ElectrosmartNET BLOG

Hot Deals Gone Wrong

Esmart — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:07:25 +0000

An interesting article about the biggest mistakes in high tech deal making – including key players such as:

Yahoo
Real Networks
Sony
Toshiba
Digital Research
Xerox
Napster
Compuserve
Newspapers
Open Text

as well as some hot moves by Google and Microsoft.

Deals are often passed over through poor timing, lack of insight as to the potential of an opportunity or just sheer dislike of the people making the offer. Even the best fall hard when looking back with 20/20 hindsight. Read the full article

Telco Separation Models Costly

Esmart — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:29:39 +0000

As Telstra is clearly in the sights of the Australian Federal Government ot force separation of its retail and wholesale operations, the company is predicting high costs should such a move become a reality. In its recent 2009 earnings presentation, the telco’s CFO, John Stanhope claimed the value of the company could fall by more than $1.2 billion if the Government followed through on its threat of functional separation.

On the other side of the equation, dozens of submissisions received by The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, in support of the separation claim the increased competition is essential before building of the national broadband network.

The next question is what type of separation model is likely to satisfy the Government. Most of Telstra’s competitors are in support of the more stringent structural separation, whilst the Government [at this point] has indicated it favours the less rigourous functional separation. Still a significant change and financial burden.

Claims by Mr Stanhope indicate that operational separation will likely cost $120 million and take six months, whilst functional separation [as adopted by British Telecom] could cost more than $1.2 billion – and take five years. That represents 10c per share based on current shareholding.

Following shortly thereafter, the the wake of their recent forced separation based on the British Telecom model, Telecom NZ Ltd reported a 43.9 per decline in Net Profit for the year to June 30th 2009, driven largely by Telecom Retail and AAPT. Another indication of the high cost of divorce?

Research Highlights 10 Key Obstacles to Cloud Computing

Esmart — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:51:08 +0000

SO just what do UC Berkeley researchers think about cloud computing. For a start, they believe cloud computing presents a great opportunity to exploit unprecedented IT resources, but only if vendors can overcome a litany of obstacles. Okay, nothing new there that we could work out oustide the lab.

But then they came up with the real gem that a key key necessary enabler of Cloud Computing was “the construction and operation of extremely large-scale, commodity-computer data centers at low-cost locations” – wow, mind blowing stuff!!

Okay – just joking around. The research did pinpoint the 10 key obstacles to cloud computing – so go check it out, download the PDF research report. The research group works in the Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory (RAD Lab), a 3-year-old outfit funded by companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM and Sun. So I guess they have a fair amount of human computing power behind their suggestions.

New Visual Interfaces a.k.a. TV and Computer Screens

Esmart — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:10:33 +0000

In the latest roundup of visual impact screens:

LCD – most of its traditional drawbacks have been eliminated from LCD screens they are only 50 percent evolved in picture quality and other attributes. LCD’s continued improvements will O.L.E.D. screens an even tougher sell in the marketplace.

Low Power Displays – such as those on Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader and other ebook readers are preduced by E-Ink. These screens are designed for extremely low-power, non-illuminated, grayscale displays . Currently they are working on color versions, which currently are being tested, but show rather dull, faded colors.

O.L.E.D. pronounced “OH-led.” stands for organic light-emitting diode as currently found on the $2,500, 11-inch Sony XEL-1. O.L.E.D. is still years away from catching up to plasma or LCD screen size and you won’t see a reasonably priced 32” O.L.E.D. TV screen on the market until 2012 at the earliest.

Pocket pico projectors – can hook up your iPod to watch movies on a much bigger personal “screen,” or load PowerPoint slides for instant presentations on any wall. 3M’s original pico projector is now in 2G and much improved over 1G. There are also working prototypes of a cellphone with pico projector built in.

Laser-based projection TV screens – such as Mitsubishi’s LaserVue series reproduce a much larger range of color than plasma or LCD with brightness greater than LCD, and blacks that are super-black. For the green supporters, laser TV’s use about a quarter as much power as plasma or LCD. These are currently very expensive with Mistubishi’s first model, the L65A90, priced at around $7,000. These are 10” deep projection TV sets, that cannot be hung one on the wall.

NZ Telco Gap Widening According to Telco Analyst

Esmart — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Telco analyst Paul Budde has predicted the financial crisis will result in a drop in Telco consumer demand, putting additional pressure on telco service prices next year. According to Buddle New Zealand’s telco sector will fare better than that of Australia due to the existance of the framework for rolling out its national telco infrastructure aimed at leveling the playing field for seccond tier telcos.

Budde predicts a growth rate of between to 2% to 3% for the telco services market in 2009, depending on the severity of the local economic downturn.

With Vodafone gaining a solid foothold in the fixed line market, Telecom is under increasing pressure in both fixed line calling and broadband and predicted to overtake TelstraClear as Telecoms main rival.

Vodafone has historically held an edge over Telecom in mobile services and Budde predicts the gap will continue to widen. However, Telecoms more competitive 850MHz 3G HSPA network, due for rollout by mid 2009, will help to slow the gain. As more small competitors secure more attractive wholesale agreements, further pressure on prices will be inevitable.

