The DECT Forum, the international association of the wireless home and enterprise communication industry, is pleased to announce the availability of CAT-iq White Papers. The White Papers – part 1 “voice” and part 2 “data” – outline the current status and the future profile descriptions of CAT-iq – the technology of choice for voice and data applications.

CAT-iq stands for Cordless Advanced Technology, Internet and Quality, and is the global technology initiative from the DECT Forum, designed for IP-voice services in the next generation networks. CAT-iq focuses on high quality wideband Audio VoIP as well as low bit-rate data applications. The CAT-iq profiles are split between voice and data services, with CAT-iq 1.0 and CAT-iq 2.0 providing features to support key voice enhancements, and CAT-iq 3.0 and CAT-iq 4.0 providing features to support data.

CAT-iq is firmly positioned as a key broadband access technology. CAT-iq has the unique opportunity to continue cordless telephony’s conquest of huge segments of the world’s population, and introduce data services into homes complementing those offered by WLAN and Bluetooth. When reach, standby and talk time, cost and of course voice quality are paramount, CAT-iq is the technology of choice. The Certification process for CAT-iq 2.0 will start in September 2010, enabling market deployment of a new generation of products of various manufacturers before the end of this year.

“The White Papers – part 1 “Voice” and part 2 “data” – provide a comprehensive and detailed portray of the CAT-iq technology and its profiles. With first CAT-iq 2.0 products being available still in 2010, the White Papers will feed the growing interest in CAT-iq as a leading global wireless technology”, says Daniel Hartnett, Chairman of the CAT-iq Working Group within the DECT Forum.

The White Papers are publicly available on the DECT Forum’s CAT-iq website

The DECT Forum, the international association of the wireless home and enterprise communication industry, is pleased to announce that CETECOM ICT Services GmbH (Germany) and Nemko AB (Norway) have been appointed first CAT-iq 2.0 test laboratories.

The CAT-iq 2.0 certification program is on track and will start in September, enabling the market launch of CAT-iq 2.0 products before the end of 2010. The DECT Forum has appointed CETECOM and Nemko as Qualification Laboratories to assess and test products submitted by applicants in accordance with the test plan and the other procedures required by the CAT-iq 2.0 Qualification Program allowing products to be certified according to the specification. In addition to meeting the requirements for CAT-iq certification, both laboratories are accredited by their national accreditation bodies as being compliant with the standard ISO/IEC 17025.

“With the appointment of CETECOM and Nemko as the first test houses for CAT-iq 2.0 certification we are confident that we have selected the most experienced and reliable partners”, says Daniel Hartnett, Chairman of the CAT-iq Working Group within the DECT Forum. “With these appointments, the certification of CAT-iq 2.0 can start in September 2010. I am expecting market launch of certified CAT-iq 2.0 products before the end of this year.”

“We are very pleased to be selected by the DECT Forum as a certified test house for the CAT-iq 2.0 certification”, says Andreas Ehre, Head of Business Development, CETECOM ICT Services Germany. “Our long expertise in global testing and certification services in communication technologies – including our role as qualification test laboratory for CAT-iq 1.0 certification – guarantees that we will be able to meet the strong demands of the DECT Forum and the entire wireless communication industry.”

“Nemko services include full testing and certification of wireless telecommunications products“, says Frode Sveinsen, Chief Engineer, Nemko Norway. “Our laboratories are all highly recognized in their respective markets. We are pleased that Nemko as a test house will be part of the deployment of the CAT-iq technology from the very beginning.“

Virtualisation and connectivity have allowed a rebirth of hosted solutions. Today’s incarnation – cloud services – seek to provide large enterprises as well as small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with scalable, affordable and secure access to applications and infrastructure over public or private networks.

Lack of IT staff, high-cost IT resources, consumer adoption of social networking hosted solutions, a move towards simplified enterprise network environments, remote working, mobility and capital limitations are driving the technology industry towards cloud services. However, traditional channels to market and legacy vendors in the space provide large barriers to adoption for cloud solutions.

