MACH has over 60% of the outsourced Financial Clearing market, and has further consolidated its leadership position in Q1 of this year, showing continued growth in client numbers and maintaining unrivalled levels of customer satisfaction and retention.

MACH has secured Data Clearing agreements with a number of new clients in the last six months to maintain a 50% market share. Among the mobile operators to sign Data Clearing House agreements with MACH so far in Q1 are Leo in Namibia, Mauritel in Mauritania, Iraq’s Asiacell and Wataniya in Algeria. Asiacell and Wataniya join MACH as part of a frame agreement to provide roaming business management solutions to Qtel International, the telecommunications service provider licensed by the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology in Qatar (ictQATAR) to provide both fixed and mobile telecommunications services in the state of Qatar.

Meanwhile, growth in the Near Real-time Roaming Data Exchange (NRTRDE) business has seen market share reach almost 50%. MACH’s NRTRDE products are today helping more than half of all mobile operators around the world to assure revenues and to minimise losses due to roaming fraud.

MACH’s growth has come also from products and services newly-added to its portfolio. HUB-XC, the hub-based mobile communications exchange announced in October, builds on MACH’s core offerings to enable CSP’s to extend coverage and breadth of mobile service offering, to accelerate time-to-market, and to optimise service revenue. HUB-XC integrates MACH’s services in one hub-based offering that delivers richer functionality for CSP’s, and increases the breadth and value of MACH’s client agreements.

“We are delighted with MACH’s performance in closing out 2009 and in making a fast start to 2010,” said Lodewijk Cornelis, Chief Marketing Officer, MACH. “That performance is built on a powerful and unique combination of products and services. On the one hand, proven applications and managed services that build and optimise operators’ mobile roaming businesses. On the other, innovative new applications, built on the same proven infrastructure, that open up a new world of opportunities for all Communications Service Providers.”

Mr Cornelis went on to focus on one area of growth in particular. “Take, for example, MACH’s increasing presence in the mobile content and application market. We have signed agreements with two of the big five appstores to enable delivery of new content-based mobile services to subscribers all over the world, placing MACH at the heart of this burgeoning new market.”

The company is confident that it will continue to show rapid growth throughout the remainder of 2010, and extend its product and service footprint.

“MACH shareholders have fully endorsed our plans for accelerated growth and have made available the necessary financial investment to turn our vision into reality,” said Jean Mandeville, Chief Financial Officer, MACH. “This investment will allow us to accelerate the product roadmap under our newly-appointed Chief Technology Officer, and to increase the number of sales and marketing resources available.”

MACH will set out further details of its growth plans for the remainder of this year to delegates at the GSMA-sponsored BARG event taking place in Cairo, Egypt this week.

An Ethernet/WiFi connected device built around XCode(R)4111 can serve as the media center controller for the conversion and transfer of multi-format video/audio content between connected devices. The XCode(R)4111 offers seamless connection to other networked devices in the home that are Digital Living room Networked Alliance (DLNA) certified. The DTCP/IP security protocol defined in the DLNA standard provides an ability to build compelling and completely secure networked multimedia solutions.

As part of the Xtensiv(TM) software suite, ViXS will be offering fully tested software stacks for a DLNA Digital Media Server, Digital Media Client, DLNA Bridging and DTCP/IP Security. This software can be provided to XCode(R)4111 customers at the source code level allowing them customizations for their overall application needs. In addition, XCode(R) customers will not have the burden of IP license fees that are common with third party DLNA software stack providers.

XCode(R) 4111 Network Media Processor integrates Smart XCode(TM) technology which is based on sophisticated algorithms that dynamically switch between a highly efficient direct transcode and a full decode and full encode mode. By taking advantage of the Smart XCode(TM) technology, Consumer Electronics and Set-Top Box (STB) manufacturers can develop highly flexible and robust media solutions, offering the utmost in video quality performance in their products.

The XCode(R) 4111 Network Media Processor family integrates the following features:

Single Stream HD/SD Video Transcoding and Encoding:
- Full Decode/Full Encode Transcode mode
- Smart XCode(TM) mode
- High-speed Transcoding up to 12x faster than real-time
- Transrating: Bit-rate Reduction, Resolution Reduction and Format Conversion on the fly
- Support for HD H.264 AVC, HD VC-1, and HD MPEG2 video formats
- Support for other common Internet Video formats:
- MPEG4 Part 2, H.263, DiVX, XViD, Real, Flash, etc.

