Gammatek SA PTY LTD, leading distributor of Branded Technology Accessories in Southern Africa, has introduced the brand new AirStash  wireless flash drive which offers users an efficient and fast way of sharing files between devices without iTunes or e-mail.

If you’ve ever wished to have more storage space on your Apple device, it has just become reality with the introduction of the new AirStash. AirStash allows you to free up space for applications and more on your Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. You can file and access files wirelessly, or plug it into your PC’s USB port to drag-and-drop them. AirStash is also a social media server which allows you to watch HD videos, TV Shows or listen to your favourite music anywhere and has a rechargeable battery which is charged via usb , it then  allows you up to 5 hours of uninterrupted access.

You can even transfer photos directly from your camera’s SD card by plugging it into the  AirStash SD card slot which in return can be transferred back and forth from you iPad, iPhone or other devices.

“The AirStash is the only wireless USB drive for your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and helps you to save an incredible amount of space on your device. It basically serves as a SD card reader that creates its own WiFi network, enabling you to access the content on whichever card is inserted,” says Zev Cherniak from Gammatek.

“It supports any size SD card and you can load anything your heart desires on to it. A very nice feature is the fact that you can share different videos, music or documents securely between 8 users simultaneously.”

Retail Values

The AirStash is available at all major consumer electronic and mobile phone retail stores , iStores  and retails at approximately R1999.

With Integrated AC Power, Optional Fiber Interface and Support for Up to 500 Clients, the ZoneFlex 7762-AC is Ideal for Operators Looking to Offer Public Access, Data Offload, and Wireless Backhaul

Ruckus Wireless has announced the immediate availability of the ZoneFlex 7762-AC, and the ZoneFlex 7762-S-AC, the industry’s first 802.11n outdoor AC-powered Wi-Fi access points (APs) that integrate Ruckus-patented BeamFlex adaptive antenna array technology for unmatched range and reliability.

The 7762-AC line is ideal for mobile operators’ looking to provide more ubiquitous, reliable, high-capacity Wi-Fi coverage, improve the subscriber experience, and support a growing number of smartphones and mobile devices connecting to their networks. With AC power support, the 7762-AC offers fast and easy mounting to street lights, traffic controls, and other street furniture, to quickly light up outdoor metropolitan and other high-density areas with high-performance Wi-Fi.

In addition to public access services, the 7762-AC is well suited for small cell wireless backhaul and mobile data offload, and is designed to be co-located with small cell base stations to minimise expensive site acquisition.

“With so much data traffic clogging cellular networks, operators are looking to re-architect by offloading data traffic to Wi-Fi and certain core processing functions to the edge of their mobile networks,” said Michael Fletcher, Sales Director for Ruckus Wireless, Sub-Saharan Africa. “While unlicensed Wi-Fi was widely considered unreliable and uncontrollable by carriers, with recent advances in the technology, it is now being embraced by operators worldwide as one of the most economical tools for adding capacity, coverage and performance to support a new class of higher speed subscribers.

“Our new 7762-AC access points solve these problems with easy deployment anywhere AC power is available,” Fletcher continued. “And with a full range of patented Smart Wi-Fi technologies integrated into each device, the 7762-AC offers the industry’s best range, reliability and capacity over other 802.11n outdoor AP alternatives at a much more attractive price point.”

Product Details

The ZoneFlex 7762-AC series is a family of two-stream, 3×3, dual-band 802.11n access points capable of delivering up to 12dBi of signal gain and 15dB of interference rejection and 600 Mbps of capacity. The hardened outdoor AC-powered, 802.11n APs (IP-67 rated) are ideal for high-density user environments such as stadiums, convention centers, shopping malls, and other public areas, and can support up to 500 clients per access point.

The ZoneFlex 7762-AC is available in two models: the 7762-AC, which integrates a 360° directional smart antenna array; and the 7762-S-AC, a sectorised array model that focuses Wi-Fi coverage within 120° beam width. Additionally, the ZoneFlex 7762-AC supports a number of advanced features designed to increase the performance and stability of carrier-class Wi-Fi networks and to simplify deployment. These include:

• Optional, field-installable fiber interface for easily adding backhaul capacity supporting EPON, GEPON, CWDM, and 1000Base-LX,
• 802.3af, power over Ethernet output to drive attached devices such as IP surveillance camera,
• Patented multi-element adaptive antenna array technology that automatically extends signal range and increases link reliability by selecting the best signal path for each client,
• Smart Mesh support for reliable and adaptive long-range, non-line of site backhaul,
• Predictive channel optimisation using ChannelFly technology to maximise network capacity and client throughput in high-density, noisy Wi-Fi environments,
• An “Any Angle” mounting bracket to simplify installation, providing maximum flexibility.

