Motorola has acquired Good Technology, which provides wireless email services for handsets, including Motorola’s Q. Motorola Mobile Devices division president Ron Garriques said “Good Technology’s software and managed service deliver a rich user experience, low cost of ownership, industry- leading security and enterprise-class support.” Garriques believes the deal will “continue to strengthen Motorola as a leading provider of mobility devices and solutions both for enterprise customers and consumers.” The company, however, was mum on how it plans to incorporate Good’s products in its own portfolio. The deal, whose financial terms remain undisclosed, will become final early next year.
Via [betanews.com]
Tag Archive for 'Products'
Cicero Networks has unveiled a new dual-mode VoIP client that will allow Nokia smartphones to use the best available connection between WiFi and traditional mobile networks. CiceroPhone is designed for Nokia S60 handsets, including the E60, E61, E70 and N80 models. The Irish software maker plans to officially ship this new product by the end of this month.
Cicero Networks CEO Ross Brennan said the inclusion of Nokia smartphones in the company’s portfolio bespeaks Cicero’s “commitment to bring mobile wireless VoIP technology and fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solutions to the mainstream market.” Last year, the firm released the first dual-mode client for Windows Mobile 5.0 converged devices. The said application is currently being used by several telecommunication service providers as well as in pre-market tests in more than 30 operators.
Via [siliconrepublic.com]
Broadcom has unveiled an 802.11g Wi-Fi chip that will provide full Layer 3 routing. By integrating a 54g radio and a medium access control block with an Ethernet switch and a MIPS processor, the BCM5354 can generate and connect to multiple networks through a sole access point via multi-BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier) software.
Lenovo, according to the company, will use Broadcom’s Intensi-fi 802.11n chip sets to allow its N100 widescreen notebook computer and certain 3000-family notebook computers to access dual-band 802.11a/g/n services and enable Bluetooth and Ethernet capabilities.
Buffalo Inc. also opted for Broadcom’s reference design for use in Skype Wi-Fi phones. The design calls for the combination of BCM1161 VoIP processor and the AirForce One BCM4318E 54g chip. The Skype-certified Buffalo handsets are expected to hit the Japanese market this month.
Via [eetimes.com]
Alcatel and India’s state-run Center for Development of Telematics (C-Dot) have opened a research center for the development of ready-to-industrialize products and reference designs that are based on WiMax Forum standards. The facility seeks to show the advantages of WiMAX IEEE 802.16e- 2005 and the residential and business uses of VoIP, high-speed Internet connection, as well as multimedia applications like IPTV, mobile TV, and video streaming.
Research firms Tonse Telecom and Maravedis projected that WiMax subscribers in India will number 13 million by 2012. Several companies are currently undertaking a trial of the technology in the country, including Intel, which has launched a pilot project in a Maharashtra hospital.
Via [redherring.com]
A new survey by WiFi Alliance shows that WiFi is becoming more popular, with nearly 9 out of 10 respondents choosing their wireless connection over a year’s worth of Starbucks. Moreover, 80 percent of those surveyed would not mind seeing their home team lose if they can keep their WiFi connection.
This increasing popularity, however, has not yet translated into high interest in the technology among consumer electronic makers. According to In-Stat analyst Gemma Tedesco, only handheld games and gaming consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation 3 (its high-end version) and PlayStation Portable as well as Nintendo’s Wii and DS, have been embedded with WiFi. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has no built-in WiFi but with an extra $100, clients can get an 802.11a/b/g USB adapter.
Tedesco noted that manufacturers of other gadgets such as media players, digital cameras, set-top boxes and digital TVs opted not to integrate WiFi into their products. She ascribed this situation, particularly for media players, to digital rights management and quality-of-service issues. Tedesco expects interest in built-in WiFi with the ratification of 802.11n standard, which offers higher speed.
Via [pcworld.com]
Azimuth Systems has released a new test suite that could reduce the testing time for WiFi products by two-thirds. WiFi Alliance’s Authorized Test Laboratories worldwide will use the AzCert Wi-Fi Certification Test Suite. Azimuth vice president of marketing Jeff Abramowitz estimated that testing will take between four and five hours. Although the laboratories have yet to certify a product, Abramowitz believes they will come out with an announcement soon and more in the future as “faster turnaround is expected.”
Via [wi-fiplanet.com]
WLAN vendor Colubris has obtained a further $14 million in venture capital funding. Its investors include Prism VentureWorkds, GrandBanks, Capital, Doll Capital Management, Mid-Atlantic Ventures Funds, Telecommunications Development Fund and Business Development Bank of Canada. Including their previous investments, the companies have entrusted $50 million to Columbris, which provides wireless LAN equipment to carriers and network operators for 802.11-based hot spot services.