Support for multiple audio and video container formats including AVCHD for video camera, 3GP and 3GPP & 3GPP2 for 3G cellular devices, MPEG-4 Part14 for the iPhone, iPOD Touch, iPOD and PSP and other portable device formats

Support for multiple audio formats

Mirror Transcoding

Small Form Factor and Low Power Designs

1250 DMIPS Dedicated Application Processor

Multiple Integrated Peripherals:

- 10/100 Ethernet, USB 2.0

Multiple Interconnects:
- PCI, UART

Memory:
- High Speed DDR3 Memory Interface w/Security
- NAND Flash Controller w/Secure Boot

Fully integrated security:
- Smart Card and DVB Common Interface (DVB-CI)
- Multiple Encryption and Decryption Engines
- Digital Rights Management (DRM)/Conditional Access (CA)/Content Protection (CP) support
- Transcryption between CA’s/CP’s/DRM’s

“The introduction of the XCode(R) 4111 family continues in the ViXS tradition of delivering silicon and complete software solution that addresses the rapidly growing market for content distribution within the home. This powerful multimedia processor IC provides the best in class when it comes to audio/video processing performance”, said Sally Daub, President and CEO of ViXS Systems.

Apple announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

Beginning from March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

“iPad is something completely new,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

Starting at just $499, iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds–thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook–and delivers battery life of up to 10 hours.*

iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch(TM) interface makes surfing the web an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. You can read and send email on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard or import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. iPad makes it easy to watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD, or flip through the pages of an ebook you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.

The App Store on iPad lets you wirelessly browse, buy and download new apps from the world’s largest app store. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for iPad and will run almost all of the more than 150,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. Developers are already creating exciting new apps designed for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch interface, large screen and high-quality graphics.

The new iBooks app for iPad includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile product. The iBookstore will feature books from the New York Times Best Seller list from both major and independent publishers, including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster.

The iTunes® Store gives iPad users access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 films including over 2,500 in stunning high definition. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.

Pricing & Availability

iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models on April 3 in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

iPad will be available in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models in late April in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. International pricing will be announced in April. iPad will ship in additional countries later this year.

The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store in the US on April 3, with additional countries added later this year.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

The worldwide number of consumers using smartphone applications will grow from 102 Million (2009) to 974 Million in 2013, according to research2guidance. The new report focuses on the corporate perspective of app publishing for smartphone devices. Currently, only 10% of Fortune 2000 companies are targeting their customers with a smartphone application.

“Despite the hype around the iPhone and other cutting-edge devices, corporations are only just beginning to realize that smartphone applications offer a direct channel to their customers,” explains Ralf-Gordon Jahns, Research Director at research2guidance.

Virtually all of the “first mover” companies selected the Apple App Store as the publishing platform for their first application. In 2010 with the increased number of application stores available, any app publisher will have to carefully select where to promote their applications. “Our App Store Ranking shows that there are other app stores besides the Apple App Store that offer good publishing opportunities in 2010,” explained Ralf-Gordon Jahns. “Especially independent stores like Handango or Mobihand scored high in our rankings”.

The vast majority of corporate early adopters have published applications to give access to their core products or for promotional purposes (91%). Only a minor share (9%) use applications as a stand-alone product. With the market for app downloads poised to grow from US$1.94 billion in 2009 to US$15.65 billion in 2013, companies will begin to focus more on application business models which offer additional revenue opportunities.

“To succeed in the dynamic app market, corporate publishers must leverage their internal assets to be able to effectively compete against the mass of specialized developers” Jahns concludes. “These include existing marketing channels, service platforms and infrastructure that give them a key advantage over mobile specialists.”

Additional information is available in the research2guidance report, “Global Smartphone Application Report 2010.”

Content Providers Will Have Access to Orange’s 130 Million Mobile Customers

Orange and Netvibes today announced a partnership to bring the world’s largest collection of mobile widgets to all types of mobile phone user across an extensive range of handsets. Netvibes’ huge catalogue of nearly 200,000 real-time widgets will be available on Orange widgets, a service featuring on 80% of handsets shipped by Orange. It will also be available on djinngo mobile, an Orange service open to any mobile phone user in the world. And soon, mobile widgets will be available to Orange customers in the recently launched Orange Application Shop.

