Better Living Through Technology

A backlash of issues related to the offshoring of personal information, maintaining business continuity in the face of natural disasters, and the increased cost of fuel are all of major concern to America’s business call centers. A non-profit organization, the Telework Coalition, is educating businesses about its economic alternative called the domestic Work@Home support model. Compared with the costs of traditional brick-and-mortar type centers, research shows that over a million dollars in annual income can be added per 100 agents who Work@Home. The Telework Coalition, based in Washington D.C., enables virtual, mobile and distributed work through education, technology and legislation.

Remarkable developments are also continuing in the area of telemedicine. An important joint venture has been made between U.S. agencies such as the Dept. of Defense, Dept. of Justice, and the F.B.I., and technology companies to allow the world’s first completely secure, real-time transmission of critical medical information and interactive video consultations between healthcare professionals and patients. The company coordinating the joint venture, eNotes Systems Inc., will make telediagnostics (compressing, encrypting, and then transmitting medical data, tests, etc. to another location for review by another medical practitioner) available over a secure private network destined to revolutionize the healthcare industry.

This Fall 2006 issue of TMIS eNewsletter reports further on the progress in the convergence trend between Wi-Fi and cellular phone networks utilizing Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology (earlier article in our Fall 2005 issue). Advantages of the new UMA technology include allowing subscribers to roam seamlessly from their cellular network to a wireless local area network (WLAN) without losing the call, and development of new UMA-enabled handsets that will eventually lower the price and increase performance of Wi-Fi and cellular handsets. However, serious security issues must be resolved before it is safe to open the traditionally closed telephony networks to the Internet. This new article describes the real-time security system just debuted by Sipera Systems to give UMA networks such protection.

You will find several significant announcements. An electronic digital writing and data capture system being implemented at Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital provides immediate feedback for treating cardiac patients. A new article announces the development of a ZigBee compliant semiconductor system in a diminutive size of 7mm that enables embedding of very low power capabilities in products never before possible (earlier article in our Winter 2005 issue). Traction Software Inc. has just released TeamPage, which combines the group editing of a wiki and the simplicity of a blog to provide secure, scalable web based communication to business and government customers in a format easy to learn for non-technical users.

I am grateful to be in a collaborative business with many talented and skilled professionals. Additional feedback and recommendations for our products and services at TM Information Services are always welcome.

- Mary M. McLaughlin

From the Front Page of TMIS News
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First Work@Home Call Center Agent Conference to Debut at Call Center 2.0 in San Diego. Panels Will Address Benefits of Both Domestic Outsourcing and Insourcing with Work@Home Agents
Washington, D.C.

The Telework Coalition, the only non-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting virtual, mobile, and distributed work through education, technology, and legislation has joined forces with the Technology Marketing Corporation at Call Center 2.0 as part of the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo to be held from October 10 - 13 at the San Diego Convention Center. TelCoa will be presenting 8 in-depth sessions over 2 days, with the objective of demonstrating why the Work@Home Agent model is the undeniable alternative to the traditional bricks & mortar model. All organizations that have their customer service personnel housed in these traditional call centers MUST attend to learn why they need to explore this growing alternative type of operation.

The rapidly accelerating trend to adopt the domestic Work@Home customer support model has been driven by the desire to keep costs down, by the backlash caused by an overall dissatisfaction with the services provided by offshore agents as well as personal information being sent offshore where there are few, if any, laws to protect it, by the need to address issues of business continuity in the event of a pandemic, by weather related incidents, and by the rising cost of gasoline.
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Joint Venture Provide World's First 100 Percent Secure and Private Network for Healthcare and Telemedicine
Los Angeles, California

eNotes Systems, Inc. has announced a joint venture that will introduce to the healthcare industry the world's first 100% secure, private network (including seamless integration with existing enterprise LANs and WANs) that will allow for the safe transmission of critical medical data, as well as secure, real-time, interactive video consultations between healthcare professionals and doctors and patients. eNotes' new joint venture partner is Jump Communications, a company formed by the principals of Advanced Telecommunications Technologies, Inc. a communications technology development company whose renowned client list includes the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, CNN, Newsweek, Cox Communications, RoseTel Systems, and the Association of California School Administrators, among many others. The announcement was made today by Mr. Jeff Flammang, President and CEO of eNotes Systems, Inc.

