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There is a lot of interest out there in running Metatrader 4 on the Linux platform, however until Metaquotes does a native Linux version, the only option if you want to do it is to run it under WINE emulation.

What follows is a step by step guide to installing MT4 in Linux. I have used the excellent Ubuntu distribution for this task though you may adapt it your distribution easily. This also works on Gentoo for example.

Anyway…

1) Install WINE if it’s not already installed.

sudo apt-get install wine

Once WINE is installed you need to configure it. This is pretty easy. As a normal user (Not Root!) run winecfg from a terminal and it should set itself up. If you want to do any more configuration or tweaking, have a look around the tabs, but for now I suggest keeping it as default.

2) From a valid windows installation, copy over all the fonts into your wine installation. It also assumes you told Ubuntu to mount your windows partition in /windows.

cp /windows/WINDOWS/Fonts/* ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts/

3) Copy 2 needed DLL files from your valid windows installation.

cp /windows/WINDOWS/system32/mfc4* ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/

4) Download mt4setup from your favourite broker, or one of the broker suggestions on rebatefx.com.

5) Install MT4.

wine mt4setup.exe

6) You should now have an icon on your Desktop and a working install of MT4 under Linux! Double click it to launch. Don’t be alarmed if it takes a while to run first time.

There are some small problems at the time of writing though. This is to be expected when emulating software written for another platform. These problems may include (They don’t happen to everyone), not being able to place limit or stop orders due to an invalid parameter error, not being able to change the width of trend lines, and indicator lines, and in some cases the Meta Editor will refuse to run without a copy of Internet Explorer 6 or better being installed also. While it’s no guarantee to fix the problem it’s useful to have Internet Explorer installed for those web pages that insist on you using it or for web page development.

To install ie6 you can use the excellent ies4linux package. The following commands should get ie6 installed on your linux machine.

sudo apt-get install cabextract
wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
tar xzvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
cd ies4linux-*
./ies4linux

So there you have it. Metatrader 4 working in Linux. Well, mostly

It’s not perfect, but it’s a workable solution if you trade by entering at market prices. It’s certainly good for news trading when an unexpected virus check or annoying windows update popup steals the focus from the trading terminal losing you precious seconds which may mean all the difference between making a lot of money or just a little. Even worse, losing your chart setups or even your whole account to a virus or keylogger attack.

Good luck and Happy Trading!

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Competition, deregulation, and intervention are all crucial to South Africa’s road to a true broadband infrastructure.
As of this year, SA had some 67,000 ADSL subscribers. This represents about 0.4% of the worldwide total, and supports the statement that SA remains, and will remain, way behind the rest of the world for a long time to come.

Broadband penetration in households varies globally, with Korea being the world leader with a penetration of 68%, the USA having 28%, and the UK 16%. SA shamefully has a broadband household penetration of 0.3%. The question posed here is why South Africa is so far behind… The answer lies not, in the unavailability of the technology, but simply in the pricing. Many people think that Telkom’s ADSL solution is one-step closer to a true broadband solution in this country. However, many industry specialists disagree.

“Telkom’s ADSL offerings are great; however they just cost too much, and are not viable solutions for many home users,” says Dave Gale, business development manager at Storm. “South Africa’s broadband costs may be the butt of global jokes, but to local users, especially individuals, schools, small businesses and current ADSL users, the affordability factor just makes one’s blood boil”, says Michelle Branco; product-marketing manager at Internet Solutions.

South African Broadband
According to Elia Tsouros, an executive at UUNET, the broadband penetration in SA is abysmal compared to that of other countries. One contributing factor is Telkom’s pricing structure, and, the fact that SA is so large, and has such a distributed population. The ramifications are vast – a slowing down of broadband uptake; a barrier for educational institutions; limitation for learners to gain access to the Internet; poor response times for researchers; limited business and marketing opportunities and the list goes on.

The absence of a wholesale facilities leasing regime for ADSL in South Africa makes it difficult for ISPs to get a significant portion of the ADSL revenue. ISPs are not entitled to ADSL line rentals at wholesale prices, and thus subscribers have to rent the line directly from the incumbent, Telkom.

This then further negates the opportunity for ISPs to bundle value-added offerings, such as video and voice services with the ADSL line. Coupled with the high cost of line rentals is that of international bandwidth. Telkom international bandwidth charges on the SAT-3 cable are very high, and it is common knowledge that even though both Telkom and British Telecoms purchase their bandwidth from the same supplier; Telkom marks up its costs by 80%, and British Telecoms by only 20%.