The widget collection, known as Netvibes Ecosystem, is a library of popular widgets from the leading content providers around the world. Customers will access Orange widgets with one click from the Orange homescreen. The service has a carousel from which they can chose their favourite widgets and will be available on devices from the majority of handset companies, including basic phones right up to the most sophisticated smartphones.

Orange widgets first launched in July 2009 and was designed to be quick and easy to use – even for customers totally unfamiliar with mobile multi-media services. By providing access to the best, most popular local content, in customers’ own language, Orange is seeking to open a new mobile widget marketplace for everyone.

By bringing a user-friendly widget service to the mobile mass market, Orange is also giving content developers access to an entirely new market of users. To facilitate this, Orange is creating a software developer kit to ensure a simple and efficient process for developers to create new and value-adding widgets.

Commenting on the partnership, Paul-François Fournier, Executive Vice-President, Audience and Advertising, Orange said: “As the largest independent provider of real-time widgets across 90 languages, Netvibes was the ideal partner for us. Our strategy is to make mobile widgets a reality for everyone – not just the mobile multimedia fans with sophisticated smartphones. Our approach is to offer diverse local content, in all languages, with an intuitive and simple experience that will appeal to all. Netvibes’ catalogue includes widgets from content developers around the world and this was important for us as we will be offering widgets across Europe, Middle East and Africa.”

“Our vision is to personalize the entire online world and empower consumers to customize their entire Web experience. Thanks to our partnership with Orange, we are bringing personalized widgets to millions of consumers everywhere,” said Freddy Mini, CEO Netvibes. “The era of the real-time, personalized Web has truly begun.”

While the partnership will focus initially on mobile widgets, the partners will draw on Orange’s leadership in broadband internet and IPTV to extend the experience across other screens.

Lean more about the Orange Netvibes partnership on video at http://www.orange-innovation.tv/mobile

At Embedded World 2010  Xilinx introduced the Xilinx® Spartan®-6 FPGA Industrial Imaging Targeted Design Platform to accelerate development of high-performance video processing applications for low-cost, low-power industrial imaging systems. Industrial equipment OEMs can now rapidly build and evaluate reprogrammable imaging solutions with high-definition image resolutions, specialized image sensor interfaces, and intelligent video and advanced image processing algorithms.

Digital IP cameras accounted for 11 percent of the worldwide surveillance camera market in 2009 with this segment projected to grow 25 percent through 2013.(1) Xilinx’s industrial imaging platform enables OEMs to take advantage of the market opportunity with a complete development environment tailored specifically for video processing applications, such as high-resolution digital video conferencing, video surveillance, and machine vision systems.

“As industrial imaging products transition from analog to digital technologies and image sensors become more specialized, system architects are driven to look beyond ASSPs and ASICs to more flexible, cost-effective programmable platforms,” said Mark Jensen, director of industrial, scientific and medical marketing at Xilinx. “Our Spartan-6 FPGA industrial imaging platform enables industrial OEMs to do more with less. It is easier to extend existing systems and faster to develop new leading-edge, differentiated video processing applications that can scale with rapidly evolving product and market requirements.”

Optimizing for Industrial Imaging Applications

The Industrial Imaging Targeted Design Platform enables engineers to focus on differentiation and innovation rather than design infrastructure with the latest programmable technologies and smart design methodologies delivered in the Spartan-6 FPGA Industrial Video Processing Kit. This application-specific development kit is the second generation of the popular Spartan-3A FPGA DSP Video Starter Kit, and provides easy access to the enhanced features, functions, and larger device densities of the low-cost, low-power Spartan-6 FPGA family.

Jointly developed with Avnet, the Industrial Video Processing Kit is fully integrated and highly scalable with all the hardware and software needed to design right out of the box. The kit includes the Avnet Spartan-6 LX150T FPGA development board with two daughter cards based on the industry-standard FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) specification(2), video and image processing soft IP, ISE® Design Suite System Edition software, and four Targeted Reference Designs. It also features the Omnivision image sensor which provides direct support for real-time high-definition (HD) video streaming.

“This kit is the perfect starting point for any developer interested in FPGA-based video processing for the industrial and surveillance markets,” said Jim Beneke, vice president of global technical marketing at Avnet Electronics Marketing. “The hardware we include in the kit combined with the example reference designs allow engineers to fully explore the latest video IP from Xilinx and third parties.”