Designed in an ultra small form factor that weighs less than 2.2 kilograms (5 lbs.), the 7762-AC features separate radios for access and backhaul traffic to deliver optimal throughput to clients throughout the network. The 7762-AC can be deployed stand-alone or centrally managed through the Ruckus ZoneDirector controller or wireless services gateway.

Ford Fiesta. Fiestagram campaign from Blue Hive on Vimeo.

With the annual Budget speech just round the corner, predictions are rife and economists wait with baited breath to analyse and discuss the implications it will likely have for the South African economy and of course, for businesses across industries in 2012.

For the SA entrepreneur – essentially the country’s economic power force – verbalising hopes and expectations publically for Budget, for Government consideration, becomes more and more critical each year. And so it is with this premise in mind that entrepreneurial business Dariel Solutions shares its hopes for Budget 2012, especially in light on the commitment reiterated in SONA.

“We are hoping for further investment in infrastructure, and of course education and skills development – particularly around science, mathematics and technology training,” said Malcolm Rabson, MD of Dariel Solutions. “Last year we were pleased at the investment pledge of R800 billion over the next three years in infrastructure and the R10 billion for job creation, small enterprise development and youth employment. We look forward to the Minister’s overview of success to date, and are hoping for more budget this year to continue this momentum.”

Dariel Solutions are dedicated to growing the right skills and developing the IT knowledge base to propel South Africa in becoming a software powerhouse – which is why infrastructure and skills development investment from a government perspective nationally is so key.

Similarity, as outlined in SONA, there are many critical factors that play a role in meeting Government growth objectives. One such factor is IT investment which is key in mining, transport, community services and trade to name just a few sectors. For Dariel, a prime example of how IT facilitates growth and development can be seen in the Healthcare sector. Customised IT solutions are changing the ways health practitioners operate and the manner in which they interact with their patients. Imagine hospital staff being able to digitally store patient information (which moves with the patient if necessary), offer results such as X-Rays to patients in digitalised format, as well as being able to track the number of beds available in the hospital at any given time – instantly! This would assist with information retention, decrease the need for duplication, decrease admin time and of course, result in benefits and differences where it counts – patients experience.

“Without fundamental IT infrastructure investment, talking job creation to fight poverty for example – amidst many other social, health and global economic challenges – is futile. Our hope is that Government places large scale budget commitments to an industry that has typically been shrouded by buzz words, empty promises and ROI limitations. Today IT has earned its place and is considered (and proven) a key business driver and enabler to develop businesses of all sizes – operationally. The President again reiterates the importance of public/private partnerships, and surely this includes the estimated 1.5 million small businesses in the country? Certainly we support this premise and look forward to contributing to SA’s growth as an IT powerhouse across Africa and abroad,” concludes Rabson.

Pure Distribution a South African based telecommunications distribution company in association with Cubic Telecom today announced the Maxroam SIM card, a prepaid, high quality GSM mobile voice and data Travel SIM card service for the business and personal international traveller, will be launched through the Flight Centre channel nationwide.

The Maxroam SIM card has no connection charges and will save you up to 90% on Data Roaming when travelling abroad, provide access to voice and SMS coverage in over 230 countries and data coverage in up to 130 countries, all with one SIM card. Compatible with standard and micro SIM slots in any unlocked mobile phone or tablet device the Maxroam SIM card is convenient and simple.

The prepaid functionality allows for easy sign up with no contracts and no surprise bills upon your return. An added feature is the convenience to keep all your local cell phone numbers and the ability to add all your local landline numbers from each country you visit.

Managing your account from your mobile work station is made simple with an online facility where you can recharge, upload credit, check your balance and handle all other account related details.

Kosie Nagel, Land and Air Contractor for Flight Centre said, “We are always looking at ways to ensure the experience each and every customer receives of ours makes their travelling easy and memorable. We know that contacting family and friends at home is the inevitable for most travellers so being able to offer them a solution like Maxroam further improves our service delivery to our clients.”

