Meeting 27th May 2008: Ericsson Mobility

This past Tuesday Ericsson graciously invited us to a sesssion at the Jacaranda Hotel.

The meeting started with a brief overview of who Ericsson are and what they do given by Gilbert Arum. We learnt that they've been in business since 1878 and have spanned 3 centuries. He also went on to explain the way the mobile world is moving beyond voice to a new range of services. Also had a look at the way mobile telephony has improved the quality of our lives.

Next up was Matthews Mwewa who gave an overview of the Global Sytem for Mobile Communication (GSM). Lots of abbreviations were thrown about. After that Roy Kimathi and Kigunda Mbogo gave us a presentation on trends and success stories.

Kigunda Mbogo gave us a look at location based services and possible applications for instance

1. Family Finder- locate family members like you grandma or check if your kids are in school. this one proved to be controversial however giving your location said to be optional.
   
2. Anonymous Bulk Location Data (ABLD) which finds application in infrastructure displaying real time traffic data using location of mobile phones. Can be used as a planning and optimization tool for local authorities. Uses de-identified GSM users to get the data.

Matthews came back to give a case study from South Africa called Dynamic Discounting Solution(DDS) which is used to allocate discounts to users during off peak times to improve network usage. This changes calling patterns by offering subscriber discounts. Also of note is the 3 innovation centres that Ericsson have set up in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg. They will work together with developers to provide solutions. Naturally there were questions of who would benefit from the arrangement and we were told it's like a partnership and he also said that lawyers can work on the details of that.

Also in attendance was the ICT board Chairman Paul Kukubo .
He said that they are out to provide a bridge between the risk of setting up ICT businesses and the players in the market. He highlighted the role of venture capitalists and business incubators in this process. He also noted that intellectual property has to be protected too. We encouraged to take chances and see what ideas we can come with. Maybe you can be sitting on the next big thing. an interesting example of using idle mobile airtime was given. Also heard something about giving grants to developers some time in the future.

The meeting was then wrapped up and we had some refreshments. We all got an interesting look into Ericsson and the kind of stuff they are doing in the world of mobility. Thanks go out to them fo the great session.

Tuesday Meeting - 27th May 2008

From the mailing list:

Next skunkworks meeting will be hosted by Ericsson to discuss the next
generation of mobile applications. Ericsson occupies a unique position
being a vendor and enjoys excellent relationships with operators in
Africa, Middle East and Asia.

There exists an opportunity where you can get insight into how to
deploy apps and what operators are looking for.

Location: Landmark Hotel

Time: 18:00 - 19:30

Speakers: Gilbert Arum (Director - Multimedia), Roy Kimathi and Kigunda Mbogo

See you all there.

Rgds
David Kiania

MEETING - Mzizi (Open Source Content)

Our next lecture will be by John Wesonga of Multiple Choices Investments (Anyone remember peupe.net?)

Mizizi - Open Source Content
Tuesday 29th April 2008
6pm - 8pm
Open World Limited - Training Room - 2nd Floor Kenindia House - Loita Street

Please confirm if you plan to come for the meeting within this week as there is limited seating space

Regards,
--
Josiah Mugambi

Standards Processes

Last week during the Skunkworks Tuesday meeting at OPENWORLD we had a discussion around Technical Committees (TC) that are formed at KEBS to discuss various IT standards.

Special reference was made to the OOXML TC that was involved in the OOXML standard process in Kenya. What was clear from the discussion is that it is important to have more participation within these TCs from across the board. Some key advantages from this is that:

1. Kenya can begin to grow a IT standards professionals base, this is very critical
2. More objective review of various proposed standards from a local perspective which will limit unbalanced interference from big international vendors and interest
3. Kenya can define local standards (of course conforming to international standards where possible) for various things such a PCs, various software and hardware, etc. We stand a chance to thrive in international markets in terms of competitiveness and market penetration is we can base our products and services on verified and recognized standards. How can ensure that our local system builders/computer assemblers package standard PCs for example that meet government and corporate procurement standards..etc
4. Great opportunity for students/universities to link up with industry through active student engagement in the TCs with support from their professors; i must mention that there is always a sitting allowance of KES. 1,000 which is quite attractive if i were a student. But most importantly, one has the opportunity to gain indepth knowledge of various technology specifications. It is worth noting that students from other emerging parts of the world such as Western Europe, East Asia and Latin America are actively engaged in standard processes and are instrumental in these processes.
   
5. This will open up participation of Kenyan professionals to other standard creations processes such as IETF which hosts RFC development processes. Our own Michuki Mwangi has been part of this before and it would be great to have more guys joining RFC working groups.

There are still more proposed standardsTCs that one can participate in at KEBS or even initiate TCs for at KEBS, a list of these is here: http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_development/technical_committees/list_of_iso_technical_committees/iso_technical_committee.htm?commid=45020

Further reference can be made to :

Mwatha Zacheus
Kenya Bureau of Standards
KEBS Centre, Kapiti Road, off Mombasa Road, Behind Bellevue Cinema
P.O. Box 54974 — 00200 Nairobi, Kenya
ISDN: +254 (0)20 6948270
Tel: +254 (0)20 605490, 6948000, (0)722 202137
Fax:+254 (0)20 609660, 604031
Personal cellphone: +254 (0)722 368998

--
Muthoni

Next Meeting - 1 Apr 2008 - Document Standards

Date: Tuesday, 1st April 2008, 6pm

Venue: OPENWORLD LTD, 2nd Floor, Kenindia House, Loita Street, Nairobi

Topic: Document Standards

Facilitated by: Dorcas Muthoni

Also, we shall have a short presentation by Market for Change

(Still waiting for more people willing to do presentations/lectures)

TODAY - Facebook Developer Garage

This is a reminder that the Facebook Developer Garage is set to take place this Thursday (27th of March 2008)

Time: 1pm - 7 pm
Venue: School of Computing and Informatics - UoN - Chiromo Campus.

Come and share ideas with the students and learn more about the Facebook Platform.

PS: There will be lots of food and the guest speaker is PS Bitange Ndemo.

1-3pm : speeches & presentations
3-4pm : reception
4-7pm : gadgets

Skunkworks session @ Elite Computers - Sarit Centre

People got treated to a potent combination of Macbook Air, iPhone and Meat Pies :).

Rahim - the APR Store Manager, gave an overview of the various Apple products available locally, Mac Mini, MacBook Air (so slim that it can fit inside an A4 envelope), iMac, and of course the various iPODs which most people present didn't seem too interested in.

We then watched the Apple March 6 event, with the launching of the iPhone SDK and Corporate feature set. At the end of the 1 hr+ video (watched via an Apple TV wirelessly streaming video from Rahim's MacBook Pro), nearly everyone presented decided that they 'need' to have an iPhone and pretty soon.