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EU Introduce New Web Broadcasting Measures Currently, radio and TV stations that broadcast over the web have to pay a separate copyright fee for that broadcast, a cost that has forced a number of broadcasters to close down. The new idea, introduced by the European Competition Commissioner, at the request of 15 European country's music rights' societies, and applicable across the EU and the neighbouring European Economic Area (such as Norway), will open the entire market up to competition. Instead of merely licensing music for broadcast in their own country, the societies will be able to licence for distribution across the EU, at competitive rates. This will enable radio and TV broadcasters to shop around for the best rates in Europe. At the same time, while administrative and licence costs have always been included in a single fee, administrative costs will now be shown separately, allowing purchasers to compare deals and see the costs involved. According to the report, the reason for the decision is because such a joint agreement requires exemption from EU antitrust laws, and a guarantee of competitive policies as opposed to fixed pricing. SOURCE: Europemedia BTopenworld To Abolish Unmetered Service Say Insiders In effect users will have the amount of time they are allowed to stay online without incurring additional call charges cut by around half. Anyone approaching their new monthly limit will receive an email to let them know. If they want to continue using the service after they have exceeded their quota, then they will have to download the Pay As You Go dialler from the BTopenworld Web site for the rest of the month. If all the hours aren't used up then they can be carried over for the next month, but only up to a maximum of 50 hours. This new tariff will replace its "all-you-can-eat" service, which effectively allowed people to stay online 12 hours in every 24 without having to pay for the cost of the Internet call. The service will be introduced from November 1 according to the report, and although the new structure will affect around one in ten subscribers, sources say that the majority of BTopenworld customers will be unaffected by the change. SOURCE: The Register Continuing Rise In Email Use Needs To Be Addressed Currently, 31 billion emails are sent daily, however, a report by the International Data Corporation predicts that by the year 2006, no less than 60 billion will be sent every day. The author of the report, Mark Levitt, suggests that companies will need to do more to address the growing email situation - especially the issues surrounding the volume of spam mail. BT Web Services Management Layer Addresses Security Issues The Web Services Management Layer (WSML) is a tool that enables the customer to be confident that the information sent using a Web Services enabled application has left its source, arrived at its destination, and not been interfered with during the journey. Operating on a peer-to-peer (P2P) transport mechanism between the proxy servers, the WSML uses authentication, encryption and compression to ensure that no third party opens, de-encrypts, routes or otherwise handles the data contained in the messages. Andy Green, chief executive officer, BT Ignite, BT's business services and solutions division, commented: "Web Services technologies can streamline and automate processes resulting in huge cost savings and increased efficiencies. However, before enterprises can implement them across any community, internal or external, the underlying network infrastructure must evolve to support them effectively." "Otherwise companies are leaving themselves open to security, control and performance issues. We believe that by deploying the Web Services Management Layer we are providing an immediate answer to these challenges." The WSML comprises two key elements: 1. A web-based central network management system, provisions, controls and monitors the traffic between the application provider and receiver; 2. A proxy server which behaves as a "plug" between the Web Services enabled applications, the network being used, and the management system. Available in January 2003, the WSML tool will ensure the security of a transaction and enables both the customer and provider to track and monitor the usage and performance of the service. German Security Firm Warns Of PPTP Server/Client Remote Vulnerability Security experts warn that the Microsoft PPTP Service shipping with Windows 2000 and XP contains a remotely exploitable pre-authentication bufferoverflow, and Windows 2000 and XP systems that are running either a PPTP Server or Client are said to be affected: With a specially crafted PPTP packet it is possible to overwrite kernel memory. A DoS resulting in a lockup of the machine has been verified on Windows 2000 SP3 and Windows XP. A remote compromise should be possible deploying proper shellcode, as we were able to fill EDI and EDX with our data. Clients are vulnerable too, because the Service always listens on port 1723 on any interface of the machine, this might be of special concern to DSL users which use PPTP to connect to their modem. As a temporary solution for the Client issue, one might firewall the PPTPport in the Internet Connection Firewall for Windows XP. We don't know of any solution for Windows 2000 and Windows XP PPTP servers. The vulnerability has been discovered by Stephan Hoffmann and Thomas Unterleitneron on behalf of Phion Information Technologies, and, according to the advisory, Microsoft has been informed. Project Allegro Makes It Easier For Companies Who Charge For Web Services Codenamed Project Allegro, Bob Sutor, IBM's director of ebusiness standards strategy said the technology will enable businesses track the use of Web services in order to bill customers via a variety of subscription-based models, such as pay-per-use. The software is also designed to ensure service quality by monitoring the web service and seeing to it that transactions occur in a timely manner, Sutor said. Like software rivals Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems and others, IBM believes the future of software lies with web services, functions that let companies interact with one another and with consumers to conduct business via the Internet. Project Allegro, available next year, will let businesses set prices and policies on service quality, Sutor said. For example, a company could charge $500 for the first 500 uses of a particular web service, then 25 cents for each use after that, he said. The business can then promise that the service will do its job in 15 seconds or less, and if it doesn't, offer a 10 per cent discount. IBM first offered a free prototype of the technology on its AlphaWorks website in January. The company will release a test version by the end of the year and ship the product next year, Sutor said. Technology from other IBM products such as Big Blue's WebSphere server software and the company's Tivoli software are also included in Project Allegro according to the report. SOURCE: Silicon Fibernet Announce SDSL Rollout In Scotland Scotland On Line has become the latest business Internet Provider to take advantage of Fibernet’s national SDSL (TANet Access) network rollout, and will be the first provider to offer SDSL to Scottish businesses. Charles McGregor, Chief Executive Officer at Fibernet commented: “Fibernet has been at the forefront of rolling out improved broadband connections for UK businesses, targeting 221 exchange areas around the UK; ultimately providing SDSL access to more than 150,000 businesses." "We are delighted to take this one step closer to ensuring that Scottish businesses within these regions benefit from advanced services denied to ADSL users, including Content Provision, Virtual Private Networking, ASP service delivery, native voice services and LAN extension services, by being the first to partner with Scotland On Line to deliver SDSL to our Scottish customers." "Scotland On Line is the first provider based in Scotland, to specifically focus on meeting the broadband needs of Scottish businesses. We look forward to working closely with them to bridge the digital divide.” Fibernet believes that advanced broadband services will not only help attract more companies into the country, it will enhance the competitiveness of businesses already there, helping Scottish businesses compete even more effectively on the European stage. OFTEL ADSL Update Take up (as at end of August) - BT: ~357,000 - Kingston: ~10,000 Community Broadband trial: BT is to trial a new ‘community’ broadband concept at sites in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The trial makes use of smaller exchange equipment (known as mini DSLAMs) and the existing copper links between smaller exchanges and BT’s backbone network to offer ADSL services to as few as 16 subscribers. ADSL Registration scheme: Todmorden in West Yorkshire has become the first exchange to reach its target level for enabling. 