Mega Trends in Telecom

1) convergence . . . . . . . . 01

2) network capacity and economics . . . . . 02

3) mobile internet . . . . . . . . 03

4) telecom and content delivery . . . . 06

5) smart devices . . . . . . . 08

6) video explosion . . . . . . . . 12

7) year of google . . . . . . . . 13

8) network services and apps and app stores . . 14

9) cloud computing & services . . . . . 16

1) convergence :

Background:There is widespread agreement that convergence is occurring at the technological level. Thatis to say that digital technology now allows both traditional and new communication services - whether voice, data, sound or pictures - to be provided over many different networks.Current activity in the market suggests that operators from the sectors affected by convergence are acting on the opportunities provided by technological advances to enhance their traditional services and to branch out into new activities. Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology sectors are seeking cross- product and cross-platform

development as well as cross- sector share-holding. Examples of new products and services being delivered include:– Home-banking and home-shopping over the Internet,– Voice over the Internet;– E-mail, data and World Wide Web access over mobile phone networks, and the use of wireless links to homes and businesses to connect them to the fixed telecommunications networks;– Data services over digital broadcasting platforms; – On-line services combined with television via systems such as Web-TV, aswell as delivery via digital satellites and cable modems; – Webcasting of news, sports, concerts and of other audiovisual services.Such developments represent concrete examples of an Information Society in Europe. They show its potential to touch the lives of every citizen. They also highlight a significant change in the range and diversity of traditional

telecommunications and media services.

ii) definition and scope : the ability of different network platforms to carry essentially similar kinds of services, or the coming together of consumer devices such as the telephone, television and personal computer.in a way it can be described as - “any idea developed today should run on all the three platforms with out changing it “mobile being the first,laptop or pc is the second, telivision being the third .

iii) the enable role of technology Computer technology now plays a key role in content creation and production in both cinema and broadcasting worlds. The ways in which audio-visual material is produced, delivered and consumed are evolving. Content is becoming “scaleable” so that it can be used in different environments and delivered on different network infrastructures. The basic building block is the MPEG family of standards for the digital encoding of moving images.6 Once encoded in this format, images may be modified, manipulated, or transmitted in the same way as any other digital information. The systems and networks handling such information are of course indifferent to the nature of the source material, be it image, sound or text. Digital source encoding thus forms the basis of technological convergence.

iv) conclusion :The emergence of new services and the development of existing services are expected to expand the overall information market, providing new routes to the citizen and building on Europe’s rich cultural heritage, its potential for innovation and its creative ambitions.

The global nature of communications platforms today, particularly, the Internet, are providing a key which opens the door to the further integration of the World economy. At the same time, the low cost of establishing a presence on the World Wide Web, is making it possible for businesses of all sizes to develop a regional and global reach. Globalisation will be key theme in future developments, as changes in Europe are mirrored by developments all over the World.

2)Network Capacity and Economics• Bandwidth demand is growing almost exponentially • Video is the major contributor, impacting both wireless and broadband networks •

More spectrum will be needed for mobile networks; but also moreefficient use of the spectrum; LTE is one of the answers

• More network capacity will need to be deployed, but network economics will be very critical

• Network optimization and backhaul / access optimization will be a major area of focus• Cloud Computing will be part of the answer – more on this later! • Also need better

distribution of content , better allocation of processingbetween network and devices

• Need better tools for policy management, and • Need regulatory flexibility re Net Neutrality, etc.

