In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite ran into each other Tuesday above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today. The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, they said, but it’s not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites.

“They collided at an altitude of 790 kilometers (491 miles) over northern Siberia Tuesday about noon Washington time,” said Nicholas Johnson, NASA’s chief scientist for orbital debris at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “The U.S. space surveillance network detected a large number of debris from both objects.”

More details on CBS site

Tags: collision, iridium, russia, satellite, space, telecom, Telecommunications, USA

Iridium Satellite LLC has finally unveiled a replacement for the (at least) 10 years old Motorola 9505A. The new 9555 satellite phone will be available as from November 08 and comes with some new features.

Phone 9555 at glance:

• Menu-driven interface
• Soft keys for flexible menu choices
• 27% lighter than previous model
• 30% smaller than previous model
• Internally retractable antenna for compact carrying
• Illuminated, weather-resistant keypad redesigned for ease-of-use
• A menu configurable in any of 21 languages
• Improved integration of messaging (short email and SMS)
• Additional address book fields
• Programmable international codes for automatic dialing
• Built-in help function
• Integrated speakerphone
• Mini-USB data port
• Standby time up to 30 hours
• Talk time up to 4 hours

Multimedia News release:

Tags: 9555, communication, global, iridium, satellite, satphone, telecommunication, terminal

TGV tests Wi-Fi + satellite link in three TGV trains on its Eastern network. If the experiment proves successful the new service should be generalized, from 2009, to all 52 oars network East.

With combines effort of satellite link and wireless network, in locations, such tunnels and train stations, where the satellite link cannot be established, the wi-fi network takes over to maintain the access to the Web without interruption.

French railways company SNCF previously conducted unsuccessful test using GPRS data network before launching a 2 years research and preparation program to implement this dual solution. Among technical difficulties to overcome are these related to 320 km/h TGV trains speed which causes instability and vibrations. 

The project is done in a partnership with Orange(France Telecom mobile operator), Capgemini, Alstom Transport and Eutelsat.

SNCF will put on board of its TGV a dedicated Web portal providing information about destinations, weather forecast, News, traffic information as well as a real time tracking service. From a technical point of view, TGV trains are fitted with a server where all portal content is loaded prior the journey in order to minimize bandwidth consumption due to its high cost. The tested system has been designed to provide simultaneous web connection for 14 per cent (50 users) of the total capacity of each TGV train (350).

The business plan is not defined yet, but the widespread of the system on TGV Eastern Europe network would represent an investment of 120 millions USD over 4 years. First price estimation given by SNCF Passenger service would be a flat 4-5 USD to access the Web portal during the whole journey and a 4-5 USD per hour to access the Internet.

A very interesting project and definitively a real challenge to maintain permanent web connectivity during a train journey at more than 300 km/h where the 16'000 volt power line running over the train may also create some electro-magnetic interferences and without mentioning all micro interruptions of the satellite link each time the train pass under a bridge or when dense foliage is found within the satellite's line of sight.

Any reader who already had the chance to test the reliability of the service ?

More infos (in French): Journal du Net, CNet France.

Tags: 2007, access, arc, art, blog, bridge, capacity, ces, connection, connectivity, consumption, CTU, design, europe, forecast, ia, im, internet, internet access, King, lan, launch, location, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobility, network, nomadcom.net, power, project, reader, real time, reliability, satellite, search, sncf, telecom, tgv, traffic, train, user, web, wireless, wp, www, XP

Fifty years ago, the soviet union launched into space a 58.5 centimeters and 83 kilos shiny aluminum sphere equipped with 4 long antennas and 2 radio transceivers.

Sputnik-1 (Спутник-1 / Satellite-1), the first artificial satellite, had triggered what would be called later, "the US vs. USSR Space Race". It orbited 1440 times at 250 kms above Earth surface during 3 months transmitting radio signals on 20 & 40 MHz.