JP Hunke of Pure Distribution said of the announcement, “We are so excited to be working with Flight Centre, an international company with a significant local footprint and even more thrilled to be able to have Flight Centre as our partner at launch.”

Sony Ericsson today announced it has received four 2012 iF product design awards in the telecommunications category.  Xperia^TM active received the highest level of recognition, the gold award. The iF jury’s comprehensive judging criteria included quality of design and finish, choice of materials, environmental impact and functionality.  The ceremony took place in Munich, Germany on February 9.

“The Xperia active smartphone reflects our commitment to offer handsets for active consumers with stunning design inside and out,” said Colin Williamson, Marketing Manager at Sony Ericsson South Africa. “Design has always been a cornerstone of how we approach innovation and we will continue to build on this success with the new iconic design language introduced as part of 2012 portfolio.”

Special gold recognition for Xperia active

The iF product design gold award recognizes the very best designs in the telecommunications industry. Xperia active boasts a scratch resistant touch display that can be used even when fingers are wet and boasts technology that enables the display to be seen in bright sunshine.

“We warmly congratulate Sony Ericsson for its first iF gold award.  Xperia active is a very functional smartphone with a highly elegant design. Especially for sport users,  it is the number one choice  and the water and dust-resistance make it a very special product – a symbiosis of functionality and elegance,” said  Ralph Wiegmann, Managing Director of iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hannover.

Sony Ericsson carefully chose the materials for Xperia active to ensure the best aesthetics were used and that the smartphone is durable, sustainable and functional. A sturdy aluminum frame surrounds and protects the display and embodies the essence of Xperia active – utilitarian elegance.

 Xperia range – award winning designs

The iF awards recognized the wider Xperia range and awarded Xperia ray, Mix Walkman and Xperia mini pro with product design awards. The breadth of awards demonstrates Sony Ericsson’s commitment to create beautifully designed smartphones across the portfolio without sacrificing functionality.

·         Xperia ray offers a slim, yet dynamic shape which can perfectly fit into the palm of a consumer’s hand. The aluminum sides give the product a premium expression and a positive tactile experience.

·         The interchangeable band on Mix Walkman allows consumers to express themselves and their personality via their handset. The precision of the clean front surface together with the soft curvature on the back creates a product with a distinct feeling.

·         Xperia mini pro boasts a QWERTY keyboard to enable fast typing and the fusion of exquisite lacquers, reflective metal and colorful accents create a stylish, fresh and energetic look.

The iF product design awards are an internationally recognized label for award-winning design and a symbol for outstanding achievements in design.

Under the strain of a mobile data onslaught, the move to small cells is opening the door to new and unexpected uses of smarter Wi-Fi says Ruckus Wireless 

Operators are currently confronted with an insane demand for mobile data and as a result, need to start looking for possible solutions to add more capacity. This is the sentiment of Ruckus Wireless.

According to Michael Fletcher, Sales Director for Ruckus Wireless, Sub-Saharan Africa, to solve the problem at hand now there are three ways the industry can address it – increase capacity of the affected network resource, offload the network resource to relieve congestion, or do both. “The move to smaller cells to augment existing macro networks is widely viewed as a potential panacea to the access radio network congestion, but it also creates a new one – backhaul. Today, this has become one of the telecom industry’s biggest debates especially as mobile operators look to achieve the capacity required by the rapidly rising mobile Internet bandwidth demand.”

Getting Smaller

It is for this reason that mobile operators need to start thinking differently about the way they want to achieve this. Small cells are low-powered, multi-radio access points such as cellular/Wi-Fi/backhaul that improve indoor and outdoor coverage to increase capacity and offload traffic. Even though small cells benefit 3G service deployments today, their importance will only grow as the industry moves towards higher capacity like 4G or LTE, especially in urban environments.

Adds Fletcher; “This is because as network operators continue to increase coverage and capacity and look to offload data to relieve traffic pressures, they also increase the stress on their cell site backhaul connectivity,” adds Fletcher. “Another viable option is using licensed spectrum as it is better suited for carrying mobile data traffic, but when using licensed spectrum, there are some limitations, these spectrum bands are expensive and frequently not available for licensing. In this case fiber is clearly the preferred backhaul option for mobile operators but in some instances could be non-viable as it is too expensive, disruptive and time consuming. And therefore traditional cellular backhaul solutions must be rethought in the context of moving to smaller cells.”

