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AT&T; Mobility's Network Fares Better Than Rivals in 14 Markets

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 10, 2010

AT&T;'s wireless network performs better than systems maintained by other top carriers including Verizon Wireless in many markets, according to new data from start-up RootMetrics, a mobile network performance service.

The carrier's network outperforms those of Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA in 14 of 23 markets, according to the data, due to be released on Nov. 11. In markets such as Washington, D.C., Seattle and Philadelphia, AT&T; earned a higher RootScore, based on the company's proprietary algorithm that weighs the carrier's voice and data quality. AT&T; is also one of two best performers in six additional markets.

The RootMetrics data underscored the difficulty AT&T; has encountered in other markets, including San Francisco. There, AT&T;'s gear didn't perform as well as Sprint's and Verizon's. AT&T;'s RootScore in the market is on par with T-Mobile's. AT&T; spokesman Mark Siegel didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Venture capital-funded Root collects data independently as well as with help from several thousand consumers, who've downloaded its special app on their Android device, BlackBerry or the iPhone. The app periodically checks the network's performance and tracks dropped calls. From February of 2009 to October of 2010, Root checked network quality in 40 million locations around the country, says CEO Paul Griff.

Network quality has emerged as a point of competition between carriers in the U.S. in the past year, when iPhone users in markets such as San Francisco and New York began complaining of AT&T;'s network congestion. The carrier has worked hard to improve its coverage. Its rivals, such as Verizon Wireless and T- Mobile, have also been beefing up their network. Sprint has been buying network capacity from carrier Clearwire, in which it's an investor.


Wi-Fi Direct to Threaten Bluetooth

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 25, 2010

You may soon be able to transfer content between Wi-Fi-enabled devices in your home or office without having to set up a Wi-Fi router. On Oct. 25, industry association Wi-Fi Alliance began certifying consumer electronic gadgets that can connect directly to other Wi-Fi devices (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2009/tc20091013_683659.htm). The technology is, in effect, an alternative to Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

Devices marked with the new Wi-Fi Direct label can connect to older Wi-Fi devices. Mobile phones, cameras, printers, PCs and gaming devices can now connect to each other directly to transfer content and share applications. Devices can make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously. How this might work: Your Wi-Fi Direct device will signal to other devices in the area that it can make a connection. You can view available devices and ask them to connect, or you might receive an invitation to connect to another Wi-Fi Direct device.

Chipmakers including Intel, Broadcom and Atheros have already announced Wi-Fi Direct products. If Wi-Fi Direct takes off, Bluetooth's future may be murky.

Cisco CSO John Stewart on Fending Off Cyber Attacks

Posted by: Rachael King on October 14, 2010

Thumbnail image for Cisco_JohnStewart.jpgCisco Systems, like nearly every large company, must continually fend off cyber attacks. Cisco Chief Security Officer John N. Stewart recently spoke to me about threats such as the computer worm Stuxnet and what it's like to protect a corporate network from incessant attacks.

Rachael King: What makes Stuxnet different from other worms and is it potentially more dangerous?

John Stewart: What makes it different is how much news coverage it's getting. This is the first one, though, that is part of the discussion about whether or not it is actually targeting the way a system is supposed to work rather than trying to exploit a problem that's already in it. Secondarily, there's the fear-factor, over who designed it, how it was designed, and its ultimate origin and purpose. This one can disrupt an operation and, in some cases, very critical operations.

RK: This worm was specifically designed to attack so-called SCADA systems, so what does that mean?

JS: SCADA systems were designed many years before the traditional Internet. The purpose of SCADA systems is that they're small, micro-controlling systems that affect anything from water control valves to oil and gas industry pipelines to street lights or stop lights. There are portions of SCADA systems in almost every critical infrastructure, definitely including the power grid as well. The idea that it can affect critical systems in countries' infrastructures is one of the fears.

RK: One of the issues in the spread of Stuxnet was employees picking up USB drives and using them when they were just lying around. Do you have policies at Cisco to try and prevent that?

JS: We don't. Partly the reason we don't is because people are people. Let's take the example you just described with USB devices. You've got a USB picture-storage device, you've got a USB thumb drive, you've got a USB keyboard, you've got a USB-based iPod, all of which are storage devices of some material type. And you've got content that could be stored on them, including the fact that Stuxnet could be sitting on top of it. I would rather design with the idea that the format and delivery under which it would come is not one that I would take down to a hardware device level and instead design an environment that detects if something goes wrong [during data] transfer.

RK: You've compared defending Cisco's corporate network to defending a home's front door against all kinds of projectiles. Can you describe that?

JS: All kinds of attacks come at you and you don't necessarily know one from the next. The first could be a simple, silly virus that I would liken to someone egging your house and the next one could be something like Stuxnet and you don't know who wrote it but it seems sophisticated and it feels like either a very surgical attack from a sniper or a very large artillery shell.

Either way, because there is so much activity on the Internet of this type what you've got to do is go repair the front door and fix and clean your windows and harden up and then you'd start all over again tomorrow because the attacks are going to keep on coming.