This single event launched new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The Space Era was born.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sources: Wikipedia, Nasa.

Tags: 2007, 50 years, antenna, art, artificial, blog, ces, development, event, History, ia, im, lan, launch, LED, MIT, nasa, nomadcom.net, satellite, soviet, space, spoutnik, sputnik, story, telecom, Telecommunications, ussr, wp

In the past, a Vsat installation on board of a vehicle could not be used when the vehicle was on the move.

The mobile system "IPStar MVV" here on the left has the following features :

• Quick deployment in less than 10 minutes
• Automatic Satellite Acquisition and Antenna Pointing System via GPS
• Proven IPSTAR 1.2-meter high efficiency antenna design
• STAR topology
• 1W or 2W options for IPSTAR Outdoor Unit sub-system
• IPSTAR Indoor Unit sub-system, configurable bit rate of up to 4Mbps Receiving and 2Mbps Transmitting.
• Environmental Control Unit (ECU) and Cooling System
• Optional IP Application sub-system
• Optional single-thread and fully redundant electronics
• Optional diesel generator with power distribution unit and emergency stop.

Now IPStar (broadband satellite for Asia & Pacific) launches what they presented in Telecom World in Hongkong last December: IPStar iMove, a 5.5'' (1.5m) flat, roof mountable, array antenna system made by RaySat  (SpeedRay 3000) with the following features:

• Highly efficient automatic deployable antenna.
• Built in Satellite acquisition and antenna pointing system.
• Mountable on a variety of land and water vehicles.
• IPSTAR iMove system can Transmit up to 2Mbps and Receive up to 4Mbps.
• Optional voice, video and data application subsystem.

 Next step, to find a real working demonstration vehicle !

Tags: 2007, antenna, asia, blog, communication, design, emergency, find, hi speed, ia, im, imove, install, internet, ipstar, King, lan, launch, list, low profile, minutes, MIT, mobile, Mobile Communications, nomadcom.net, On The Road, power, satellite, space, telecom, vehicles, video, vsat, water, world, wp, www

On 26th of December 2006 a 7.2 strong earthquake in Southern Taiwan damaged several telecommunication submarine cables linking China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, among others, to overseas telecommunication networks, including Internet backbone. 

More than a month later, repair work is not done yet due to bad weather conditions & poor equipment. Customers, Telecom companies & media start to express their discontent."It will be a long time before Internet access is fully recovered between Asian and the US as workers are using "technologies of the 19th century to solve problems of the 21st century," Sina.com said today

According Shanghai Daily, quoting Global Marine General Manager, none of the optical fiber in 4000m deep damaged cables have been fully repaired yet. Today's report says that work should be completed by January 30th (some other sources say end of February). Currently up to 70% of traffic from mainland China has been re-routed using alternative pathways such as satellite links, which are slow, expensive and unstable compared with cable-based connections.

This remind us the loss of satellite Intelsat IS-804 in January 2005 which left 10 countries of the Pacific rim without any communication links for days, as no backup was available) and forced 8 others to switch to their backup systems. 

Such events clearly show us what happens when main overseas communications links go down and how weak, when exists, are fallback systems.

Just imagine if such disruptions were man-made in order to turn the world back to the "telegraph age"….

More about : Reuters, Shanghai Daily, Heise Online.

Tags: 2007, access, air, art, asia, blog, cable, ces, communication, connection, connections, customer, disruption, earthquake, event, february, geography, global, HP, ia, im, internet, internet access, Internet World, King, lan, map, network, nomadcom.net, online, pair, press, problems, satellite, sco, space, story, submarine, taiwan, telecom, Telecommunications, traffic, world, wp, www, XP

Bad luck for Apple, but few days after the highly publicized announcement of Apple Inc. iPhone, Cisco sues Apple Inc. for trademark infringement on using "iphone" name which are Linksys family product, available on market since 2006.