200 consumers have registered interest with ISPs and BT is now awaiting confirmation that 75% of these registrations have been turned into firm orders for ADSL services. BT has also announced target levels for a further 257 exchanges during August, bringing the total to 595 exchanges that now have target levels. A further 74 exchanges were surveyed but BT has concluded that the costs were such that it was not realistic to set trigger levels, given the number of lines served. Bulk Telephone Number checker launched: BT has launched a bulk number checking facility to enable ISPs to pre-check potential customers ahead of targeted marketing campaigns. The service allows lists of numbers to be submitted for qualification against line length and exchange status. The service is charged at £750 (ex VAT) per CD, with up to four million numbers per CD. BT IPStream minimum term: BT has reduced the minimum term for its IPStream S and IPStream 500 products from 12 months to 90 days. This change applies to all new and existing IPStream S and IPStream 500 lines. One-to-Many Domain name option: BT has launched a One-to-Many Domain name option for its IPStream service. The option allows one Domain name to be mapped to a group of BT Central links, allowing for greater resilience. BT DataStream restructure: BT has announced plans to introduce a range of Virtual Path (VP) bandwidths on its DataStream Home and Office services from 12 October 2002. In addition to the 4Mbit/s VP currently on offer, service providers will be able to order 256kbit/s, 512kbit/s and all 1Mbit/s intervals between 1Mbit/s and 10Mbit/s. BT will also introduce two additional VP ATM service classes that will enable service providers to offered combined voice and data over ADSL. BT IPStream 500 withdrawal – update: BT previously announced plans to withdraw its IPStream 500 product from new supply in August 2002. In light of continuing demand, BT has now decided to delay this withdrawal from new supply until Q3 of 2002/03. BT plans to support existing IPStream 500 users for at least a year, though plans to migrate them to IPStream Home thereafter. TotalCare/CustomCare trial: BT has begun the trial of a chargeable enhanced maintenance option for end users, offering extended working hours and committed fault response timescales. Phase one of the trial will cover CustomCare, offering repair visits between 8:00-20:00 (Mon-Sat). Phase two will cover TotalCare, offering 24 hour coverage, seven days a week. The care options will be available on BT IPStream S and Office and BT DataStream Home and Office for a charge of £10 per end user per month. There will be no charge during the first month of the trial. The trial is due to last for six months, with the service due for full launch early next year. Satellite trial: BT is currently trialing a one-to-many high-speed Internet satellite service that allows Service Providers to reach customers who are out of range of normal ADSL services. The service provides download speeds of up to 256kbits/s via a satellite dish, with higher speeds of up to 4Mbit/s available on demand. Unmetered Broadband - But at what cost? If your a user who likes an always on connection, does a bit of surfing now and again but does not download MP3's and videos by the bucket load, perhaps you should question is it good to be subsidising the bandwidth being used by the guy up the street who is determined to download every music track and video going? Would it not be better to pay a lower monthly subscription based on what you use and let the heavy users of bandwidth pay for the services they use? Take this as an example. If you were in Australia and you use 500MB of bandwidth a month you would typically pay £20.93, if you used 3000MB a month you would pay £55.51. If you average everything out as per the UK market place, everyone would get charged £38.22, the low user is being charged £17.29 more than if he just paid for his own bandwidth usage. This is a simplistic approach and there is much to be considered when determining prices. Not least regulatory issues and the fact that everyone likes 'unmetered' offerings....but at what cost? Have your say: Broadband Unmetered: good or evil? No More AOL Flat Rate For Telewest Eurobell Customers Dear AOL member I am writing to inform you of two changes to your AOL service. 1) Important Announcement As you are probably aware AOL pioneered flat-rate Internet access in the UK introducing the service to AOL members two years ago. Since then we have been working with telecom providers on the continual improvement and expansion of our network. AOL is committed to giving our members the best online experience and customer care. In the near future we will only be able to offer our AOL FLAT RATE price plan to members who access the AOL service using a line provided by BT, NTL or Telewest (excluding Telewest Eurobell customers). This is necessary because we require an underlying unmetered connection from your telephone company in order to offer you a service on a flat-rate basis. Unlike telephone companies serving the vast majority of our members, and despite continued lobbying, the unmetered connection currently offered to us by the telephone provider you have selected to access AOL is not sustainable. What this means for you Your price plan will shortly be changed to a new plan, called AOL 30 HOUR, that we hope will meet your needs. Using our specified access number, this will allow you to connect to AOL and the Internet for up to 30 hours each monthly billing cycle for a monthly flat fee of £15.99.* That’s about an hour a day! If you want to use more than 30 hours during a monthly billing cycle you will be charged an AOL Usage Fee of only 1p per minute (or part thereof) for that additional time spent online. Your billing date is calculated from the date you joined AOL and you can check this date at AOL Keyword: Billing When does this come into effect? Your new plan will come into effect from your first billing date on or after 9 November 2002. We want to ensure that you have plenty of notice of this change, so we are letting you know at least 45 days in advance**. You can check your account details with us at any time by going to AOL Keyword: Billing. In order to help you, we have created AOL Keyword: Usage where you can easily check your total minutes used online at any time during your billing cycle. You will continue to benefit from AOL's hallmark ease-of-use and convenience as well as freephone member support, Parental Controls, unique content across AOL's 23 channels and up to seven email addresses. * Local call rate charges will continue to apply if connecting to AOL and the Internet through an 0845 access number e.g. for mobile access. For further details on this see the Frequently Asked Questions section of AOL Keyword: Pricing * The AOL Member Agreement can be found online at AOL Keyword: COS 2) Network Improvements As a separate issue we urgently need you to actively participate in improving your network experience, helping you to access AOL faster and more reliably. You may have already received an AOL Pop Up window, "Important AOL Announcement", notifying you of the urgent need to change your access number. If you have still not changed your number it is important that you follow the number change instructions below without delay. If you do not change your number you will lose your ability to connect to AOL and the Internet on 16 October 2002. I can assure you that AOL is working hard to persuade the small number of remaining telephone providers, who have not yet offered a sustainable flat-rate tariff agreement for Internet service providers, to do so. This would enable us to offer AOL FLAT RATE to all of our members and ensure that all consumers have as much choice as possible. We at AOL are continuing to lobby on your behalf. In the meantime, I hope that AOL 30 HOUR will meet your needs and that you will continue to enjoy all the benefits of the UK’s leading subscription online service. Yours sincerely Bridget Mitchell Member Services Eurobell customers are then advised to change their access number immediately by following the instructions contained within the announcement. If there are there any more Eurobell/AOL customers who have also received the same notification, please post on the talkback page. Virgin launch £24.99 ADSL Package A charge of £84.99 is made for equipment, including an Alcatel Speedtouch modem. The service has been tested by 300 virgin net customers for the past 10 weeks and over 30,000 customers have expressed an interest in the service. AOL Nearer to Having to Charge VAT in UK? AOL has been exempt from charging its UK Internet customers VAT, a loophole that Freeserve claims could save AOL as much as £100M. On Wednesday, a High Court judge ruled that AOL's tax exemption would face a judicial review hearing, the next step in getting UK Customs and Excise officials to review their stance on non-European ISPs as VAT-exempt companies. A date for the review has not been set. Freeserve, a division of France's Wanadoo, has been petitioning UK Customs and Excise to close this loophole since last year, saying that because both companies provide the same service they should be subjected to the same level of taxation. In the spring, Freeserve gained some important ammunition in its campaign. The European Commission passed a directive requiring all non-EU companies to charge customers VAT for "digital sales". Internet Access at the Speed of Light Omnilux, Inc., today announced the availability of its wireless broadband platform, designed to supply Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with an alternative to DSL or cable as well as a way to reach residential and commercial consumers who are currently unable to get broadband Internet access. The company also announced its first deployments with regional ISPs Sonic.net (Santa Rosa, CA), Succeed.net (Yuba City, CA) and RedWire Broadband (San Diego, CA), whose customers may sign up for high-speed Internet access beginning in the fourth quarter of this year. Additional deployments are anticipated in early 2003. Omnilux™ uses its patent-pending technology innovations in free-space optics to deliver bandwidth up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to a small, rooftop "node" that in turn delivers access to computers and other devices inside the home using an Ethernet connection or the popular Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless technology. This combination of technologies enables ISPs to reach customers without having to gain access to the existing DSL or cable networks or to undertake their own costly "last-mile" construction, such as digging up the streets to lay fiber-optic or copper cables to individual homes or businesses or installing expensive radio-frequency (RF) wireless towers. Omnilux's high network speeds also enable ISPs to provide a full range of communications services, including voice, video and data. "This is the breakthrough that the industry has been waiting for to open competition in residential broadband service as well as expand opportunities for consumers who are currently not able to get high-speed Internet access from local phone and cable companies," said Stephen