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Combining the high octane drama of a James Bond chase with cutting edge fashion a la Miami Vice, the Powerboat P1 glitterati live life in the fast lane. Powerboat P1 is the world’s premium marine motorsport, with teams from around the globe racing at jaw dropping speeds exceeding 125 miles per hour in supercharged mono-hull powerboats.

Measuring up to 13 meters and weighing as much as seven tones, these twin engine powerboats generate up to 1800 horse power – three times the power of a Lamborghini sports car - resulting in almost 40% more horsepower on the starting grid of a P1 event than Formula One.

Fans from around the globe can also follow the action watching the TV footage, now broadcast worldwide and available in 500million homes. Mobiado will receive extensive branding at all world championship race villages.

Peter Bonac, president of Bonac Innovation, said: "Mobiado is proud to be an official sponsor of the Powerboat P1 World Championship. We look forward to a long and prosperous working relationship, and are thrilled to be part of this prestigious series."

Powerboat P1 chief operating officer, Robert Wicks, welcomed the addition of the luxury mobile phone brand to the series. He said: “We are delighted to have Mobiado on board as one of our key luxury partners for 2010. Our alliance with the innovative mobile phone manufacturer upholds the integrity of our VIP experience and the championship’s reputation as a popular attraction amongst ultra high net worth individuals.”

For low and medium density data centres, Rittal’s CRAC system operates by drawing in warm air from the server enclosures at the top of the unit and then cooling the air either with water or Dx Refrigerant R407c in a closed heat exchanger. The cooled air is then filtered and blown under positive pressure to the false floor from where it rises into the cold aisle.

Repositioning of the fan allows cool air to be distributed unimpeded into the raised floor avoiding unnecessary diversions of the airflow with flow resistance minimised. An added benefit of moving the fan into the floor void, allows for a greater air-to-water heat exchanger to be installed offering a greater heat transfer rate.

Rittal's climate control system not only cools but also keeps the humidity at a constant level. Available in output ratings up to 118kW effective cooling capacity the system can be integrated into an existing IT infrastructure in terms of both hardware and software.

The merger is set to make Vodafone number three in the top UK mobile operators, after the merged couple and O2. Both Orange and T-Mobile are looking for cost cutting efficiencies, following the approval of their merger by the European Union.

Vodafone is making the new job cuts on top of those hacked away last year, in its £1 billion cost cut drive; the £1 billion was the amount Vodafone feared it would lose in the recession.

Last November Vodafone announced it intended to reduce overheads by an additional £1 billion by 2012, as it has reached its initial cost reduction goal one year ahead of schedule.

Trade Unions have expressed strong disappointment over Vodafone’s announcement.

Vodafone has around 9000 staff in the UK.

Monies from this round of funding have been earmarked for sales and marketing, with five new sales offices opening in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Bombay.

“To meet global advertiser demand and publisher interest, Todacell is using this round of funding to open five offices in key US and international markets,” said Moshe Vaknin, Todacell CEO and founder. “After more than a decade of experience in digital marketing, it sure is an exciting time to be in mobile advertising.”

Todacell is a publisher-centric mobile ad network whose proprietary inventory analysis technology examines and maps a publisher’s ad inventory based on user data, location, time, and the performance of ad campaigns on that publisher’s mobile website or application. This process results in a very accurate match between publisher and advertiser, generating better ad performance for advertisers while providing greater ad revenue for publishers.

“Todacell’s technology and analysis of our mobile site and application enables them to deliver effective campaigns that exceed our advertisers’ goals, which in turn generates greater revenue for eBuddy,” said Rogier van den Heuvel, VP world sales, eBuddy. “Thanks to Todacell, mobile advertising can be a win-win for advertisers and publishers, too.”

Todacell works with a select group of publishers including Fring, MobiLuck, Mocospace and TuneWiki. By limiting the range of publishers that the company works with, they are able to better optimise performance for each publisher. The limited list of publishers also ensures that advertisers know exactly on which publishers their campaigns will appear, bringing complete publisher transparency to the mobile marketing industry.

