The irriGATEWAY project, helps irrigators finely tune their crop watering to match the weather and their crop’s development stage and all communication is done via the Esendex SMS API.

The project uses SMS to send specialised agricultural information to irrigators and SMS again to receive irrigation and rainfall details back from the irrigators. There were 70 grape growers who used the system and for many it was the first time they had encountered scientific watering advice.

We’ve been told that the results for the 08/09 season were a great success! Those growers who followed it closely experienced higher than average crop productivity and in many cases were able to partially avoid the effects of a heat wave that devastated the crops of a lot of other growers.

In fact, the results have been so successful that CSIRO are expanding the project for 09/10 to include three new trials. Firstly, an extension of the 70 grape growers to 150 in the NSW Riverina as well as a second trial group of grape growers in Northern Victoria. Secondly, a  trial group of orange growers, again in the Riverina and the third trial is a large-scale trial involving 250 vegetable and turf growers in the Sydney basin.

Chris Skourtis from CSIRO says that:

“A combination of the facts relating to improved cropping through using the system and the irrigators’ positive experiences with this new technology mean that it has been viewed as the most promising current irrigation scheduling program in Australian horticulture.”

Who would have thought something so simple as a text message could have such a positive impact on our horticulture industry. It’s great feedback for us to hear that irregators are reaping the benefits for something as simple as sending and receiving text messages on a daily basis.

CSIRO expect that after the 09/10 season, the research agencies involved will look to expand operations to similar irrigation environments, such as the San Joaquin Valley in California, in order to deliver Australian ’smarts’ elsewhere.

Here’s to a bumper crop for 09/10!

The new version of Esendex’s Web SMS tool is due for Beta release early next year. This new version is based on extensive feedback from customers and will provide a much simpler interface.

It also builds on the cleaner site design of www.esendex.com.au to deliver a better aesthetic experience. 

The new version will be released in stages and the first will focus on sending messages and the “Upload and Send” facility. If you’re interested in getting involved at an early stage, particularly if you are a regular user of the Upload and Send feature, then please let your account manager know.

The “classic” version will of course still be available and will remain the default interface for the time being.

Safety is paramount within mining operations and operators are continually looking to review and improve their safety procedures.

Esendex has recently started working with a number of companies who wanted to use SMS. 

For example, Copper Mines of Tasmania has incorporated Web SMS within their safety protocols so in the unlikely event of an emergency they can quickly and reliably get a message out to Site Managers, OH&S representatives and other key staff.

This is a very active area and we’ll be updating this article in the near future.

No matter where you go, it’s impossible to escape talk of social networking sites. Newspapers are littered with stories and someone will undoubtedly mention the name of a particular site before your day is out. Recently there’s been lots in the news about the boom of social networking sites, but what about mobile social networking sites? 

There are currently 31 mobile social networking services, including Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, a number that is expected to rise this year as these are attracting large numbers of users by providing new business opportunities.

There are also a number of Web 2.0 type services such as Twitter than whilst not necessarily mobile services, use features such as SMS to keep people up to date.

Christine Perey of Mobile Social Networking comments, “Mobile social networking is reaching its first boiling point and everyone wants to participate.”

International research by Informa Telecoms & Media, the leading provider of business intelligence to global telecoms and media markets, reveals that the amount of world-wide users of mobile social networks rose to 57 million in 2007, double that of 2006. The telecoms intelligence company predicts that the growth in revenue of this market will only accelerate and that by 2012 will reach $52 billion.

I’ve been at the Web 2.0 Expo this week and even amongst all the evangalising, mobile social networking and ambient computing has been a common thread – definitely something to keep your eye on! ]]> http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/mobile-networking/feed/ 0 http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/lost-in-translation/ http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/lost-in-translation/#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:24:49 +0000 Chris http://172.16.1.140/blog/?p=269

The world wide web means business today is rarely limited to a single country and it’s often the case that an employee will visit a foreign speaking country at some point in their career. With this in mind, this week I was really impressed by a few very clever translation tools. 

Linguatec language technologies showed off its remarkable piece of software for smartphones and PDAs. Shoot and Translate works by translating text that you photograph with your handset, for example a street sign or building name, which the application then scans and allows you to either listen to or read the translation. The application also allows you to enter text manually into your phone and accounts for spelling mistakes and linguistic frippery.

