November 2008

I had the great pleasure this afternoon of participating in a panel during a session at the Mobile Asia Congress, entitled “Mobile Internet – Missing Link or Misnomer”. Skillfully moderated by Martin Gutberlet from Garter (thanks Martin!) the panel drew together an eclectic mix of content providers, mobile operators and handset folks, discussing ways in which the mobile Internet experience can be made more relevant, contextual and pervasive for consumers.
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I’m posting this from the GSMA’s Mobile Asia Congress event in Macau, where I’m speaking on a panel session this Wednesday.

Similar to the MWC in Barcelona each year, the venue threatens to overshadow the conference.  We’re at the Venetian Hotel & Casino, on Macau’s Cotai Strip, and the sheer enormity of this structure is an experience to behold. There’s indoor canals (full size) and an indoor facsimile of St Mark’s Square, built around several levels of high-end shopping and, oh, there’s also a casino that’s larger than several football fields.

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Locatrix CEO Mark White has been invited to speak on a panel session at this month’s Mobile Asia Congress in Macau.

Entitled “Mobile Internet – Missing Link or Misnomer”, the panel is charged with discussing moneitization of mobile assets for a new Internet – location, charging and demographics, and will be held from 4pm on Wednesday, November 19th in Conference Auditorium 2.

Joining Mr White on the panel will be Mike Singh, CEO Telekom Caribe, terry Ahn, EVP of Global Business for KTF, Kul Wadhwa, Head of Business Development Wikimedia Foundation, and Aggarawal Dheeraj, CEO Altruist Technologies. The penal moderator is Martin Gutberlet, VP of Gartner.

“We’re excited by the opportunity to present at such a distinguished event”, says White. “Through helping network operators to leverage location as a mobile asset, the mobile Internet engages subscribers and makes content experiences more relevant and contextual.”

Mark White will be in Macau for the entire Mobile Asia Congress event.  For more information about Locatrix Communications, or to arrange a meeting with Locatrix in Macau, please contact Locatrix.

Locatrix Communications congratulates Telstra, Australia’s leading mobile network operator, on the media launch of Whereis Everyone. While a mobile version of Whereis Everyone has been available in Australia since late 2006, the new Whereis Everyone service extends the previous release with a whole range of new consumer-friendly features and a rich, dynamic web user interface.

Much more than a friend finder, Whereis Everyone provides subscribers with the ability to define and view personalized location areas, receive alerts on friend locations on specific days at pre-defined times, interact with a variety of different types of points-of-interest (POIs), upload their own photographs, and manage who can view and use their location details within a safe, secure privacy framework.

Whereis Everyone is based on the 3^rd generation release of Uandme, Locatrix Communications’ internationally recognized mobile location and social networking solution. Locatrix uses mobile location to create engaging subscriber experiences, and generate ARPU for its international customers. For more information on Uandme, please contact Locatrix.

Media Coverge Links:

Sunrise (Channel 7 video, Nationally broadcast morning show)
ZDNet.com.au (“Telstra Mobile Users Get Police Powers”)
Computerworld Australia
Google News Search 
The Age (Melbourne)

NICTA teams with Locatrix Communications to bring next generation technologies to emergency services

About NICTA

National ICT Australia Limited (NICTA) is a national research institute with a charter to build Australia’s pre-eminent Centre of Excellence for information and communications technology (ICT). NICTA is building capabilities in ICT research, research training and commercialisation in the ICT sector for the generation of national benefit.

NICTA is funded by the Australian Government as represented by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Australian Research Council through the ICT Centre of Excellence program.

NICTA was established and is supported by its members: The Australian Capital Territory Government; The Australian National University; NSW Department of State and Regional Development; and The University of New South Wales. NICTA is also supported by its partners: the University of Sydney; University of Melbourne; the Victorian Government; the Queensland Government; Griffith University; Queensland University of Technology; and The University of Queensland.