Wanted: New Backhaul Options

Mobile operators need to find a sustainable backhaul technique, which meets all the requirements. The new backhaul option needs to be well suited for dense urban environments as well as for close-to-the ground equipment, and lastly need to make small cells more viable.

In light of these, Ruckus Wireless suggest that unlicensed smart Wi-Fi be used as a viable and affordable option to solve the cellular traffic problem and here is why this could be the answer to the pending problem:

• Wi-Fi has evolved to become an ideal solution for the small cell backhaul problem, that is, if done properly
• New Wi-Fi technology has been developed especially aimed at the congestion of the mobile networks; the new technology combines integrated adaptive directional antennas with smart meshing technology and predictive channel management. The combination of these technologies makes the use of Wi-Fi accessible for all users.
• Backhaul links can be automatically moved to a better channel with less interference thereby identifying higher data rates. This is definitely a more affordable solution and with greater resiliency in crowded urban environments which are in dire need of more capacity.
• Wi-Fi backhaul technology is currently being built into small cell nodes housing cellular and Wi-Fi access – with a fairly small footprint. This allows operators to deploy a single box to provide Wi-Fi access, cellular access and backhaul together.

“Ultimately with small cells and better backhaul, mobile subscribers should enjoy higher speeds with more coverage in more places. In turn, mobile operators can reduce subscriber churn and increase revenue by having visibility into both cellular and Wi-Fi traffic – giving the customers more options to connect in more places,” concludes Fletcher.

Discover the visual expression of all things beautiful, stylish and delicious with the innovative and ultra-user friendly new ‘Le Good Life’ tab on the House of J.C. Le Roux’s Facebook page.

Make this quick and easy-to-use bookmarklet a permanent fixture on your browser and add your personal touch to the J.C. Le Roux Facebook page with awesome images of food, fashion, music, people and places –  all essential ingredients of ‘Le Good Life’.  To become a J.C. Le Roux Facebook fashionista, just register via the ‘Le Good Life’ tab and drag the bookmarklet onto your browser’s navigation panel. This will enable you to select gorgeous images you discover while browsing the web and share them with almost 12 000 ‘Le Good Life’ fans on the J.C. Le Roux Facebook page. Check out the J.C. Le Roux Facebook wall for their monthly themes. One of your images could be selected as the winning picture!

Once you start, you will definitely be hooked. The best pictures submitted will be added to the hot list of featured images every two weeks.

To get started, visit the House of J.C. Le Roux’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HouseofJCLeRoux, click on the ‘Le Good Life’ tab and sign up to submit your images that express ‘Le Good Life’. Besides the nifty ‘Le Good Life’ bookmarklet, images can also be submitted directly via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail.

This Morning we received a wonderful package from our friends at Nokia, we are impressed and will share our thoughts in our Review later this week.

ZiNG is an ultra-low cost MultiMessenger application to be launched across the continent on 12 February 2012, and it’s about to make keeping in touch with all of your friends easier, cheaper and much more rewarding.

At its core, ZiNG is a free chat and information sharing App that offers you a quick and inexpensive way to keep in touch. ZiNG works with almost all mobile phones, such as Nokia, Samsung and similar phones as well as BlackBerry, Android and Apple Smartphones.  So no matter what phone you or your friends use, now you will be able to keep in using just one App.

One of the most unique features of ZiNG is the introduction of ZiNG Zones – which offers loads of free channels of real-time information, news, sport and entertainment feeds – delivered directly to your phone. These feeds are instantly available to share and comment on with anyone or all of your friends. The Zones promise to become a hotbed for discussing topics of personal interest in ways not seen before.

Part of the experience of using ZiNG is its reward system. Clicking on adverts during your chit-chat will earn you points, which you can redeem against rewards, such as airtime, premium news, ringtones, wallpapers, emoticons, themes and a lot more!

“The cost advantages of using ZiNG are huge. Quite simply, with ZiNG you are able to send around 500 messages for the equivalent cost of a single pre-paid SMS,” says Brett Loubser, Mobile Strategy Director at Blazingchilli, the developer behind ZiNG.

Overall, ZiNG is easy to use, it’s fast and reliable with all the features you’d expect of a world-class instant messenger. The introduction of Zones and Rewards are game changers and should go a long way to making ZiNG the next big thing that everyone is chatting on and about.