This report presents a five-year worldwide enterprise cloud services forecast by channel to market. This approach allows communications service providers (CSPs) and vendors to understand their unique positioning in the market and plan for future growth in the eight regions of the world.

Enterprise cloud services: worldwide forecast 2010–2015 by Analysys Mason answers the followingquestions:

• What is the global opportunity for cloud services for CSPs, vendors and registered IT partners?
• What is the large enterprise versus SME opportunity for cloud services?
• What is the opportunity for cloud services in developed Asia–Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Latin America, emerging Asia-Pacific, the Middle-East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, North America and Western Europe?
• Which key technology areas – applications and infrastructure – are leading the way into cloud services?
• Which application and infrastructure vendors are thought-leaders for cloud services?
• What are the market drivers for cloud services?

The attendance fee for the two day conference on 19/20 october 2010, High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, The Netherlands is for:

DECT Forum members
€ 599,- (19% VAT excluded)

Others
€ 699,- (19% VAT excluded)

You can register online and pay online.

The CAT-iq technology has more and more impact on the global communication market for telecom, IT, consumer electronics and home automation products. Facing the challenges and the opportunities of CAT-iq now and in the future, the Conference will bring together the whole ecosystem of companies currently deploying CAT-iq technology, building the CAT-iq infrastructure and designing the applications to make this a success.

The Conference will tackle technical challenges, discuss efficient and innovative solutions, show new business opportunities and will give an outlook into the CAT-iq future.

With the standardisation and imminent certification program for CAT-iq 2.0, the industry has reached an important milestone and technology inflexion point, enabling innovative products and wireless services for IP based broadband home communication.

The first CAT-iq Conference will provide first-hand information about the entire process of CAT-iq certification as well as for future applications and next generation CAT-iq profiles. 12-15 presentations (25 min. plus Q&A), a panel discussion and an exhibition area will concentrate on topics of interest related to different CAT-iq challenges.

Instructions for abstract, presentation, posters and demonstrators:
The abstract as base for the submission of a paper should contain the title, author(s) name(s), email address of the corresponding author and the involved company (ies) followed by a short summary of not more than 250 words, which clearly summarizes the presentation paper and its key messages. 

6 conference topics
We are looking for speakers to adress the below six topics from a marketing and /or technical perspective.

Standardisation, Certification, Qualification

• What is the status of the standard currently?


• What are the challenges for a successfull certification program.

Home automation, Smart home, Smart metering

• Market size/potential, applications, competing technologies.

HD-voice / Telecom integration, Multi room audio / music

• Challenges, Opportunities, Competing technologies

DECT Low Power

• What is needed to make DECT the technology of choice for low power wireless applications?

Enterprise systems and applications

• Challenges, Opportunities, Competing technologies

Development tools (Hard-, software and systems), Operating systems / Platforms and API

• Can Android win out in the DECT high end market, Is linux/symbian an option.
• Can a Generic API unlease the potential of CAT-iq?

The abstracts will be made available on the conference website seminar progamm. The presentation paper will be made available for download for the participants after the conference.

We are looking for...

• Technically and/or marketing wise challenging presentations that will provide a better understanding of technologies and/or markets
• Practical information that can be immediately put to use back in the work place
• Speakers with a desire to share their expertise and vision
• Speakers with strong organizational and speaking skills and good presentation materials

We are NOT looking for...

• Presentations that focus on the features and benefits of your company's latest products

Contributions can now be submitted by using this form.

If you have questions about submitting abstracts, please contact: Pieter Hermans at p.hermans@jakajima.eu.

Sponsorship
Additional sponsoring opportunities are available for exhibitors. Please contact Dick Vreeswijk at d.vreeswijk@jakajima.eu for information on how to exhibit at the CAT-iq developers conference.

