Wi-Fi, Breaking news: Draft IEEE 802.11n is now approved!

It’s done: 100 votes in favor, 0 negative votes, 5 abstentions. Wi-Fi specs draft IEEE 802.11n are now approved! Only 75% of postive votes would have been enough, 100% represents a big achievement  and a sign of commitment. The new draft will be numbered 2.0 (Draft 2.0 IEEE 802.11n). Most of the available devices could require a firmware upgrade. The direction toward 802.11n is very strong so we can expect a gradual replacement of 11g devices into 11n devices. A new run of PTT approval processes will be necessary for all manuifacturers.  We are experts in supporting international companies in fulfilling PTT regulations and approval processes. If you need to know more, please feel fre to contact us: info@trendeurope.com

Linking and being linked? Does it make sense? - Reciprocal linking

Does it make sense to link websites and being linked by others? Nowadays most of the links are created via software i.e. you can be linked even if your website has never been visited once. Many links are provided “automatically” but they are of a very poor quality. Webmasters initially wanted to provide links to visitors as a resource, advising on good websites to visit next. Today, in many cases thousands and thousands of websites are online just to get money from Google Adsense, Zanox, Tradedoubler, Yahoo Ouverture, and other similar advertising affiliation resources. Another reason to look for being linked or doing “link exchange” is to get an high “PageRank” from search engines. Link exchange could be very useful as resource for both sites if they have a correlation, however more and more frequently reciprocal links are useless since they frequently are not adding value to the visitors of both linked websites. But search engines while consider of low value the reciprocal linking, consider higher the one-way links instead. For this reason who is looking for getting an high grade and high rank on search engines use sometime a triangle links method that means that Web-A links Web-B that links Web-C that links Web, or other similar schemes that are a little more complex. Does it make sense to link websites and being linked by others by reciprocal linking or similar methods? Every time a search engines expert find a way to trick a search engines, there is a search engines guru that finds a way to eliminate the effect of the trick. The google dance. How to increase the popularity, the page rank then? I would suggest to forget of all the tricky techniques that are never giving a real advantage. I strongly suggest to work and focus on the website content to provide a good content that makes your website linked by others because of the value of the content. Good and valuable website content and good online reputation will make your website linked on a long term perspective and will consistently increase your page rank and web popularity.

PTT approvals - Requirements for Datacom Italy and Europe

The European Community went through a strong deregulation process in 1999 for all Telecommunications devices subject to regulatory requirements. As a result of that, the local PTTs offices stopped to requesting compliances to country’s specific PTT regulations and related local process of getting approvals, and moved to 1999/05/EC (R&TTE) directive. In those European Countries, EC compliance is now fulfilled in the following way: the manufacturer of the datacom product submits the device to only one of the Official Notified bodies for a conformity check. The Notified Body will perform a test cycle on the product and once the test is passed, it will keep the complete test report and release an Approval Conformity Certification to the manufacturer. A copy of the certification is usually translated and shipped together with the product (e.g. printed in the user guide) and is valid across all the European Countries.

In Italy as well as a few other Countries, the Ministry of Communication has transposed/adopted the European 1999/05/EC (R&TTE) directive into national laws, and there is a national specific procedure to fulfil. For Telecommunication and Datacomm manufacturers, there is an important difference to consider in order to understand what kind of approval procedure the product is subject to. If the device is intended to be used by the end user, in their home, and is a product such as a phone or a modem, it will not need any extra approval action to be taken into Italy. The European Certification released by the Certified Body be valid in Italy with no need further to engage other local PTT Approvals. If the Telecommunication or Datacomm device is intended to be installed in the Telecom exchange or in any other place rather than the end user’s home, it has to be locally approved according the law (law “D.P.R. nr. 507, 9th December 1998). If this is the case, the device is seen as a “network terminal“. As a consequence of that, the Manufacturer that is willing to perform an Italian PTT approval, should prepare all the necessary documentation (electrical schematics, bom list, application form) and two test units to submit to the PTT Lab’s test. If the entire test is passed, the Certificate of Approval will be issue in around one month. The Manufacturers of products subjected to PTT approvals that are not submitted for the test procedure, will be considered as shipping an illegal product and prosecuted by law. Regarding the, a specific Italian PPT approval process must be followed. Products category such as Wi-Fi devices, Hyperlan2, MiMo, WiMAX, still need to be certified according to the art. 6.4 Directive 99/5/CE and DLgs 1.8.2003 n. 259 art.104 and D.M 28/5/03. This process is called “Immissione sul mercato” (translation: “entry in the market” or “release in the market”). There are no real hw tests performed on the device but the paperwork is generated by the Italian Ministry of Communication who certify the test report released by the European Body. Also in this case, the “Immissione sul mercato” certificate will be available in a month or so after the testing. The “Immissione sul mercato” is mandatory and products without that Certificate could be removed from the shelves of the shops by the Postal Police. For more information on PTT approvals, regulations, conformity certifications, lab tests, CE marking, ROHS, WEEE, RAEEE, etc. - please feel free to contact me info@trendeurope.com

Cebit 2007 - What’s the point in visiting the exhibition?