Beyond advertising on traditional mobile phones, Todacell’s ad network enables advertisers to reach other non-phone mobile devices, including hand-held gaming consoles by Nintendo, Playstation and Sega, and soon Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle.

According to J.P. Morgan industry analyst Imran Kahn, mobile display advertising space in which Todacell operates will grow 81% this year from $140 million in 2009 to $253 million in 2010.

To date, Todacell has secured $2 million from AfterDox and others, including $350,000 seed funding from the Fore Group.

The app, called ‘Pets like you’, was created by London digital agency Marvellous to cater for the growing popularity of apps on Nokia handsets.

Although Apple’s iPhone has so far dominated the apps market there are visible signs that other vendors are beginning to catch up. And Nokia, who has recently launched its apps hub Nokia Ovi store, is now keen for app developers to tap into its massive user base.

Marvellous has been making headlines creating award winning apps and now wanted to leverage its experience with Nokia handsets. The ‘Pets like you’ app showcases Nokia’s capabilities in entertainment, interactivity and social networking.

Jon Carney, CEO of Marvellous, stated: “The popularity of apps and the rise over the past year has been phenomenal and there’s a real opportunity to connect with Nokia users. We know the capabilities of high end Nokia’s, and can create super slick experiences on their platform.

“Strangely enough there is an eerie resemblance on the part of pets and people so we thought that this could be explored really well and made easy for friends and family to share it with a smile.”

Keith Varty, head of services at Nokia, said: “Nokia is thrilled with the exciting new, content available through Ovi store, such as great apps from Marvellous. It’s good to see agencies developing both useful and fun Ovi apps.”

With a simple, easy to use interface, Opera Mini offers a desktop-like web browsing experience on a mobile phone, with favourite features such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, password manager and bookmarks. With Opera Mini optimised for Android, more people will be able to get a PC-like browsing experience on their mobile handsets. “Android users should not have to compromise when it comes to surfing the web on their phones. Opera Mini will give Android users a fast and cost efficient access to their favourite web sites and services,” said Dag Olav Norem, vice president of products, Opera Software.

This follows an extensive period of consultation with more than thirty organisations. During the consultation respondents were asked for their views on measures to facilitate the release and use of spectrum to support the successful deployment of next generation networks and improve coverage across the UK.

The Government's response to this consultation has now been published online and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has set out its plans in Parliament.

The directions will: Ensure the release of additional electromagnetic spectrum for use by providers of next generation wireless mobile broadband; Allow early deployment and maximum coverage of next generation wireless broadband; Result in greater investment certainty for operators.

Digital Britain Minister Stephen Timms said: "The package we have laid out represents the best and fairest way forward for managing spectrum. We have listened carefully to the views put forward during our consultation and have made appropriate changes, taking into account the interests of both industry and consumers.

“The release of new spectrum will speed up the realisation of next generation mobile broadband, benefiting mobile users across the country."

BIS's response to the consultation on spectrum modernisation can be found at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/ofcom-wireless-modernisation-programme and http://www.berr.gov.uk/consultations/page53062.html

The winner of the O2 Approved Prize will win a dream holiday for two to Mauritius, and the non-approved stockist winner will win a 50 inch Plasma TV.

As well as luxury prizes, HSC’s O2 dealers will benefit from increased revenue share, claimed Carlos Pestana, HSC sales manager. He commented on O2 Plus BlackBerry: “This promotion underlines our commitment to O2, BlackBerry and our O2 stockists whether they are O2 Approved or not.

“We want to encourage our partners to increase BlackBerry penetration into our whole O2 stockist base, helping our partners to sell the best solution for their customers, therefore increasing their ARPU, and subsequently, revenue share. Simply start connecting O2 BlackBerry to be in with a chance of winning!”

O2 Plus BlackBerry runs from 1 March to 30 June and is open to all HSC O2 Approved and standard stockists. To celebrate the launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) Express, HSC is offering double points for all BES Express connections as part of the O2 Plus BlackBerry incentive.

