for the Network, Sparc and Opteron Blades!
• Satisfy your High Availability and Disaster recovery requirements with Sun Cluster, Sun Cluster Geographic Edition and Sun's StorageTek Tape and ILM Products

By the way, did you know that Oracle's primary development Platform for x86 is Solaris, and that Oracle on Solaris and Sun Cluster is the best and most proven choice?

And although it seems like a small list, its a fundamental change to how almost everybody operates today - the organizational and procedural changes required to implement such a modern, lowest-TCO Datacenter are big and need to be taken into account as well. Success is not achieved by buying the right Systems - its making a new architecture and process alive in the Organization.

Maybe it will be Christmas Dinner in May again next year... Merry Christmas,

Olaf

PS: Does anybody read this far? If yes, please leave a comment down here!

Posted by mobiletechnology ( May 15 2006, 12:35:46 PM CEST ) Permalink Comments [1]

Getting started

Now - how do you start a blog? Especially without it becoming totally "Me too!" - I guess, lets start with introductions.

Sun covers some especially large accounts with a dedicated global team - and Vodafone is one of them. This blog is written by the two Chief Technologists of Suns global Vodafone team. Yes, two, as we partition responsibilities a bit - we got a lot to cover with 27 countries and 31 more where Vodafone has partner Networks.

Adrian and Olaf act as adviser to Vodafones architecture teams and all levels of management ensuring Sun's and Vodafone's success.

Olaf Schnapauff is the Chief Technologist - Strategy for Suns Vodafone Account, globally. He is responsible for the technical strategy in our business with Vodafone, driving business development and deals wordwide. He is also a Sun Microsystems Principal Engineer, a global technology leadership position, and a Datacenter Ambassador.

His responsibility spans across all layers of IT and Telco infrastructure, Handsets and Terminal/Java strategies and covers Vodafone and affiliates across the globe.

While he is not at Vodafone (or on a plane) he keeps busy sailing and snowboarding , or relaxes with the other way to enjoy technology - HiFi and Home Cinema.

Adrian Johns is the Chief Technologist - Innovation for Suns Vodafone Account, globally. He is responsible for the technical strategy in our business with Vodafone, driving business development and deals worldwide. He has been with Sun for 9 years as part of the UK telecommunications team and during this period has worked on many leading Wireline and Wireless accounts.

As one of the two Global Technology Architects forming the Sun Vodafone CTO Office, Adrian is jointly responsible for influencing Vodafone on the selection of open-systems technologies utilizing Sun's service-driven architectures. This responsibility spans across all layers of IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, networking, applications and operations, and covers Vodafone and affiliates across the globe.

A key element of Adrian's role is to Map all Sun offerings onto Vodafone's Technology and Service requirements, from Devices (PDA, Mobiles. Laptops etc), to traditional Telecommunication Network (SS7, SOA etc), to Data Centre backend systems (CRM, Billing etc) and back to there content delivery systems (SDP), Adrian acts as adviser to the customer architecture teams and all levels of management in all these levels and maps both short and long term business requirements into an enterprise technology strategy, ensuring Sun's Products and Solutions meet and exceed Vodafone's requirements.

Adrian brings over 18 years of experience to the account, having spent many of these years in Pre-Sales roles across several IT companies. During this period Adrian has worked across many industry and technologies areas including, Manufacturing, Film and Entertainment, Web Design, Media Streaming, Colour publishing, Service Delivery Platform, IP Multimedia, Partner Education and Telecommunication.

What have we been doing with Global Vodafone since the formation of the CEM ?

Over the past few years Sun has been very heavily involved with Vodafone's Global plans which include such projects as the Service Delivery Platform (GDP) and unification of customers experiences (Vodafone Live & VFX Java in the Handset), and more recently Sun have won the Data Centre Consolidation project, a project that will see Vodafone's first steps in creating a Global footprint for their back end services, but these are just a few project we are currently involved in . Moving forward Vodafone are looking at building Global based solution with the aim to simplify their infrastructure and to create a common and consistent user experience across all areas of there business. Sun is very well positioned in many of these major projects and for the past 7 years we have been engaged at the Technical and business heart of these major industry projects is well as our strong engagement with all 27 Operating companies and partners around the world. Sun is one of the few companies who can truly say that we are engaged with Vodafone from the Handset to the Network

As the Global Sun team it is vital that we share this information with you and your teams, and share our experiences and knowledge on where we see Vodafone and the Industry going.

Why should you come back?

Of course because we will share all those crazy things happening in Mobile Technology around the globe with you - and we hope you will enjoy discussing big and little trends, funny and sad stories, and get a glimpse into our life and how we try to help with moving a mobile Lifestyle to the next level. And ... talk to us. Email, leave comments, let us know if you think we are crazy.

Now - Chapter 1 (Olaf) - 3GSM and how 50000 people look for the next big thing

For those of you not having had the pleasure and pain of 3GSM: It is the worlds largest conference for the mobile telecommunications industry. Its a beast. Everyone is there - which means some friends had to stay over 90 minutes drive away from Barcelona. Hotels have the not-so-funny way to overbook and then move people to far away affiliate hotels (of course, for the same price). We should have been clever and stayed on a nice sailing yacht in the Bacelona Marina as well - that was a cool idea Lena!

So, what is the Next Big Thing? Everyone seemed to agree you cannot continue to live of Voice and SMS (and a little Data from your Mobile Connect 3G Card. So we heared about Ring(up)tones (well, old), Games (hmm, better), Adult Content (well, on your phone?), MobileTV (a lot cooler, but peoples expectations and reality still differ), and of course the Big Voice over IP (VoiP) question - several players talk about VoiP - be it Skype collaborations or native VoiP to the handset. How does your revenue develop when you lump premium-price Voice service into the bulk or flat-prices Data stream?

Then there is Music - our (now Ex-)Boss, Scott McNeally, likes to tell everyone since 1982 or so that "The Network is the Computer" and everything moves back to the Network. Where is your Voicemail today? Still on that answering machine on your desk? Likely not, its in the network.

But where is your Music? Propably on your MP3 player in your pocket. But why? How about listening to anything you want, tailored to your taste, out of the full music archive with everything (or a lot) of the music that exists. Live, streamed over the air. For a flat fee. Not such a bad Idea. An interesting move into this future, RadioDJ. Watch CeBIT next week. Lots of interesting things going on there.

I thought the coolest thing to see what handsets and their use cases. I challenged myself to find my next big thing - the ONE device I want to carry around and work with. A Phone-PDA-Email-Laptop-on-the-move thing. There are some real cool 3G Phones. And then some way cool Email-enabled Devices. But it should of course have 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, a decent, frames-capable Browser, a (small, ok) full keyboard - while not ending up being as large as my Laptop. And it needs to sync with my Addresses, Notes, Calendar. On all Systems I use, including my company calendar. Well.

Maybe next year. For now, I guess I will need to carry a Phone and a PDA-ish Phone which serves as the laptop replacement for mobile use. I admit this year made me a mobile Email junkie. And maybe I will get addicted to MobileTV or RadioDJ this year?

Hope to see you back soon, Adrian and Olaf Posted by mobiletechnology ( May 03 2006, 03:55:08 PM CEST ) Permalink Comments [0]