Page 6 - Sphere No.13 (Dec 2004)

SPHERE 4
Newsbites
Multimedia Yacht
3 Italy has joined
forces with
Radiomarelli Multimedia to launch
a “multimedia yacht” equipped with
the first ever sea-based UMTS-enabled
multimedia service, offering phone,
fax and Internet connectivity within
Italian waters.
Deploying GPS technology, the
Radiomarelli Service Center (CSR)
sends meteorological updates for the
area where the yacht is situated. It
communicates the course and the
destination, regular weather updates,
maritime reports, docking information
and more.
Broadband Internet
connectivity also
provides satellite
linkups for
digital TV, with
access to movies
news and
entertainment.
The new service targets ship owners
and shipyards with Pershing Spa
shipyard the first to adopt the solution.
Smaller and Smarter
ITALY
Hooked Up
For the second year, fans of the popular
Big Brother reality TV series are follow-
ing events via VideoDirect connections
between Italy’s most famous house and
their 3 videophones. During the previ-
ous Big Brother series, more than 50% of
3 clients connected to the house, for
a total of almost 2 million minutes.
Vesce, 93° Minute offers video clips
of the best championship football
action, goals, comments and interviews.
The show is live on air every Sunday at
17.45, earlier than any sports TV show.
An updated edition is aired at 22.45,
right after the end of the night match,
with a roundup of the day’s action.
Those who miss the live action on
Sunday can watch the
entire show during the
following week.
Providing even greater
value for fans, 3 has
meanwhile cut up to 30%
off the price of StadioLive
football video clips.
Nerve Centre
3 Italy has set up an advanced Service Operating Centre (SOC) in Trezzano sul
Naviglio, Milan that coordinates the service distribution chain. It includes more than
4,500 base radio stations, 300 IT platforms and around 30 content providers. From the
technical point of view, the SOC combines the traffic generated on the core voice and
videotelephony network with that developed on IT platforms – two profoundly differ-
ent worlds interacting with very sophisticated protocols. The SOC checks the operation
of the 3 network and services via advanced monitoring systems that within seconds
verify viability of content before it is put “on air”. The end result is fluidity of the
service, delivering a consistently high-quality signal.
Goals Galore
3 Italy in September launched 93°
Minute, the first TV format conceived
and fully created by a mobile communi-
cations operator. Presented by sexy
hosts Gisella Donadoni and Viviana
Starting in Italy,
Hutchison 3G intro-
duced the Motorola A1000 in October,
the smallest smartphone with UMTS
technology to hit the market so far.
Weighing in at only 160g, the Motorola
A1000 is compatible with GSM and
GPRS triband, has an AGPS integrated
system, USB and Bluetooth connectivity,
24MB internal memory expandable to
280MB, a removable card and battery life
of up to 200 hours stand-by. It is the first
UMTS videophone with a double-
integrated 1.2-megapixel camera and
features the latest generation 2.9 inch
touch screen display that allows fast
access to 3 services. Thanks to
a dedicated window, users can easily keep
track of SMS, e-mail, MMS and appoint-
ments while maintaining easy access to
the message centre. What’s more, the
Motorola A1000 features a Symbian
Operating System that allows users to
view MS Office documents such as Excel,
Word and PDF, and to surf the Web at
speeds of up to 384kbps. Finally, the two
sharp polyphonic speakers
make the Motorola A1000
a real music player.
In the UK, meanwhile,
3 has introduced no fewer
than six new handset
models ahead of the
Christmas trading period,
including the Motorola
A1000. Other models are
the Motorola E1000 ,
Motorola C975, NEC e338, LG U8130 and
the LG U8138.
GLOBAL
T E L E C O M S