A couple of months ago, the cheapest Android smartphone was released into the Kenyan market. The proliferation of cheap Smartphones in the market is paving way for a lucrative mobile software development industry that is steadily picking up in the country.
Traditionally, SIM application toolkit (STK) has been commonly used to provide Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) subscribers with various value-added services such as mobile money services. On the other hand, mobile computing embraces a host of portable technologies that makes Internet access on the go not only possible, but integral to every day life.
There are many different hardware components found in mobile devices therefore their applications are developed using different software architectures. Some application software platforms including Java ME, Symbian platform, Android, Windows Mobile, Qt framework, BREW and Palm OS. Symbian OS, Palm OS, Windows Mobile and iOS support typical application binaries as found on smartphones with code which executes in the native machine format of the processor.
A mobile application developer develops software by using different platforms and programming languages based on the target mobile device. Kenya has provided a conducive environment for mobile software developers so far. The popularity of the Android and Symbian OS mobile devices has been growing steadily. Apart from the availability of cheaper smartphones, application developers in Kenya can now publish and distribute their mobile applications directly onto Nokia’s OVI Store.
Android provides a platform to create products and services targeted at local markets. Android applications are written in the Java programming language, a common programming language among developers. In addition, the Android software development kit can easily be downloaded from the Internet for free and installed in a Windows, MacOS or Linux workstation.
Samsung has also launched a mobile application platform named ‘Bada’. Samsung has been running a mobile applications development competition to encourage developers to use this platform. One of the winners of the previous competition is Mikul Shah who developed an ‘Eat Out’ mobile application. The app is Kenya’s first mobile restaurant guide, allowing users to search for restaurants using location, cuisine and budget.
To encourage local developers, companies like Google have organized a G-Kenya event in September 2010 to talk about Android and the emerging mobile opportunities for African developers and to meet with software developers, entrepreneurs and students in Kenya. One of the sessions involved training on localized tools to spur economic development for people in Kenya.
Google has added some intuitive apps that developers can leverage on. For instance, Voice Actions, a Google voice search for Android presents an awesome new way to search, control, and communicate on your phone faster than ever before, by using your voice. One of these new Voice Actions lets users find and automatically play music, users can quickly find the music they want online and play it.
For a Kenyan developer, one dilemma is choosing a platform to develop mobile apps. For many developers, their decision is based on the popularity of the mobile device, and what the trend is in terms of mobile apps development. Another dilemma is how to make money from the applications developed. Considering the fact that most Kenyans do not have credit cards to facilitate the purchase of applications from the app stores, this is quite a challenge.
To address this issue, mobile operators in Kenya are working on a billing mechanism that deducts the charge of an application from the airtime, once a subscriber downloads it from an app store. This means the developers can easily track their revenues and access the funds comfortably from local providers. The developer has to cater for the users’ preferences such as language, appearance, working tools, app library and so on.
For most users, the value is in the integration of the app to their business processes and the day-to-day life. For instance, a centrally controlled dispatcher for a Courier Service Company can use several mobile smart phones or PDA units or a mobile device the can control you TV set just like a remote control.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
IPv4 Depletion Countdown
On February 3, 2011, in a public ceremony in Miami, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) handed out the last five remaining IPv4 address blocks to five regional organizations. The IPv6 transition had officially begun. IANA is responsible for managing the Internet Protocol address spaces and assignment of address blocks to Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), for maintaining registries of Internet protocol identifiers, and for the management of the top-level domain name space (DNS root zone), which includes the operation of root nameservers. RIRs in turn, follow their regional policies to delegate resources to their customers, which include Internet service providers and end-user organizations. There are five RIRs namely; African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) for Africa, American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) for the United States, Canada, and several parts of the Caribbean region, Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) for Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and neighboring countries, Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC) for Latin America and parts of the Caribbean region and RIPE NCC for Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
The depletion of the IPv4 allocation pool has been a concern since the late 1980s, when the Internet started to experience dramatic growth. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) created the Routing and Addressing Group (ROAD) in November 1991 to respond to the scalability problem caused by the classful network allocation system in place at the time. The anticipated shortage has been the driving factor in creating and adopting several new technologies, including Classless Inter-Domain Routing in 1993, network address translation and a new version of the Internet Protocol, IPv6, in 1998. IPv4 uses 32-bit (four-byte) addresses, which limits the address space to 4,294,967,296 possible unique addresses. However, some are reserved for special purposes such as private networks, approximately 18 million addresses and multicast addresses, approximately 270 million addresses. This reduces the number of addresses that can potentially be allocated for routing on the public Internet. The IPv4 addresses are divided into 256/8 primary allocation blocks, where each "/8" corresponds to 16,777,216 unique address values. Since that last block of the IPv4 public IP addresses was allocated, migration IPv6 is hence inevitable.