Multiple Targeted Reference Designs

Industrial OEMs can leverage the massive parallel processing capacity of FPGAs and the 32-bit MicroBlaze(TM) soft processor from Xilinx to offload system processors and implement co-processing architectures. Power-optimized serial transceivers and high-speed I/O embedded in Spartan-6 devices enable industrial OEMS to use the latest image sensors with HD resolutions, increased bit depth, and wide dynamic range imaging. Differentiating features and functions can be easily added to Spartan-6 FPGAs by scaling device size in the same package layout for a flexible, cost-effective design platform.

The Targeted Reference Designs supplied with the kit can be used out of the box to create single-chip camera and video processing modules that support live HD camera, dual camera, and DVI input sources:

• Camera Frame Buffer: video stream captured from camera is processed in real-time and buffered to an external memory. The design applies data buffering to change video frame rates and utilizes the MicroBlaze soft processor to control the hardware processing blocks.

• DVI Video Processing: video data processed as it streams through the system to illustrate one of the simplest forms of video processing systems and eliminate the need for frame buffers in external memory.

• DVI Video Frame Buffer: working video pipeline uses external memory as a frame buffer and provides a simple platform as the starting point for developers.

• High Performance Hardware Co-simulation: Using raw Ethernet connection to enable multiple design iterations and accelerate algorithm validation.

Together with the base board and FMC daughter cards, the Targeted Reference Designs can be used to jumpstart development of industrial imaging products for video surveillance (IP video camera, network recorders, video analytics), machine vision (smart camera, high-speed imaging system, communications and processing interface), and video conferencing (high definition camera, video display, compression/transmission unit). Multiple examples provide best practices for compiling, debugging, and profiling Spartan-6 FPGA-based industrial video applications and demonstrate how to customize designs for maximum product differentiation.

Scalable Development Environment

The Spartan-6 FPGA Industrial Video Processing Kit with Spartan-6 LX150T development board simplifies the design, evaluation, and integration of full frame rate, high-definition video processing for industrial imaging systems. The two FMC connectors on the base board can be utilized to integrate the Dual Image Sensor with DVI Output FMC Module (AES-FMC-IMAGEOV-G) and DVI Input/Output FMC Module (AES-FMC-DVI-G) daughter cards. Any non-utilized FMC connector can be used to further expand the system with custom modules.

This scalable, standards-based approach enables hardware designers, R&D algorithm developers, and software developers to evaluate, test, design and integrate video processing applications in silicon earlier than is typically feasible with ASSPs or ASICs. They can also update systems throughout development and production to accommodate changing product specifications and benefit from the latest image processing algorithms, video analytics, and emerging serial interface technologies.

Pricing & Availability

The Spartan-6 FPGA Industrial Video Processing Kit is available immediately for order entry from Xilinx’s distribution partner Avnet with early release shipments commencing later this month. General availability with production-grade silicon is targeted for April 2010. The kit is priced at US$2,695 and comes complete with all the documentation, cables, and power supplies needed to get started. For more information about the Spartan-6 FPGA Industrial Video Processing Kit, visit: www.em.avnet.com/spartan6video.

Super Micro Computer is showcasing the very latest innovations in server technology, including its breakthrough TwinBlade solution, at CeBIT 2010 in Hannover, Germany (Hall 17, Stand D70, booth B1). The innovative TwinBlade(TM) system doubles the number of dual-processor (DP) compute nodes per 7U enclosure to 20 (28), for an incredibly dense and cost-effective 0.35U (0.25U) per node.

“Our 20 (28)-node server system based on the SBI-7226T-T2 blade delivers unprecedented performance-per-dollar and performance-per-square-foot,” said Charles Liang, CEO and president of Supermicro. “Available with 40Gb/s QDR InfiniBand switches, this optimized blade solution combines industry-leading 94%* power supply efficiency with our innovative and highly efficient thermal and cooling system designs to deliver exceptional system performance-per-watt, making it the greenest, most power-efficient blade solution in the world today.”

