ITU firms up proposals
New Delhi: The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) firmed up its recommendations on spectrum allocation, pricing and interconnection issues for governments and said that regulators should ensure greater transparency and accountability in the sector.

Asked about the dispute between state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and private sector companies on interconnection, ITU officials said that the issue should be sorted out mutually between the affected parties. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) should, however, step in if the parties could not resolve the issue among themselves.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter

CardLogix introduces ATMobility smart card
Washington, D.C., USA: CardLogix, a leader in smart cards and software, has announced the ATMobility platform, a cost effective secure solution featuring a smart card, handheld reader and server-side software. This is a first-of-its-kind card solution that protects against fraud and theft at a practical cost.

ATMobility works in regular debit card environments, ATM machines and with a home PC. For on-line account logon, after insertion of the smart card and entry of a PIN, ATMobility generates a one-time number set instead of the password itself. With the entry of these numbers for logon, account access is achieved without exposure of personal data to the PC and the Internet. The ATMobility solution incorporates readers from AOS-Hagenuk of the Netherlands, and the two companies have signed a teaming agreement to sell readers and cards around the world.

Personal financial access has never been easier, or more risky. Malicious code (viruses, worms, trojan horses, and spyware programs) are often downloaded to home PCs through email attachments or disreputable websites to spy on a user's browsing and banking habits for fraudulent purposes. Through these programs, personal and account information can be exposed to unauthorized parties. Once this data is captured, it is used to steal the owner's identity and funds.

The customer's breach of trust with the bank is an increasing liability for financial institutions. Physical ATMs are prey to magnetic-stripe sniffing and visual PIN interception, resulting in fraud and Identity Theft. Thieves use every method from over-the-shoulder PIN surfing to photographing a PIN directly from a hidden camera at the ATM. ATMobility prevents these attacks by producing a one-time use challenge and response session between card and server at the ATM. The secret key in the card's chip prevents card cloning and server spoofing.

On-line fraud and theft have reached epidemic levels worldwide. Last year alone, over 160,000 people in the U.S. were victims of Identity Theft. At the same time, the volume of web transactions has dramatically increased, with personal information and account numbers used for everything from reservations to banking.

Only by making sure that critical logon data is only generated by the bank's own servers, can banks and credit unions hope to keep the data completely safe. In addition to the costs of recovering from fraud and preventing it, ATMobility improves password management. The solution enables a cardholder to use a single PIN for basic account access. Because of the superior storage and processing power of the smart card, the Platinum version of the platform also stores Passwords for other on-line accounts, reducing the inconvenience and cost of forgotten/lost passwords. The high security smart card used in ATMobility provides Two Factor Authentication that confirms that the card and user are legitimate. Server-side software modifies the log-on screen to accept card and reader data.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter

zNose profiles cargo container odours
Newbury Park, USA: Electronic Sensor Technology has announced a new anti-terrorist technology based upon their commercial electronic nose, the zNose. The zNose is sensitive enough to sniff out and recognize suspicious odors such as explosives, drugs, chemical weapons, and even money in cargo containers. The zNose has completed product testing according to CSA 1010, EN 61010-1 and IEC 61326 protocols and has applied for certification as an anti-terrorist technology by the Office of Homeland Security.

The zNose will enhance the capability of shippers and security inspectors alike because it is able to quantitatively separate and measure the chemistry of any fragrance, odor, vapor or smell with part per-trillion sensitivity in 10 seconds. Unlike trace detection technology, electronic noses can be trained to easily recognize an unlimited number of both single-chemical and multi-chemical compound odors.

According to the company, the zNose operates much like a chemical spectrum analyzer for hydrocarbons spanning the range C4 (butane) to C24 (tetracosane). The technology is expected to enhance the ability of shippers to meet their security requirements under CTPAT and CSI programs. The zNose is the first true electronic nose to mimic the human olfactory response with olfactory images while at the same time providing a quantitative chemical analysis or chemical profile of container odors. The zNose will interface with and enhance the performance of existing security screening measures, including canines, by providing a complementary analysis of ambient odors which has not previously been available.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter

ARC's new security software product
Dallas, USA: ARC International has announced the addition of Secured Socket Layer (SSL) and Secured Socket Shell (SSH) protocols and integration with several on-chip encryption accelerators for IPSec, SSL and SSH to IPShield, its security software product. This allows secure internet-to-internet data transmission, with secure web transmission and VPN encryption for TCP/IP for a wide range of networking and industrial applications requiring protection from outside vulnerabilities.
The IPShield software is compliant with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards, including IPSec and Internet Key Exchange (IKE), SSL and SSH protocols, and it supports a variety of security algorithms, including DES, 3DES, AES, MD5 and SHA.