This joint venture will enable the introduction of the world's foremost technology to the telemedicine sector and is characterized by its proprietary hardware-based video compression algorithms, the simultaneous delivery and receipt of video at a constant 30 frames per second (true television quality), a full color palette, full audio/video-synch (lip-synch), and no perceptible latency. eNotes will offer a private network to clients that ensures absolute secured transmissions with a guarantee of all-time availability of private bandwidth.
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New Strategy Guide Offers the Public Sector Research and Benefits of Working Remotely
Folsom, California

A new strategy guide, produced by the Center for Digital Government and underwritten by Intel, advises state and local government officials how to successfully implement telework to meet the expectations of tomorrow's workforce and create economic development opportunities for both the employee and the employer.

"Telework 360 Degrees: A Best Practices Digest and Guide to Getting Telework Right in the Public Sector" identifies eight dimensions of telework that can inform an enterprise-level approach for revolutionizing public services through networked technologies. Because tomorrow's public sector employees will expect to receive and deliver services in a 21st century fashion, governments must put update workplace procedures, practices and tools to draw the future workforce to a public service career -- one that offers professional flexibility and social balance.
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Advantages of Greater Speed and Accuracy to Promote Adoption of Smart Card Applications by Healthcare Sector
London, England

The European telemedicine market is experiencing rapid growth. The ability to provide effective care for chronic and acute conditions in a cost-effective manner is enabling telemedicine to penetrate new markets. Frost & Sullivan finds that the European Telemedicine Market earned revenues of $87.48 million in 2005 and estimates this to reach $690.2 million in 2012.

"The focus of the telemedicine market has shifted from curing to prevention", notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst C.R.Hema Varshika "The need for efficient disease management together with the trend towards home care management will have a significant impact on the future of the European telemedicine market."
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IMS and UMA Networks, Subscribers Protected With Comprehensive Security System
Boston, Massachussetts

Sipera Systems, the leader in pure security for VoIP, mobile and multimedia communications, debuted the Sipera IPCS 510, a comprehensive, real-time security system to protect IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) networks. The new product protects subscribers and core infrastructure against attacks, misuse and service abuse, such as voice spam and denial of service (DoS) attacks, by intelligently monitoring signaling and media traffic to detect and prevent anomalous behavior.

The world's wireless operators are implementing two technologies for access to new mobile services -- IMS and UMA. However, by opening the traditionally closed telephony networks to the Internet, operators face the possibility of hacker attacks, despite SIM authentication and IPSec/TLS encryption. Sipera's VIPER Labs has discovered thousands of potential threats against IMS and UMA networks over the past two years.

While many of these application-layer threats target operator infrastructures, causing the disruption of services and network downtime, the more damaging threats could be directed toward the subscribers. These attacks include stealth DoS, which could mean a constantly ringing phone or the hijacking of a handset to make unintended calls, which would prove costly for the subscriber or drain the battery. Subscribers could also become the target of voice spam, which are unsolicited bulk messages broadcast over the IMS network that are far more annoying than email spam.
Full Story

Columbia St. Mary's Hospital Goes Paperless With Mi-Forms Digital Writing and Data Capture System

Optiform and Mi-Co have announced that Columbia St. Mary's Hospital (CSM) in Milwaukee, WS has implemented an electronic digital writing and data capture system specifically designed to increase the efficiency and quality of data collected on cardiology patients.

"The time and cost savings of converting from the old paper process to a Mi-Forms mobile data capture solution will be significant for CSM. Essentially, the Mi-Forms solution for Tablet PCs eliminates tedious post-processing tasks associated with paper forms by allowing data to be entered while it is being collected," said Scott McLaughlin, Sr. Technical Advisor at Optiform who is directing the implementation at CSM.

Lori McDonald, Cardiac Database Coordinator at CSM stated that the hospital expects significant increase in data quality as well as major cost savings by replacing the previous paper process with the Mi-Forms mobile data capture process. One reason data quality will increase with the Mi-Forms Software on the Tablet PCs is that business rules and real time data validations will now be done at the point of data capture. Instead of routing incomplete or inaccurate forms back for corrections, data collectors will receive immediate feedback regarding the validity of each form before it is submitted. Currently, CSM collects over 700 data elements for specific cardiovascular procedures.
Full Story

Digi-Key Corporation and Ember Ink Global Distribution Agreement for ZigBee Networking Systems

Digi-Key Corporation and Ember today announced the signing of a global distribution agreement by which Digi-Key will market Ember's ZigBee compliant networking systems worldwide. Digi-Key is one of the world's fastest growing distributors of electronic components, currently shipping products to more than 140 countries around the globe. Ember is a leading provider of networking systems, with the highest number of customer deployments worldwide.