i) long tail economics :The 'long tail' was first introduced by Chris Anderson in Wired magazine circa October 2004. Anderson based the theory on a statistical concept called 'long-tailed distribution.' Since then, it has become one of the most significant new business concepts driven by the internet age, and is applicable to almost all industries.A long tail simply implies that if a company supplies a certain product that is difficult to get a hold of, the sum of demand from lots of different places will be big enough to make supplying it feasible.We see this concept emerging within the web analytics' sector: Google has provided easier, more flexible tools to everyone, and the demand for more detailed, specific analytics' data has increased dramatically.Within a traditional high-street purchase environment, catering to the demand for a niche product for a tiny group of customers simply isn't feasible. This is especially relevant in smaller towns and shops, but when the same niche demand exists across the world, the combination of a lot of smaller groups makes up a much larger market.Amazon, Netflix and iTunes are the most notable of internet giants catering to this need. Each site provides consumers the opportunity to purchase books, movies or songs they could never before find in bricks-and-mortar stores. The sales/rentals of these items won't be huge, but due to the low cost of storage, transacting and shipping, it becomes an extremely viable business and often competes head-to-head with the total sales generated by the big contemporary hits.

3) Mobile Internet :The present trend of surfing internet had a tremendous effect on mobile .often people used to check their tweets in the safari of their mac books which used to take quiet a bit of time . but the trend had changed ,now often people opens safari in thier smartphones which is simpler,smarter and easier to browse and more no of times. 2G and 3G The analog mobile phones that first came on the market in the 1980s are now considered first-generation. Second-generation, or 2G, mobile phones became available in the 1990s when the market for mobile phones exploded. 3G mobile phone networks were meant to solve many of the problems associated with 2G, and to create many value-added services for mobile phone users. The future of mobile phone networks, the yet-to-exist 4G and 5G networks, are already being discussed and debated.

Speed: The main difference between the 2G and 3G spectrum is the 3G network is significantly faster. The 2G spectrum uses airwaves to transmit information, much like the first-generation networks, at about nine kilobytes per second. 3G networks are capable of two megabytes per second, more than 200 times faster than 2G networks. Even when they are operating slowly, 3G networks are at least ten times faster than 2G. This increase in speed is achieved by sending information as packets and utilizing much higher bandwidth than 2G can handle.

Connectivity

When 2G networks were set up, mobile phones were still used almost exclusively for phone conversations, with a few other options thrown in. 3G networks allow this notion to be abandoned by allowing constant connectivity. Instead of connecting to the network for a phone call and then disconnecting again, 3G phones are always connected. This has allowed for many value-added services, such as email clients and GPS, to be incorporated into mobile phones.

Regional Compatibility

One of the biggest complaints about the 2G network was phones could work in Europe or North America, but not both. Different implementations of 2G (CDMA, TDMA, GSM and so forth) were never integrated, and phone manufacturers had to choose which implementation their phones would work on. 3G was supposed to change all that, but there are still two different standards bodies: 3GPP for Europe and Asia and 3GPP2 for North America. Some mobile phones are able to operate in both regions.

Technical Compatibility

3G mobile phones are backwards-compatible, running without a problem on 2G networks. Of course, being restricted to the low speeds available on a 2G network means many of the applications 3G users are

used to will crawl along. 2G networks that have implemented packet switching are called 2.5G networks. Both 2G and 3G phones can use these networks, but the speed is closer to 2G than 3G.

Analysis and Comparison of 1G , 2G , 3G ,4G and 5G Telecom Services

Present Status of Telecom Services

The telecommunication service in World had a great leap within a last few year. . 6 billion people own a mobile phones so we are going to analyze the various generations of cellular systems as studied in the evolution of mobile communications from 1st generation to 5th generation .Now almost all the service providers as well as the customers seek for availing these 3G and 4G services. We can analyze that this could be due to increase in the telecoms customers day by day. In the present time, there are four generations in the mobile industry. These are respectively 1G the first generation, 2G the second generation, 3G the third generation, and then the 4G the forth generation. Ericson a Swedish company is launching this high tech featured mobile into the market. It is being first introduced in the Swedish Capital city, Stockholm.

Analysis of 1G and 2G services

In 1G, Narrow band analogue wireless network is used, with this we can have the voice calls and can send text messages. These services are provided with circuit switching. Today’s the usual call starts from the beginning pulse to rate to the final rate. Then in case of 2G Narrow Band Wireless Digital Network is used. It brings more clarity to the conversation and both these circuit-switching model.