Roman Hogh, product development manager at M-Web Business, says that Icasa should have the power to audit how much Telkom charges for the cable.

Solutions On the Horizon
At present in SA, broadband is still deemed by the majority as ADSL, even though there are other wireless solutions available in the market, such as Sentech’s My Wireless, Wireless Business Solution’s (WBS) iBurst, and cellular solutions like 3G, Edge and GPRS. All of the industry players say that in order to get this country on the road to true broadband, we need competition. According to Gale, just having a second network operator will not cut it. “When the SNO comes into play it will be piggybacking on Telkom’s infrastructure for the first couple of months, so it will not help much in terms of increasing our amount of broadband.” According to Tsouros, the SNO will be able to use up to 15% of Telkom’s current infrastructure. Gale does however say that the SNO will be competing with Telkom over customers – the result being a price war.

Fusion Reactor director, Grant Jackson, says that the fact that Telkom is the only company that can self-provision is putting a dampener on the road to true broadband. “Should ISPs be able to self-provision there will be much more competition,” he says.

He goes on to say the ISPs have to deal with Telkom whether they like it or not, and at the end of the day, although they are adding some sort of value-added services to the client, the base solution costs are dependent on Telkom.

What are the alternatives?
Unfortunately, we do not have a choice when it comes to wired broadband solutions. However, we do have a few alternatives when it comes to the wireless space. Sue Richardson, Gartner analyst, comments, “In European countries that already have strong fixed-line broadband solutions, wireless technologies such as WiMax complement the fixed-line solutions. In SA these wireless solutions could be seen as an alternative.”

She went on to say; SA’s geographic situation is unique. “Fixed lines are currently not available in many parts of SA, and a solution such as WiMax means that people living in these areas will have some sort of Internet connectivity”.

Chris Norton, country manager for Citrix, believes that wireless broadband makes more sense than a wired solution. “A wired solution is point to point,” he says. “In other words a user has to be sitting in his or her office in order to make use of the broadband solution. However, more and more employees are adopting the ‘mobile office route’. Corporates are still a little skeptical, when it comes to users working out of the office – especially when it comes to security. However, in the near future, more and more corporates will be adopting the wireless route. Wireless solutions could definitely be an alternative to fixed-line solutions in South Africa.”

He continued to say, “Presently, if we take a technology such as WBS’s iBurst; it is advertised that it has a transfer rate of 1Mb. This sounds quite a lot. However, what people do not realise is… this is just a burst speed (or the maximum transfer speed a user will get) but they will not have this all of the time.”

Norton believes that 3G is the broadband solution of the future. “If you think about it, the infrastructure is already in place, and, although 3G coverage is still rather limited; mobile players are the ones with the money; and because of this, 3G will evolve the quickest.

Brighter Future Foreseen
The future can only get better! South Africa has to jack itself up to international standards – especially in view of the Soccer World Cup in 2010. Jackson says, “The general view out there is to get our broadband up to international standards and that we need to introduce a lot more competition.”

Industry specialists still believe that besides the introduction of additional telecom operators: existing ISPs should be granted, self-provisioning rights. According to Michelle Branco, “SA will follow international broadband trends, in that ADSL will continue to account for the majority of all broadband connections in the foreseeable future, but it will have strong contenders in the cellular and wireless fields.”

Looking at broadband connections in SA more closely it is evident that ADSL is currently the broadband access medium of choice as it accounts for 79% of all broadband connections; whilst cellular wireless accounts for 9%, and the other wireless connections, like MyWireless and iBurst, account for 12%. Download speeds will continue to increase, and prices will decrease by an estimated 50% in the next two years.

Author Bio
Storm www.storm.co.za supply telecommunications and internet services to over 5000 corporate clients nationally through their offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. They have taken this expertise and created an internet experience for the residential user that is the most dynamic and affordable on the market.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

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Competition is (slowly) bringing down bandwidth costs in South Africa
Recently South African cyberspace was given an area code (O87), the country’s first report on wireless broadband offerings was released and the cheapest asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) connection was announced.

The suffix 087 was allocated for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) numbers by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), effectively allowing calls routed through the Internet to connect with the traditional tele-coms infrastructure.

It would allow users to dial a 087 number much like a cellphone number and connect to someone who also uses a VoIP system instead of Telkom or a cellular network. The call would be routed through a data system, but be answered using a normal telephone or computer, depending on how it is set up by the service provider.