Source: www.cisco.com
But what is IPv6 and what does it mean to our daily lives? IPv6 is a version of the Internet Protocol (IP) that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). Unlike IPv4 which utilizes 32 bits for an IP address, IPv6 uses a 128-bit address translating to 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IP addresses. IPv6 includes a transition mechanism which is designed to allow users to adopt and deploy IPv6 while providing direct interoperability between IPv4 and IPv6 hosts. Nomadic personal computing devices have become popular as their prices decrease and their capabilities increase, for instance, the tablets. These types of devices will become consumer devices and will replace the current generation of cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants. Networking between computing devices is key. In essence, the devices can acquire IPv6 addresses as unique identifiers without the risk of depletion.
Apart from Internet access, demand for IP addresses has also been growing in other areas. In the security sector for instance, use of remotely controlled IP cameras and burglary sensors has been on the rise. Control of traffic control is also been done using IP camera. With the migration to digital TV and popularity of Video on Demand (VoD), the entertainment industry is acquiring a colossal number of IP addresses. Some modern televisions even have the capabilities to provide Internet access, a possibility is that every television set will become an Internet host. As our homes become smarter, every device that we need to control in our day to day life requires an IP address. These devices consist of lighting equipment, heating and cooling equipment, motors, and other types of equipment which are currently controlled via analog switches and in aggregate consume considerable amounts of electrical power. IPv6 provides a scalable, interoperable and versatile world- wide solution for all the IP addressing demands.
IPv6 has been ready for deployment since 1998 when it was designed by IETF after forecasting IPv4 depletion. Despite the benefits and apparent inevitability of IPv6, few network operators have deployed it. As of October 2010, Arbor Networks reported that IPv6 represented less than 1/20 of 1% of overall Internet traffic. The remaining 99.95% of Internet traffic uses IPv4. Network operators that don't move aggressively to support IPv6 on their public-facing Web sites and services will be forced to use complex, expensive translation mechanisms between IPv4 and IPv6 such as carrier-grade network address translation. Local service providers should engage in planning activities for the migration of both the core and the client-facing networks to IPv6.
The depletion of the IPv4 allocation pool has been a concern since the late 1980s, when the Internet started to experience dramatic growth. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) created the Routing and Addressing Group (ROAD) in November 1991 to respond to the scalability problem caused by the classful network allocation system in place at the time. The anticipated shortage has been the driving factor in creating and adopting several new technologies, including Classless Inter-Domain Routing in 1993, network address translation and a new version of the Internet Protocol, IPv6, in 1998. IPv4 uses 32-bit (four-byte) addresses, which limits the address space to 4,294,967,296 possible unique addresses. However, some are reserved for special purposes such as private networks, approximately 18 million addresses and multicast addresses, approximately 270 million addresses. This reduces the number of addresses that can potentially be allocated for routing on the public Internet. The IPv4 addresses are divided into 256/8 primary allocation blocks, where each "/8" corresponds to 16,777,216 unique address values. Since that last block of the IPv4 public IP addresses was allocated, migration IPv6 is hence inevitable.