Both the 1G and 2G deals with voice calls and has to utilize the maximum bandwidth as well as a limited till sending messages i.e. SMS. The latest technologies such as GPRS, is not available in these generations. But the greatest disadvantage as concerned to 1G is that with this we could contact with in the premises of that particular nation, where as in case of 2G the roaming facility a semi-global facility is available.

What is 3G Generation

But to overcome the limitations of 2G and 2.5G the 3G had been introduced. In this 3G Wide Brand Wireless Network is used with which the clarity increases and gives the perfection as like

that of a real conversation. The data are sent through the technology called Packet Switching .Voice calls are interpreted through Circuit Switching.

3G and 4G Features

With the help of 3G, we can access many new services too. One such service is the GLOBAL ROAMING. Another thing to be noted in case of 3G is that Wide Band Voice Channel that is by this the world has been contracted to a little village because a person can contact with other person located in any part of the world and can even send messages too. Then the point to be noted is that 3G gives clarity of voice as well can talk with out any disturbance. Not only these but also have entertainments such as Fast Communication, Internet, Mobile T.V, Video Conferencing, Video Calls, Multi Media Messaging Service (MMS), 3D gaming, Multi-Gaming etc are also available with 3G phones.

Main 4G Features

Then with the case of Fourth Generation that is 4G in addition to that of the services of 3G some additional features such as Multi-Media Newspapers, also to watch T.V programs with the clarity as to that of an ordinary T.V. In addition, we can send Data much faster that that of the previous generations.

What is the reason for delay in implementing 3G and 4G Mobile services?

It is very sad to say that the 3G services had only reached with in some towns of china, so that it may take time to reach to Other countries. Another major defect of this is that Wide Band Frequency Spectrum, which is needed for 3G, is lacking. Another reason for this is that it a cost bearing item especially for sending data. So for us it is a higher one which could be used only by upper classes. If it should be accepted among all customers, firstly it should be availed at a lower rate, for which the rate of spectrum should be declined.

4) telecom and content delivery: Full-Service Content Delivery Network

Telephone companies and Service Providers around the world have realized that offering basic connectivity services is not adequate to retain their customer base and compete effectively in the broadband era. They need to evolve into value-added service providers in order to revamp the declining average revenue per user (ARPU). Bundling video and high-speed data with voice

services will help operators to compete effectively and offer an alternative to the cable and satellite dominated home entertainment market.

INTRACOM TELECOM has developed and offers a complete, future-proof IPTV and Multi-Play service platform that enables Service providers to offer value-added services over their broadband networks. INTRACOM TELECOM Full Service Content Delivery Network (fs|cdn™)platform allows Service Providers to bundle video (IPTV) with existing data and telephony services and offer a complete service package to their customers.

fs|cdn™ includes all elements required for the acquisition, encryption, distribution and reception of digital content, starting from the video encoders and video-on-demand servers, the content encryption modules and going all the way until the IP Set Top Boxes and theInteractive Service Guide for the end users to access a plethora of value - added services .

The platform also includes a wealth of Management Tools and Back - Office interfaces while the solution is completed with the necessary business and technical consulting, as well as the customization services that an operator or service provider may require to successfully complete the total IPTV and Multi-Play service offering.

In the aforementioned list of platform modules and components, INTRACOM TELECOM owns, develops, and continuously enhances:

● the Middleware (both server and client / Set-top Box side)

● the Conditional Access / Content Protection (both server client / Set-top Box side)

● the Service Management modules and interactive applications

The total solution is complemented by It's not just TV

encoders, Video on Demand servers and Set Top Boxes manufactured by selected 3rd party partners, nevertheless all tightly integrated by, INTRACOM TELECOM, as part of a turn-key project.

Telecoms companies decide Google should pay for YouTube content delivery

Several European telecoms companies have decided to take issue with Google and the delivery of video content from its YouTube site.