This is where I think the industry as a whole is getting a little bit weary of this consistent ability for attacks to be launched without the downsides high enough to prevent it. Corporations and governments and law enforcement communities both locally and internationally are working together more diligently in a much more aggressive path because this is just not acceptable.

RK: From Cisco's perspective, you're sitting there and you're defending your home but you don't have the ability to fight back on your own?

JS: I don't know that I necessarily want to go to the idea that I would fight back. But we're getting to the norms and behaviors discussion, which is, what is acceptable behavior on the Internet? I think as a society we're beginning to discover that things like stealing from my house from a foreign country is probably not acceptable when it comes to a normative behavior. You can defend or you could eliminate the threat and I think both are a relevant strategy. The eliminate part is all around law enforcement and government and the defend side is our obligation.

RK: I think many people may not be aware of the volume and extent that attacks happen, not only on Cisco but on every other company, every day of the week. Can you give me an idea of what we're talking about?

JS: The categorizations of the attacks are the hardest part; is it egging or is it an artillery shell? It's safe to say 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, attacks are happening against companies and in many cases attacks are happening against people who are connected to the Internet.

RK: What's your advice for companies using cloud computing?

JS: Make sure you're talking to your cloud-services providers about how they protect your data. Don't just trust anybody. There's beginning to be an awareness that says when I buy a cloud-storage service using my credit card, that doesn't necessarily mean I should be storing corporate information that's very sensitive in that provider. Start creating normative ways, which say these are the cloud services providers that we, at a company level, should use. Then involve end users in the decisions because they've probably got some pretty good ideas.

And last but not least, you have to think through where your data is stored. When talking to your cloud-service providers, literally ask them where they're going to put your data. The number one way most companies and most people protect themselves is the law -- it's not a technology conversation, it's a legal one.

INQ Says Is Working With Spotify on Phones

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 7, 2010

British cell-phone maker INQ is developing phones that make it easy for owners to use Spotify, an online music service that's amassed millions of users in Europe, said INQ CEO
Frank Meehan.
INQ's goal is to deeply integrate Spotify's services into its upcoming phones, Meehan said in an interview. He didn't provide any additional details.
INQ's phones are currently available in seven countries. Two of INQ's planned smartphones will become available through AT&T; in the U.S. mid-next year, three people told Bloomberg in September. The phones, which will land on store shelves in Europe next spring, will make it easier to access services from social network Facebook, as well as several other Web sites, one of the people said.
Meehan declined to comment on whether INQ is working on new phones that would include Facebook services.
Spotify has long been working to enter the U.S. market. The music service can already be accessed as an application for phones that run Microsoft's Windows Phone, Apple's iOS, Google's Android and the Symbian operating system which runs on many Nokia handsets.
INQ may be able to make Spotify even easier to use, by making it unnecessary for consumers to launch an application. INQ's existing three handsets provide access to Facebook, Twitter and Skype features right from the phone's home screen: Whenever a Facebook friend posts a new photo, it appears on your home screen, for example. INQ phones with Spotify and Facebook on them will likely feature similar capabilities. If these phones are successful, they could spur growth for both Spotify and INQ worldwide.

U.S. Cellular Joins Mobile Loyalty Galore

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 29, 2010

Mobile carriers are giving loyalty programs another look. That's because most Americans who want a phone already have one and carriers increasingly have to resort to stealing customers from each other. Now regional carrier U.S. Cellular is about to jump into the loyalty-program fray.

On Oct. 1, the U.S.'s sixth-largest wireless service provider will start giving bonuses to loyal customers in hopes of making them stay with the service longer -- and of even luring consumers away from rivals.

Customers will accumulate bonus points throughout the life of their first contract with U.S. Cellular, which serves 6.1 million people in 26 states, and in the months after it expires. The bonus points will buy accessories, ringtones, caps on overages, and discounts on new, replacement phones. Customers whose contracts expire will be able to buy new phones at the same, deeply subsidized price that new customers can -- but without having to renew their contracts, which is what most other wireless carriers require their users
to do. Plus, they'll be able to cut the price further with their bonus points.

For mobile carriers, retaining customers has become priority No. 1. Hence, the loyalty programs, which have already worked wonders for grocery stores, hotels and airlines. AT&T; Mobility already offers customers who renew their high-priced contracts discounts on service plans. Earlier this year, Verizon Ventures invested into CardStar, a company that makes mobile loyalty applications. Now, U.S. Cellular is jumping into the fray.

"Our expectation is that, over time, our customers will stay longer," says CEO Mary Dillon. In the second quarter, the carrier blamed competition for losing 3,000 customers. The carrier's 1.4 percent monthly turnover rate is among the lowest in the industry.

With the bonuses system, the Chicago-based company hopes to attract new customers, and to see its net customer additions jump 10 percent a year, Dillon says. The new customers will have to sign a contract initially, so most U.S. Cellular subscribers will still have a contract in the next few years.

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Bloomberg Businessweek writers Peter Burrows, Cliff Edwards, Olga Kharif, Aaron Ricadela, and Douglas MacMillan, dig behind the headlines to analyze what’s really happening throughout the world of technology. Tech Beat covers everything from tech bellwethers like Apple, Google, and Intel and emerging new leaders such as Facebook to new technologies, trends, and controversies.

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