Walker, president and chief operating officer of Omnilux. "Now thousands of both large and small ISPs have an affordable way to upgrade their customers to broadband without having to beg the FCC for open access to the existing infrastructure. Consumers will be the big winners as Omnilux-based services are rolled out across the country, and increased competition provides a greater range of more affordable offerings." "Free-space optics has unique benefits for service providers," added Carter Moursund, vice president of technology and co-founder of Omnilux. "By using an unregulated portion of spectrum, known as IR light, our customers can avoid expensive and time-consuming radio spectrum allocation procedures. And unlike other unregulated spectrum, FSO signals do not interfere with each other, ensuring ISPs that their service is not degraded or interrupted." Dane Jasper, CEO, Sonic.net, commented, "Sonic.net is excited about the amazing speed and low-cost product that Omnilux is able to offer. Their free-space optics technology and price point enable us to provide faster-than-DSL speeds to business and residential customers on an all-optical network that we can deploy and control, at a price per customer that we can afford." Sonic.net, located in Santa Rosa, California, serves over 25,000 customers. "We are very excited about the Omnilux product," said Jim Comeaux, CTO of RedWire Broadband. "It enables us to deploy higher bandwidth to our multi-tenant properties at a substantial cost savings. This in turn allows us to expand our IP business services and increase our average revenue per user without significant upfront investments." RedWire is Southern California's largest in-building and wireless broadband provider focusing on small-to-medium sized businesses in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties. "With Omnilux, we see a solution to provide high-speed LAN service at an affordable price to commercial and government entities," added Robert Lavelock, President of Succeed.net. "We are intrigued by the Omnilux technology, not only by their last-mile solution but also by their approach to pre-qualifying potential deployment areas with their Site Guide software." Succeed.net, located in Yuba City, CA, is a premier service provider offering dial-up, fixed wireless, ISDN, and DSL, connections, as well as an IT division providing turnkey solutions. Omnilux Technology The Omnilux network combines proven wireless technologies with intelligent software that together enable ISPs to extend the local wired infrastructure and reach consumers' homes. The first technology link in the chain — free-space optics (FSO) — uses infrared light as a vehicle to transmit data wirelessly over distances of up to 400 meters (about one-quarter of a mile). FSO has been deployed successfully in large-scale commercial applications using lasers as a light source. By using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in place of lasers combined with other patent-pending breakthroughs, Omnilux has been able to drive down the cost of FSO-based transceivers and yet still provide 100 Mpbs, "full duplex" service (that is, equal upstream and downstream speeds). The result is a small and affordable device, called the Omni-Node™, that can be quickly deployed at residential, small-office/home-office (SOHO) and small- and medium-enterprise (SME) customer locations using intelligent software that makes the Omni-Node as easy to install and maintain as a direct-broadcast satellite dish. Each Omni-Node is capable of communicating simultaneously with up to four other nodes, which are deployed in a "repeating mesh" network configuration controlled by Omnilux's proprietary Clear-Mesh™ operating system. This point-to-point network topology provides an extremely robust network and reduces maintenance effort for the service provider by supporting multiple paths to each Omni-Node on the network. With this configuration, service to all users remains constant, even if an individual link goes down due to temporary obstructions. Once the signal reaches the Omni-Node attached to the residence or business, it is transmitted to individual computers or other networked devices via the popular radio frequency technology known as Wi-Fi (802.11b) or a cabled Ethernet connection. Wi-Fi-equipped devices in the home or business within approximately 100 meters of the Omni-Node will be able to gain secure access to the network. Many computers, hand-held devices, MP3 stereos and even printers now come with Ethernet ports or embedded Wi-Fi as standard equipment or as an option. These robust technologies enable service providers to offer broadband services not possible with other solutions. These include wireless home networking, multicast video, video on demand, voice-over-IP (Internet-based) telephony, and data services at speeds not offered by competing technologies, each of which provides ISPs with additional revenue opportunities. In addition, an Omnilux network is capable of delivering up to eight levels of quality of service and can rate-limit both upstream and downstream traffic. This allows service providers to deliver exactly the bandwidth paid for by the customer and, unlike cable networks and most competing wireless technologies, to guarantee the customer will get the bandwidth they pay for, regardless of the number of users on the network at any given time. Comprehensive Solution for ISPs There are over 9,000 ISPs in the United States offering Internet access to consumers and businesses. Few of these, however, have ownership of or even access to the existing network infrastructure of phone lines or cable connections that actually delivers information to their customers. Most rely on local telephone connections to provide dial-up Internet access and have few if any options to migrate their customers to the increasingly popular high-speed access enabled by digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable-modem service. For the first time, Omnilux provides these ISPs with an affordable, comprehensive range of solutions that allows them to deliver broadband services to their customers. These include: Three service levels to meet the differing needs of ISPs, including management of the network operations center (NOC), customer service and technical support, and even installation of the network depending on the service level selected by the ISP. Minimum upfront investment, eliminating the risk of building out a broadband network. After an initial set-up fee averaging between $5,000 and $10,000 depending on the coverage area and network configuration, the cost of building out the network occurs only after a customer orders service. Low cost per deployment, including an average cost of customer premises equipment of $250-$450 for residential customers and $1,000-$1,250 for commercial customers, and an average field installation time of less than one hour. Omnilux's Site-Guide technology (line-of-sight modeling software) allows for rapid system deployment without the need for highly skilled technicians. Built-in wireless home networking using the popular Wi-Fi technology, enabling ISPs to offer additional value-added and revenue-generating services to their customers. Freedom from the local phone companies — because the Omnilux system provides a direct link to customers' homes and businesses, ISPs no longer have to rely on local phone companies for "last mile" access, and they can provide broadband services on their own terms by cost-effectively building their own proprietary networks. Vivendi Indicate ISP Sell Off Possible "The reduction of the company's debt has started through a major asset disposal plan... with the target of achieving at least 12bn euros over 18 months," Managing Director Mr Fourtou said. The plans received a cautious welcome from investors, who sent Vivendi shares up 2.0% by the close of trade in Paris on Wednesday. Mr Fourtou said that assets seen as more likely sale targets included Internet operations. OFCOM Board Appointed The Board will oversee the creation of the new independent regulatory body, OFCOM, covering broadcasting, telecommunications and the management of the radio spectrum. OFCOM will combine the responsibilities of the existing regulators in these sectors, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), the Independent Television Commission (ITC), the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), the Radio Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency. Google Launches News Channel News stories and updates from around the globe will be provided by Google News, which will be defined under different headings including world, US, business, entertainment, technology, sports and health. Google News is available as a stand-alone channel and via the standard Google Homepage. New Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme Sets The Standard The scheme is the first to comply with current legislation, and the forthcoming WEEE directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive), which sets guidelines and targets for the recycling of potentially harmful electrical waste. The new legislation, which comes into force in 2003, will legally require mobile phone producers and distributors to be responsible for taking back and recycling old handsets and accessories in an environmentally efficient way. Target recycling rates are set and proof must be provided that these rates are achieved. “Over 15 million consumers upgrade their phones with accessories such as batteries and chargers each year, which equates to some 1500 tonnes of potentially hazardous landfill every year. Fonebak has been launched to address this problem and provides a safe and environmentally responsible way for businesses to manage the return of handsets and accessories,” said Gordon Shields, CEO of Shields Environmental, operators of the scheme. O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone, and Currys, Dixons, The Link and PC World have all endorsed the Fonebak scheme and are rolling out programmes to encourage consumers to return their unwanted mobile handsets and accessories. Under