The telecom companies are willing to discuss compensation with Google, but are also attempting to get media companies to join in the fight. In doing so, it is hoped revenue streams can be established from Google to both the network operators and media providers beyond what they already get. If that doesn’t work, then the networks will turn to regulators to provide a solution.

5) smarter devices :i) what is a PDA?:

The PDA has been accepted by many construction firms to aid the management of punch lists, safety inspections, and maintenance work. They can be thin or thick devices, but are often a combination of the two, having connectivity, but containing programs to operate even when out of range of WiFi or coverage. PDAs are durable, inexpensive, and very portable (being worn on a clip or carried in a pocket). The small screen size and limited ability to quickly enter data are the drawbacks of this device.

ii) what is a Smart phones ?:

A smart phone is basically a mobile phone and PDA combined into one IA. Other functionalities

such as digital camera and voice recorder are common. Data entry, like with the PDA, is by stylus or

keypad and cumbersome. Many have web browsing capabilities but the small screen size diminishes

the utility of this function to viewing email, weather reports, or some web content. Both PDA and smart phones have calendars, task lists, and phone lists, but they are useful to superintendents when coupled

with the phone functions as is the case with the latter. opular devices include the Blackberry and Treo, the pocket pc, Iphone and Droid all are popular because of their web/email abilities and ease of use.

iii) Operating System: In general, a smartphone will be based on an operating system that allows it to run productivity applications. BlackBerry smartphones run the BlackBerry OS , while other devices run the Palm OS or Windows Mobile . There are smartphone OSes that are pared-down versions of desktop Linux, too.

iv) Software: While almost all cell phones include some sort of software (even the most basic models these days include an address book or some sort of contact manager, for example), a smartphone will have the ability to do more. It may allow you to create and edit Microsoft Office documents--or at least view the files . It may allow you to download applications, such as personal and business finance managers. Or it may allow you to edit photos, get ] driving directions via GPS , and create a playlist of digital tunes.

v) Web Access: More smartphones can access the Web at higher speeds, thanks to the growth of 3 G data networks and the addition of Wi-Fi support to many handsets. Still, while not all smartphones offer high-speed Web access, they all offer some sort of access. You can use your smartphone to browse your favorite sites.QWERTY Keyboard: By our definition, a smartphone includes a QWERTY keyboard. This means that the keys are laid out in the same manner they would be on your computer keyboard--not in alphabetical order on top of a numeric keypad, where you have to tap the number 1 to enter an A, B, or C. The keyboard can be hardware (physical keys that you type on) or software (on a touch screen, like you'll find on the iPhone).

- Top 5 mobile app development skills in demand :

Bangalore: As the tech predictions suggest, mobile app industry is going to be one of high tech's hottest sectors. As per a new study by research firm Gartner, mobile applications downloaded from online stores will be a $58 billion worldwide business by 2014. Driven by the popularity of the iPhone and Android operating system, the demand for skilled app developers is reaching the highest point ever. This trend is likely to follow the fast growth of iPhone projects which saw more than 8,800 jobs completed on Elance in 2009. In addition, Android is rising fast in the ranking of skills in demand, with more than 170 projects posted in early 2010. Analyzing the increasing demand for mobile app developers we have picked up five mobile application skills that are ruling the job market of app developers today.

1. Java : Application programming for Android-based cell phones is primarily done in Java. Android includes a set of core libraries that provides most of the

functionality available in the core libraries of the Java programming language. Having Java as the base language, is one of the key assets of Android as a whole and one of its key success factors. Google will engage engineers to create a range of apps from games to services based on users' location, and for the purpose it is hunting for mobile app developers who are at home with Java. 2. Objective CApple's iPhone has created a great buzz in the Smartphone industry because of its rich UI and plethora of features. The demand for iPhone app developers is increasing and knowing the new platform and skills is all what developers need to do. Writing objective C program code from scratch, ability to use existing APIs and knowledge of various frameworks needed for development is must thing which iPhone developers should know.

