about us
the industry
services
products
case-studies
document
the industry in print
glossary
 
 
 
   
3G
3G is an ITU specification for the third generation (analog cellular was the first generation, digital PCS the second) of mobile communications technology. 3G promises increased bandwidth, up to 384 Kbps when a device is stationary or moving at pedestrian speed, 128 Kbps in a car, and 2 Mbps in fixed applications. 3G will work over wireless air interfaces such as GSM, TDMA, and CDMA. The new EDGE air interface has been developed specifically to meet the bandwidth needs of 3G.


BANDWIDTH
(1) A range within a band of frequencies or wavelengths.
(2) The amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. For digital devices, the bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second(bps) or bytes per second. For analog devices, the bandwidth is expressed in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz).
The bandwidth is particularly important for I/O devices. For example, a fast disk drive can be hampered by a bus with a low bandwidth. This is the main reason that new buses, such as AGP, have been developed for the PC.


CRM
Short for customer relationship management. The strategies, processes, people and technologies used by companies to successfully attract and retain customers for maximum corporate growth and profit. CRM initiatives are designed with the goal of meeting customer expectations and needs in order to achieve maximum customer lifetime value and return to the enterprise. As a primary sales, service and retention touch point for many companies, the Contact Center is a critical component of a successful CRM strategy. (source: American Teleservices Association).


GPRS
Short for General Packet Radio Service, a standard for wireless communications which runs at speeds up to 115 kilobits per second, compared with current GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) systems' 9.6 kilobits.
GPRS, which supports a wide range of bandwidths, is an efficient use of limited bandwidth and is particularly suited for sending and receiving small bursts of data, such as e-mail and Web browsing, as well as large volumes of data.


GSM
Short for Global System for Mobile Communications, one of the leading digital cellular systems. GSM uses narrowband TDMA, which allows eight simultaneous calls on the same radio frequency.
GSM was first introduced in 1991. As of the end of 1997, GSM service was available in more than 100 countries and has become the de facto standard in Europe and Asia.


IVR
Short for interactive voice response, a telephony technology in which someone uses a touch-tone telephone to interact with a database to acquire information from or enter data into the database. IVR technology does not require human interaction over the telephone as the user's interaction with the database is predetermined by what the IVR system will allow the user access to. For example, banks and credit card companies use IVR systems so that their customers can receive up-to-date account information instantly and easily without having to speak directly to a person. IVR technology is also used to gather information, as in the case of telephone surveys in which the user is prompted to answer questions by pushing the numbers on a touch-tone telephone.


MMS
Short for Multimedia Message Service, a store-and-forward method of transmitting graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages over wireless networks using the WAP protocol. Carriers deploy special servers, dubbed MMS Centers (MMSCs) to implement the offerings on their systems. MMS also supports e-mail addressing, so the device can send e-mails directly to an e-mail address. The most common use of MMS is for communication between mobile phones.
MMS, however, is not the same as e-mail. MMS is based on the concept of multimedia messaging. The presentation of the message is coded into the presentation file so that the images, sounds and text are displayed in a predetermined order as one singular message. MMS does not support attachments as e-mail does.


PDA
Short for personal digital assistant, a handheld device that combines computing, telephone/fax, Internet and networking features. A typical PDA can function as a cellular phone, fax sender, Web browser and personal organizer. Unlike portable computers, most PDAs began as pen-based, using a stylus rather than a keyboard for input. This means that they also incorporated handwriting recognition features. Some PDAs can also react to voice input by using voice recognition technologies. PDAs of today are available in either a stylus or keyboard version.


SMS
Short for Short Message Service Similar to paging, SMS is a service for sending short text messages to mobile phones.


UMTS
technology that will deliver broadband information at speeds up to 2Mbit s/sec.
Besides voice and data, UMTS will deliver audio and video to wireless devices anywhere in the world through fixed, wireless and satellite systems.


WAP
Short for the Wireless Application Protocol, a secure specification that allows users to access information instantly via handheld wireless devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smartphones and communicators.
WAP supports most wireless networks. These include CDPD, CDMA, GSM, PDC, PHS, TDMA, FLEX, ReFLEX, iDEN, TETRA, DECT, DataTAC, and Mobitex.
WAP is supported by all operating systems. Ones specifically engineered for handheld devices include PalmOS, EPOC, Windows CE, FLEXOS, OS/9, and JavaOS.


WI-FI
Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Any products tested and approved as "Wi-Fi Certified" (a registered trademark) by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as interoperable with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with a "Wi-Fi Certified" product can use any brand of access point with any other brand of client hardware that also is certified. Typically, however, any Wi-Fi product using the same radio frequency (for example, 2.4GHz for 802.11b or 11g, 5GHz for 802.11a) will work with any other, even if not "Wi-Fi Certified."
Formerly, the term "Wi-Fi" was used only in place of the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, in the same way that "Ethernet" is used in place of IEEE 802.3. The Alliance expanded the generic use of the term in an attempt to stop confusion about wireless LAN interoperability.

Luxlait Spring Game
Luxlait Spring Game was launched in May 2003 and represented the first mass public Mobile Marketing project conducted by an external service provider (us) for a non-telecom customer, in this case Luxlait, the largest milk producing agricultural association in Luxembourg.
MMS
Short for Multimedia Message Service, a store-and-forward method of transmitting graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages over wireless networks using the WAP protocol...