Profile 5: Wireless and Global Programming Industry

Wireless Technology

Germany is a leading country in their use of wireless technology. As part of the European community, Germany's society is dramatically incresing its wireless usage and technology. In Europe 76% of companies have some form of wireless infrastructure in place, with almost one-fifth of companies who are 'mostly' or 'completely' wireless. Research also shows that 88% of companies expect all their networks to be completely wireless the next three years.




The global recession has not decreased the use of wireless in Europe. "With budget being squeezed, companies in every industry sector are looking for ways to become more efficient and mobility gives businesses the means to be more responsive. It is therefore no surprise that the trend is towards all wireless networks," commented Marco Landi, Acting VP and GM, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Business - EMEA. "The applications for mobility are endless includinig, accessing patient data at teh bedside, enhancing lessons in schools and tracking whisky casks to name but a few. The truth is that workforces are no longer fixed and employees need to be able to access data on the move, both inside and outside their offices."



As Europe's largest country by population, Germany's marketplace focuses on increasing and selling wireless technology. In fact, one of the largest auctions of wireless communications licences to companies occurred in Germany with 12 permits selling at the expensive price of $50 billion. As the result of heavy investment, German company Deutsche Telekom AG holds a high position as Europe's leading provider of third-generation mobile service providers.

Germany also leads in the development of new wireless technology. In 2008, mobile companies T-Mobile and Nortel Networks successfully tested a new high-speed wireless technology in Germany that would compete and possibly exceed fixed fiber links. In the experiment, data rates of 170 Mbit/s occurred for downloads and 50 Mbit/s for uploads. This is three times faster than what is currently available in Germany. The focus primarily is for 4G networks as businesses continue to view Germany as a prime area to invest in new wireless technology.



Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL166110920080918
New York Times article "50 Billion for German wireless licences; next-generation technology rights sold in richest global auction
http://www.itrportal.com/absolutenm/templates/article-netwireless.aspx?articleid=5393&zoneid=58

Global Programming Industry

As the global recession has often encouraged companies to find cheaper sources of programming. Germany is trying to hold its own inspite of the trend. At a global fair in march 2009 in Hanover, Germany, BITKOM industry president August-Wilhelm Scheer stated "For the time being, the high tech industry is holding its own in the crisis." Despite such statements, Germany struggles to maintain programming industry within its borders. In fact, BITKOM stated Germany's high-tech industry would actually perform worse than the global trends with only a boost of 3% in sales.


To combat these trends, the German government has invested heavily in its leading industry of programming, gaming. The computer and gaming industry in Germany generates more revenue than the film industry and is the second largest market in Europe (2.14 billion Euros in 2007). They are expecting a continual increase of 10% until 2011. German gaming companies have thrived as gaming has incorporated into their culture. DTP Entertainment's current game "The Dark Eye: Drakensang" is rated as one of the top games in Europe. Other games, such as Blue Byte's Software "The Settlers" and Crytek's "Far Cry" are widely acclaimed. In fact, so impressive were the graphics in Crytek's games, they were featured at the Cosumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas in 2007 where Bill Gates used the game "Crysis" to show off the graphics on his program of Windows Vista. However, despite these successes, Geramny only plays a small role in the global gaming community. In conjuction with government and private industries, the German Developer Prize was created to recognize and promote German gaming. In the spring of 2009, the "German Computer Game Prize" awarded 150,000 Euros for the best development with an additional 600,000 in Euros awarded in various other categories.

Despite the success in the German gaming industry, Germany is affected by the gloabl trend of outsourcing programming to other countries. Following other leading industrialized countries, many IT jobs have been outsourced to India. However, companies only average a savings of .52 for every Euro as differences in language and culture make large projects difficult. With these barriers, more Germany companies outsource to Eastern European countries, mainly Belarus and Russia. A survey in 2004 stated 40% of Western Europe's largest companies had begun to outsource services, such as programming. This has shown a direct effect on German's economy. Research from teh McKinsley Global Institute states that for every Europe of corporate spending in Germany's companies who send services offshore only returns .8 Euros in returning revenue for Germany.

Sources:
http://www.young-germany.de/mobile/business-career/article/doae99a788/the-computer-game-industry-in-germany.html
http://www.physorg.com/news155202926.html
"How Germany can win from Offshoring" McKinsey Quarterly, 2004, Number 4

Profile 4: EBusiness and EPayment in Germany

E Business and EPayment is strong and doing well in Germany.

EBuisness:
E Business, or electronic business stands for electronic business that is conducted commercially and privately through different electronic mediums, the most common medium being the Internet.

Germay has a decent infratructure to support business done on the internet. They also have a fair internet use base (enough people on the internet). Germany does have electronic business being done every day. The types of business can range from e-tailers to large corporation buisness (stock trading, international orders, electronic documents, etc.)



E-Payment in germany has been advancing in several ways, a few of these being the common use of MicroTransactions

E-Payment is a form of electronic cash, much like a credit card payment at the grocery store, or an online checking account paymnt.

MicroTransactions are transactions for small sums of money. This kind of transaction has really taken off in Germany and Japan. The Government has helped in making this form of transaction more popular by putting the readers on parking meters and transit fare collection stations. The user has a card, which looks much like a debit or credit card. Unlike a credit card, these cards are not tied to your bank account, they work much like a prepaid phone card. They are re-loadable and have a threshold of about $120. These cards are mostly used for transit fare, parking meters, vending machines, newspaper stands, and any other transaction that would normally only cost a few coins.

Sources:
http://www.cio.com/article/30283/E_Business_Mark_White_on_Microtransactions