3. HTML5Although there has been no finalized HTML5 standard, but a lot of web browsers, and even mobile web browsers, have now some HTML5 capabilities. And, it will really help in the

development cycle for basic applications. HTML5 will take us miles forward and diminish the difference between the desktop and the mobile environment. HTML5 is a critical step for mobile web application development. Some of the key elements that it provides are - offline support, canvas and video, geolocation API and advanced forms.

4. HB++HB++ is considered to be one of the best development environments for Windows mobiles and Palm OS smartphones. HB++ for Palm OS is designed to accelerate the development of robust, enterprise-grade Palm OS applications for today's mobile workforce. With the use of HB++, developing handheld applications and connecting them to the enterprise data becomes fast and easy.

5. Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight is a website application development framework that is indeed these days as it incorporates multimedia, animation and graphics. Although Adobe's incumbent Flash platform remains more popular, it is competing with Flash, java FX and AJAX as well in the world of mobile app development. Apart from providing high quality video, Silverlight application development also gives complete control over rich media content to the content providers.

The list of certainly not exhaustive. Adding to the above five skills, there are some other mobile app development skills as well that the employers are creating demand for. Some of theses skills are - Qt, Adobe Flash Lite, CSS programming, Python and Apple's proprietary Xcode development language. As the sales of mobile devices is growing, so as the demand for specialized talents.

case studies a)

windows phone 7 :

“Windows® Phone 7 provides an exciting new opportunity for companies and developers to build applications that

travel with users, are interactive and attractive, and are available whenever and wherever users want to work with them.By combining Windows Phone 7 applications with on-premises services and applications, or remote services and applications that run in the cloud (such as those using the Windows Azure™ technology platform), developers can create highly scalable, reliable, and powerful applications that extend the functionality beyond the traditional desktop or laptop; and into a truly portable and much more accessible environment.This guide describes a scenario around a fictitious company named Tailspin that has decided to encompass Windows Phone 7 as a client device for their existing cloud-based application. Their Windows Azure-based application named Surveys is described in detail in a previous book in this series, Developing Applications for the Cloud on the Microsoft Windows Azure Platform. For more information about that book, see the page by the same name on MSDN® at (http :// msdn . microsoft . com / en - us / library / ff 966499. aspx ).In addition to describing the client application, its integration with the remote services, and the decisions made during its design and implementation, this book discusses related factors, such as the design patterns used, the capabilities and use of Windows Phone 7, and the ways that the application could be extended or modified for other scenarios.The result is that, after reading this book, you will be familiar with how to design and implement applications for Windows Phone 7 that take advantage of remote services to obtain and upload data while providing a great user experience on the device.

6) video explosion & E-Learning :

with the coming of 3G 90 percent of bandwidth utilization is through video . through e learning and may other ways. with 3G the bandwith atleast multiplies thrice and through mobile only u can download movies and even listen to online video courses like NPTEL.

Using video is eLearning is a double-edged sword. It can make a learning experience much more interesting, exciting, and engaging, but technical issues can often negate the positive effects. It’s important to be aware of this before getting too far…

Creating Video

Any video file can be converted to a Flash video file (.flv) using the Flash 8 Video Encoder or a third - party application .

Viewing Video

The learner just needs to have the Flash player plugin installed and they’ll be able to view the video. Just a year or two ago, deploying video meant that the learner would have to download and install a specialized plugin such as RealPlayer, QuickTime, or Windows Media Player. (Yes, I realize the Flash player technically is a plugin, but it has become so ubiquitous that I don’t consider it to be a specialized plugin that requires effort to obtain.)