the scheme, each phone will be tested to determine whether it can be sold to developing countries for reuse or processed to retrieve some of the precious metals, such as gold and silver, that handsets contain. According to the report, it is estimated that there are currently around 90m redundant phones. SOURCE: Europemedia Opera 6.0 for Mac Launched Mac users who eagerly await its arrival will not be disappointed. This release includes a vast array of new features, including user interface changes, to enhance the overall browsing experience. Great efforts have been made to make Opera look and feel like a proper Mac OS X application. "Opera 6.0 for Mac is the most advanced browser currently available for Mac OS X in terms of speed, usability, accessibility and language support," said Dean Kakridas, VP desktop products. "The ultimate goal of our Mac product is to bring the most popular and beneficial features from Opera on other platforms to Mac. We intend to set a new standard for the best overall browsing experience on the Mac." In this release, the address entry and search fields are complemented with a zoom bar to increase or decrease the size of the viewing area. Professional features have also been added, such as OperaShow which allows for desktop presentations in full-screen mode. Most importantly, the long-awaited tabbed browsing mode makes its first appearance for Mac, allowing for multiple windows to be opened within the Opera browser. Other new features added to this version include: * Personal bar, an addition to the bookmarks feature for quicker access to the user's most accessed links. * Skinning, which allows the user to fully customize the look and feel of their Opera browser. * Inline searching, which accelerates searching in documents. Unicode support has been added in this version in order to support all major non-Latin-derived languages. Language support for Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean is present and highly functional. In this release, Opera has taken the first step towards filling their promise to Arabic and Hebrew users by adding support for bidirectional (BIDI) languages. Great progress is being made to allow Hebrew and Arabic to display correctly. Most pages are already readable and render properly. "We are fully committed to delivering a top-quality native Mac browser that offers Mac users from all corners of the world the fastest, most secure, and most usable product possible," said Kakridas. "This is exactly what the Mac community needs - a great OS X browser." More information about Opera's commitment to keeping the Web open for all in different languages can be read about at Download Opera 6.0 for Mac Beta 1 at BTLookSmart Extends Contract With BT Openworld The deal is an extension of an existing contract with BTLookSmart, who will host and operate BT Openworld’s search and directory service. Kevin Kerrigan, BTLookSmart COO commented: “The extension of our contract with BT Openworld is an endorsement of BTLookSmart’s strengths and expertise in the provision of search and directory services." This syndication deal, coupled with our recent acquisition of UK Plus, shows that we are in a unique position to provide a total managed search solution for ISPs and Portals.” The mechanism will allow highly targeted advertising through cross-linking to keyword search and categories. Revenues generated from the deal will be shared between BT Openworld and BTLookSmart. NTL Business & Cambridgeshire County Council to Deliver Countywide Broadband By April 2004, the Cambridgeshire Community Network (CCN) will link more than 300 council buildings, including offices, schools and libraries, as well as community access points from pubs to post offices. More than 700 sites will eventually be connected across the county, subject to additional Government funding or other opportunities. Local people will be able to access the network via hundreds of computers situated across the county using high-speed broadband cable connections. The CCN will open the door to a range of new services, such as videoconferencing and electronic government transactions, to urban and rural communities across Cambridgeshire. The broadband network will be the power behind Cambridgeshire’s modernisation of public services, enabling the introduction of an Internet community portal, smart cards for accessing services such as transport and leisure, and a customer contact centre. It features a comprehensive security service that blocks access to unsuitable web pages and filters inappropriate content, keeping the community safe online. The CCN is the first community-wide broadband project to be funded under the Government’s Private Finance Initiative, and has been awarded ‘Pathfinder’ status in recognition of its potential value as a blueprint for the aggregation of broadband demand within local authorities. Widespread broadband connectivity is seen as key to the Government’s objective for local authorities to introduce full electronic government by 2005. “The Cambridgeshire Community Network will enable more effective, joined-up working between local councils, schools, the health service and the whole community,” says Keith Walters, Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council. “The network will deliver broadband services where the cost of telecommunications previously has been a barrier to participation, providing the benefits of high-tech Cambridge to the Fens and the wider region.” “With its proven track record of delivering ‘on time, on budget’, NTL Business was the natural choice to build our broadband community network in Cambridgeshire,” adds Walters. Mike Wagner, Managing Director of NTL Business, says, “The Cambridgeshire Community Network is a landmark for communications in local government, and the project required a technology provider with the capability to deliver a world-class broadband infrastructure. NTL Business won the contract on the strength of its technical solution, and is delighted to be working in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council to make the CCN a reality.” BT Openworld team up with Xbox Microsoft, to provide an always on broadband gaming experience. Xbox Live, will provide a comprehensive online game service fully dedicated to fast-action, always-connected broadband gaming experiences. Xbox Live enables gamers with a broadband connection to find their friends easily and talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset. They can also download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard disc; and play online. BT Openworld is Microsoft's only partner in the UK that is providing an ADSL connection. Duncan Ingram, senior vice-president, Consumer, at BT Openworld said: "This is the first time that console gamers in the UK have been able to have this broadband multi-player experience. The fact that you can play with anyone around the world and speak to them at the same time is amazing. The connection over broadband is so quick and the quality is so good, it's like being in the same room as your opponents. Even from your front room in London you can test your skills against a crack Japanese wizard sitting in Tokyo." Xbox Live will be available from November 30, in the UK, France and Germany, as part of the Xbox Live Test Drive phase. The service will fully launch at retail on March 14, 2003. For more information about getting broadband from BT Openworld, please go to www.btopenworld.com SatDrive Launch New Packages Announcing this innovation, Eoin Lambkin, the founder of SatDrive, described the new design as “the single most significant break-through in user-controlled flexible bandwidth management anywhere in the world”. The innovation, by SatDrive’s design team in Germany, has completely revised the algorithms used to share or allocate satellite transponder capacity for any user. The classic economic challenge for Satellite Internet services lies in the allocation of limited transponder capacity for users with fluctuating information downloading requirements. ‘We looked’, said Eoin Lambkin, ‘at every possible way of giving users the service performance they need at the time that they need it most. This lateral-thinking process has given SatDrive a new affordability and a unique flexibility with control placed in the hands of the customers.’ SatDrive now offers: - Download bandwidth of up to 4Mb/s included in the monthly fixed service charge of £14.95 (+VAT) - A choice of four additional priority levels that can be requested by users ‘on the fly’ during any Internet session where enhanced download performance is required – up to a maximum of 4Mb/s. - Full visibility of download performance via an on-screen speedometer. - Full flexibility in the use of different upload technologies – from mobile phones to higher-speed ISDN or (for multi-user businesses) leased lines connected directly to the Internet. - ‘Always on’ delivery of emails (single client users only) and pre-requested Internet downloads plus TV channels at no extra charge. - Immediate availability in all parts of the UK. SatDrive’s immediate priority is the connection of users who have pre-registered during the recent service beta-test process. These pre-registered users have been given installation priority over all new customer enquiries and the normal 2-week delivery pipeline has been temporarily extended to 15 working days. SatDrive do not attempt or claim to provide broadband capacity all of the time, 24 hours a day regardless of whether users want it. Instead the company believes that users – particularly those in business – can select their own priorities to match their business needs. This control is provided by an on-screen icon in the form of a cockpit with speedometer showing download performance and a gear shift to change the priority up or down as required during any Internet session. Typically a user will switch to a higher less-contended priority at the commencement of large download task – thus saving a great deal of time. Progressively higher priorities cost more but this model provides a fair method of allocating bandwidth for users