All new pay monthly BlackBerry connections will count towards each dealer’s total points. A minimum criteria of 40 new O2 BlackBerry connections over the incentive period for Approved and 10 for non-approved must be achieved to be eligible for the incentive.

In 2009 HSC was awarded O2 Centre of Excellence status, and in July it began offering the O2 Approved programme to a select group of HSC O2 stockists. HSC has repeatedly exceeded its connections target since then and has grown to be one of O2’s key partners in 2009, leading into 2010. At the end of 2009 HSC had 19 Approved stockists, more than any other distributor.

David Plumb stated in a recent O2 partner communication: “Well done to Bob and everyone at HSC. Despite the tough economic conditions last year, you’ve grown your O2 volume by over 70% year on year, making you one of our fastest growing partners!”

When asked what their ‘birthday wish’ for women in IT would be, the female technologists from womenintechnology’s network gave a range of answers but equal treatment and equal pay were the top requests, as well as more support from both employers and fellow employees.

One respondent said “[I wish] that people would assume [women in IT] have interesting, innovative and strategic thinking without them having to work so hard to constantly establish credibility”. Another said she wished that women would “support each other rather than compete.”

The needs of working mums were also addressed with calls for women to be openly recognised as doing a great job even if in part-time work, as well as for more workplace benefits options surrounding things like childcare. Other wishes were for more role models for women in IT, more women in senior IT positions and for women to trust their own skills and abilities more.

“As one respondent pointed out, it has been 40 years since the Equal Pay Act and although we’ve made progress we still haven’t closed the gender pay gap, so that’s definitely a big hope for the future” says Maggie Berry, Managing Director of womenintechnology.co.uk. “These results show that we still have a way to go until women are on a par with men in the IT world but what’s great is that these ‘wishes’ are realistic ones that are within our reach. Since womenintechnology was established five years ago women have made great advances in the sector. We’re looking forward to the next five years and what will happen next!”

The PDK complements the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK), letting developers use C and C++ alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app.

The PDK enables new functionality, including immersive 3D graphics, and gives developers who have built games for other platforms an easy way to bring their titles to the webOS platform. Developers can download the beta PDK and start developing today, but distribution of games built with the beta PDK will require functionality provided in an upcoming Palm webOS update.

“Palm webOS is the go-to platform for great games on two of the three leading carrier networks,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, product marketing, Palm. “We have both the developer tools and the hardware necessary for a world-class gaming experience, and an impressive portfolio of webOS game titles from top-notch developers to show for it.”

Crisp has been brought on board to take responsibility for internal regulatory matters as required. He will provide full support and guidance to Dialogue and its customers worldwide whilst endeavouring to build on the commitment made by Dialogue to its adherence to global and domestic regulatory requirements.

“Moving from the regulatory side of the industry fence and working with Dialogue will provide me with the opportunity to look at the regulatory scene from a global perspective; the move should throw up some interesting and exciting challenges for me,” said Crisp.

“I see my appointment as a significant commitment by Dialogue, both to regulatory matters and to giving its customers the sort of world class service and support that has seen the company grow so successfully in recent years,” he added.

While with PhonepayPlus, Crisp was instrumental in introducing and leading on strategic changes which impacted on significant falls in consumer complaints. These changes also aided in developing an increased intelligence-led approach to investigations. As well as becoming knowledgeable on legal and regulatory issues effecting mobile messaging in the UK he gained valuable experience in planning and carrying out investigations and in making representations in front of internal tribunals.

Crisp has built useful relationships with other regulatory bodies including the ASA, the OFT, the SFO and HMRC as well as with UK mobile network operators and other industry stakeholders.

aql’s relationship to provide wholesale 3G machine to machine services with Wireless Logic has now been extended to another Peter Jones company, Data Select. Enabler aql will be providing access to Data Select’s fulfilment services to an entirely new channel and market.