Launched by Talking Technologies, SMS Demo is another piece of handy software that translates foreign languages. This application works by allowing you to send a text to another mobile, landline, email or fax, which the application translates and delivers in either text or audio and in over 30 languages. Nützlich, oder was? ]]> http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/lost-in-translation/feed/ 0 http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/it%e2%80%99s-not-just-the-americans-who%e2%80%99re-catching-up/ http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/it%e2%80%99s-not-just-the-americans-who%e2%80%99re-catching-up/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:54:16 +0000 Chris http://172.16.1.140/blog/?p=266

Following the comments in my last blog entry about growth of the US mobile messaging market, here’s a quick snapshot of Australia’s texting activities.  With mobile phones increasing in popularity as a method of communication down under, Australians are set to send more than ten billion text messages this year.   According to telecommunications analyst, Gartner, Australians are predicted to send 10.8 billion texts in 2008 and will top 11.2 billion by 2011. From messaging alone, figures also show that the country’s revenue is expected to grow 15.7 per cent this year to $US60.2 billion ($70.45 billion).

Although the UK still heads the field with a staggering 57 billion text messages sent last year, December 2007 (see Julian’s 18/12/07 post), saw Esendex Australia surpass its sales targets for 2007. This included servicing microbusinesses, SMEs and even some of Australia’s top 10 businesses. With such a successful history of sales in business communications and high industry predictions, Esendex looks set to have a promising year down under!

The new look www.esendex.com.au goes live today! It’s been a little while coming but this major update takes on some proven learning from our international sites.

• The information is better laid out – and easier to update
• The dedicated Developer Zones and Support Site provide detailed information for more technical enquiries
• Company Blogs, including Support and Developer Blogs, allow us to deliver frequent and less formal information updates. All blogs also support RSS and email subscription
• The login bar is simpler, and more consistent – you’ll see this in the top right of the home page. Once logged in a simple navigation system provides access to both your Esendex services and your company and account details.

We hope you like the update as much as we do – we’d welcome your thoughts

An interesting article by Evan Schuman on his “Storefrontbacktalk” site describes how Wal-Mart’s highly secretive testing of SMS marketing in Dec-07 highlighted two important lessons:

• SMS messages are supposed to be punchy: don’t try and cram too much in
• Our mobile phones are also very personal: don’t abuse this by sending too many messages. 

One Wal-Mart employee was quoted as saying:

“We were sending 10-15 (offers) in about three or four text messages. We learned that three messages is where the consumer says, ‘I’ve heard enough from you, Mr. Retailer,’.”

Two interesting points:

1. The sheer scale of the “test”. Wal-Mart, never one to do things by half, signed up hundreds of thousands of people to the program
2. This was in the US, surely yet another sign that the States is opening up to the opportunities for business messaging.

James’ blog entry on Wal-Mart raised a very interesting point about the use of business messaging in America, particularly with his ending comment,

“This was in the US, surely yet another sign that the States is opening up to the opportunities for business messaging.” 

Mobile phone usage in the US continues to grow with 56 per cent of American mobile phone subscribers using SMS. Figures from the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association) show that, in 2007 alone, more than 240 billion text messages were delivered in the US. This is a considerable amount more than in 2005, when only 57 billion had been sent. American businesses are starting to communicate and interact with their customers by using text messages as a delivery channel.

According to GfK NOP Research, one in three US mobile subscribers, or 78 million people, saw or listened to an advert on their mobile during Q4 2007. Of those ads received via SMS or MMS, 33 per cent remembered the brands being promoted.

Not only do these statistics show that America is increasing their business use of the text messaging, but also that America is catching up with the Europe and Asia at a rapid pace.

The surge of people using the text message to communicate raises an arguable question – should the text message become a formalised mode of communication?

A court heard recently that the City of Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, declared under oath that he did not have an affair with his chief of staff nor did he fire two police officers in a retaliatory manner. However, text messages between the mayor and his chief of staff suggested otherwise and brought his testimony into question.   The City eventually settled with the police officers, but the incident does highlight the need for businesses to include all messaging systems in their recording policies.

ARMA International, a not-for-profit professional association for managing records and information, states that “a record, regardless of its format or the media on which it is recorded, supports decisions, justifies budgets and expenses, communicates ideas, confirms sales and purchases, documents rights, provides accountability, and otherwise provides information. This information may be required by executives, staff members, legal/regulatory authorities, stockholders, students, the public, and others in the organisation.”

Ultimately, if emails, word documents and phone conversations are accepted for official records, then surely text messages should be too?

For further information, please check out ARMA International ]]> http://blog.esendex.com.au/post/formalising-the-text-message-%e2%80%93-for-or-against/feed/ 0