Ascom Wireless Solutions launches a new handset featuring market-leading levels of physical robustness and operating safety. The handset, which will carry the name Ascom d81, has been created specifically to answer the demands of users who work in the most challenging physical environments and require superior levels of alarm protection. For example, heavy industry and petrochemical plants, prisons and psychiatric wards.

Users will appreciate the fact that both the handset and headset connector are IP65 classified - classification that makes the Ascom d81 unique on the market. For workplaces with hazardous areas exposed to explosive gas and dust the Ascom d81 handset will be available in an intrinsically safe version certified according to IECEx, ATEX and CSA.

However, safety can be looked at from another perspective and the Ascom d81 has been designed to offer optimal user protection in a number of scenarios. Potentially, staff at prisons, psychiatric wards, hospitals, hotels and even retail outlets face physical danger on a daily basis and need equipment they can rely on. With this in mind, the Ascom d81 features advanced alarm functions like a man-down / no-movement alarm, silent assistance option and alarm prioritisation. In other words, staff who might be considered as vulnerable can now work more freely and with more confidence, secure in the knowledge that if they need assistance, the new Ascom d81 won’t let them down.

In addition to its robust and protective characteristics, the Ascom d81 is a part of the company’s IP-DECT system and integrates fully with their Centralised Management platform. This means that software updates and upgrades, contact information and much more can be managed over the air, meaning less administration time, smoother application of internal routines and ultimately, a leaner, more productive business.

Dag Akerberg is CTO of the DECT Forum and Chairman of the Regulatory Working Group. This working group is participating and contributing in regulatory activities that may influence the access to the DECT spectrum. A global regulatory trend for spectrum utilization (owned by an operator) is to develop a set of common and minimal (least restrictive) technical conditions, rather than specifying a specific technology (e.g. GSM). This concept is called "technology neutrality".

Europe
In Europe the decision ERC/DEC/(94) 03 on spectrum 1880 - 1900 MHz for DECT has been under review. DECT Forum contributed to this review, and the decision was to leave it unchanged. It was agreed that DECT, with its unique technology features, its various coexisting applications, its large number of manufacturers and dealers and its market success, is a justified case for not applying "technology neutrality". The "technology neutrality" concept will however increase the number of technologies that may be used on the spectrum just below 1880 MHz and just above 1900 MHz.

DECT Forum has participated and contributed to the studies for these bands by analyzing the influence on DECT. The relevant reports are "Draft ECC Report 146", now on public consultation until 19th April, and "Draft report from CEPT to the European Commission in response to the Mandate to develop least restrictive technical conditions for 2GHz bands", which will come for public consultation soon. The conclusion is that the minimal technical conditions developed could somewhat increase the probability of harmful interference to DECT systems, but still not beyond levels that well designed DECT systems should be able to cope with.

Noting that the DECT instant Dynamic Channel Selection procedures are optimized for an environment of DECT-like or continuous interference patterns, the following non-mandatory provisions will become increasingly important, not least for countries where only 10 MHz are available: Ability to detect "stochastic" interference patterns (see example for GSM interference ETSI EN 300175-3 clause 11.4.5), ability to escape from a detected "stochastic" interference pattern by not starting search for a "Least Interfered Channel" on the same carrier where the interference was detected, and finally if up-link power control is used, it is recommended that if interference is detected, the first action should be to increase the power.

The DECT Forum RWG will issue a document with more details on the above recommended provisions.

World
 Regarding spectrum outside Europe DECT Forum has been actively promoting the preparation at the FCC of a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) based on the DECT Forum Petition from last year. This NPRM is expected to be issued very soon, and contain proposals for changes in the FCC UMTS rules to provide similar robustness towards potential interference from cellular systems as the European regulation. Furthermore, in Japan a proposal for allowing 5 DECT carriers (carrier positions 1895,516 - 1902,528 MHz) to coexist with PHS in the PHS band will come on public consultation during March. For more information please contact the Secretariat.