Via [infoworld.nl]
Network Chemistry has developed a platform that will render “integrated facility and endpoint wireless security.” It has revamped its RFprotect Distributed platform, hardware and software to extend the coverage to all areas that a mobile worker may roam, with the use of a unified control panel with automated policy enforcement capabilities. The reworked RFprotect Distributed is being tested in The University of Western Ontario.
Via [enterpriseitplanet.com]
At the WiMax World in Boston, vendors unveiled plans on how they plan to take advantage of and are using the emerging technology. Roy Russell, founding chief technology officer of Zipcar in Cambridge, Massachusetts, believes his company can use WiMax to boost bandwidth to its fleet of 2,000 cars. He sees the possibility of installing a Wi-Fi access point in each car to enable users to connect to the Internet via a handheld device or a laptop. Gunnar Kauke, president of American Wireless Broadband, said his company plans to test a Motorola WiMax transceiver in apartment buildings in Itasca, Illinois. TowerStream is now offering a broadband wireless package using precertified WiMax equipment, in the Boston area. Its WiMax-microwave broadband service with 100 Mbit/s of throughput is sold at $5,000 a month.
Via [techworld.com]
WiMax is gaining momentum as major firms continue to unveil devices and plans to support the technology. Motorola announced it will sell WiMax wireless modems early next year and WiMax chipsets in 2008. Nokia, meanwhile, will release Flexi WiMax base station for the 2.5-GHz band by the end of 2007 and the 3.5-GHz version in 2008. Nortel introduced a range of mobile WiMax gears such as base station transceivers, network gateways, antennas, mobile subscriber stations, and management systems, while Intel rolled out a hardware and software package to enable telecom equipment makers integrate WiMax into their wireless base stations.
Via [informationweek.com]
D-Link has released its first 802.16-2005-compliant WiMAX router. The device, which supports both WiMax and WiFi, is intended for residential wireless service providers that want to keep their prices competitive with wire-line technologies. It is easily installed and allows for coverage over the entire house.
Via [tmcnet.com]
HP unveiled a $2,199 high-definition LCD TV that has built-in 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi radio and standard Ethernet network connections. The new SLC3760N 37-inch MediaSmart high-definition LCD TV can link up with PCs running HP’s proprietary software. But because the display only has WiFi radio and not a router, users must secure another Wi-Fi connected device so it can access pre-recorded content. The TV is teeming with AV ports including an optical audio plus HDMI out to enable direct connection to stereos and home theater receivers.
Via [extremetech.com]
IBM has partnered with Xing to develop Kyoku-NAVI S and Kyoku-NAVI II, which are karaoke controllers with built-in WLAN. Users need to only use the machines’ touch screens to search a database hosting tens of thousands of songs, by singer, song title or category. Access to the catalogue is made possible by IBM DB2 Everyplace, a technology that performs data-management services and allows mobile equipment to tap online or remote databases. The devices will be up for sale in Japan starting November.
Via [news.com.com]
Cisco has teamed up with Congio to reduce the volume of radio interference around WLAN devices. Cognio’s Spectrum Expert for WiFi — a CardBus device that plugs into a Windows notebook — can analyze WiFi interference and would complement the company’s Wireless Control System. These tools would help companies deploy wireless LANs and manage interference from a range of sources, including non-WiFi appliances like microwave ovens. The Spectrum Expert is sold at Cisco’s regular sales outlets.
Via [techworld.com]
Voice On Wi-Fi - The Architecture Question
Aruba rejected criticisms that its version of centrally-managed wireless LAN does not allow for scalable voice over WiFi (VoFi). Aruba vice president Keerti Melkote admitted that the company’s systems, due to central application of encryption, command wireless traffic flows to go through the central controller. But this is not a problem “from bandwidth point of view.” Aruba, he claimed, boasts abundant scalability, with controllers having the ability to scale 7.5 Gbit/s of WiFi systems that come on-stream. The company, Melkote added, also has “a roadmap to 40 Gbit/s.”
Melkote believes more services will turn to Aruba to enable switched calls by 2007. Aruba’s switches can decide when to move the connection from WiFi to a switched network, if phones go out of wireless coverage. Aruba product director for voice Peter Thornycroft said that, with this capacity for convergence, the company is serving telco’s UMA specification, which will remain the primary technology until full SIP/IMS implementations for convergence become available.
The company also plans to roll out version 1.0 of the client behavior specification for dual-mode handsets to ensure quality of service, performance, and battery life, as well as their compatibility with other vendors’ equipment. Melkote believes the arrival of dual-mode phones will spur VoFi uptake but “they are still built against the model of an isolated AP, not an office network.”
Via [techworld.com]