However, like most other telecoms issues, it is already contentious, with one service provider, Storm, saying Telkom believes it is illegal for Storm to provide voice services and to interconnect with it. Telkom spokesperson Lulu Let-lape explains, “According to Section 14 of the Telecommunications Act, value-added network services (Vans) providers are not permitted to carry voice until the communications minister gazettes a change. According to Telkom, that hasn’t changed, that Act still stands”.

Ironically, the 087 number range was used for the notorious value-added lines 11 years ago which featured mostly sex chatlines. It is common knowledge that Telkom suffered huge losses when subscribers refused to pay or operators defrauded them by skipping payment.

“Telkom lost a lot of money in the past; could lose a lot of money in the future,” says Storm’s business development director David Gale. He went on to say that Internet service providers (ISP) and other telecoms providers could form their own interconnect arrangement, and added that the upcoming Convergence Bill would make a challenge to Telkom unnecessary.

There is an effort to lessen the cost of bringing bandwidth into the country even as more complaints emerge about the price of telecoms in South Africa.
Globally, the much-publicised purchase of Internet calling service Skype by eBay for about $4-billion was concluded; while BSkyB, the United Kingdom’s largest pay-television group was revealed to be interested in entering the broadband market by acquiring ISP Easynet and offering so-called triple-play services, combining voice calls, broadband Internet access and paid-for television.

Meanwhile, M-Web, which is the largest consumer ISP, announced the lowest monthly ADSL package, but one has to use Telkom’s entry level 192kps connection and M-Web’s monthly fee, which is the same cost as a normal dial-up.

Broadband access and cost has grown into arguably the most contentious issue after Telkom’s call prices and the need to allow access to the “local loop”. This is the so-called ‘last mile” that connects subscribers to the exchange. The largest portion of the monthly cost is a second rental fee Telkom charges for the ADSL line. Icasa slammed these fees as “exorbitant” after hearings earlier this year into the cost of Telkom’s broadband access; following a complaint by the MyADSL.co.za website. The website has emerged as one of Telkom’s greatest critics as it is a forum for broadband users, many of whom are disgruntled about the service that Telkom is offering.

While most criticism has been about the cost of doing business and how it retards the country’s economic growth the NGO, Sangonet pointed out that it hindered development goals too.

“The high cost of access limits the use of the Internet as a civil society tool and stunts the growth of a culture to use technology as an information tool,” Sangonet deputy director Fazila Farouk told ITWeb. She told the information technology website that the ‘about’ 100 000 civil-society organisations in South Africa – most of which are community based – could use the Internet as a tool for fund-raising, advocacy and working with other constituencies to share information and coordinate development priorities, but cannot do so effectively on dial-up.

Meanwhile, the first wireless broadband report, released by Johannesburg University’s department of business information technology and the MyADSL website, found that Sentech’s MyWireless was the best on offer. Comparing price, speed, reliability, and support through lab and user testing, the report was a comparative analysis of the wireless alternatives to Telkom’s ADSL. MyWireless scored 87%; Vodacom’s 3G came second with 81%; WBS’s iBurst third with 80%; and MTN’s 3G was last with 78%. Ironically, MyWireless has received the worst publicity and there have been complaints of bad service and poor speeds.

Author Bio
You’ve probably already heard that VoIP could cut a substantial chunk off your company’s monthly telecoms bill, and that there is more than one provider that offers the service. Both these facts are true. Storm makes it so easy for you to implement VoIP that you’ll barely realise it’s happened until your vastly reduced phone bill arrives.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

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The idea of a fully ‘connected’ and integrated digital city, with a plethora of online services for its citizens, sounds ultra-futuristic and like a pipe dream. The local telecoms and IT industry has its own views.

The notion of a digital city, where all citizens have access to public services through broadband Internet connections, has long since been in the minds of government and the private sector. The reality is that it is only now that developments in this space are coming to the fore. “The move is about government transforming and all about e-government bringing public services to citizens, but the uptake is slow,” says Ashley de Klerk, public sector director at Microsoft SA.

Like many others, Zolisa Masiza, councillor at Icasa, asks how the implementation of digital cities can be justified if government has not yet sorted out basic services, such as sanitation, running water and housing, for all citizens of the country.