Source: www.cisco.com
But what is IPv6 and what does it mean to our daily lives? IPv6 is a version of the Internet Protocol (IP) that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). Unlike IPv4 which utilizes 32 bits for an IP address, IPv6 uses a 128-bit address translating to 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IP addresses. IPv6 includes a transition mechanism which is designed to allow users to adopt and deploy IPv6 while providing direct interoperability between IPv4 and IPv6 hosts. Nomadic personal computing devices have become popular as their prices decrease and their capabilities increase, for instance, the tablets. These types of devices will become consumer devices and will replace the current generation of cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants. Networking between computing devices is key. In essence, the devices can acquire IPv6 addresses as unique identifiers without the risk of depletion.
Apart from Internet access, demand for IP addresses has also been growing in other areas. In the security sector for instance, use of remotely controlled IP cameras and burglary sensors has been on the rise. Control of traffic control is also been done using IP camera. With the migration to digital TV and popularity of Video on Demand (VoD), the entertainment industry is acquiring a colossal number of IP addresses. Some modern televisions even have the capabilities to provide Internet access, a possibility is that every television set will become an Internet host. As our homes become smarter, every device that we need to control in our day to day life requires an IP address. These devices consist of lighting equipment, heating and cooling equipment, motors, and other types of equipment which are currently controlled via analog switches and in aggregate consume considerable amounts of electrical power. IPv6 provides a scalable, interoperable and versatile world- wide solution for all the IP addressing demands.
IPv6 has been ready for deployment since 1998 when it was designed by IETF after forecasting IPv4 depletion. Despite the benefits and apparent inevitability of IPv6, few network operators have deployed it. As of October 2010, Arbor Networks reported that IPv6 represented less than 1/20 of 1% of overall Internet traffic. The remaining 99.95% of Internet traffic uses IPv4. Network operators that don't move aggressively to support IPv6 on their public-facing Web sites and services will be forced to use complex, expensive translation mechanisms between IPv4 and IPv6 such as carrier-grade network address translation. Local service providers should engage in planning activities for the migration of both the core and the client-facing networks to IPv6.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Published Paper
Link
http://www5.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/Forschung/Publikationen/2009/Mwangi09-EOV.pdf
http://www5.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/Forschung/Publikationen/2009/Mwangi09-EOV.pdf
Friday, January 14, 2011
Is Telepresence The Future Of Global Business?
From the recent trends in the industry, the answer is definitely a ‘yes’. Telepresence offers more than simply a hassle-free alternative to delayed flights and security checks. As companies become increasingly global in scale, and gas prices reach unprecedented highs, telepresence promises to drastically cut travel costs while greatly improving productivity and reducing harmful gas emissions. Travel industry – air travel, marine travel and car travel - is one of the sectors that has high rate of carbon dioxide emissions. According to British Airways, a 747-400 plane cruises at 576 mph (927km/h), burns 12,788 liters of fuel per hour, and carries 409 passengers when full. This means that on average each passenger burns approximately 31 liters of fuel per hour. What if there was a way of averting the burning of thousands of liters of fuel by travelers? For instance, in business traveling, traders need to travel to source for commodities, meet potential clients, close deals and attend trade fairs. With modern telecommunications technology business persons can replace the hassle of travel and carry out their duties without causing damage to the environment.
Telepresence, which integrates life-size High Definition (HD) video with high-quality sound in a room setup, creates the feel of actually being in the same room as participants at other locations. The technology can be implemented anywhere in the world utilizing the global Internet Protocol (IP) network, as simple as walking into the conference room next door. Establishing a virtual meeting place, however, isn’t the only application of telepresence technology. With its high definition cameras and huge projection screens, systems are also able to illustrate physical characteristics and cues, such as a sweaty brow, in great detail. Communication is mostly non-verbal than verbal and this renders telepresence an ideal vehicle for business negotiations and sales pitches. Then there is telepresence’s potential for allowing human resource executives to interview job candidates from afar while still getting a feeling for an applicant’s personality. The technology is also employed in other sectors such as education, health, military and government. In the not-so-far future, it’s likely that telepresence will aid geographically scattered engineers and product managers in the product development process.
