Wireless Application Test Bed and Simulations for Broadband Mobile Communications Systems

Langattoman laajakaistaisen tietoliikennetekniikan kehittyminen on herättänyt kiinnostuksen sen ammattimaiseen hyödyntämiseen yleisen turvallisuuden ja kriisinhallinnan tarpeisiin. Hätätilanteissa usein olemassa olevat kiinteät tietoliikennejärjestelmät eivät ole ollenkaan käytettävissä tai niiden tarjoama kapasiteetti ei ole riittävä. Tästä syystä on noussut esiin tarve nopeasti toimintakuntoon saatettaville ja itsenäisille langattomille laajakaistaisille järjestelmille. Tässä diplomityössä on tarkoitus tutkia langattomia ad hoc monihyppy -verkkoja yleisen turvallisuuden tarpeiden pohjalta ja toteuttaa testialusta, jolla voidaan demonstroida sekä tutkia tällaisen järjestelmän toimintaa käytännössä. Työssä tutkitaan pisteestä pisteeseen sekä erityisesti pisteestä moneen pisteeseen suoritettavaa tietoliikennettä. Mittausten kohteena on testialustan tiedonsiirtonopeus, lähetysteho ja vastaanottimen herkkyys. Näitä tuloksia käytetään simulaattorin parametreina, jotta simulaattorin tulokset olisivat mahdollisimman aidot ja yhdenmukaiset testialustan kanssa. Sen jälkeen valitaan valikoima yleisen turvallisuuden vaatimusten mukaisia ohjelmia ja sovellusmalleja, joiden suorituskyky mitataan erilaisten reititysmenetelmien alaisena sekä testialustalla että simulaattorilla. Tuloksia arvioidaan ja vertaillaan. Multicast monihyppy -video päätettiin sovelluksista valita tutkimusten pääkohteeksi ja sitä sekä sen ominaisuuksia on tarkoitus myös oikeissa kenttäkokeissa.

Patents in the Information and Communications Technology Sector - Development Trends, Problem Areas and Pressures for Change

The patent system was created for the purpose of promoting innovation by granting the inventors a legally defined right to exclude others in return for public disclosure. Today, patents are being applied and granted in greater numbers than ever, particularly in new areas such as biotechnology and information andcommunications technology (ICT), in which research and development (R&D) investments are also high. At the same time, the patent system has been heavily criticized. It has been claimed that it discourages rather than encourages the introduction of new products and processes, particularly in areas that develop quickly, lack one-product-one-patent correlation, and in which theemergence of patent thickets is characteristic. A further concern, which is particularly acute in the U.S., is the granting of so-called 'bad patents', i.e. patents that do not factually fulfil the patentability criteria. From the perspective of technology-intensive companies, patents could,irrespective of the above, be described as the most significant intellectual property right (IPR), having the potential of being used to protect products and processes from imitation, to limit competitors' freedom-to-operate, to provide such freedom to the company in question, and to exchange ideas with others. In fact, patents define the boundaries of ownership in relation to certain technologies. They may be sold or licensed on their ownor they may be components of all sorts of technology acquisition and licensing arrangements. Moreover, with the possibility of patenting business-method inventions in the U.S., patents are becoming increasingly important for companies basing their businesses on services. The value of patents is dependent on the value of the invention it claims, and how it is commercialized. Thus, most of them are worth very little, and most inventions are not worth patenting: it may be possible to protect them in other ways, and the costs of protection may exceed the benefits. Moreover, instead of making all inventions proprietary and seeking to appropriate as highreturns on investments as possible through patent enforcement, it is sometimes better to allow some of them to be disseminated freely in order to maximize market penetration. In fact, the ideology of openness is well established in the software sector, which has been the breeding ground for the open-source movement, for instance. Furthermore, industries, such as ICT, that benefit from network effects do not shun the idea of setting open standards or opening up their proprietary interfaces to allow everyone todesign products and services that are interoperable with theirs. The problem is that even though patents do not, strictly speaking, prevent access to protected technologies, they have the potential of doing so, and conflicts of interest are not rare. The primary aim of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the dynamics and controversies of the U.S. and European patent systems, with the focus on the ICT sector. The study consists of three parts. The first part introduces the research topic and the overall results of the dissertation. The second part comprises a publication in which academic, political, legal and business developments that concern software and business-method patents are investigated, and contentiousareas are identified. The third part examines the problems with patents and open standards both of which carry significant economic weight inthe ICT sector. Here, the focus is on so-called submarine patents, i.e. patentsthat remain unnoticed during the standardization process and then emerge after the standard has been set. The factors that contribute to the problems are documented and the practical and juridical options for alleviating them are assessed. In total, the dissertation provides a good overview of the challenges and pressures for change the patent system is facing,and of how these challenges are reflected in standard setting.