For further information:

Kelly Mills, Communications Specialist, NICTA

Ph: 02 8374 5489 or 0448 434 858

NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence has teamed with the Queensland Department of Emergency Services and a Brisbane ICT company to develop tools which will help emergency services agencies obtain timely information about unfolding situations.

NICTA’s Smart Applications for Emergencies (SAFE) project, based at NICTA’s Queensland Research Laboratory, is developing applications and tools to enable the capture and presentation of vital information about emergency situations, ranging from events such as devastating floods and cyclones to incidents like car accidents and fires.

NICTA has teamed with Brisbane company Locatrix Communications in its quest to provide real-time situational awareness information for emergency rescue operations.

“Getting information about unfolding emergency situations to the right people at the right time is of critical importance for emergency services agencies,” Queensland Department of Emergency Services, Executive Manager, Business Strategy Projects Nick Moss said.

“It is important that personnel in local, regional and state operations and coordination centres can quickly form a picture of what is happening in the field. Such information provides situational awareness and can improve response time and effectiveness in emergency rescue operations and can also improve safety of the crew members.”

Locatrix Communications is an innovator in location-based services. Its location services can be used by mobile and distributed enterprises to manage and locate their assets and personnel. The services are also used for mobile social networking.

“We value our cooperation with NICTA as it provides us with an opportunity to contribute to the development of applications supporting emergency services and also gives us insight into the research that can have an impact on our future direction,” Locatrix Communications founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark White said.

One of NICTA’s strategic aims is to collaborate with local technology companies to nurture the Australian ICT industry. The relationship with Locatrix Communications will help build the mobile services industry in Brisbane and elsewhere in Australia.

“Right now we’re seeing that the market is ready for other location-based services, such as mobile social networking and location-sensitive advertising,” NICTA SAFE Networks Project Leader, University of Queensland ITEE Professor Jadwiga Indulska said.

“But in the not too distant future we’ll begin to see mobile computing applications that draw on a much wider range of information than location alone, and that will herald the age of ubiquitous, or pervasive, computing.

“Researchers in the field of ubiquitous computing generally refer to this wider range of data as ‘context information’, and it can include anything from location, to temperature readings to the level of pollution in the air.”

Prof Indulska said the development of this sort of technology will help revolutionise how emergency services organisations can respond to events as they are unfolding.

Locatrix Communications CEO to participate in LBS panel session at the GSM Association’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Locatrix Communications CEO Mark White will join a stellar industry panel at this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to debate “Which Way to Go – The Right Technology for the Right Application”.

Moderated by Frost & Sullivan’s Gerry Purdy, the panel will address a variety of questions including: will location finally become pervasive in cell phones, what kind of accuracy can we expect, and what will be the most popular location-base services (and why).

Joining Mark White on the panel will be:

* Oren Nissim, Chief Executive Officer, Telmap
* Stephen Stuut, Chief Executive Officer, TruPosition
* Tom Babin, Knowledge Management & Discovery, Motolabs (Motorola)
* Kanwar Chadha, Co-founder and VP of Marketing, SiRF Technologies

“Participating in this prestigious event is a real honour”, according to Mr. White, but he also sees the panel as a watershed in the evolution of location-based services. “LBS, and specifically mobile LBS is an ecosystem that requires all the participants – operators, infrastructure providers, and application developers – to work collectively to create a great consumer experience. Bringing together a leadership group like this at the world’s premiere mobile event provides an opportunity to talk about what will be done, not just what could be done, when technology, network operators and application developers work in sync to deliver next-generation location experiences.”

The Mobile World Congress will be held at the Fira de Barcelona from 11-14 February 2008. The “Location, Location, Location” session and panel will be held on Wednesday February 13 at 4:15pm in Hall 5, Level 3, Office 8.

Mr White will also represent Locatrix Communications at a number of other industry and media events during the Mobile World Congress. Please contact us if you would like to arrange a meeting, interview, or product demonstration in Barcelona.