In technical terms telepresence is similar to video conferencing, only that it gives an immersive experience. It provides stimuli such that the user perceives no differences from actual presence of the counterpart. As the screen size increases, so does the sense of immersion, as well as the range of subjective mental experiences available to viewers. The stimuli depends on the application and bandwidth used. Consider a person watching television, for example, the primary senses of vision and hearing are stimulated giving the impression that the watcher is no longer at home. Similar capabilities give telepresence a level of visual and acoustic realism that encourages active usage. The quality of experience also may be influenced by room customization. While high-end telepresence users might have many of these added services, other users may have simple rooms outfitted with plug-and- play, high definition technology. Indeed, any room can be a telepresence room.
The fundamental methodology used in a telepresence system is digital compression of audio and video streams in real time. The audio and video signal is sampled and quantized, a process called encoding. This process results in a digital stream of 1s and 0s is subdivided into labeled packets, which are then transmitted over the global IP network. The receiving telepresence system decodes the digital stream to display the visual and generate the audio. The hardware or software that performs this compression is called a codec (coder/decoder). To create a vivid, compelling and natural experience a resolution of between 720p and 1080p at 30 frames per second is deployed, giving a crystal clear video stream. For audio standards-based wideband codecs are implemented to improve the voice quality carried over IP networks. Wideband codecs provide clearer, more lifelike voice communications and markedly improved intelligibility because of the additional voice data included in the audio stream. They also double the voice signal range, in the range of 30 hertz to 7000 hertz or higher, while using the same network bandwidth as narrowband codecs.
Telepresence, which integrates life-size High Definition (HD) video with high-quality sound in a room setup, creates the feel of actually being in the same room as participants at other locations. The technology can be implemented anywhere in the world utilizing the global Internet Protocol (IP) network, as simple as walking into the conference room next door. Establishing a virtual meeting place, however, isn’t the only application of telepresence technology. With its high definition cameras and huge projection screens, systems are also able to illustrate physical characteristics and cues, such as a sweaty brow, in great detail. Communication is mostly non-verbal than verbal and this renders telepresence an ideal vehicle for business negotiations and sales pitches. Then there is telepresence’s potential for allowing human resource executives to interview job candidates from afar while still getting a feeling for an applicant’s personality. The technology is also employed in other sectors such as education, health, military and government. In the not-so-far future, it’s likely that telepresence will aid geographically scattered engineers and product managers in the product development process.
In technical terms telepresence is similar to video conferencing, only that it gives an immersive experience. It provides stimuli such that the user perceives no differences from actual presence of the counterpart. As the screen size increases, so does the sense of immersion, as well as the range of subjective mental experiences available to viewers. The stimuli depends on the application and bandwidth used. Consider a person watching television, for example, the primary senses of vision and hearing are stimulated giving the impression that the watcher is no longer at home. Similar capabilities give telepresence a level of visual and acoustic realism that encourages active usage. The quality of experience also may be influenced by room customization. While high-end telepresence users might have many of these added services, other users may have simple rooms outfitted with plug-and- play, high definition technology. Indeed, any room can be a telepresence room.