with different needs. Secondly they believe that users requirements are often far more asymmetric (biased in the download direction) than is allowed in conventional ADSL design – and for these users with light upload requirements there is no need to burden them with the design costs of higher capacity. Finally they SatDrive claim to have looked at the ‘Always On’ service components and realised that ‘always on’ for downloaded information did not mean that most incoming information was needed at high speed – thus eliminating the cost overhead of trying to be impressive for relatively mundane tasks such as the receipt of email. This ‘push’ traffic is, in SatDrive’s design, used to in-fill momentary gaps in fluctuating and often haphazard IP packet arrival patterns – further enhancing transponder utilisation. Full service details and order process can be seen at www.satdrive.com Broadband Speeding up Home Working Revolution The ISP questioned 111 people who regularly work from home but have recently started using high-speed internet services to stay in touch with the office. Four out of five felt that broadband access considerably improved their working conditions compared to traditional dial-up internet services. In addition, almost one-third (32 per cent) felt they did a better job and were generally more efficient when working from home. The number one benefit for 29 per cent of the respondents was improved access to corporate information due to the faster download speeds that broadband technology enables. The other main advantages included almost real-time email services (26 per cent) and faster internet access to the web and corporate portals/intranets (17 per cent). Tony Harris, president, Business Internet Services at BT Openworld said: "We're seeing a gradual shift from the office environment towards the home as more people look to improve their work/life balance. Recent research from the Office for National Statistics found that there are now over two million teleworkers in the UK and that this figure is increasing at about 13 per cent, year on year. Rising stress levels, increasing commuting costs and public transport strikes are all factors that are encouraging people to work from home more often. "The key to making it work is to give your staff the tools they need to do the job as easily as if they were in the office. High-speed internet access means business strength communications links straight into the home office, resulting in increased productivity and improved morale," he added. Tiscali & Kaaza Team Up Tiscali seven million users in 15 countries (100,000 with broadband access) looks set to increase with the might of KaZaa's 120 million world-wide users set to be influenced through advertising.. As pointed out by the Europemedia article, the deal underscores the mutual interests in high-speed access held by ISPs and complex-media providers, whose downloads can take hours without a broadband connection. Demon to investigate legality of Nominet's 'whois' directory Nominet UK, the registry for .UK Internet domain names, is revising its policy on the publication of details for UK registrants via its whois directory. From 1st October Nominet will publish the contact addresses of all registrants that it deems to be "trading" or "businesses". These registrants will not be given an option to opt-out of the directory. The full announcement can be read at http://www.nominet.org.uk/ref/whois3.html . THUS believes that although the Distance Selling and Electronic Commerce Regulations do state that businesses must publish their contact details under certain circumstances and in certain manners, it is not clear that they allow Nominet to publish this information without seeking prior agreement. In many cases the contact details published on websites relate to technical and supports services and may be wholly inappropriate to be listed in a directory as the main contact address for a business. THUS are investigating the likelihood of the whois system being classified as a directory as defined by the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations. Under this legislation individuals and businesses are granted certain rights: Individuals and businesses have the option to be ex-directory and; Individuals (including those trading) and businesses can have part or all of their address omitted THUS is investigating these proposals further and is in the process of seeking clarification on Nominet's proposals from the Office of the Information Commissioner. Ian Hood, THUS's director of communications & regulation commented: "While we can understand that Nominet would like some degree of conformity with whois services internationally, we do feel we have a duty to question the proposals on behalf of our customers. The right to privacy is an important one - individuals have entirely legitimate reasons for wishing to remain anonymous. For instance we don't object to people's phone numbers being ex-directory. It is important that any changes to the way information is handled are carried out entirely in accordance with the existing legislation. " BT Clamp Down on Satellite Bandwidth Use BTopenworld said that it would prefer not to take such punitive action but insisted that it would have little choice unless the activities of some users became more responsible. New CEO at Freeserve Nicolas Dufourcq, Chairman and CEO of Wanadoo, said: "I am delighted to confirm Eric Abensur as CEO for Freeserve. I have every confidence that under Eric's leadership Freeserve will strengthen its position at the forefront of UK's Internet market and continue to provide a high-class online experience to its millions of customers." Eric Abensur, 38, was appointed CFO of Freeserve in spring 2001. He joined the France Telecom in 1998 as Director of Finance for the Audiovisual division with responsibility for the Group's interests in pay-TV. He is a former Senior Manager at Ernst & Young's Audit Division in Paris and Los Angeles. He gained business and finance qualifications at the University of Paris XII Creteil and the University of Paris iX Dauphine. Broadband in South Pole but not in Sutherland They argued that Broadband was essential for Highland businesses and communities and published details of Broadband roll out in countries such as Norway and Sweden and even the South Pole, and they called for Executive action on a coherent Broadband strategy. Mr MacAskill said: "For too long the Highlands have been damaged by poor transport infrastructure. We must not replicate the wrongs and errors of the 20th century regarding transport. We must ensure that this does not re-occur with Broadband in the 21st century. "In the previous century it was a farsighted strategy that brought heat and light to the Highlands through the hydroelectric scheme. We should have that same vision and have a strategy to roll out Broadband. This cannot be demand led. There needs to be government investment and we need Ministerial action not words. There must have a coherent thought out strategy, if the South Pole can have Broadband why can't Sutherland?" David Thompson added: "The facts speak for themselves. Yet again the Highlands are in danger of being left behind. Highland businesses and communities deserve better. "The Executive must show more support for Highland communities and businesses. They must put their money where their mouth is and give Highlands and Islands Enterprise the backing and resources needed to roll out broadband." Freeserve Threaten To Take BT Group To Competition Commission BT will today begin a £10m campaign to advertise that “broadband has landed”. It will spend a further £23m promoting its new “access-only” product, which costs £28 a month. Freeserve, part of France Telecom, is angry that Oftel, the regulator, is allowing BT to promote its broadband product through its regular “blue bill.” This gives BT regular access to the group’s 20m retail customers — a marketing opportunity worth “tens of millions of pounds,” says David Melville, Freeserve’s company secretary. BT Openworld, BT’s own internet arm, is denied such access under the existing rules. According to the report, because the government consider rapid broadband rollout as a high priority, Freeserve fear that the watchdog Oftel has "agreed to turn a blind eye" to BT’s use of its dominant position within the market. SOURCE: The Times Online Nigerian Scam Spam - ISPs Are Failing Says Inquirer Perhaps one of the most common mailings of this kind are those annoying and fast-flowing "Nigerian" spam emails of which I personally receive a good five to ten per week. The Inquirer takes an indepth look into these "please help me get my fortune" emails and says that ISPs are failing to stop the "Nigerian Scam" Spam. You can read the full article by clicking HERE. Enthusiasts Team Up To Bring High-Speed Wireless Services To Denham There is little information at the moment on the recently launched Web site, but the enthusiast's promise that they are "bringing Broadband connectivity to Denham....NOW!" Want cheap, 'always-on', and above all FAST internet access in Denham? Fed up with being told it is not available? Well, now all that is about to change. With your support we are working around the clock to put the infrastructure into place for you to get cheap, 'always-on', and above all fast internet access. With your support we are working around the clock to put the infrastructure into place for you to get cheap, 'always-on', and above all fast internet access. Please click HERE to find out more information. Users can also enter their email address to keep up with the progress of the project. ISP Beats 70 Rival Providers And Wins £200,000 The company beat off 70 rival Internet service providers (ISPs) from across the UK to secure the win and it will now rollout its new marketing campaign in the coming weeks. The British Telecom award comes just days after it launched its own £10 million advertising campaign which aims to double the take-up of broadband. With BT looking to hit its target of one million households using high-speed connections by next summer, the campaign will be