For maximum density and computational performance, the TwinBlade(TM) supports up to 20 dual-socket server blades per 7U enclosure, enabling up to 2,880 processing cores per 42U rack. Combined with dual 40Gb/s InfiniBand, FCoE or 10GbE switches and dual 1/10GbE switches in one 7U enclosure, TwinBlade(TM) provides the highest performing I/O throughput and scalability in the industry and is a superb solution for high-performance computing (HPC), datacenter, enterprise and cloud computing environments. With successful deployments at CERN, PRACE, and other Fortune 100 organizations, SuperBlade® has already become the preferred solution for a wide range of mission-critical applications.

Another breakthrough product being displayed at CeBIT is Supermicro’s Double-Sided Storage(TM) system. With redundant Platinum Level (94%+ efficiency) power supplies, the SC847 series server chassis feature 36 hot-swap 3.5″ hard drive trays (24 in the front and 12 in the rear). For JBOD configurations, the SC847 can support 21 drives in the rear for a total of 45 drives.

These high-capacity storage chassis provide direct hot-swap access to all of the storage drives while saving valuable rack space. Featuring the world’s first fully redundant Platinum Level power supplies with PMBus(TM) functionality for superior power management, these reliable storage workhorses support seven low-profile (LP models) or four full size and three low-profile expansion cards (UIO models). The SC847 chassis support both 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s SAS interfaces for high-bandwidth storage applications. Deploying these chassis into a new 42U Supermicro rack with flexible cable management eliminates cable obstructions for a truly optimized total solution.

Also being officially unveiled at CeBIT is the new SuperServer 4146B-3R. This server supports four Intel® Itanium 9300 Series processors. Offering the ultimate in reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS), the 4146B-3R features hot-plug CPU and memory modules, hard drives, power supplies, and expansion cards, making it an excellent solution for high-performance datacenter and mission-critical applications.

In addition, Supermicro is showcasing an extensive selection of new platforms optimized for Intel’s upcoming Xeon processors codenamed Westmere (DP) and Nehalem EX (MP), as well as platforms optimized for AMD’s upcoming Opteron processors (codenamed Magny-Cours).

Supermicro Server Building Block Solutions® offer exceptional flexibility and features. See the very latest innovations in server technology in Hall 17, Stand D70, booth B1.

3G networks were deployed in the region, commercially operating in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The arrival of the iPhone in regional markets triggered Internet usage and other services, such as application stores. On the other hand, the pay-TV market still holds promise. IPTV did not become a reality yet due to regulatory restrictions, and its slowness has yet to be resolved in many countries. Instead, video on demand has witnessed great advances.

In this scenario, 2010 brings both hope and anxiety.

The following are Frost & Sullivan predictions for the year:

#1 Ultra broadband will gain traction.

The new digital lifestyle, which connects cameras, videogames, television sets, and a series of other home appliances into a single management device will require increasingly more bandwidth for producing, editing and playing files. New solutions and applications, such as intelligent homes, IPTV and Video on Demand will also drive demand for ultra broadband in Latin America.

It’s expected that competition and the scale of clients will erode prices. As ultra broadband technologies were already in the market in 2009, it is likely that prices will start to decline slowly in 2010 for connections above 20MBps, which will also help to gain traction.

Bundling ultra broadband with other services will help increase the benefit perception of shifting bandwidths to the next level, as many other complimentary services will be offered for the premium-price charged for this new service.

#2 WiMAX is not dead!

“As many comments about the commercial failure of WiMAX as a broadband technology arise, I prefer to see it as a complimentary technology for ADSL, cable modem and 3G in Latin America, mostly for areas without coverage of these traditional services, such as rural, low competition, or low income areas” says Jose Roberto Mavignier, Frost & Sullivan industry manager.

The entry of specialized players, such as the Russian Yota in Nicaragua, and soon in Peru, clearly shows the market potential for these referred niches, and it will help to push WiMAX technology to these areas.

Also, small successful deployments, such as the cases of Entel in Chile and Telmex in Peru, will be strong references to new commercial initiatives.

#3 Mobile Marketing will timidly take off.

The great volume of iPhones and smartphones sold in the region over the last 2 years, along with the extensive rollout of 3G networks, created the foundation to leverage mobile marketing initiatives this year.

In addition, we will see new business models to leverage 3G adoption in the region, pushing on mobile marketing: iPhones given at no cost, for example, as long as subscribers agree to be hit by mobile advertising while in motion.

