Complementary Voice

MOST BUILDERS COULD NOT care less about how voice traffic travels over the Internet. All they know is that many of their customers are asking if their new homes can run voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), the new service that lets people make lower-cost local, long distance, and international calls over the Internet. But the sticking point is that many customers also want home security, and most security services still require a wired phone line.

Defence the best form of attack

V Sivapalan writes:

"This year, Chelsea became English champions by soundly beating their more illustrious opponents that, between them, have shared the championship for the last 10 years.

Chelsea became champions conceding only a measly 15 goals, compared to 36 by Arsenal and 26 by United. Arsenal, however, scored 87 goals whereas Chelsea only scored 72. United did very badly by scoring only 58. If attack is the best form of defence, then Arsenal should not have conceded more than twice the goals scored against Chelsea and should have won the championship, not lost (sic) it by 12 points.

The difference here was the solid Chelsea defence, ably marshalled in the centre by John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, with the Premiership's best goalkeeper in Petr Cech and probably one of the world's best defensive midfielders in Claude Makelele. In fact, since Makelele left Real Madrid two years ago, they haven't won anything.

As for Arsenal and United, both teams have been struggling with poor quality goalkeepers and defensive problems, with United defender Rio Ferdinand being suspended for half the season while Arsenal's Sol Campbell was injured for long periods. I remember when United were winning titles in the 1990s, they had Peter Schmiechel, at that time one of the world's best goalkeepers.

It goes to show that without a great defence, even the best attack cannot win you championships. How does this apply to business? Even in business, there is attack and defence. I would call sales and marketing the attack part of the business while internal systems, financial controls and human resource skills are the defensive part."

Citibank's Dynamic PIN

Global incidents of ID theft on the internet is rising, leading to the questioning of just how smart online banking really is, aside from all its obvious benefits in terms of speed and convenience.

Citibank's Dynamic PIN login is an ingenious approach to counter key-logging spyware which seems to be the favoured MO for today's online thieves. Check it out.

Division to manage radio spectrum

Malaysia's MCMC has on June 1 formed its Resource Planning and Management Division which has a total staff strength of 30 to look into all issues relating to the local radio spectrum, including the setting up of the relevant standards.

Sarawak's Mini-MSC

The State Government's plan for the implementation of a multi-media super corridor (MSC) covering the Senari Deepwater Port, Medan Raya, Kuching Town Extension Two and Sama Jaya Industrial Estate was announced nearly 10 years ago in 1996. The new Sarawak International Medical Centre in Kota Samarahan would surely be part of this initiative one has to think.

The existing Land and Submarine Fibre Optic Cables linking Sarawak with the Semenanjung and Sabah will be the backbone for the eventual link-up with the MSC in Kuala Lumpur said then Industrial Development Minister Abang Johari when witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Telekom Malaysia and Sarawak Housing Developers Association (SHDA). The ceremony also involved signing of agreements between Telekom Malaysia and 24 of the developers registered with SHDA.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad Telco chief operating officer Dr. Abdul Rahim B. Haji Daud, said the MoU attested to the important role that SHDA continued to play in ensuring the best for the people of Sarawak. He also opined that the MoU was a start to a smart partnership between Telekom Malaysia and SHDA.

Dr. Abdul Rahim noted the design of the infrastructure would take into consideration future expansion and development to meet customers and business requirements. Apart from the land and submarine fibre optic cables linking Sarawak with Semenanjung and Sabah, he said Kuching and Kota Kinabalu was also linked up with submarine fibre optics and digital microwave system.

Malaysia 886

Malaysia wants to speed up the local information and communications technology (ICT) industry over the next five years with its proposed Malaysia 886 Plan, said Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

The plan is called Malaysia 886 as the government has identified eight services and eight infrastructures that the country needs and six growth areas to focus on.

The eight services included broadband, 3G services and beyond, mobile TV, digital multimedia broadcasting, digital home, radio frequency identification (RFID) base, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and universal service provision.

Of the eight infrastructures, three are hard infrastructures and five are soft infrastructures. The hard infrastructures are multi-service convergence network, 3G telegram network and satellites.

The soft infrastructures are next generation Internet Protocol (IPv6), information and network security, personal computer and Internet adoption, computer development and product design and manufacturing.

The six areas of growth under the plan will be based on content development, ICT education talks, set-talk boxes (which convert analog voice signals into digital signals), digital radio receivers, VoIP phones and overseas investment consultancy to promote these growth areas.

The government wanted to grow the local communications and multimedia (C&M) industry to RM76 billion by 2020, which is four times its size in 2004.