Linked with this are the questions: Who will really benefit from this? Will it be possible to implement this dream if the most basic needs of citizens have not been met? And who will be responsible for making it happen? – thus making the debate a difficult one. Says country manager at 3Com

Johnathene Beyers-Clements: “The answer lies in public private partnerships (PPP) and a parallel strategy, whereby both government and the private sector look at resolving the issues of basic services simultaneously with establishing digital cities.” She believes that public domain interest groups must lobby for the proliferation of community services, and notes that the private sector must drive this.

Faux pas

Beyers-Clements also adds that it would be a ‘faux pas’ if we do not exploit the idea of digital cities now, and says that, if attention is not given to this issue, it will again put SA far behind the rest of the world. “Following a linear approach would be a huge mistake. Digital cities would be an important catalyst to a total solution,” she says.

Referring to President Thabo Mbeki’s state of the nation address, where he said that national government will look to local authorities to deliver national services to citizens, De Klerk says: “National government must take the leading role, but cities’ major role is making it work.” He adds that this is happening, and cites the cities of Cape Town, Tshwane and Johannesburg, where current digital city pilot projects are successfully running.

He believes that local authorities are taking charge because they are very competitive, and want to build revenue by using infrastructure to create sustainable economies.

Alan Bacher, product manager at Internet Solutions’ access division, says government first needs to put together a proper broadband policy and a national strategy. He notes that the US government is currently experiencing problems with broadband access because it did not do this, and says that SA must avoid this at all costs.

Closely related to Bacher’s point of view is that of Steve Nossel, regional enterprise business manager for Intel Middle East, Turkey and Africa. Nossel’s view of government requires the establishment of a dedicated ICT ministry to focus on the issues of technology and service delivery. “Government should maybe just look at other countries which have done this and see that it can work,” he adds.

Dr. Andrew Hutchison, business manager: telecommunication services at T-Systems SA, says: “The driver for cities is the high cost of telecoms infrastructure that they are paying for. They can see the benefits in wireless infrastructures, but the current impediment is still regulations.” However, he believes that government can achieve the objective of digital cities and delivering e-services to citizens.

Business development director at Storm Telecom, Dave Gale, says: “Leadership should come from municipalities. They should not lose sight of their own mandates and what they aim to achieve. Everyone talks about technology bridging the communication gap, but they should look at the socio-economic issues, with technology as an enabler.”

Mark Baptiste, director for Cisco Systems, says: “I do not think that digital cities is an empty promise by government, but it is all about timing, if the timing is not right the business case will not work.” He also believes that the private sector should educate government on possibilities, and how to go about achieving set goals. The majority of industry players are positive, and believe that this is not going to be an empty promise from government. It will take hard work, through partnerships, and it will not happen overnight, but it will happen, they believe.

Legislation

The issue of legislation has been a great focal point in the digital cities debate and how to get around it is a question that many have asked, but, says De Klerk: “It is not about getting around legislation, but finding legislation that is supportive. Legislation is important, but should not be prohibitive.” Bacher believes in an open market, and says that local loop unbundling is the key to reaching that goal. He adds that co-operation between Telkom, the SNO, government and the private sector is the only answer for making digital cities and e-services a reality.

Author Bio
Storm Telecommunications believe that cost effective voice and data telecommunication solutions should be available to every South African business. Storm owns and manages its own network, resulting in the most competitive rates in the industry.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

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Hutchison says it all boils down to who will get what licences, such as Private Telecoms Network licences (PTN) and Value Added Network licences (VANS), as well as the ability to re-sell spare bandwidth capacity. These issues are still under discussion, but it seems that Icasa has been given more freedom in deciding who will be allowed certain licences, and it seems probable that municipalities will be able to re-sell spare bandwidth capacity to service providers.

Yes, the telecoms market was opened to an extent in February this year, but the rules and regulations of playing the game have not yet been clearly defined, specifically regarding licensing, interconnection, the re-selling of spare capacity and local loop unbundling.
There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel, with the Electronic Communication Bill (Convergence Bill) having been adopted by the National Assembly, and sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for approval. It is expected to be signed into law by the president before the end of the year.

Services

Most people agree that social services and education should be the first points to cover when digital cities becomes a de facto standard. Andy Brauer, chief technology officer for Business Connexion, says, “The average man on the street stands to benefit most from these developments. If service delivery is the focus area this could be a real way of addressing education, training and skills development issues through access to Virtual Library or Knowledge Centres in areas, which are under developed. Alternatively, service delivery could include partnerships in order to provide larger service offerings to the larger communities.”