 

 

Source : engadget

 

Now what will happen with LG and their KE850 Prada phone, awarded with the "International Forum Design Product Design Award for 2007". The external look is rather similar, but it's difficult to find detailled technical specifications on the Internet.

Obviously I don't have any idea if some agreements took place between LG Electronics & Apple but the LG model really seems to be the 1st cellphone using tactile display without use of any stylus. So the similarity of the design plus the input mode made the Apple iPhone & LG KE850 very similar.

Without agreements for sure Apple Inc. will certainly be sued by LGE.

Now, the question is: do they (Apple) do it (getting sued) on purpose in order to get a maximum visibility ?

A trial, ending with a "gentlemen agreement" may not be necessarily more expensive than any advertising campaign but presence on medias (blog, news, webzine, magazine, etc.) will be lots more efficient.

Any guess ?  

Source : Mobile Portal, Engadget

 

 

 

Tags: 2007, 24, advertising, agreement, apple, award, blog, cellphone, ces, design, find, fring, HP, ia, im, International, internet, iphone, lan, LED, LG, mobile, Mobile Communications, nomadcom.net, phone, presence, public, release, satellite, sco, space, telecom, Telecommunications, touch, web, wp, www, XP

From what I have seen so far, the Telecom tendencies for this exhibition are the following ones:

• First of all, a good opportunity for more than 200 chinese companies to show their skills & products

     Infrastructures

• FTTH (Fiber to the Home) & GPON
• Triple Play or all 3 SoHo services over IP (internet, telephone, TV)
• WiMax

     Mobility 

• Broadband everywhere (UMTS / HSDPA)
• TV on mobile
• Mobile phone with music, video, extended messaging, VoIP
• Added-value services for mobile users.

     Satellites

• 2 new terminals for Thuraya
• Inmarsat invests on ACeS
• New BGAN terminals finally available on market
• Vsat low profile 2 way antenna

 

Tags: antenna, blog, ces, CTU, exhibition, ict, im, internet, low profile, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobile phone, mobility, nomadcom.net, phone, picture, satellite, services, space, telecom, Telecommunications, term, user, video, vsat, world, wp

European curriculum vitae format

Personal information

Name		Cedric
Address		Not Available on the online CV
Telephone		Not Available on the online CV
Fax		Not Available on the online CV
E-mail		click on this link to get it

Nationality

Swiss

Date of birth

Not Available on the online CV

Work experience

• Dates (from – to)		1996 – Present day
• Name and address of employer		International Committee of the Red Cross , Geneva, Switzerland
• Type of business or sector		International Humanitarian Organization
• Occupation or position held		Information & Communication Technologies – Regional Coordinator 2005 – current : Asia & Pacific based in Bangkok, Thailand 2002 – 2004 : Great Lakes area, Eastern & Southern Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya 1999 – 2001 : Americas based in Bogota, Colombia 1997 – 1999 : Western Africa based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire 1996 – 1997 : Commonwealth of Independent States based in Moscow, Russia
• Main activities and responsibilities		Coordination of telecommunication & computer networks activities of the ICRC Design & follow-up of ICT regional & institutional projects Technical adviser for ICRC executives Technical support to ICT field engineers Technical support & user training Financial & administrative tasks related to ICT systems Negotiations with national & regional providers, telecom authorities, etc.. Human resources management Implementing institutional ICT policies
• Dates (from – to)		1993 – 1995
• Name and address of employer		International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland
• Type of business or sector		International Humanitarian Organization
• Occupation or position held		Information & Communication Technologies – Field Engineer 1993 : Sudan 1994 : Angola, Rwanda 1995 : Angola
• Main activities and responsibilities		Installation and maintenance of radio communication & computer networks User training & support
• Dates (from – to)		1992 – 1993
• Name and address of employer		Placement d'Électriciens Bernard Marchon Sarl., Neyruz, Switzerland
• Type of business or sector		Employment agency
• Occupation or position held		Geneva & Lausanne Branch Director
• Main activities and responsibilities		Human Resources Customer Relations Administrative & financial related tasks.
• Dates (from – to)		1988 – 1991
• Name and address of employer		Placement d'Électriciens Bernard Marchon, Neyruz, Switzerland
• Type of business or sector		Employment agency
• Occupation or position held		Geneva Branch Manager
• Main activities and responsibilities		Human Resources Customer Relations
• Dates (from – to)		1986 – 1988
• Name and address of employer		Placement d'Électriciens Bernard Marchon, Neyruz, Switzerland
• Type of business or sector		Building Trade
• Occupation or position held		Specialized electrician
• Main activities and responsibilities		Breakdown interventions Telephone & computer cabling systems
• Dates (from – to)		1986 – 1988
• Name and address of employer		EggTelsa Électricité Téléphone S.A, Geneva, Switzerland
• Type of business or sector		Building Trade
• Occupation or position held		Electrician
• Main activities and responsibilities		Breakdown interventions Small & medium construction projects

