Communications ’91, in the shadow of Which Computer? is a shadow of its former self
The first day of the Communications ’91 exhibition in Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre last week was commonly agreed to be dull, compared with other years and shows. Industry visitors and some exhibitors complained about the slow first day, although a few stands reported brisk business. Tacked onto the Which Computer? Show, Comms ’91 seemed to be suffering from several ills, not least of which is that as an exhibition it lacks a proper niche. More than the upcoming Networks show in June, also in Birmingham, or the Telecom Managers Association’s bash in Brighton, Communications has a vast portfolio; electronic communications equipment, services, systems and ancillary products – seemingly without the prestige or space to support it. This year the new products on show ranged from optical spectrum analysers to network design software and included a fair smattering of new telephones. Call processing systems were also in vogue but none of the majors had anything really new.
Hutchison Telecommunications eyes high street in ambitious UK investment plan
Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd, the acquisitive group owned by Hong Kong group Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, has announced that it will be investing ?250m on its UK mobile interests over the next five years and setting up high street outlets to sell user equipment. Hutchison made the announcements at the show and added that ?70m has already been spent this year in the UK. The company is pursuing an aggressive telecommunications policy in the UK. So far this year it has acquired the Telepoint consortium BYPS, and Millicom Inc’s UK paging operation and UK cellular operation. It also maintains that it will be the first mobile data operator to bring a service to the market – probably in April next year. The high street stores are an idea adapted from Hutchison’s paging experience in Hong Kong. The group believes that the UK market is comparatively underdeveloped. In Hong Kong it has 300,000 paging customers, and one in 10 people carry pagers, many of which are sold through shops. Hutchison plans to boost the UK market using the same technique of selling equipment in the high street. London outlets selling mobile phones are to arrive soon, and Hutchison may also add pagers to the offering. On its mobile data network Hutchison says data will be transmitted at 7,000bps and that 80% of the population will be covered from day one. A Telepoint service from BYPS will be launched in the second half of this year and the BYPS name is to be changed to Hutchison Telepoint Communications. Hutchison’s UK director David Steadman repudiated suggestions that customers may be reluctant to put their businesses in the hands of Hutchison because of China’s impending control of Hong Kong, saying all of the UK businesses are financially sound in their own right. And he claimed that the cellular business would make a profit this year. As for personal communication networks, the only form of consumer mobile communications that Hutchison seems to have left untouched, Steadman says he expects to see some convergence between mobile technologies. Although the group is looking at investing in some Asian Personal Communications Network companies, overall the group remains uncommitted, PCN is a technology that we’re interested in worldwide. When there are answers to our satisfaction that PCN will be successful, we will go in.
Eagle Systems claims it can spot and prevent theft of telephone time
The London end of Florida company Eagle Systems Inc launched the UK version of Switch Audit and Monitoring System or SAMS, at the show, after five years of intensive research and development. Eagle claims that SAMS is the first real-time on-line switch monitoring system that can detect hackers making long distance phone calls at the company’s expense. And says that it can do it within 15 minutes. Aimed at long distance carriers as well as companies with PABXs, the system monitors call activity at the switch, invalidating compro
mised codes. It also provides an audit trail and shows system status and maintenance requirements.
Octocom Systems demonstrates its high fidelity telephony, facsimile scrambler
The UK end of Massachusetts-based Octocom Systems Inc took the opportunity to show off its voice and facsimile scrambler unit, which it claims takes the pain out of communications security. Many phone scramblers make listeners on the other end wince when they hear the disembodied, metallic voices often produced by the machines. The effect is caused because the scramblers digitise voices, compress and encrypt them – break them up into little pieces and jumble them around. When the unscrambler on the phone at the other end reassembles the sound, it often loses the tone. Octocom says that speech compression techniques used in its OSI 3296 system provides real-life clarity while saying that the encryption methods are still completely secure – the encryption code can be changed by the user every month. The phone unit which contains the scrambler can also be used with a Group III facsimile machine, works over the public telephone network and, being briefcase-sized, is portable. Newbury, Berkshire-based Optocom UK says it is targeting the government, commercial and financial markets although it has not yet implemented the particular algorithm on which the UK government insists, or been vetted as a company. The system is also still awaiting the nod from the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications, but Octocom says a pair of phones will go for around ?5,000.
Phonepoint consortium previews Common Air Interface pocket phone
Asserting that the future of the UK Telepoint market has only just begun, the British Telecommunications Plc-led Phonepoint consortium launched its Common Air Interface-compliant handset. However the standard is unlikely to be in widespread use until next year. Common Air Interface defines a common standard for Telepoint handsets and base stations, so that a phone from any operator can be used with any base station. But although compliant handsets have been launched, most of the UK base stations have yet to be modified. The Phonepoint set is sourced from Motorola, weighs around 6.5 ounces and is 2 by 6 by 9.5 – palm sized. Phonepoint base stations are currently being converted to accept the standard and Phonepoint says the conversion process will be finished by the year-end, when it will put prices on the handset.
Chernikeef brings in Telebit’s routers for its Trailblazer modems
London-based Chernikeeff Telecommunications Ltd, UK distributor for Telebit modems, is bringing Telebit routers to the UK for attachment to the modems. The dial-up router is aimed at companies that need to network remote offices but want to avoid leased lines. Chernikeeff says applications could range from building sites that need to set up connections quickly, to an office that needs access to the company host but transmits only a small amount of data, perhaps from a single machine, and therefore does not want to pay for a leased line – which costs thousands of pounds just to install. The embryonic telecommuting market is another possibility. At the moment the router supports only Ethernet and data is transmitted at the V32 rate of 9,600bps via Telebit Trailblazer IP routers. Chernikeeff says that the router can make Kilostream speeds if several modems are banked together. The router, called the NetBlazer, is priced from ?10,000 depending on the number of modems required.