File Size

If you’ve ever worked with video, you probably know that its file size can be quite big. If you use video in your eLearning, you may want to split it out into smaller chunks, constrain the width and height of the video (so that it isn’t huge on the screen), and try to compress the video as much as possible using the Flash Video Encoder or whatever application(s) you prefer. Flash is known for being able to stream information to the user. This works especially well on high-speed internet connections; learners are able to begin watching a video while the rest of it is downloading. This is called progressive download. Assuming the connection is fast enough, there won’t be any interruptions as the learner watches the video. For slower connections, I recommend automatically pausing the movie as soon as it starts loading and instructing the learner to hit the play button once the movie has fully downloaded. They can start watching it earlier, but it’s possible that the rate which they’re watching the video is faster than the download rate. When this happens, the video will stop dead in its tracks. That’s not a great experience for the learner.

If you want to get fancy and use the Flash Media Server , it can automatically determine the users connectivity and then serve up the most appropriate version of the video (ex. low-quality, medium-quality, high-quality). It can also do true video streaming, which allows the user to watch the video as the bits are downloaded, which is as live as it gets. This method also prevents the user from saving the video to their computers.

Tools for Working with Video

We use a Canon Elura 100 digital camcorder for recording our training

events at work. I dump the video to a PC via FireWire. I pull the video into Sony Vegas, resize the video when necessary, and then export it as .mpg files. At this point, I launch the Flash 8 Video Encoder and let it convert the .mpg files, usually over one or two days. Once everything is finished, I have several .flv files waiting for me. I open Flash 8, utilize the

FLVPlayback component, and build my eLearning as the situation requires. Did I mention that I love working with all of these cool toys?

7) apps and appstores :creating smart phone applications in this era of 2010 is very simple with a big competition over Internet where u can sell and earn money online there are huge number of forums where many app developers compete each other with the development of new innovative applications.imagine cup is an example of such a forum conducted by Microsoft and it issues many offers and services to the winners.Microsoft student partner is an event conducted exclusively for students to encourage them to have development experience of such a development .the leading competition for app store is from apple for iphone and ipad applications .as dated on jan 20th 2011 the application revenue has crossed 10 billion dollars. so you can expect the extent to which the business is reaching.The Apple App Store is a service for iOS devices (the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) offered by Apple Inc . which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iOS SDK and published through Apple. Depending on the application, they are available either free or at a cost. The applications can be downloaded directly to a target device, or downloaded onto a computer via iTunes. 30% of revenues from the store go instantly to Apple, and 70% go to the seller of the application. The App Store opened on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. On July 11, the iPhone 3G was launched and came pre-loaded with iOS 2.0 with App Store support; new iOS 2.0 firmware for iPhone and iPod Touch was also made available via iTunes. As of October 20, 2010, there are at least 300,000 third-party applications officially available on the App Store.As of January 18, 2011, the App Store had over 9.9 billion downloads, which was announced via the company's "10 Billion App Countdown".At 10:26 AM GMT on Saturday, January 22, 2011, the 10 billionth app was downloaded from Apple App Store. The median revenue per developed application is estimated to be $700, while the average costs range from $15,000 to $50,000After the success of Apple's App Store, and the launch of similar services by its competitors, the term "app store" has been used to refer to any similar service for mobile devices. However, Apple claims "App Store" as a trademark.. The term "app" has become a popular buzzword; in January 2011, "app" was awarded the honor of being 2010's "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society. On October 20, 2010, Apple announced the Mac App Store which was eventually launched on January 7, 2011. It is similar to the one for iOS devices, only it has applications designed for Mac computers. The Mac App Store is only accessible by using Mac OS X Snow Leopard or the upcoming Mac OS X Lion .