The fundamental methodology used in a telepresence system is digital compression of audio and video streams in real time. The audio and video signal is sampled and quantized, a process called encoding. This process results in a digital stream of 1s and 0s is subdivided into labeled packets, which are then transmitted over the global IP network. The receiving telepresence system decodes the digital stream to display the visual and generate the audio. The hardware or software that performs this compression is called a codec (coder/decoder). To create a vivid, compelling and natural experience a resolution of between 720p and 1080p at 30 frames per second is deployed, giving a crystal clear video stream. For audio standards-based wideband codecs are implemented to improve the voice quality carried over IP networks. Wideband codecs provide clearer, more lifelike voice communications and markedly improved intelligibility because of the additional voice data included in the audio stream. They also double the voice signal range, in the range of 30 hertz to 7000 hertz or higher, while using the same network bandwidth as narrowband codecs.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Is Kenya Becoming A Virtual Money Economy?
Mobile Money Transfer and Mobile Banking have become very popular products in the Kenyan market. In fact, approximately over 12 million mobile phone subscribers make mobile payments and as mobile phone penetration continues to grow, these products are becoming more relevant to the market. Once a mobile subscriber registers for either of the products, a virtual wallet enabled for them on their phone. The subscriber can then use the mobile phone for various transactions. Person-to-person money transfer has boosted incomes of rural recipients through the ease, security, and affordability that allow their relatives or friends in urban centers to send money home more frequently. Another important consideration is that Kenya is one of several countries in sub-Saharan Africa where remittances from members of the diaspora living in Europe, the Middle East and the US form a crucial source of foreign currency. Mobile phone-based money transfer and banking solutions have been recognised as the avenue to take banking services to people outside the formal financial industry. The services are cheaper than conventional banking, which comes with expenses the poor could not afford. The informal sector of the economy thus has the potential to save money formally and to do so in a safe and productive way, earning interest, and not sitting idle and vulnerable under mattresses or at the bottom of dustbins.
In essence, “Mobile Money” is cash converted to electronic form, stored in a virtual account in the SIM card. Mobile Money solutions such as M-PESA, ZAP, YU Cash and Orange Money run on a SIM Application Toolkit, commonly referred to as STK. STK is a standard of the GSM system which enables the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to initiate actions which can be used for various value-added services. The SIM Application Toolkit consists of a set of commands programmed into the SIM which define how the SIM should interact directly with the outside world and initiates commands independently of the handset and the network. This enables the SIM to build up an interactive exchange between a network application and the end user and access, or control access to, the network. The SIM also gives commands to the handset such as displaying menus and/or asking for user input. Designed as a single application environment, the STK can be started during the initial power up of the SIM card and is especially suited to low level applications with simple user interfaces. Mobile money transfer systems are already being used to allow bulk disbursement of payments from organizations to employees, and have been used to allow the disbursement and repayment of micro loans.
On the other hand, Mobile Banking such as KCB Connect, Hello Money and Easy24, utilizes a unique platform known as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). USSD is a protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the service provider's computers. USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network. USSD messages are up to 182 alphanumeric characters in length. Unlike Short Message Service (SMS) messages, USSD messages create a real-time connection during a USSD session. The connection remains open, allowing a two-way exchange of a sequence of data. This makes USSD more responsive than services that use SMS. It is highly user-friendly, and provides an extremely convenient system for customers to access virtual account in real time. Services available with mobile banking include: Check their bank balance; View a mini bank statement; Change PIN; Request Bank Statements; Transfer of Funds in-between personal accounts and nominated accounts; Pay utility bills – Pay your Power/ Water /Satellite TV; Enquire on FX rates; Top-up their mobile phone balance; and Request a cheque book. Mobile banking services have various benefits to the population, including increased productivity and capital flows, helping to manage cashflow as well as enhancing management of erratic incomes.