Development of an investor relations strategy - Case SSH Communications Security Corp. Communications Security Corp.

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli muodostaa viitekehys sijoittajaviestinnän strategian muodostamiseen ja soveltaa viitekehystä käytännössä. Tutkimusongelma nousi case-yrityksestä, SSH Communications Security Oyj:stä, joka listautui vuoden 2000 lopussa. Teoreettinen viitekehys perustuu aikaisempaan kirjallisuuteen sijoittajaviestinnästä, strategian kehittämisestä ja rahoitusteoriasta. Rahoitusteorian alueet, joita käsiteltiin tutkimuksessa ovat; vapaaehtoinen tiedottaminen, markkinatehokkuus ja agenttiteoria. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osa toteutettiin soveltamalla teoreettista viitekehystä case yritykseen. Empiirisessä osuudessa käytiin läpi seuraavat vaiheet; nykyisen tilan ulkoinen ja sisäinen analyysi, tavoitteiden asettaminen ja sijoittajaviestintä strategia ehdotuksen muodostaminen case yritykseen. Tutkielman viimeinen kappale kokoaa tärkeimmät löydökset, pohtii työn teoreettista kontribuutiota ja liikkeenjohdollisia kytköksiä sekä esittää tutkimuksen herättämiä ehdotuksia jatkotutkimuksille

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN B2B COMPANIES – The Roles of Marketing Communication Tools in the Digital Age

Marketing communications has gone through significant changes during the last decades and new online tools have been leading this change for the last decade. Now, in the digital age, if wanting to be successful companies need to experiment new things and seize the opportunities online provides and adapt to the new environment. However, during this time the marketing communication mix and the meanings given to the various components of it have not changed dramatically, and personal selling, direct marketing, sales promotion, advertising and public relations activities are still regarded as important tools in the marketing communications mix. The purpose of this study was to examine business-to-business marketing communications and the tools used by companies in their marketing communications efforts in the digital age and in a global environment. The research questions dealt with the marketing communication tools and their roles as well as the role of online marketing communication and the way it has shaped the field of b2b marketing communications. In order to answer these questions, qualitative approach was chosen and the data was collected by theme interviews with six representatives of Finnish global companies from the b2b sector being interviewed. The theoretical framework covers the general field of b2b marketing communications and its main elements. The online environment as well as the concept of a global marketplace and integrated approach to marketing communication activities is also discussed. The theory was supported by the interviews regarding the activities and roles of the marketing communication tools and both theory as well as the interviews found personal selling to be a vital tool. However, the importance of online has grown and online marketing activities have risen right next to personal selling. The use of analytics and marketing automation was found to be of great interest in the interviews and they were seen as a growing domain in b2b marketing communications. The importance of targeted and personalised messages from relevant medias was a repeating theme as was the customer-centric approach in marketing communication activities. Also, offline and online tools and channels were seen as something that should be treated together as an entity rather than as separate activities. Relevant content created according to the needs of the customer with the gathered data from analytics were seen as the future of b2b marketing communications. Online has added its input to the more traditionally perceived tools and they are executed within the framework of the digital age. Nevertheless, even though online has increased its presence in the b2b marketing communications mix, the more traditionally perceived marketing communication tools, especially personal selling, have not lost their meaning or place in the b2b marketing communication mix.