Products include Ember's EM250 System-on-Chip and EM260 ZigBee Co-Processor as well as InSight development kits for both platforms. Digi-Key will market Ember's products through both its print and online catalogs with the distribution agreement enabling Digi-Key to fulfill both the design and production quantity needs of its far-reaching customer base.
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Beyond Blogs and Wikis: Traction TeamPage Release 3.7 Delivers Secure and Scalable Web Collaboration

Traction Software, the leading developer of products for secure, scalable, web-based collaboration, today announced Traction TeamPage Release 3.7. New features added in this release include extensible widgets, edit history and rollback, inline sections, flexible outputs to any format, and upgraded mobile device support.

"Traction's products combine the group editing of a wiki, the simplicity of a blog, and a unique access control and comment model to provide secure, scalable web-based working communication and collaboration," said Greg Lloyd, Traction Co-Founder and President. "TeamPage 3.7 adds new capabilities to link, edit, discuss, and deliver web content securely to customers, suppliers and external stakeholders as well as groups within a single enterprise. These new capabilities are based on feedback from leading Consulting, Pharmaceutical, Finance and US Government customers."
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From Thunder Mountain the On-Line Store
http://www.thundermount.com

We Now Have Thinkpads!

Thunder Mountain now carries a complete line of Lenovo Thinkpad Notebook Computers (formerly known as IBM Thinkpad).

Lenovo 06896AU 3000 N-100 Series Notebook Computer	Lenovo 076125U 3000 C-100 Series Notebook Computer	Lenovo 076323U 3000 V-100 Series Notebook Computer

Most In-Demand

Creative Labs ZENV1GBWOR Zen V 1GB MP3 Player	LaCie LAC300728 External USB 2.0 Hard Drive - 250GB	Alestron SWOCR0016 OpticFilm 7200 Film and Negative Scanner

Whitebook Notebook Computers built by CTL:
Use our Whitebook Configurator to order your built-to-order notebook PC with Intel Mobile Centrino technology (Intel Pentium M processor, Intel 855 Chipset, and Intel Pro/Wireless Adaptor). Choose the amount of processor, RAM, storage space and software you desire to fit your budget. This is the best wireless connectivity mobile technology today!

NEW! CTL CTLU640A Travel Master Centrino Duo Mobile Pentium M Whitebook Notebook Computer	CTL CTLU553W Travel Master Centrino Pentium M Whitebook Notebook Computer	CTL CTLU554W Travel Master Centrino Pentium M Whiteboko Notebook Computer

TMIS Partners

Announcing our new business partner Constant Contact, a web-based email marketing service. Create and send professional email newsletters and promotions, grow and manage your email list and track results. No technical expertise required. Phone and email support included. Try it free for 60 days!

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Announcing our new partnership in affiliation with WebAssist. WebAssist makes the Web work with market-leading extensions (software add-ons) for the Adobe (formerly Macromedia) platform in eCommerce and productivity. Through custom integration services, WebAssist empowers businesses to extend their product's reach into the world-wide developer market.

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Through our partnership with Rite2U, we also offer over 30,000 computer and video game products. Our Full Stock Web Site is designed to make your buying experience a pleasant one. You have access to thousands of brand name computer products manufacturers. Our wide range of choices makes us truly a "one stop shop" for whatever you're looking for. We offer real time pricing and availability so you can be assured that we have the product when you need it at a competitive price. Your satisfaction is our highest priority. Use our Microsoft Licensing Wizard on the site to easily add to or extend your requirements for office software licenses.

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We are partners with the Northwest's premier commercial printer, Centerpoint Graphics!

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Ask us about government and education discounts on computer hardware and electronic equipment for schools and local governments.

If you can be efficient, you can be effective!

TM Information Services P.O. Box 1516; Orting, WA 98360
email: info@tminformationservices.com
TMIS Web site: http://www.tminformationservices.com
Thunder Mountain the On-Line Store: http://www.thundermount.com

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