Following over a year of design and engineering, aql has unbundled the 3 network, selling wholesale minutes and data access.

Head of MVNO at 3, David York, commented: “3 are actively looking for new MVNO channels and aql is building up a one stop fulfilment solution for specialist business comms providers.”

With many channel partners in the fixed line industry, including many of the UK’s IP telephony operators, aql intends to mobilise existing telephony offerings. In order to do that, aql had to identify a reliable, robust supplier for handsets and mobile hardware such as broadband dongles.

Adam Beaumont, MD of aql, said: "It’s an exciting time for us. We’re actively creating a new market for the fixed line operators and providing innovative services, such as call recording, landline numbers and centrex, all on a mobile platform and available to resellers and partners under their own brand.”

The promotion, which launched in January, has already attracted over 100 dealers. Five of the Orange distributors’ top performing dealers are in with a chance of winning an all expenses paid luxury trip to the beautiful Italian region of Tuscany with the opportunity to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Co-sponsored by Orange and BlackBerry, the incentive will run until the end of this month, with special weekly deals throughout the period including double points on all BlackBerry connections. Even bigger margins are available from BlackBerry with reduced prices on BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

“There is a real buzz surrounding the incentive,” commented Mainline’s director of dealer sales, Gail Hollinshead. “With increased chances of gaining additional points right up until the end of the competition, all of the dealers are still in with a chance of winning this amazing trip.

“We have already seen rising sales of BlackBerry handsets, which we can attribute to the incentive so this is likely to continue to the end of the month.”

Hollinshead added: “I’d like to wish good luck to all the participating dealers and look forward to announcing the winners soon.”

A growing mobile workforce has generated demand for access to enterprise information on handheld devices including the popular iPhone, wherever decisions are made: in the local retail store or bank branch; on the assembly line; or on the road. With BIRT Mobile Viewer, users get an extended rich interactive application experience for their work-related data that stretch beyond the confines of an office or Internet connection, making critical information immediately available.

Together the BIRT Mobile Viewer and BIRT OnDemand or a BIRT iServer, which generates and deploys BIRT content to various devices securely in a scheduled manner, enable iPhones, iPod touch and in the future, iPad users to view and work with BIRT content anywhere. BIRT can be accessed via BIRT onDemand on a fee-free trial basis.

Said Michael Fauscette, group vice president, Software Business Solutions, IDC: “Apple’s iPhone deserves credit for setting a new standard in delivering content and collaboration applications to an increasingly mobile workforce. With increased smartphone adoption, enterprises like Actuate are moving quickly to bring their solutions to the new desktop.

“By accessing the combination of a highly interactive user interface, location awareness and native functionality, enterprise users can experience desktop visibility and increased productivity while they’re away from the office,” Fauscette continued.

The mobile marketing and retail strategies report found that the mobile retail sector - defined by Juniper as comprising mobile coupon redemption values, smart poster fees and advertising expenditure – would initially be dominated by coupons.

However, it noted that mobile advertising expenditure would exceed coupon redemption values by 2013 as digital adspend is increasingly transferred into the mobile space.

Increasingly the retailing industry and brands are becoming aware of, and implementing the mobile device into, the retail cycle. According to report co-author Howard Wilcox: “Retailers have recognised that, even ahead of their wallets, people will usually make sure they do not leave home without their mobile device. The mobile channel offers merchants the opportunity to differentiate from their competition and acquire customers that become loyal.”

Meanwhile, additional factors such as the growth of the mobile web, the availability of high speed mobile broadband networks, and the ever-growing usage of SMS were offering retailers, brands and merchants new opportunities to communicate with customers and potential customers and to offer the ability for them to shop by mobile.

Other findings from the Juniper report include: For brands and retailers, mobile offers the ability to change campaigns quickly (for example by time of day), and crucially the ability to track the success and customer acquisition rates; Usage of the mobile in a live shopping situation can be particularly effective – for example for product price comparisons; While the mobile will be an effective channel for younger users who organise their lives around their mobile phones, older demographic groups are likely to be less receptive to using their mobiles in a retail situation.