With the addition of on-chip encryption accelerator support in IPShield for the Motorola MPC875/MPC885 and MPC8248/MPC8272 PowerPC processor families, developers achieve optimal security performance for their applications by offloading CPU intensive cryptographic operations without having to write the code themselves. And as more aspects of day-to-day-life, such as paying taxes and voting, require increased security levels, semiconductor vendors will deliver more powerful and advanced on-chip security solutions, continuing to drive up the complexity of embedded software applications.

ARC's security-focused software minimizes the development risks and allows designers to focus on product differentiation and innovation rather than repetitive development and integration effort.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter

Panorama 4.0: New Business Intelligence solution
Chicago, USA: Panorama Software, has unveiled the Panorama 4.0, a comprehensive business intelligence solution which extends Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence Platform allowing decision makers at all levels and functions to easily analyze data, quickly create and distribute reports, and proactively measure performance.

Panorama 4.0 is the only interoperable BI solution for the SQL Server platform enabling users to move seamlessly between data analysis, reporting and performance monitoring. Panorama 4.0 extends the value and reach of business intelligence to all users-making BI a part of everyday operations. Panorama 4.0 offers several key differentiators from competitive offerings including:

- Proactive Intelligence: Panorama 4.0's unique "bubble up exceptions" immediately notifies analysts and operational users of exceptions that occur to established rules. This function helps detect operational diversity, which could signal a potential problem or issue requiring action.

- Interactive Dashboards and Key Performance Indicators: Panorama's Performance Dashboards are web-based solutions that provide any business user with relevant metrics in an intuitive graphical console of key performance indicators (KPIs). These interactive dashboards present a 'snapshot' of business health, and provide the necessary tools to analyze those performance results --allowing every decision maker to better understand and improve performance.

- Rapid Reporting: Through an intuitive wizard-driven user interface, Panorama's ad-hoc query capabilities for SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services enable any user to run a query and generate ad hoc reports through a standard web browser. The result is a customized, author-designed report utilizing existing information from a variety of relational and multidimensional data sources.

- Massive Scalability: Most BI solutions leveraging the Microsoft platform are limited in the ability to scale beyond small populations of users behind the corporate firewall. Panorama's web-based infrastructure massively scales to a large number of users inside and outside the firewall. Panorama's enhanced security, smart data caching and query optimization enables users to leverage the solution at any time and from anywhere.
Panorama 4.0 also supports Microsoft Excel, SharePoint Portal Server and MapPoint.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter

Accessible technology for fleet and container tracking
Auburn, USA: Burdilla Lanser Technologies, LLC, a provider of integrated technology for fleet and container management, has announced a owner-controlled product which combines the technology of InfoTrack, a leader in fleet management technology in Europe, with Burdilla Lanser's integration technology - bringing fleet management into an integrated technology platform.
According to the company while such technology has been available to large businesses, it has developed a scalable solution that businesses with small- to mid-sized fleets can afford and use. This technology was previously available only to Fortune 500 transportation companies.

InfoTrack uses GPS and GSM cell phone technology to pinpoint the location of a vehicle right down to street level. Advanced journey and history reporting provides the fleet manager with detailed vehicle or fleet data.
In addition, Burdilla Lanser offers TrakWhere, a tracking solution that uses a battery-operated GPS transmitter to let fleet managers know where their assets are at regular intervals. This solution fits the needs of customers with trailers, rail-cars or containers and has up to a seven-year battery life.

The TrakWhere solution utilizes Globalstar satellites, which relay location information back to fleet managers who can view detailed mapping information on their own PC. The system can provide location updates at predetermined intervals as well as up to four alarms that can report conditions like, an open door; a temperature drop or rise; or vehicle motion.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter

Imprivata: Making Single Sign-on practical
Lexington, USA: Imprivata has announced the availability of OneSign 2.0, an easy-to-install and manage security appliance that makes enterprise single sign-on (ESSO) a practical solution for any size organization. OneSign's unique self-learning Application Profile Generator APG virtually eliminates the need for custom scripting, a time-consuming process that has hindered mainstream adoption of enterprise SSO.

Easy-to-manage centralized password administration today has become an imperative with businesses. The average user juggles as many as a dozen different passwords every day. Password overload is no longer just an inconvenience; it is costing companies time and money.

Key Features of OneSign 2.0:
OneSign utilizes a distributed architecture that combines the benefits of client-side agents along with a central repository that encrypts user credentials and manages all the interfaces between the user's computer and applications.

-- Allows a single computer to serve unique and secure access to multiple users; a major benefit in any business setting where several people might use the same computer, such as in a retail store, or at a nurse's station in an intensive care unit.

-- Allows granular tracking of user activity within applications being accessed through SSO; provides consolidated views and reports for managers complying with new corporate governance mandates and industry-specific best practices.

Provides seamless and centralized management of SSO agent software located on client machines.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter