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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2010
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worst customer service. As for
the preferred mode of business
communication in Singapore, tele-
phone contact with a live agent
ranked first, followed by email and
voice self-service. From the survey
for its report, Genesys learned that
time spent in a voice self-service
system before reaching a live agent
in Singapore is 11.5 minutes.
A German-Swedish collaboration
✆
✆
of Cinterion Wireless Modules (of
Munich) and Telenor Connexion (of
Stockholm) is providing Japan’s
Hitachi Construction and Machinery
Co with cellular machine-to-machine
(M2M) communication for track-
ing its construction and mining
machinery in use worldwide. The
customised solution employs a
subscriber identity module (SIM) and
wireless service to enable advan-
ced fleet management including
remote eMaintenance and extended
warranty support. According to
the suppliers, the method has
been implemented in more than
20,000 pieces of equipment in
50 countries including Japan and
Korea, and connectivity of several
hundred thousand additional units
is planned for the near future.
Intel Corp (Santa Clara, California),
✆
✆
the world’s biggest chip maker
and an industry bellwether, said
its sales would rise in the second
quarter after a 44% gain in the
first three months. April-June
revenue will climb as high as
$10.6 billion, exceeding analysts’
predictions, Intel said on 13
th
April.
Net income surged almost fourfold
in the period through March,
signalling a rebound in technology
spending. Intel CEO Paul Otellini
said corporate executives, gaining
confidence about their prospects,
are replacing ageing computers.
The report of the best quarter in
company history suggests that
the economic recovery taking hold
in the US will lift Microsoft Corp
and Texas Instruments Inc, as well
as Intel.
On 19 ✆
✆
th
April, to industry applause,
European telecom and information
technology ministers called for the
introduction of open standards
and interoperability in government
procurement of IT. As noted by
Paul Meller of the IDG News Service
(20
th
April), the ministers’ statement,
part of a broader declaration con-
cerning Europe’s digital agenda,
came as the European Commission
was trying to draw up a framework
for procurement by governments
of software to run their online
public services.
A bloc led by Commissioner Neelie
Kroes is pushing hard to open up
the public procurement market
and to break the grip of vendors
of proprietary software, including
Microsoft. Mr Meller noted that the
declaration by the ministers should
have strengthened Ms Kroes’ hand
as she prepared her game plan
for Europe’s digital agenda, to be
presented in May.
Two large presences in the mobile
✆
✆
phone industry in the former Soviet
Union and in Southeast Asia have
together created a company that
could become one of the largest