“The challenge is that, while customers are intuitively aware that integrating elements of their fixed networks and mobile networks could provide benefits, practically speaking, FMC as an acronym is worth nothing to them.

Given that we are not sure ourselves as an industry about what FMC refers to, that is hardly surprising – Dual mode handsets, DECT, cellular, WiFi connectivity, etc. all offer elements of FMC, as do many other solutions.

While users (particularly SMEs) continue to be confused by the plethora of divergent approaches all claiming to be the same thing (the FMC Holy Grail), they will continue to sit on their hands and avoid purchasing decisions.

Another part of the problem around ‘out of the box’ solutions is the fact that most SMEs have both tactical and strategic requirements. Therefore, not only do they want/need an immediate solution, but they also want one that will grow with their needs.

The challenge for suppliers and resellers is therefore to specify solutions that can both work as is, but also contain the ability to grow and expand, as the needs of end users grow and they become more sophisticated in the use of the systems. Oh yes, and all within a typical SME budget i.e. small.

In this scenario, I would say that there isn’t a typical one size fits all solution.

For some users, a hosted solution such as Gamma Telecom's mobility solution, enables them to provide convergence at a low cost for just their mobile users, with the ability to add on more services across the user estate as and when required.

For other users, something similar to the Samsung Ubigate, which enables them to inexpensively add IP and mobile services onto their existing legacy PBX, may be attractive. And, of course, for those with a better vision and a more immediate need for greater FMC functionality, the Samsung OfficeServ range provides a better approach. But, at the end of the day, any ‘out of the box solution’ in FMC for SMEs will need tailoring to their actual tactical business requirements.”

The Vodafone App Star competition is open to any developer across the world and closes on 31 March 2010. Developers can choose to submit their app into one of eight markets (UK, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal or Spain) and the best entry in each market will receive €25,000. The second and third best entries will receive €15,000 and €10,000.

The winning entries from each market will then progress to a second round of the competition, where the top eight apps will be put to the public vote. The app with the highest number of public votes will win an additional €75,000, with the second place app receiving €25,000.

Budding developers searching for inspiration need look no further than the recent winner of the Vodafone 360 Developer Conference App Star Auditions, held at Mobile World Congress last month.

Smartrunner, a sports-tracking and geo-tracking app that helps you stay in shape using your mobile, was voted the best app at the show by an audience of international developers, winning a €1,000 cash prize as well as a Samsung H1 device. The German application informs you in real time about your average and maximum speed, distance and calories burnt.

Location-based services also rated highly among the developers attending the show: Italian-based Mobnotes, which provides a simple way of telling friends where you are and what you do, came in a close second followed by InfoBus Sevilla, a useful Spanish app to for checking waiting times at bus stops. Further highly commended apps from the show included Mirotele, a Spanish widget, which recommends the best TV programmes any day and time according to your likes and preferences, and Weatherbug, a British app which provides current UK weather information.

Vodafone’s internal research has found that Lifestyle & Entertainment is the most popular application category in the Vodafone 360 Apps Shop across all markets, while the most under represented categories are Shopping, Social Networks, Food & Drink and Weather.

Developers can enter the Vodafone App Star competition at www.jil.org/vodafone/appstar

SVG and Flash are becoming increasingly popular with operators as an alternative to standard browser solutions, offering them smoother animations and transitions and a more attractive user interface.

The App Store UI has been created to be easily modified and re-branded to suit the customer’s requirements. It is designed for a smooth and attractive user experience in High Definition and is integrated with the same back-end services that operate all of Accedo’s App Store solutions.

“SVG and Flash are attractive platform for IPTV interfaces, offering a more attractive user interface than in the past, while still being easy and flexible to work wwith,” commented Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo Broadband. “We have had a lot of customer requests for SVG and Flash compatibility of our solutions and think that these platforms will be widely deployed in the next year.”