“In terms of services we must see this as several phases. But the potential is there for an array of services, including municipal information channels, IPTV, voice, emergency assistance and even municipal digital subscriber lines.”

Bacher says, “Children’s education and teaching should be the first priority for government when access is established through the digital cities initiative.”

Beyers-Clements adds, “Education and information services, for instance to assist people to find jobs and the homeless to find shelter, through kiosks etc, will be at the forefront of delivery. Giving advice, direction, and a solution to those who are struggling would be a good starting point.”

Hutchison says that once digital cities are established, the field will
be open for endless possibilities in terms of services that can be supplied. He notes that, after supplying basic services, it will basically be up to creative thought and innovation to lead the way for additional services.

Gale believes that the e-services that will be supplied should not just come from government’s side, but that citizens should come to the fore, and tell government what services they need and what is critical to them.
Baptiste comments, “Public sector focus should be on the softer issues, with health and education at the top of the list.”

Digital cities are no longer just a dream. They are possible and PPP will see them become a reality for the benefit of all citizens of this nation. How long it will take, depends on the vigour and determination of both government and private organisations.

Author Bio
www.storm.co.za Storm supplies over 5000 South African businesses with high-speed internet and voice access. These include some of the top listed 100 JSE companies, the top three auditing firms, and several multi-nationals. Another one hundred and fifty join every month. They do so because they know that these technologies form an integral part of their business and that Storm can provide cost-effective solutions.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

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Today’s telecommunication arena is rapidly moving towards next-generation networks (NGNs) that offer ubiquitous, converged services over converged voice, video, data and mobile networks. Until very recently, the prevailing telecommunications paradigm was based on multiple types of networks, each serving different types of applications.

While IP-related technology holds the most promise for meeting the requirements of NGNs, the use of the global Internet is quite limiting. The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is an architecture that allows delivery of identical services to fixed and mobile customers – regardless of whether they are connected through the packet-switched (PS) or circuit-switched (CS) network. IMS-based services enable communication in a variety of modes – including voice, text, location, presence, messaging, pictures and video, or any combination of these.

In addition to service creation and delivery, IMS handles call control issues, and can easily be adapted to serve roaming subscribers. The IMS architecture is inherently capable of bridging between separate networks, and will ultimately be used for all types of networks, such as wireline Voice-over-IP (VoIP) networks, WiMax wireless networks and packet cable networks.

The expansion and acceptance of IMS is an indication of just how important this technology is to the future of unified communications. Many organizations which are responsible for network standardization are currently adopting IMS technology. The ramifications for the industry are significant, and the entire telecommunications industry is gearing up for the imminent widespread implementation of IMS.

Based on a Strong Signaling Foundation: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
IMS technology was originally developed for the cellular arena to define how to set up advanced services for 3G cellular networks and grew out of a group of standards created by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

IMS is a Media-over-IP network and uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), originally standardized by the IETF, as its base signaling protocol. The 3GPP chose SIP as its base protocol because previous telecom signaling protocols failed to comply with all IMS requirements. Because SIP is an Internet protocol, it can accommodate convergence, and has the potential to meet all the needs of the IMS architecture. For instance, SIP can signal between different network entities, including endpoints and servers. In IMS, each network server has its own role, in contrast to traditional networks where a central office switch does it all, including call control and service control. In addition, SIP uses Internet extensibility mechanisms. A service provider with IMS networks initially may only have a small number of subscribers. As the subscriber base grows, IMS networks must be easily scalable to add more subscribers. SIP is also very flexible, and uses standard extensions. SIP’s flexibility enables IMS networks to adapt and change signaling protocols to meet dynamic market needs. Finally, SIP provides adequate security, with both internal and external security mechanisms.

IMS SIP: A Complex Challenge
While offering the right foundation, SIP in its IMS form has proven to be quite complex and presented many technological challenges. There were many gaps between the SIP initially defined by the IETF, and the features required for full IMS support. To solve this problem the 3GPP defined dozens of SIP extensions – additions that are specific to IMS networks. Collectively, these extensions comprise the IMS SIP protocol, which is defined in the 3GPP TS.24.229 standard. These extensions, such as extended call control, presence and instant messaging, extend the functionality of SIP on IMS networks. This new IMS SIP usage profile is perhaps the most important in the telecommunications industry, and is uniquely the most appropriate for NGN networks.

