Take-Up Rates for TM's HSBB To Be Small

OSK Research expects the take-up rates for TM Bhd's high speed broadband (HSBB) service to be small in the initial years.

This is because the addressable market comprised areas, already served by its existing fixed broadband service, Streamyx.

The research firm stated the take-up rates will also be small, due to competition from wireless alternatives, which present a greater value proposition given their mobility feature.

"We see the revenue impact from HSBB as insignificant for financial year 2010 and have only factored in minimal revenue contribution for 2011," it said in a research note here Tuesday.

However, OSK Research believes a key success factor and major driver for the take-up of TM's HSBB would be a good subscriber experience, especially in the early days of the rollout.

"We believe the perceived value of HSBB comes from what the service is able to offer in terms of broadband quality rather than for content, at least in the medium-term," it said.

Source : BERNAMA

Asiaspace Wimax Targets Between Up To 5,000 Subscribers

Asiaspace Wimax Sdn Bhd has target at least 3,000 to 5,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year, with the launch of its "amax city" Tuesday.

It is the first virtual city within Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) that allows unlimited online access to services and facilities through a convenient internet gateway.

"There is demand at the TPM. We are targeting the 162 tenants in this area including media agencies, content providers, online game developers, IT companies and software developers," its vice president, marketing and operation, Ahmad Shah told reporters after the launch of the amax city.

The launch was officiated by Minister of Information, Communications and Culture, Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim.

The virtual project was set up by Asiaspace WiMax and introduces the MIMOS WiWi Technology platform - the world's first hybrid solution that integrates WiMax (IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMax) and WiFi technologies.

He said it operates on a 2.3 Gigahertz frequency and is designed as an alternative for last-mile connectivity.

According to him, it also provides a solution for the Broadband for General Population (BBGP).

He said the first phase of development of amax city would cover many prime areas in TPM, as well as universities and colleges.

Users will enjoy the facilities provided within the coverage zone, which is over 700 hectares.

Ahmad said Asiaspace WiMax owns amax WiMax, a wireless high-speed broadband provider that guarantees strong and reliable service to subscribers within its coverage area, currently at 20 per cent of the population in the Klang Valley.

Asiaspace WiMax provides wireless broadband service based on the WiMax technology to commercial and residential customers under the amax brand.

Source : BERNAMA

Views : Malaysia's First Review Portal

Views.com.my is a fun and engaging place for passionate and opinionated influencers to share the experiences they've had with local businesses and services. Simply put it's word of mouth - amplified. And now Views can help savvy business owners get the most out of their online reputation.

Views is open, transparent, and free. People are free to read, free to write, and free to start a new listing. Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate: customers, businesses, employees — anyone with an VIEWS or something to say.

In this profit-focused, tech-driven world, customer service seems nothing more than an afterthought for many businesses-large and small. Consumers, fed up with having their complaints dismissed or, even worse, ignored entirely, are demanding a platform where they can take action and make an impact. Such an outlet is the idea behind Views: a platform created to serve the consumer. You become the local expert and the consumer voice of revenge or promotion making the world more polite and satisfying through the power you wield.

Views.com.my is the Malaysia's first review portal.

Conficker Virus Begins To Attack PCs

A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.

Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.

The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into "slaves" that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.

Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincent Weafer, a vice president with Symantec Security Response, the research arm of the world's largest security software maker, Symantec Corp.

"Expect this to be long-term, slowly changing," he said of the worm. "It's not going to be fast, aggressive."

Conficker installs a second virus, known as Waledac, that sends out e-mail spam without knowledge of the PC's owner, along with a fake anti-spyware program, Weafer said.

The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnet that has existed for several years and specializes in distributing e-mail spam.

"This is probably one of the most sophisticated botnets on the planet. The guys behind this are very professional. They absolutely know what they are doing," said Paul Ferguson, a senior researcher with Trend Micro Inc, the world's third-largest security software maker.

He said Conficker's authors likely installed a spam engine and another malicious software program on tens of thousands of computers since April 7.

He said the worm will stop distributing the software on infected PCs on May 3 but more attacks will likely follow.

"We expect to see a different component or a whole new twist to the way this botnet does business," said Ferguson, a member of The Conficker Working Group, an international alliance of companies fighting the worm.

Researchers had feared the network controlled by the Conficker worm might be deployed on April 1 since the worm surfaced last year because it was programed to increase communication attempts from that date.

The security industry formed the task force to fight the worm, bringing widespread attention that experts said probably scared off the criminals who command the slave computers.

The task force initially thwarted the worm using the Internet's traffic control system to block access to servers that control the slave computers.

Viruses that turn PCs into slaves exploit weaknesses in Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Conficker worm is especially tricky because it can evade corporate firewalls by passing from an infected machine onto a USB memory stick, then onto another PC.

The Conficker botnet is one of many such networks controlled by syndicates that authorities believe are based in eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China and Latin America.

Source : Reuters

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