8) year of google :

i) google ubiquitous search engine :google search has become a dictionary word there are no near competitors to the search engine .ii) google entry into smart phone game: The latest version of this application comes with a number of improvements at the level of the interface, but also includes a completely new facility, present at the moment only in an alpha version of development.Conversation Mode is nothing but a universal translator, which allows you to communicate with strangers without knowing their language of origin.In this mode, the application uses a voice recognition function to intercept the conversation, which translates in real time and then delivers the result in the interlocutor’s native language.The system operates in a bidirectional mode, for both participants in the conversation, switching automatically to the appropriate language translation, depending on the language in which words are spoken.Google Translate currently supports 53 languages for text input and 15 language in the voice recognition mode.As for limitations, the Conversation Mode function is sensitive to background noise, accent and pronunciation differences. For best results, the conversations mustn’t be spoken very quickly, but smoothly so as not to overburden the conversion application.Currently in development, the application Google Translate with the Conversation Mode function will be publicly available only in a few months.

iii) Google Cloud computing services Google is clearly a leader and visionary in the cloud computing space. Google's quarterly revenues for quarter ending Sep 2009 were $5.95 billion. The revenues from cloud offering form a miniscule part of Google's over all revenue, but is expected to have exponential growth. Google's services in the cloud computing can be classified as

1. In the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) space Google does not have any offering at present.

2. In the Software as a Service (SaaS) space Google is a pioneer. Google's services in this space are listed below.

a. Google's gmail offers users to host their emails on Google servers, besides providing a web interface to access them. Gmail is free for individuals. For business users, Google offers "Gmail for business". Gmail for business includes 25GB storage space with additional spam filtering and blackberry access. Other facilities provided by gmail includes customizing of your email with company specific colors and logos, and 24/7 support on phone and email. Google also provides tools for migrating from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange .

b. Google docs is a web-based software for building documents. It has the functionality to build text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The feature set of Google docs is smaller than those of Microsoft Office, and many of the complex features are missing. The important features are all there though - tables, bullet points, basic fonts and text size. The look-and-feel is easy to use, and office users find the interface familiar. Setting up Google Docs is pretty straightforward and only takes minutes. A useful feature of Google docs is that it allows multiple users to edit and update the same document, a blessing in this age of collaboration and multi-geography teams. It is also possible to view the change history of documents. One obvious limitation is that it is not possible to use Google Docs without being on the internet. Google docs can import and export files as Microsoft Office format, PDF, text and OpenOffice extensions. Google Docs also included a spellchecker.Notebookreview has a comprehensive review of Google Docs. Other major advantages are that users can continue to work on their documents from any location, and the cost (Google docs is free!!).

c. Google calendar is a browser based scheduler. Its feature set is rich and includes daily/weekly/monthly view, multiple calendars for a user, and ability to search events. Upcoming event reminders can be received via SMS, desktop pop-ups or emails. Google calendar is accessible from mobile devices - iPhones, BlackBerries and Windows Mobile. It is also possible to share your calendar with other Google calendar users. By using gears it is possible to get a read-only view of Google calendar offline. Google Calendar Sync allows users to sync Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar.

d. Picasa is a free Google tool to edit images. Picasa allows you to upload and share images and videos on Googles data centers. Editing features include red eye detection. Picasa provides 1 GB of diskspace. Picasa has features to add tags to images and allows users to attach locations to photos using Google Maps.

e. Google Groups allows users to host discussion forums. Google Groups allow users to create messages online or via email. Access to Google Groups is completely free. Messages are hosted on Googles data center.

3. All the applications above are accessible over the internet and free for individual users. Google currently charges $50 per user per year for organizations for using Google docs and gmail, offering them advanced features. Google primary source of earnings (more than 95%) are from advertising, however revenues from Googles cloud offerings are growing at a steady pace.

4. In the Platform as a Service (PaaS) space Google is a market leader. Google AppEngine is Google's offering in the PaaS space. Google AppEngine is a developer platform hosted on Googles cloud. The initial support on the developer platform was for Python programming language and support for Java is available now. Google has detailed documentation for both Java andPython development platform.

5. Deploying the code to a cluster and running it is managed by Google. The database available is a non-relational database. Database can be accessed with GQL (Google Query Language). GQL has SQL like syntax.

6. Google AppEngine enables users to build a basic web application very quickly. Configuring and setting up an application is quick and easy. At present there are some concerns in the developer community for using Google AppEngine for large scale enterprise application development and hosting platform.