To illustrate the inherent complexity of IMS SIP and all its extensions, we will review the major extensions below:

SigComp (RFC 3320)
The SigComp extension defines how to compress SIP textual signaling data, which can be very large and problematic to transmit, causing delay. SigComp solves the challenges of roundtrip delays, as well as mobile user equipment battery life
P-headers (RFCs 3455 and 3325)
(P- Private) In addition to standard headers, the 3GPP defined additional headers targeted at solving specific IMS network problems, such as obtaining information about the access network (cell ID) and the visited network (roamed network), and determining caller identity.
Security Agreement (RFC 3329)
This IMS SIP extension specifies how to negotiate security capabilities for multiple types of endpoints.
AKA-MD5 (RFC 3310)
This IMS SIP extension determines how terminals and networks are authenticated using already defined mechanism (e.g. ISIM), as well as specific key exchange.
IPSec
IPSec is used on various IMS interfaces and between different IMS networks. IMS uses IPSec in the transport mode, as opposed to the standard used in VPN services.
Media Authorization (RFC 3313)
Ensures that only authorized media resources are used.
Mobile Registration (RFCs 3327 and 3608)
On IMS networks, the terminal registration process is more complicated, as it includes various security extensions and must deal with registration from a visited network. RFC 3608 and RFC 3327 define the syntax and SIP entity usage of the Service-route and Path headers.
Reg-event Package (RFC 3680)
Used by the terminal and the P-CSCF to know the terminal registration status on the network.
IPv6
IMS prefers IPv6 networks, which offers distinct advantages. It permits a larger set of addresses and contains embedded IPSec functionality that may eliminate the need for entities like NATs and firewalls.
Preconditions (RFC 4032)
Specifies method for negotiating QoS, security and other required call behavior between two terminals.
IMS Resource Reservation (RFC 3312)
Defines how to make resource reservations for phone calls or sessions.
Session Description Protocol (SDP)
SDP defines the basic negotiation process for the media streams, and includes the bit rate and codec to be used, as well as other media attributes. IMS extends SDP with even more extensions, such as grouping of media lines, QoS and preconditions attributes, supplemental codec support, and bandwidth modifiers.
XML Usage
IMS SIP signaling uses XML protocols extensively, including XCAP, to implement various kinds of SIP message contents, and to allow full function interfaces between IMS entities.
IMS Simple Extensions
The SIMPLE group is an IETF working group that defines presence and instant messaging signaling requirements. Basic SIMPLE definitions were inadequate for IMS applications because they were not efficient enough for use on the air link. IMS SIP extended this standard with the following:
. Partial Notifications / Publications
. Notifications filtering
. Resource list / SIP exploders
. Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP)

IMS SIP Expertise: A Prerequisite for Success
The use of SIP in IMS networks requires a great deal of adaptation and extension of the original signaling protocol. Given the breadth, variety and complexity of IMS SIP, it is indeed an arduous task to develop new services and applications from scratch. A more reasonable approach is to use prepared toolkits and infrastructure products that encompass all the nuances of IMS SIP, and where much of the development effort and interoperability testing (IOT) have already been completed.

In order to execute IMS roadmaps and ensure on-time deployment, developers need solutions that are finely tuned to the unique characteristics of IMS SIP and that provide the extended SIP signaling infrastructure needed for IMS applications.

Author Bio
A longer 25 page version of this white paper is available at http://www.radvision.com/Resources/WhitePapers/ims_sip.htm
Adi Paz is a Senior Product Marketing Director at RADVISION, a leading provider of video network infrastructure and developer tools for unified visual communications over IP, 3G, and emerging next-generation networks.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

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The Global Positioning System (GPS) was funded, developed and controlled by the US Department of Defense. Since the late seventies, GPS has become an important aid to navigation around the world. Initially designed for the US military, GPS became publicly available years later and it is now considered an important feature in lots of consumer products.

How does GPS work? Well, basically there are three elements that make everything work: satellites, earth monitoring stations and receivers (ex: cell phone, telefone celular). GPS provides specially coded satellite signals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time.

Today, most cell phones (telefone celular) are not limited to carry on just a conversation. Features like mp3 player, digital camera and video camera have all become standards in the latest cell phone models. It is expected that the GPS feature will soon be added to this list, and it will offer the capability of tracking any cell phone user.

The capability of tracking a cell phone user becomes important in emergency situations, like a car accident, thru the use of 911 emergency phone call, where every minute may be a matter of life or death. In situation like this, the GPS system may pinpoint the exact location of the road accident, enabling emergency services to be quickly dispatched.

It is important to mention that so far most GPS system in cell phone (telefone celular) is restricted to tracking information only. However, one can have navigational capability thru the use of full screen cell phone/PDA combos with map displays and other cellular phone accessories, and third party paid services. If one does not want to sign up for a monthly paid subscription service, he can make use of one-time-paid-only software programs that will enable some of the navigational capabilities.

Although there are many benefits in using GPS cell phones (telefone celular), there are some people who are concerned about the violation of personal privacy. Since the US Congress has not authorized location tracking without actual evidence of wrongdoing, there have been court hearings which have not approved the requests of government agencies in obtaining the cell phone GPS tracking information for suspects or ordinary citizens.

This privacy matter has made some progress towards the cell phone user`s rights, since there are some laws that have been passed which guarantees that GPS cell phone users will have some protection from the release of the tracking information, with the exception of 911 emergency cell phone calls (telefone celular). It is expected that these laws will guarantee that the benefits of GPS in cell phones will be enjoyed by everyone without infringing anybody`s privacy.

Sometimes when there is a technological innovation, there are also some concerns about privacy or some rights infringements. But no matter how much of a concern this is, it seems that a compromise will always have to be reached, so that new technologies will take their places in everyone`s lives. After all, we all live in a globalized consumer world. By the way, have you already got your GPS cell phone?

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A decade ago perhaps the options weren`t very many, but as time went by and with the advancement of high technology, cell phones became increasingly available for just about everyone, and most of us questioned which will be the best suitable service option when choosing a cell phone. Today there are two basic options: the prepaid cell phone service, which allows you to control more closely how much you can or want to spend in a particular month, and the standard cell phone service, which usually charges you a monthly bill. Both services seem to offer very good deals depending upon each person needs.

The prepaid service is meant primarily for users who want to keep a closer control of the amount of expenses in phone calls. After the phone credits are gone, one has the option to buy some more or not, keeping his expenses within a limit. This kind of service became very popular and it seems to keep growing every day worldwide. In developing countries, where cell phone tariff is expensive, prepaid services made possible to just about everyone to make use of cell phones.

Another advantage of this service is the fact that in case of a phone loss, one doesn`t have to worry much about phone calls made by third parties, because the cell phone has usually a small amount of credits inserted in. Once the stolen-lost cell phone is reported to the service provider, the phone chip will be canceled and no more hassle to worry about, except for the loss of the handset.

The standard cell phone service seems to be meant for the more active users who regularly dial phone calls or don`t care to go through the hassle of buying cell phone credits often. Although this service usually has a less expensive tariff than the prepaid service, users tend to make more use of it and because of that they end up spending more money with phone services.

One does really have to consider the options available and find out which is the most suitable for his personal use. The option for prepaid service seems to be more adequate for the less amount of usage the average people usually do. Those who prefer the prepaid service, do so because it is more attractive to their needs and they don`t have to worry about paying more for an extra service that it is not going to be used anyway.

For those who can`t afford a more expensive model or simply don`t want to spend any extra money for a cell phone, the prepaid service then becomes the ideal choice. However for those who need to keep updated this latest high-tech cell phone features and making phone calls is part of his personal or professional life, then the standard monthly paid service will seem more appropriate.

So whenever picking a cell phone service plan, make sure it fits your lifestyle. After all it`s you who will be paying the phone bill.

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Cell phones (telefone celular) or mobile phones have had a great impact on the way we lead our lives. In today’s world, where change is the only constant, cell phones have been upgraded with lots of new technological features. There has been a tremendous growth in the use of cell phones all over the world and now almost anybody has a personal cell phone. What started in 1960s as a bulky radio communication equipment to be used at the time of war, it has now become a small pocket device with a host of special features specially crafted for the common consumer.

It satisfies more than the basic need to communicate. It is a fashion statement – an identity of self – and it comes in hundreds of models. Nokia is the world’s largest manufacturer of cell phones followed by Motorola, Samsung, BenQ, Siemens, Panasonic, Philips, LG, NEC, Sony Ericsson, Fujitsu and many more. Apart from calling and texting, cell phones are used for a variety of purposes – to keep contact information, to make task lists and daily schedules, browse mobile websites and check emails, play games, watch video clips, listen to music, take pictures and much more. Also cell phones (telefone celular) are easy to integrate with other electronic devices such as notebooks, music systems and etc. With the availability of infrared and Bluetooth technology, a lot of wireless connectivity is possible, such as the use of wireless headphones. Also you can make your phone interact with your notebook without any physical connection.