followed by another £32m push to promote the launch of its no-frills broadband product. Chris Ford, one of Colloquium's founders, said that the new win highlighted the company's creative and realistic approach to selling broadband services.' "We are focusing on showing people what the potential uses are for good Internet access. Our research highlights that for those business customers who take up broadband the difference is night and day. Our new campaign will involve a blend of radio, outdoor advertising and direct marketing. For us it's all about a solid and professional delivery of services -- we have no interest in any of the hype that has surrounded ISPs in the past. For too long this industry has struggled to get out and sell services to customers." According to the report, Colloquium will use the £200,000 competition money to run a six-month marketing campaign designed to boost broadband numbers in the west of Scotland. SOURCE: Sunday Herald BT - Broadband Has Landed The website is likely to channel most visitors to BT related ISPs. Why? Because users are directed at BT Retail and BT Openworld initially. BT Wholesale is where you have to go to be presented with a list of other providers. It is hard to envisage many consumers following the BT Wholesale path. Now, there may be mention of what to do if you can't get Broadband in your area, but it is not prominent on the site at all - perhaps it is an unashamed push for new Broadband users in enabled areas, rather than a dual purpose campaign. The "broadband has landed" campaign can be accessed HERE along with the game, which I am told is "quite addictive." SOURCE: ADSL Guide BT "Alcatel" Upgrade Causes Chaos For Users Here is an official BT statement regarding the problem as forwarded by Uk Security Online: "Following quality checks that took place as an integral component of the Alcatel High Density Upgrade that commenced on the 12th September, a problem has been identified which does, in some cases, cause end user synchronisation problems. To resolve this situation the following actions have ensued: 1. Further deployment by Alcatel of the High Density Upgrade was immediately frozen by BT Wholesale. Alcatel has analysed the problem as a synchronisation issue for specific modem types, and has today provided a fix for the problem. BT is currently testing the solution and will introduce it into the network if testing is successful. 2. Alcatel have developed a tactical manual means to provide a fix for those customers which have been identified to have this problem. The work to address these known faults will commence at 17:00 today and it is anticipated that this work will be completed by midday Saturday. Initial findings indicate that the synchronisation problems are most likely to occur on Solwise SAR715. BT wholesale and Alcatel are making every effort to resolve the situation as soon as possible and appreciate that inconvenience may have been caused to Service Providers and their End Users. We trust that our actions will minimise any inconvenience." Net4nowt would be interested to know if any of our readers are experiencing problems since the upgrade - if so, please could you post on the talkback page. Thankyou. MSN Launches Dedicated Student Channel The new channel, soft-launched last month, has a financial focus, offering students saving advice and account comparison services. MSN has also secured tie-ups with a number of its shopping partners, including John Lewis, HMV and Comet, to offer student offers. The portal has been developed in partnership with the Computer Science Department of the University of Wales, Swansea and financial Web agency Digita. It's also the first time MSN has worked with a university on a Web site project. Amanda Anthony, B2B marketing manager for MSN, said the venture marks the first time the portal has marketed directly at students. As a result it will be looking to promote the channel through partnerships with the likes of the NUS, as well as through individual universities. It will also be pushing it through Hotmail, which has a huge proportion of student users, numbering over 2m. According to the report, the student channel will be sold as part of MSN's advertising proposition and be offered to advertisers looking to tap into the student market. SOURCE: SOURCE: New Media Zero NTL Bites Back At BT's £33m Broadband Advertising Announcement The rival provider has today announced a series of initiatives to cement its "broadband leadership position," claiming that "NTL is currently the number one broadband provider in the UK with over 300,000 subscribers." The cable company has recently boosted its 512Kbps service to 600Kbps and states that NTL Broadband is "richer, faster and better value than BT," adding that its prices for the first year are over 50 per cent cheaper than BT's offering: NTL is turning up the speed of its 512Kbps broadband service to 600Kbps, providing a clear differential between its mid-tier service and DSL. The cost of this unique service remains unchanged at £24.99 per month (BT Openworld operates at up to 512Kbps for £29.99 per month). The company is adding further value by increasing the number of email addresses per connection from 5 to 15, while web space is increased from 10MB to 55MB (BT Openworld offers 10 and 50MB, respectively). NTL is rolling out an innovative new ‘stand alone’ broadband cable modem product, extending access to its three high speed internet services. NTL expects most customers to also subscribe to either telephone or digital television services, or both, but unlike subscribing to BT’s DSL Broadband (which requires subscribers to take a BT telephone service), there will be no compulsion. The roll out is due to be completed by 1 October. NTL is offering new broadband customers free installation of its 600Kbps service, saving up to £75. The offer runs to 31 December 2002. As a result, customers subscribing this year to the new NTL stand alone product could pay less than 50% of the cost of broadband from BT Openworld in their first year. See Notes. NTL has also been busy upgrading its network to extend access to its broadband services. New areas coming on line include Londonderry, Leicester, Southampton, Norwich, Westminster, Great Yarmouth and Sunderland. Broadband access from NTL is now available to almost 7 million UK homes. NTL in London has been rapidly building out its broadband service and by the Autumn this year will be offering it to half of the homes on its network in the Capital. Broadband has recently been launched in the City of Westminster. A dedicated programme is now underway to provide the service in other areas of London, the first of the areas to be released will be Greenwich & Lewisham which will be launching at the beginning of 2003 with more areas being released over the following months. "Choosing a broadband provider has never been easier," says Bill Goodland, Director of Internet at NTL, "NTL is now faster, better and cheaper than BT." "We remain the UK’s consumer champion for high speed internet currently having over 300,000 residential customers. We have given the highest service innovation through our range of 128K, 512K and 1Megabit products, and the free conversion of 512K service to 600K is yet another example of our increased commitment to our customers. We’re giving them the best deal in town," says Aizad Hussain, Managing Director of NTL Home. There is little doubt that competition within the industry is healthy, and with the above statement, NTL are certainly not going to take any rival competitor lying down, which could be beneficial from a consumer point of view. Will BT choose to fight back with a vengeance? We shall have to wait and see... £33M Campaign: The Competitions View - Thus Commenting on today's announcement from BT of a major advertising campaign to promote broadband services, THUS chief executive, Bill Allan, commented: "A £33 million campaign designed to kick start the broadband market is likely to benefit all operators offering ADSL services, but it's important that consumers ensure they are getting value for money. BT is promoting a no frills service providing little more than access to web pages for £27 per month. Consumers might be interested to know that THUS, under its Demon brand, will provide that same web access, as well as web space for customer home pages, unlimited email addresses, a static IP address, an electronic fax service and comprehensive online and telephone support. All of this comes for £24.99 which we believe represents significantly better value for money. "No frills might be OK for some, but sooner or later all Internet users are going to want to send an email. I can't see any reason to pay more for less." £33M Campaign: The BT View UK'S MOST INTENSIVE TV CAMPAIGN TO HELP DOUBLE BROADBAND CONNECTIONS £10m to be spent on UK's most intensive TV advertising campaign Aim to double weekly broadband connections BT Broadband set for early October take-off with £23 million campaign Average of 90 per cent of BT Broadband's first customers satisfied with product Carphone Warehouse becomes first High Street partner to sell BT Broadband BT will spend £1 million a day on the most intensive TV advertising campaign ever seen in the UK as part of its drive to double the weekly take-up of broadband. A total of £10 million will be spent in 10 days between September 22 and October 2 to advertise the potential of broadband. The campaign, called broadband has landed, will also include a specially created on-line game, using characters from the advertising, which is expected to involve a record six million people over a three-day period. The 10 days of blanket TV advertising is a key part of BT's drive to get one million ADSL broadband connections by summer 2003 and increase the weekly average from 12,000 to 24,000. It immediately precedes a separate £23m push to sell BT Broadband, BT Retail's new high-speed, direct-access internet product, which has recorded satisfaction levels of around 90 per cent since it was made available in early June. BT Retail aims to have 500,000 customers for the new service by summer 2003. Pierre Danon, chief executive officer of BT Retail, said: "BT's intensive TV campaign is further evidence that broadband is clearly at the top of our agenda. "The sheer scale of what we are doing should leave no one in any doubt of the seriousness of our intent to put broadband at the heart of BT and be the flag-bearer for the industry in the government's drive to make Broadband Britain a reality. Developing awareness through marketing is a very important component of BT Group's broadband strategy and, such will be the intensity of this campaign, that it will be virtually impossible to miss the messages it gives about the potential of this exciting technology and the benefits it brings. "This campaign, on top of the other initiatives BT Group has introduced in recent months to kick-start the market, should help provide all operators supplying broadband in the UK with the launch pad they need to sell their products and services in unprecedented numbers," added Danon. Following on from the 10-day campaign, which seeks to generate awareness of the general benefits of broadband, BT Retail will formally launch BT Broadband, its new high-speed, access-only product. Although available since early June, BT Broadband will be launched with full fanfare at the beginning of October with a £23m marketing campaign. Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer division, said: "When you consider we have not yet done a scrap of advertising for BT Broadband, the number of customers already signing-up is excellent, giving us solid confidence that we will reach the target we have set for next year. Last week alone, we took 1,700 orders. Previous experience tells us that when the marketing campaign kicks in, the number of connections will increase significantly. "Feedback from early customers has also helped us refine BT Broadband, in our bid to provide customers with exceptional service. "Satisfaction with various aspects of BT Broadband has been running at an average of 90 per cent, with customers being particularly happy about the speed of the product (98 per cent satisfied), as well as the one-stop service in the form of our dedicated contact centre in Newcastle and the consolidated bill. We are now working to ensure that we improve the service even further." Partners will play a key role in helping BT Retail reach its milestone of half a million BT Broadband connections by next summer. Today, Carphone Warehouse became BT Retail's first high-street partner in selling BT Broadband. Angus Porter said: "Partnerships are crucial. We are delighted to have Carphone Warehouse on board. The more solid partnerships we have with leading companies, the easier will be the task to hit our own target for BT Broadband and contribute to the Group target of the million broadband connections by next summer. Carphone Warehouse now joins Sky Digital, which BT Retail will also be working with to sell BT Broadband. "In all elements of our broadband strategy, which aims to raise new revenue of £681 million a year by 2004/05, partnerships play a prominent role. We now have 70 content partners for BT Broadband, 40 signed-up for BT clickandbuy and leading companies like HP and Toshiba for our BT Home Computing offering, which will be launched formally later this year," added Porter. Three More Exchanges Enabled The areas were originally pencilled in as part of the Cornwall ACTNOW partnership, although, according to the report, there has been no official announcement on these above exchanges. However, the related area phone numbers are showing that ADSL is available, so, if any users are connected on any of those exchanges, ADSL Guide along with Net4Nowt would like to hear from you. SOURCE: ADSL Guide Claranet Acquire German Interests The acquisition gives Claranet additional operations in Berlin and Munich as it continues to provide Net access, hosting and IP security solutions to its European customers. Claranet also has offices in France and Spain BT to Spend £33m on Broadband Advertising The promotion is to help BT reach its goal of obtaining one million broadband customers by summer 2003, doubling the average number of weekly sign-ups from 12,000 to 24,000. New Unmetered Product from DMS Dial Called dmc:dial, the new Internet subscription service will go live on Thursday 19th Sept 2002 at 12.00pm for PC and Mac users - dmc:dial features include; Access to Game Servers and provides 7 email accounts and 10MB Web Space per account and no Internet Call Charges, with prices starting at £7.99 per month for standard home users. The service currently open to any user with a BT line, and will be available to all Telewest and NTL customers in the very near future. Further information: http://www.dmcdial.com Firefly Enterprises launches www.surfadsl.com Firefly has been formed on the back of the success of its sister company SurfAnytime Ltd. While SurfAnytime Ltd continues to partner Affinity Internet Holdings Ltd, to provide standard dial up, Firefly is a fully independent ISP with the power to offer customers 'non Affinity' ADSL solutions. SurfAnytime now feel their growth is being restricted by powers out of their control hence the launch of the new company. Firefly will have no such restrictions, but the same experienced team that launched SurfAnytime with the aim to offer an improved level of service. The first service to be launched is surfADSL, a high speed ADSL Internet connection from £28.99 per month. (inc. VAT). The ADSL Internet link may be self-installed either on an existing modem/router or we can supply you with an ADSL USB Modem or ADSL Router with the availability of up to 10 static IP addresses via an online order process. surfADSL comes with the following features: - Unlimited number of network users - 56/64/128K dial-up account as back-up for all users - Free e-mail addresses for each ADSL connection - Webmail For more details, please see http://www.surfadsl.com NetServices Launches Business Broadband in Manchester “Rather than companies making a huge financial commitment to launching an ADSL service, we provide them with a fully managed, branded service and pay the companies a commission for each connection,” said technical founder, Andy Hogan. Many Internet Service Providers, who do not have their own infrastructure can rent packages which include all of the necessary technology to provide the service themselves. NetServices employs 40 people and has a turnover of around £7m. The company recently opened a new 25,000 sq ft data centre in Salford Quays, acquiring all of its technical equipment from telecommunication and computer firms which went bust after a downturn in the industries. C & W Pave the way for Job Losses The business is facing heavy price competition. ITU Release Mobile/Internet Index Exploiting the new opportunities offered by the mobile Internet will require high levels of capital investment. For example, knowing the location of a particular mobile user, combined with targeted advertising, may make it possible for local businesses to attract users that are passing by. Investors want to see concrete evidence that a market for mobile Internet services exist. But operators can’t provide that evidence until they build the networks. Because of this ‘chicken and egg’ situation, the mobile Internet could potentially be the biggest gamble the telecommunication industry has ever taken on. Nonetheless, the combination of mobile and Internet technologies, such as the short message service (SMS) and i-mode, is already transforming the way people interact and the way business is done. Some 24 billion SMS messages were sent worldwide in the first quarter of 2002. The UK is currently 8th in the league table: 1. Hong Kong, China 2. Denmark 3. Sweden 4. Switzerland 5. United States 6. Norway 7. Korea, Rep. of 8. United Kingdom 9. Netherlands 10.Iceland For more information on the report consult http://itu.int/mobileinternet. MSN And Brightmail In Strategic Alliance To Combat SPAM MSN currently has around 110 million Hotmail users worldwide and the high instances of SPAM - unsolicited bulk e-mail - taking over people's accounts has now become an industry wide concern. Under the agreement, Brightmail, the leader in anti-spam technology, will deploy its Brightmail Solution Suite to filter spam at the incoming SMTP gateway, before it’s delivered to the Hotmail user’s inbox. Leveraging the Probe Network, a collection of more than 200 million e-mail addresses designed to attract spam, Brightmail’s patented technology will automatically identify and eliminate spam before it reaches Hotmail users’ mailboxes. Brightmail’s proven solution provides superior protection against unsolicited junk e-mail by offering a dynamic technology that keeps pace with constantly evolving spam. “Unsolicited junk e-mail is a global problem in the industry today that affects not just Hotmail users, but e-mail users everywhere,” said Rick Holzli, general manager of MSN Hotmail. “Joining forces with a leader such as Brightmail underscores MSN’s continued commitment to aggressively fight spam and provide our users with a world-class e-mail experience.” “Brightmail is excited to work with MSN to help shield the millions of Hotmail users from the ever-growing flood of spam, which threatens the viability of e-mail as a universal communication tool,” said Enrique Salem, president and CEO of Brightmail. “This alliance is a milestone in our mission to eliminate spam through the development and deployment of our premium anti-spam technology.” MSN and Brightmail expect the solution to be fully deployed on the MSN Hotmail network later this year. Credit Card Not Required for pre-registration of Freedial "We have reconsidered our position on the taking of credit card details at pre-registration. We have decided to show good faith and not have this as a requirement any longer. There has been some talk on certain forums as to our validity so I hope this will convince our doubters of our genuine intent." Broadband for £12.95 - Follow Up The response received was as follows: "Because we are limiting the roll-out of the service to achieve system integrity and