The DECT Forum announces security updates of the DECT standard and a formal certification of DECT and CAT-iq devices. These security measures based on state-of-the-art cryptography mitigate attacks on DECT’s authentication and encryption scheme discovered over the past year.
Following research showing that some DECT devices do not use the existing security algorithms to their full extent, new research shows that even when these algorithms are used, calls can sometimes be intercepted1. The DECT Forum, the worldwide association of the home and enterprise communication industry, has worked closely with the researchers of deDECTed.org in designing short-term and long-term countermeasures to all currently known attacks.

The DECT Forum takes the attack scenarios seriously and continues to investigate their applicability in a security task force consisting of representatives from several DECT manufacturers. This task force was set up in collaboration with the researchers of deDECTed. The joint work throughout 2009 has produced a number of short-term improvements within the current DECT standard as well as a security roadmap for integrating state-of-the-art cryptography into the CAT-iq next-generation standard.
The short-term updates to the DECT standard were worked out in close cooperation with ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and will be ratified as
early as spring 2010. Furthermore, the DECT Forum is in the process of establishing a formal certification of DECT devices to assure security best practices for DECT implementations based on the formal requirements and latest updates of the standard.

The longer-term improvements in the standard are currently being discussed with ETSI SAGE (Security Algorithms Group of Experts) and deDECTed; details will be
announced once a standard draft is available for public review.
The DECT Forum would like to give special recognition to valuable contributions from the members of the deDECTed group. Going forward the DECT Forum hopes to 
continue this cooperation and draw upon the expertise that the deDECTed members can provide.

The new research by deDECTed.org has been presented at the 26C3 congress in Berlin (December 27-30, 2009).

Allthough using another wireless standard, z-wave, this vendor starts with domotic products for the retail market.

Convenience, safety and energy saving are the basis of the new e-Domotica system by Eminent. The supplier of networking products and computer accessories adopts another course with the advanced home automation system. Instead of separate systems, Eminent offers an integrated solution using the innovative Z-Wave technology. e-Domotica automatically switches on and off devices and secures the house at the same time. The system consists of a control unit with touch screen, switches, alarm devices and surveillance cameras.

Electronic devices react on scenarios
Turn off the lamps in the kitchen and dining room and dim the floor-lamp when watching TV. Obviously, these actions repeat whenever the TV turns on. And so are the actions when having dinner and going to bed. Supplier of networking products and computer accessories Eminent is developing a home automation system that switches electronic devices separately, or together, like in scenarios. Part of the so-called e-Domotica system will be a control unit. This control unit wirelessly connects to e-Domotica switches and dimmers in the house. It is fitted with a touch screen – touch the ‘watching TV’ button and all lamps and electronic devices will switch in accordance with this predefined scenario.

Alarm calls per phone or sms
Next to switching devices, Eminent integrates an advanced alarm system in e-Domotica. Eminent will provide motion detectors and door contacts, that are connected to the control unit. As soon as a motion detector observes motion, e-Domotica alarms the user by email, phone or sms. The door contact is activated when a door or windows opens while nobody is home. Since e-Domotica alarms by phone and sms, the user is notified immediately when burglars break into the house. If an e-Domotica camera is installed, live images are available via the Internet.

Everything under control in the house
Eminent e-Domotica enables consumers to fully check on what is happening at home. Switching devices with the control unit is convenient and it saves energy at the same time. e-Domotica dims multiple lamps at the same time and will never forget to switch off a lamp. It is possible to use time schedules, so that e-Domotica switches off all electronic devices at 11.30pm. These features plus the integrated alarm function results into a complete, reliable and innovative system.

Available from September 2009
Eminent e-Domotica uses Z-Wave technology and has a multilingual user interface. Various members of the Dutch TKH Group have coordinated efforts for the Eminent e-Domotica project. As a result, Eminent has the opportunity to launch a system, combining technical knowledge with a consumer oriented approach. Eminent e-Domotica will be introduced on the Dutch market in September 2009 and is expected to be available on other European markets in January 2010.