Education and training

• Dates (from – to)		2001
• Name and type of organization providing education and training		Universitat Ramon Llull – Enginyeria y Arquitectura La Salle, Barcelona, Spain Cisco Network Academy Program
• Principal subjects/occupational skills covered		WAN & LAN Networks, Ethernet Standards, Routing Protocols, Network design, Security policies, Router configuration, IP addressing, Transport protocols, Network Management, Troubleshooting.
• Title of qualification awarded		Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
• Dates (from – to)		2001 – 2002
• Name and type of organization providing education and training		Universitat Ramon Llull – Enginyeria y Arquitectura La Salle, Barcelone, Spain Master in Network & Services of Telecommunications (MXST)
• Principal subjects/occupational skills covered		Telecommunication networks & services, Network Management, Project Management, Mobile communications.
• Title of qualification awarded		Master in Network & Services of Telecommunication (Màster en Xarxes i Serveis de Telecomunicació).
• Dates (from – to)		1981 – 1985
• Name and type of organization providing education and training		EggTelsa Électricité Téléphone S.A, Geneva, Switzerland & CEPIA (Professional school) Electrician Apprenticeship
• Principal subjects/occupational skills covered		Electrical installation & maintenance. Telephone & Alarm systems installation & maintenance
• Title of qualification awarded		Federal Proficiency Certificate of Electrician (Certificat Fédéral de Capacity) Mention : Good
Other professional training		Managing & Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 environment (IT TrainingAcademy, Geneva 2005) Implementing & Supporting Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Global Knowledge, Geneva 2003). Lotus Notes R5 Domino Server Administration (Digicomp, Geneva 2001) Linux Suse Network Configuration (www sistemas, Bogota 2001) Linux Suse Administration (Acis, Bogota 2000) Administration & Technical Support of Microsoft Windows NT 4, TCP/IP interconnection (Digicomp, Geneva 1999) English Advanced (Australian College of English, Sydney 1997) Project Management (ESMT, Dakar 1996) Effective Presentation Technics (Marchstore Ltd, London 1995) Training of Trainers (Cegos, Paris 1995) Local Area Networks (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) MS-Dos 6.2 (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Codan HF Radio Module (Codan UK, Farnham 1995) Novell Netware 3.1x Administration (Digicomp, Geneva 1995/99) Novell Netware 3.1x Installation & Configuration (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Lotus Notes R3 Administration 1 (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Lotus Notes R3 Development 1 (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Lotus Notes R3 Basics + Technical User (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Computer Security (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Windows Ressources (Digicomp, Geneva 1995) Sales Technics & Customer relationship (CAFI, Lausanne 1991) Alarm & Security systems (Rochat, Geneva 1990) MS-Dos 5 (Bernard Marchon, Geneva 1990) Telepax PABX Systems (Telepax, Geneva 1990) Hasler Integral 2 PABX system (PTT, Bern 1989) Ericsson GDX/GFX PABX Systems (PTT, Bern 1989) Telephone installation 2 (CIS, Geneva 1987)