As operators and service providers develop the ability to increase the segmentation of customer bases in Latin America, the 1-to-1 marketing will be more successful and popular in the mobile marketing arena.

“Additionally, major Latin American and multinational brands and companies see the mobile phone as an opportunity and powerful interaction tool with users. Because of this, Frost & Sullivan believes that mobile marketing will begin to take off in Latin America in 2010, even if in a timid way,” explains Jose Roberto Mavignier.

#4 Value-added services on broadband connections will become more popular in Latin America.

Given that competition is getting stronger for ADSL, with plenty of cable modem and 3G offers, all broadband connections will have to differentiate themselves with enhanced value-added services to raise ARPUs and maintain clients. Those VAS go from the following: firewall, antivirus, Internet filtering web hosting, limitless emails, content portal access, to video surveillance and speed connection verification. Hardware-based VAS will also be a stronger offer differentiator, as it is happening with Telefonica’s Puesto de Trabajo in many countries of the region.

Mobile broadband in Latin America has already shown that it needs VAS to increase the benefit perception from its users. Besides traditional VAS such as antivirus, for instance, the offers of free USB modems, along with the sales of netbooks, will be important highlights for 2010.

#5 More MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) will be created in the region.

It’s likely that, after some success cases in 2009, a wider range of service providers as well as other companies and businesses may start to analyze and invest in similar MVNOs in the region. In addition, the imminence of a new regulation for MVNOs in Brazil, the largest market in the region, will become more attractive for other national and international investments, and may serve as well as an economy of scale to leverage other investments in the region.

Also in Brazil, recent unblocked handset regulation will also help to leverage investments, as client-acquisition costs will be fairly diminished, reducing barriers to new entries in the market.

Recent fixed mobile merged operations in the region will increase the competition in bundle of services – a key for fixed and cable service providers to opt for this business model to gain competitiveness in its bundles.

Furthermore, retail chains, football clubs and TV channels are non-Telecom related businesses that already showed interest in launching their own MVNOs operations, which is another assumption to reinforce this prediction.

Source: Frost & Sullivan

In the current project conducted by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, only half of the 10 reporting countries found that more than a majority of their respondents are users of the Internet.

Both developed and less-developed countries reported relatively low percentages of Internet users, including Mexico (32 percent), Portugal (37 percent), Cyprus and Colombia (45 percent), Czech Republic (51 percent), and Chile (55 percent).

Only three countries and regions report more than 60 percent of respondents as Internet users: Macao (61 percent), the United States (78 percent) and Sweden (80 percent).

“These findings reinforce that the Internet is not yet part of life for hundreds of millions of people around the globe — even in technologically advanced countries,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future, which created and manages the World Internet Project. “And we are seeing large numbers of non-users even in countries with high levels of education and employment, long histories of Internet use, and high percentages of broadband installation.”

“Countries that reported an average of five or more years of Internet use found key disparities in access to online technology,” Cole said. “For example, many countries have a long way to go to increase Internet equality among men and women.”

Gender Differences in Internet Use

The World Internet Project found notable differences between men and women in their use of online technology. In six of the WIP countries, eight percent or more men than women use the Internet (Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Italy, Macao, Mexico). The gender gap is the largest in Mexico (16 percent more men than women are Internet users) and Colombia (15 percent more men than women).

However, in four of the WIP countries, the gap in Internet use between men and women is four percent or less, with the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States reporting only slightly higher percentages of men than women as users.

Internet Non-Users

Why are people not online? Perhaps surprisingly, the expense of owning a computer or an Internet connection is not the primary explanation.

In six of the 10 WIP countries in the current study, “no interest/not useful” is the most-cited reason by non-users.

The cost of going online is not a significant factor in most of the WIP countries; with all of the countries except the Czech Republic reporting less than 15 percent of respondents who said that going online was too expensive or they cannot afford the fees.

Internet Purchasing

While going online to shop is routine in some countries, purchasing online is not yet a typical experience for Internet users in most of the WIP countries and regions.

The WIP countries and regions report a wide range of online buying frequency. In seven of the reporting countries and regions, more than 60 percent of Internet users never go online to buy.

Concerns about Credit Card Security

One reason why Internet purchasing may continue to be low in much of the world is that levels of concern about the security of credit card information during online purchasing are very high. At least two-thirds of Internet users age 18 or older in all of the WIP countries and regions report some level of concern when or if they bought something online.