Another growing trend in the Kenyan market is development of e-commerce and Internet banking solutions such as Rupu, Jambopay, PesaPal, Straight 2 Bank and Barclays Integrator. These solutions increase efficiency since the merchant is a technology solution rather than a physical person or premises, allowing exchange of goods or services in a virtual environment. Services available through the Internet Banking solution include: Inter Account transfers; EFT payments; Local EFT payments to other banks; Cross Currency payments; Direct Debit Payments; Recurring Payments; Urgent Payments (RTGS); and Electronic Cheque Payments. Commercial banks that have already deployed Internet banking are; Barclays Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, African Banking Corporation, Bank of India, Chase Bank, Commercial Bank of Africa, Consolidated Bank, Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Diamond Trust Bank, Oriental Commercial Bank, Paramount Universal Bank, Prime Bank, Standard Chartered, Trans National Bank, CFC Stanbic Bank, Ecobank Kenya Ltd, Equatorial Commercial Bank Ltd, Equity Bank Ltd, Family Bank, Fidelity Bank, I & M Bank, Middle East Bank (K) Ltd, National Bank of Kenya and NIC Bank. Judging by the enthusiasm in the market, Kenya may be heading to an economy where less tangible money is in circulation.
In essence, “Mobile Money” is cash converted to electronic form, stored in a virtual account in the SIM card. Mobile Money solutions such as M-PESA, ZAP, YU Cash and Orange Money run on a SIM Application Toolkit, commonly referred to as STK. STK is a standard of the GSM system which enables the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to initiate actions which can be used for various value-added services. The SIM Application Toolkit consists of a set of commands programmed into the SIM which define how the SIM should interact directly with the outside world and initiates commands independently of the handset and the network. This enables the SIM to build up an interactive exchange between a network application and the end user and access, or control access to, the network. The SIM also gives commands to the handset such as displaying menus and/or asking for user input. Designed as a single application environment, the STK can be started during the initial power up of the SIM card and is especially suited to low level applications with simple user interfaces. Mobile money transfer systems are already being used to allow bulk disbursement of payments from organizations to employees, and have been used to allow the disbursement and repayment of micro loans.
On the other hand, Mobile Banking such as KCB Connect, Hello Money and Easy24, utilizes a unique platform known as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). USSD is a protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the service provider's computers. USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network. USSD messages are up to 182 alphanumeric characters in length. Unlike Short Message Service (SMS) messages, USSD messages create a real-time connection during a USSD session. The connection remains open, allowing a two-way exchange of a sequence of data. This makes USSD more responsive than services that use SMS. It is highly user-friendly, and provides an extremely convenient system for customers to access virtual account in real time. Services available with mobile banking include: Check their bank balance; View a mini bank statement; Change PIN; Request Bank Statements; Transfer of Funds in-between personal accounts and nominated accounts; Pay utility bills – Pay your Power/ Water /Satellite TV; Enquire on FX rates; Top-up their mobile phone balance; and Request a cheque book. Mobile banking services have various benefits to the population, including increased productivity and capital flows, helping to manage cashflow as well as enhancing management of erratic incomes.
Another growing trend in the Kenyan market is development of e-commerce and Internet banking solutions such as Rupu, Jambopay, PesaPal, Straight 2 Bank and Barclays Integrator. These solutions increase efficiency since the merchant is a technology solution rather than a physical person or premises, allowing exchange of goods or services in a virtual environment. Services available through the Internet Banking solution include: Inter Account transfers; EFT payments; Local EFT payments to other banks; Cross Currency payments; Direct Debit Payments; Recurring Payments; Urgent Payments (RTGS); and Electronic Cheque Payments. Commercial banks that have already deployed Internet banking are; Barclays Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, African Banking Corporation, Bank of India, Chase Bank, Commercial Bank of Africa, Consolidated Bank, Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Diamond Trust Bank, Oriental Commercial Bank, Paramount Universal Bank, Prime Bank, Standard Chartered, Trans National Bank, CFC Stanbic Bank, Ecobank Kenya Ltd, Equatorial Commercial Bank Ltd, Equity Bank Ltd, Family Bank, Fidelity Bank, I & M Bank, Middle East Bank (K) Ltd, National Bank of Kenya and NIC Bank. Judging by the enthusiasm in the market, Kenya may be heading to an economy where less tangible money is in circulation.
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