So, what should you look for while purchasing a new cell phone (telefone celular)? The points to consider include the service plan, price, size, weight, features and technical specifications, compatibility with other devices, display screen resolution and a very important feature: battery life. The latest features offered by cell phones are mega pixel camera, wireless connectivity, modem capability, PC synchronization, music and video player and a lot more.

Today, you can access the World Wide Web through your cell phone (telefone celular). To access internet, your cell phone has to be WAP-enabled. Many companies have created mobile compatible websites that make browsing on your phone very easy. You can get the latest news, stock quotes and game scores on the move through your cell phone. The advanced third-generation phones (3G phones) will soon storm the market and will have high-end graphical display that will enable better video conferencing and gaming experience.

Everybody must follow basic cell phone (telefone celular) etiquettes. Your mobile should not ring in public and disturb others. Sometimes mobile phones ring at odd instances like in movie theatres, weddings, funerals, important official meetings, etc., and to top it the fancy ring tones disturb everybody else around you. You should keep your cell phone in the silent mode when you are at a public place and you must never talk on the cell phone while driving. This might put you in trouble in many countries as there are heavy fines on cell phone misuse.

Cell phones (telefone celular) have become an intrinsic part of our lives that most of us cannot imagine a single day without it. Ring tones, caller tunes, mobile gaming, camera, texting, MMS and video messaging, audio and video recording and viewing are still not enough. New technologies are developed often to reduce size and weight, increase speed, provide a better user interface, to pack more high-definition features into a small pocket device. With GPS (global positioning system) capability, cell phones have become so useful that a person carrying one could be located to a range of a few meters, anywhere on the globe! GPS cell phones are important devices in locating users in emergency situations, which allows emergency services to be quickly dispatched.

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Aside from calling, text messaging is the feature getting the greatest use on most cell phones and probably the primary reason for higher than expected bills. With the cost of sending a domestic message around $.15 and receiving one approximately $.10 with the typical cell phone plan, an avid user can rack up an exorbitant bill within days.

Customers have struggled to reign in the costs. Individuals and families have instituted “call, don’t text” rules within their household, only to find that received text messages still send them over the edge. In some instances, users have been able to block texting from their service but then miss the privacy and the efficiency that texting offers. Many families have tried to quell an adolescent’s texting excess by making teens responsible for their own texting costs while others provide only prepaid services to assure that usage is held in check.

However, an answer to the cost of the burgeoning use of text messaging which may create greater family harmony while allowing consumers to make full use of the feature may come from the cellular providers. Increasingly, the major players in the telecommunications industry are providing cell phone plans which offer options that will cap texting expenses. Cell phone plans which include unlimited texting features are increasingly common while adding on a more predictable $10 to $20 per month to the plan cost.

All “unlimited texting” cell phone plans however are not necessarily equal and consumers will need to shop to find the plan that fits their usage. The following items are some of the major things to consider when comparing plans:

• How much texting is used?
If a consumer only sends/receives a few hundred messages per month, the cellular provider probably offers a texting feature with a cap at 200, 300, or 500 messages which will be less expensive than a cell phone plan that offers no limit on texting.

• Does the unlimited plan include out of network messaging?
Many now do but some can be limited to messages only within the same network.

• Does the unlimited plan include just texting?
Some of the newer unlimited texting cell phone plans include not only texting but also picture and video messaging which is an important distinction for those who use such features routinely.

• Is there a data transfer cap?
Some “unlimited” plans actually cap the amount of data transferred and will charge additional for amounts that exceed the cap.

• Will unlimited texting apply to all lines?
For those who have multiple lines within their cell phone plan, it is important to know if all lines are covered.

• Is international text messaging included in the unlimited messaging?
In many cases it will not be, and the average $.35 cost per sent message can be a rude surprise if consumers are caught unaware.

• Can you discontinue unlimited text messaging at any time?
In some cases, the unlimited messaging is an add-on feature and it can be dropped to reduce the expense at any time. In other instances, the unlimited messaging is part of the cell phone plan itself. Some carriers allow consumers to switch plans at will, while others to do not. Consumers just need to know what flexibility they will or will not have during the contract period.

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