Personal skills and competences

Mother tongue

FRENCH

Other languages

		ENGLISH    -   SPANISH   –  PORTUGESE
• Reading skills		Excellent   –  Excellent    -      Basic
• Writing skills		Good         -    Good      -        nil
• Verbal skills		Good         -    Good      –        nil

Social skills and competences

Team Work: I have the chance of experiencing team working on both national and international level with colleagues of various nationalities. Intercultural Skills: As working & living on permanent basis abroad since 1993,  I have the opportunity to collaborate with international and intercultural teams on daily basis, mostly aimed at the regional management of an international humanitarian organization.

Organizational skills and  competences

Management of technical national & expatriate staff at regional level. (more than 40 employees). Regional ICT project management (in more than 15 countries) Regional yearly ICT seminar organization & professional courses (about 25 participants) ICT Budget preparation & follow-up. Assets management Head of ICT regional Emergency Response Unit Promotion & auditing institutional ICT policies.

Technical skills and competences

Competent on electrical, telephone, lighting/grounding & 2-way satellite systems. Competent on wired & wireless telecommunication, HF/VHF/UHF radio communication & computer networks. Competent on various Microsoft operating systems (Windows NT4, XP Professional,  2003 server). Competent on design, installation, maintenance & troubleshooting of computer systems. Good knowledge of Lotus Notes/Domino R5 workflow environment Good knowledge on MS Office tools, computer security systems. Good knowledge on power supplies (generator, solar & wind power) Some web-building, graphic editing, Linux & MS SQL experience. Some Cisco routing & switches experience. Some competences on various PABX systems

Artistic skills and competences

Amateur Photographer, Photo-editing, Web-publishing

Other skills and competences

Driving licence(s)

Swiss & International driver license (light vehicle & motorbike up to 1235 cm3)

Additional information

Annexes

Tags: 1994, 2003, administration, aim, air, arc, art, asia, award, Bangkok, breakdown, capacity, ces, communication, computer, configuration, connection, CTU, customer, design, development, dress, emergency, engine, ericsson, ethernet, europe, fax, geneva, global, human, ia, ict, im, install, International, ITU, King, knowledge, lan, language, lausanne, LED, light, london, Management, microsoft, MIT, mobile, Mobile Communications, moscow, network, nomadcom.net, online, paris, pet, phone, photo, power, project, red cross, resume, satellite, sco, security, services, social, swiss, switzerland, telecom, Telecommunications, Thailand, train, troubles, uk, upa, USA, user, web, windows, wireless, www, XP

French former minister Nicole Guedj took the initiative and request french hi-tech entreprises and institutions to put their skills together to create an innovative telecommunication tool for humanitarian aid actions.

The result: Emergesat, a humanitarian aid tool.

This Air freight container is about 400 kgs and installed with various telecommunication systems such a and a & Access Point for land communications. A high speed satellite link provides data & voice telecommunication with remote services and decisional centers. Earth observation and GPS positioning system are also available.

A server shares all informations needed by all organisations but also provides private disk space for induvidual access per organisations using Emergesat.

A software suite is also part of the project such: Victim Management, Epidimiology, Video Conference, Request & Offer (aid request), Request & Offer (map & geolocation). Support services such Mapping, linguistic, meteorological, etc..as well as Health services can be reached using Emergesat systems.

A photo gallery is available on the Emergesat website as well as technical informations.
Click here for a larger diagram of the telecommunication flow.

What do you think about this initiative ?

Tags: 24, access, air, arc, art, blog, ces, communication, CTU, health, human, ia, ict, im, install, ITU, lan, LED, location, Management, map, mapping, mobile, Mobile Communications, nomadcom.net, photo, project, satellite, services, share, space, telecom, Telecommunications, video, web, website, wp