Information on the Internet: Is it Reliable? Is it Important?

The World Internet Project found widely divergent views about the reliability or the importance of information found online.

When asked about the reliability of information found online, all of the WIP countries and regions reported at least 40 percent of users who said that only half or less of information on the Internet is reliable.

In spite of these high percentages, the Internet is nevertheless considered an important source of information for them by large majorities in all of the WIP countries and regions. More than 60 percent of users in all of the WIP countries and regions except for Sweden said that the Internet is an important or very important source of information for them.

The Center for the Digital Future:
Nine years of exploring the digital realm

The findings are part of the 2010 report of the World Internet Project (WIP), which includes findings from 10 of the 30 countries and regions in North America, South American, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australasia.

The World Internet Project is the first global partnership of research institutions that compiles data on the behavior and views of Internet users and non-users.

The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism created and organizes the World Internet Project, which includes the Digital Future Project and similar studies in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macao, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Source: University of Southern California

PGP Corporation announced it will showcase its latest trusted data protection solutions at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, CA on March 1-4, 2010. At PGP Corporation’s booth #1324, the company is hosting a full schedule of RSA activities including expert sessions that will provide attendees with effective trusted data protection strategies and solutions.

With recently announced PGP® Key Management Server 3.0, global enterprises will be able to address often disparate key management systems and interoperability with third party applications, all based on industry standards. PGP Corporation is also delivering an upgrade to the PGP Universal(TM) Server which will provide support for the widest range of computing platforms as well as performance, policy and operational enhancements.

To follow is a list of PGP Corporation activities at RSA 2010. For more information on these sessions and activities, or to schedule an executive one-on-one briefing at the conference, please visit the PGP Corporation RSA Conference microsite at: www.pgp.com/RSA10.

CEO Keynote:

• Thursday March 4, 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. PT – Phil Dunkelberger, CEO, PGP Corporation, “What Can We Learn from 40 Years of Cloud Computing?” This session will look at the evolution of cloud computing and evaluate what needs to be done to ensure its security and survival.

Other PGP Corporation Speaking Sessions:

• Monday, March 1st, 10:15-11:00 a.m. – Steve Schoenfeld, Vice President, Strategy, PGP Corporation will participate in a panel session: “Mission Possible? Data Protection, Compliance, and Incident Response in the Cloud.”

• Wednesday, March 3rd, 9:10-10:20 a.m. – Karthik Krishnan, Sr. Director Product Management, PGP Corporation will moderate a panel session on “A New Frontier of Unprotected Data- PCI Implications for Cloud Computing.”

• Thursday, March 4th, 8:00-8:50 a.m. – Tim Matthews, Sr. Director Product Marketing, PGP Corporation will moderate a panel session on “Hit with a Breach? What You Should Know and What It Will Cost You.”

PGP® Booth Demonstrations:

In booth #1324, PGP Corporation will be showcasing its trusted data protection solutions and products, including PGP® Endpoint Data Protection, PGP® File Protection, PGP® Email Protection and PGP TC TrustCenter, a division of PGP Corporation.

Partner Activities at the PGP® Booth

• Intel Corporation – will have a kiosk where PGP Corporation and Intel Corporation will be demonstrating an innovative solution to deter theft of mobile platforms.
• Research in Motion (RIM) – Chris Bender, a BlackBerry® smartphone developer, will discuss encryption on their devices. March 2, 3:00 p.m. and March 3, 4:00 p.m.
• Accuvant – Chris Morales, Solutions Engineer and CISSP, will present on March 3, 11:00 a.m. and March 4, 12:00 p.m.
• ACS – A representative from the company will present on March 3, 1:00 p.m.

Other PGP Booth Activities:

“Lunch and Learn” Sessions

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from experts in the security field. Lunch is provided and space is limited. To register for the Lunch and Learns, please go to: http://www.pgp.com/rsa10/

– Larry Poneman – “Cost of a Data Breach,” March 2, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
– Jim Reavis – “Top Threats of Cloud Computing,” March 3, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
– Meet Industry Icon Phil Zimmermann, March 2 and 3, 4:00-6:00 p.m, Phil Zimmermann, the founder of the original PGP Inc., will be signing T-shirts during PGP Corporation’s hosted pub. Drinks will be served and autographed t-shirts will be available.