reliability we need to ensure that people who place pre-orders are serious about the commitment. It is a means of making sure that our services are not oversubscribed so as to provide the best possible service. We pre-auth the cards as allowed by our merchant provider but the cards are not charged or debited until such a time as the user has agreed our final terms for their chosen plan, the connection equipment is despatched and the service goes live. John also responded to our earlier article as follows: "Firstly I'd like to assure you of our sincerity and commitment to this field. We are fully committed to the long haul and are implementing carefully planned procedures to this effect. Our Budget DSL plan that you talk of is just one of many plans we are providing. The extra interest and publicity of the budget plan has had a knock on effect to our full product range which has seen a 225% increase in orders for our premium products! This together with a modest profit on the activation fee and required plug-in equipment, which the user must purchase from us at a cost of £88,will in effect more than subsidise the budget plans. Availability is limited to ensure system integrity and once the Budget DSL plan is fully allocated (the pre-registered user numbers are fast approaching our self-imposed limit) the provision of the plan will be suspended, as in no more users will be signed up, then we shall revert to a pre-order situation to allocate spaces for the next roll out. We aim to stagger user signups of all the popular plans to run parallel with the growth of our infrastructure and in answer to one of your concerns, staffing levels will grow to match. As our overheads are low and we do not rely on external funding we are confident that we can carry out our commitment to the budget plan, indeed all our plans, to the fullest extent." Claranet Acquires Netscalibur The acquisition gives Claranet additional operations in Berlin and Munich as it continues to provide Net access, hosting and IP security solutions to its European customers. Claranet launched its first centre in Frankfurt in 2000. With the acquisition of Netscalibur's German business it becomes Claranet's second largest operation outside of the UK. According to the report, the financial details relating to the acquisition were not released. SOURCE: The Register Security: Linux Virus Exploits Buffer Overflow Vulnerability Once the Linux Slapper Worm - 'Linux/Slapper-A' - is active, it can be used as a backdoor to start up a range of denial-of-service attacks. The worm spreads between systems via TCP port 443 (SSL). Before connecting to this port, the worm connects to TCP port 80 (HTTP) in order to try to customise its attack for specific Apache versions. If a web server other than Apache (or which identifies itself as other than Apache) is found, the worm will not attempt to infect. The worm looks for: Red Hat running Apache 1.3.6, 1.3.9, 1.3.12, 1.3.19, 1.3.20, 1.3.22, 1.3.23 and 1.3.26. SuSE running Apache 1.3.12, 1.3.17, 1.3.19, 1.3.20, 1.3.23. Mandrake running Apache 1.3.14, 1.3.19, 1.3.20, 1.3.23. Slackware running Apache 1.3.26. Debian running Apache 1.3.26. Gentoo running any version of Apache. If the system distribution or Apache version cannot be determined, the worm assumes Red Hat running Apache 1.3.23. Linux/Slapper-A connects via TCP port 443 (SSL) and tries to launch a shell (/bin/sh) on the remote system by exploiting a buffer overflow. If Linux/Slapper-A successfully breaks into its victim, the worm injects a shell script into the remote shell it has launched. The shell script contains a uuencoded copy of the worm's own source code. The script decodes this source code into the file /tmp/.bugtraq.c, compiles it using gcc into the executable file /tmp/.bugtraq and then executes it. A daemon process called .bugtraq will be visible on infected computers. Note that the Linux/Slapper-A worm depends on the presence of the gcc compiler on victim computers, and also requires that the compiler be executable by the Apache user Sophos recommends removing, or limiting access to, the compiler on production web servers. Further information from Sophos about how to protect against the worm is available HERE. ASA Concludes Tiscali Advert Is Not Misleading The national press advertisement was headlined "Unlimited access to the world" and both advertisements stated "Tiscali 10.0 is the brand new internet service from Tiscali. It's fast and reliable and really easy to use ...". The complainants challenged the claims that the advertised service is "fast" and "reliable" and also the statement of "unlimited access to the world." "Fast" was challenged because one complainant believed the advertisers' service was slower than the Internet access provided by broadband suppliers; the other complainant had found connecting to the service slow; "Reliable" was challenged because one complainant pointed out that Tiscali stated in their terms and conditions that they could not guarantee that the service would be fault free; the other complainant had found the service unreliable; "Unlimited access to the world" was challenged because the advertisers stated in their terms and conditions that they could, at their discretion, implement an automatic cut-off to interrupt the user's Internet session. During the investigation, the Authority noted the advertisers had received ratings below the industry standard for "Modem Connect Speed" and "Average DNS Lookup Time". However, the ASA also considered that all the industry average ratings except one were "A" and "A+" and that the advertisers met or exceeded the industry average in most categories. The Authority considered that most readers would not infer from the claims "fast" and "reliable" that the advertisers' service would be faster than broadband access or that it would always be fault free. The advertisers said "unlimited access to the world" meant that users of their product would have access to unlimited websites around the world. They pointed out that their terms and conditions said they might implement an automatic cut-off, not that they would. The advertisers argued that even if an automatic cut-off was implemented, the number of accessible sites would not be restricted. The Authority noted the advertisement was for a range of access packages, not an "unlimited access" package. It considered that most readers would not infer that they would receive unlimited access to the Internet with no possibility of interruptions to their sessions. As a result, the complaints were not upheld because the Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the advertisers had substantiated all the claims and that the advertisement was not misleading. Forrester Recommend BT Break Up Last year BT sold its mobile arm, BT Cellnet which brought BT’s mountainous debt of £30 bn under control. Though in contrast France Telecom is in deeper waters with debts of 70bn Euros (£44 bn). Ben Verwaayen, BT's chief executive, told journalists last week that breaking up BT would not yield the benefits that some people claim -- a position BT is sticking to. "Splitting a telco such as BT has not worked anywhere in the world, and the idea has always been rejected by a wide range of bodies," insisted the BT spokesman. Souce: zdnet.co.uk Intel's Experimental 3D Transistor Transistors generally control the flow of elctrons. Letting the electons pass or impeding their flow, creates the zeros and ones that are essential to computing. By increasing the number of gates results in boosting the performance. Though currently no companies have fully committed to adopting these sort of transistors for furture chip, partly because engineers can still get additonal performance out of exsisting transistors. Gerald Marcyk who presented a paper on the technonlogy at the International Solid State Device and Materials Conference in Nagoya, Japan. He comments "It's still in the early phase. The device performance is very good," he said. "This is a second-half-of-the-decade kind of thing. It will depend on how much progress we made with it." Source: zdnet.co.uk WARNING: 512k ADSL packages for £12.99 Budget DSL - £12.95 , 50:1 Contention Home 24/7 - £26.95, 20:1 Contention Biz 24/7 - £34.95, 10:1 Contention All packages have an £80 connection fee. The company states that it is part of the World Domain group of companies (http://www.worlddomain.ws)which according to thier website are still deciding whether to provide ADSL services: "We are looking to expand our product base to further serve our customers. We are considering providing ADSL and standard dial-up accounts which could include free dial (0800) accounts and/or 0845 local rate accounts. Please let us know what product type you would be interested in to help us decide on packages to offer." If history is anything to go by, with Internet access you get what you pay for and have to question any business that is selling a service at a loss unless backed by a large corporate. This does not appear to be the case. Net4Nowt would steer well clear of any company that states for a pre-registration 'no payment will be taken at this point' yet goes on to request full credit card details. To the companies favour they are reported as saying to ISP Review "Although we are a small concern in terms of overheads, we do not rent office space as our offices are freehold, we have only 10 permanent staff and we do not rely on bank funding, overdrafts, loans and such like, we are a relatively "cash rich" company with more than "one egg in our basket". Just how many customers 10 staff can support adequately remains to be seen. Proceed with caution. ET Global Solutions Update Due to internal and external factors in delayed ADSL activations, customers requiring refunds or there account being overcharged are requested to forward there details to accounts@etglobalsolutions.com where a credit will be issued. The credit will take up-to 21 days to show up on the Credit Card statement. In addition ET Global Solutions is offering as token gesture a 1 (one) month free service to customers whom ordered the service during July 25th 200 | ||