What’s the point in visiting CeBIT? CeBIT is the world’s largest ICT fair for digital ICT solutions designed for home and professional environments. The yearly spring visit to the “Hannover Messe” always gave both to businesses of any size and technically acquainted users the opportunity to gather first-hand information on new international ICT trends and solutions. It’s a matter of fact, that the information flood we experience daily through all web-based communication means definitely makes a mere informative visit to the CeBIT superfluous, although all exhibitors (6,262 in 2006!) still showcase their latest solution highlights and new products at CeBIT. So what’s the point in visiting CeBIT 2007? CeBIT has developed from the world’s biggest ICT exhibition to the world’s largest international ICT business platform. With an attendance of roughly 430,000 visitors in 2006 coming from the industry, the retail sector, banks, service providers, government agencies etc., the CeBIT is still the most interesting ICT expo being the biggest market place and barometer for the ICT industry. At CeBIT, hold every year in Hanover (Germany) you have the unique opportunity to join your peers, executives and managers, international business partners and potential customers. Personal contact is the only thing the newest information means cannot provide. This is the point in attending to CeBIT 2007, paying a visit to the major European exhibithon! The CeBIT 2007, organized by Deutsche Messe AG, will be held from Thursday, March 15^th to Wednesday, March 21^st 2007 at Hannover Exhibition Fairground (Messegelände), 30521 Hannover, Germany. Opening hours for visitors: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The CeBIT, History and curiosities. With the opening of the new hall 1 of the Hanover Messegelände 1970 coincided the launch of an exhibition for information technologies. The initially planned name for this trade show was “CeBOT” (German acronym for “Centrum für Büro und Organisationstechnik” - “Center for Office and Organization”) but short before start the Exhibitors’ Committee decided in favour of “CeBIT” from “Centrum für Büro und Informationstechnik” (Center for Office and Information Technology). The apparent hint of the second syllable to the smallest unit processed by computers (“bit”) was not planned at all, but turned out to be a very fortunate coincidence, especially in the light of the ICT technologies up-wind during the last 30 years. Due to the constantly increasing numbers of PC manufacturers and IT companies wishing to show their products and solutions at CeBIT, at the end of the 1970s Deutsche Messe AG dedicated also halls 2 and 18 to CeBIT. At the beginning of the 1980s CeBIT expanded further into Hall 3. 1986 Deutsche Messe AG took over the organization of CeBIT in Hannover each spring. Nowadays CeBIT covers almost all Hannover Messegelände for a whole week and has developed to the “World Center for Office, Information and Communications Technology”. According to CEBIT organizers more than 6000 exhibitors from around the world (70 countries) and more than 430000 visitors from all over the world attended the last edition of CeBIT, i.e. CEBIT 2006 edition

I will be at Cebit 2007 from 16th March until 2oth March 2007 and will be happy to meet companies looking to expand their business in Italy and Europe, looking for sales and marketing services or virtual subsidiary services or sales representatives / sales agency, or developing a sales channel and partners network or auditing and widening / improving their existing network of channel partners. 

2007 International CES - Consumer Electronics Show- January 8-11 Las Vegas

CES stand for “Consumer Electronic Show“: the World’s largest technology trade show being hold every year, in January, in Las Vegas (USA). The first edition of the CES Exhibition was held in New York in 1967. This year CES was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Other tradeshows that are important for consumer electronics market are: CEBIT (Hannover, Germany), COMPUTEX (Taipei, Taiwan), IFA (Berlin, Germany) and SIMO TCI (Madrid, Spain). The 2007 edition of CES exceeded the expectations: 1.8 million net square feet of space, more than 140,000 attendees from all around the world, 2700 exhibitors. The most successful technology - in terms of visitor’s attention - were the followings: IPTV, Home Servers, HSDPA / EV-DO, Location-based servers and GPS, Blu-ray Disc / HD-DVD, Follow-me TV, Full HD, HDMI, Slingbox, Wimax. Also the last development on Audio, Digital Entertainment, Digital Imaging, Home Networking, Home Theater, Mobile Electronics, Wireless and Emerging Technologies.

European Union widens to 27 states and Euro zone widens to 13 Countries

From January 1° th 2007 the European Union widens to 27 States with the entry of Bulgaria and Romania; from the same date the Countries of the “Euro zone“ (the area adopting the Euro as single currency) will reach the number of 13 because of the entry of Slovenia in the “Euro“ currency system. The Euro, is the unit of currency introduced in 1999 as the composite monetary unit of the members of the European Union. The European Union was founded in 1957. The founding members of EU were, in 1957, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands. Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom joined in 1973; Greece in 1981; Greenland (self-governing island belonging to Denmark located between Iceland and the northeastern coastal islands of North America, largest island in the world) in 1985; Spain and Portugal in 1986. In 1990 the DDR (i.e. the East Germany, the former communist country) entered the EU because of the reunification with West Germany. Austria, Finland and Sweden followed in 1995. Ten Countries joined European Union in 2004 at once: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia,Slovenia . At that point the Countries of the European Union were 25. On 1st January 2007 Bulgaria and Romania entered the EU too. Now the European Union’s democratic Countries are 27 in total, of which 13 have adopted the Euro as single currency. The current candidates for entering the union are: Croatia, country located in the Balkan area (formerly part of Yugoslavia), Macedonia, country in southeast Europe independent from Yugoslavia since 1991, ancient kingdom of Philip II and Alexander the Great in the Balkans, and Turkey, country in western Asia and southeastern Europe between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.