However, outside of the pricing issue one can reasonably expect a further consolidation in the market, especially among smaller fixed-line telcos and ISPs.

TelstraClear has failed to gain any significant gain in market and with investment dollars now under scrutiny, we can expect Telstra to be tight with funds for the New Zealand subsidiary.

Technology Trends For 2009 – Web

Esmart — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:02:43 +0000

With so much turmoil in the market at present it would be easy to get distracted from feeling any confidence in trends. However, trends as opposed to fads tend to push through other cyclical or market forces.

In the following series “Technology Trends fof 2009″ we will report any useful information we have found around the village for you to consider.

In this first Technology Trends 2009 post we will look at our home ground – the Web

Future Web Trends – at Innovation series with Jimmy Wales

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: wales jimmy)

This presentation looks at the current web trends and what one proponent believes will be the most likely path to follow going forward.

Two New Executives At Telecom NZ

Esmart — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:02:54 +0000

Two new executives have been announced by Telecom New Zealand:

Group Chief Transformation Officer – Frank Mount – ex Cable & Wireless, is taking over from Telecom executive Simon Moutter who has taken a position as CEO of Auckland International Airport. Mr Mount began his career with 20 years in AT&T. He has held senior positions with several Telcos across Europe, Britain and the US. Most recently he was with Cable & Wireless as Director Group Operations, Group Chief Technology Officer, and CTO Cable & Wireless International. His experience in driving transformational change, and an exhaustive knowledge of the full spectrum of telecommunications and IP technologies will be well utilized during Telecoms current period of transformation.

Chief Executive Officer Retail – Alan Gourdie who is returning from London where he was managing director of Asia Pacific Breweries British and European operations. Prior to that he was as global marketing manager Heineken, based in Amsterdam.

Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds hopes the two new appointments will bring energy, innovation and clear focus in delivering a new generation of world-class services to customers.

Telecom NZ Ends Cellnet Mobile Distribution Contract

Esmart — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:02:55 +0000

The reportedly $A150 ($NZ180 million) a year exclusive distribution contract between Cellnet, a listed Australian mobile phone company and Telecom NZ will end September 30 2008.

Cellnet Group distributes mobile phones and accessories for Telecom, but the agreement will terminate in advance of Telecom NZ’s new WCDMA/GSM network rollout, due in November.

The Cellnet and Telecom NZ distribution contract was signed in 2002, with Telecom NZ becoming the distributor’s single largest customer. The impact on Cellnet,s revenues [$A528.2 million last year] is significant.

Telecom NZ’s Long Term Strategy On Solid Ground

Esmart — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:48:39 +0000

Telecom is declaring it is in control with a 2 year loss containment plan underpinning a long term growth strategy, and fronted by its IP platform strategy. Telecoms CEO, Dr Paul Reynolds announced the long term plans for Telecom at its annual management briefing in Sydney.

Key points:

Core earnings will moderate during the next two years, followed by a return to growth.
“Investing for long term health and to drive bottom line growth.
Containment of near-term decline in EBITA to 4-6 percent - FY June 2009 and 0-2 percent FY June 2010.
Growth of 4-6 percent a year FY 2011 to FY2013.
FY2008 Forecast Net Profit $700 million to $730 million.
NZ EBITA – declining 7-8 percent
Australian EBITA – $A70m ($NZ82.4m) to $A80m
Group ebitda guidance – $1.88 billion to $1.9 billion.
Capital expenditure – $975m.
Capex FY2009 $1 billion to $1.1 billion
New management team – including new CFO Russ Houlden to drive a customer-focused culture
An all-internet protocol (IP) platform for efficiency and innovation
Moving to a lower cost operating model – more competitive

The Communications and Technology Minister David Cunliffe last week approved the plan to broke Telecom up into three separate divisions: Network access [Chorus], Wholesale and Retail operations

Telecom NZ Separation Plan Approved For Implementation

Esmart — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:00:54 +0000

Telecom NZ’s revised separation plan has finally be accepted by Telecommunications and ICT minister David Cunliffe, clearing the way for full implementation of operational separation. In spite of some outstanding issues, including reporting lines for Telecom’s retail unit head, the last version by Telecom met with approval. Performance indicators and milestones included:

Group-based incentives for wholesale division managers must not exceed 30% of total income
Milestones for next generation network (NGN) rollout
Telecommunications Service Obligations
Broadband pathway
Digital Strategy

Most notable are:

30 June 2010 – more than 1,500 distribution cabinets will be installed or equipped with ADSL2+ or equivalent DSL capability (for example, VDSL capability) in Telecom’s Zones 1,2 and 3 with DSLAMs installed and operational

31 December 2010 – more than 2,200 distribution cabinets will be installed or equipped with ADSL2+ or equivalent in Telecom’s Zones 1,2, and 3 with DSLAMs installed and operational

31 December 2011 – 99% of lines in Telecom’s Zones 1, 2 & 3 (which equates to 80% of existing PSTN lines) will be engineered to have a maximum line loss of 60db measured at 1024kbit/s at the external termination point

2012 - No less than 84% of lines will receive at least 10Mbit/s broadband

The implementation will be monitored under the watchful eye of the Commerce Commission.