Wireless Internet i-Bursts Into Demo Show

ArrayComm Inc. on Monday announced a manufacturing partnership with Kyocera Corp. and gave the first public demonstration of its i-Burst wireless Internet technology at the Demo 2002 show in Phoenix.

Based on the companys IntelliCell smart antenna technology, i-Burst promises data speeds of 1 Mbps.

The brainchild of Martin Cooper, the 71-year-old inventor of the cell phone, ArrayComm was founded in 1992 with the goal of delivering Internet access to mobile devices.

“There has to be the freedom to be anywhere,” Cooper said. “[i-Burst was invented specifically to deliver the Internet to consumers.”

i-Burst is in trials in South Korea. Kyocera is helping to spearhead those trials and also plans to help deploy I-Burst technology around the rest of the world, according to ArrayComm officials, in San Jose, Calif. Initial targets besides South Korea include Australia and the United States, with China, Japan and Europe to follow.

The technology is based on IP and includes two main components: base stations deployed by a network operator; and wireless modems that plug into a mobile device. i-Burst creates a “personal cell” for each user by establishing a spatial signature for each device, which should cut down on interference.

Officials said trials will begin in San Jose by the end of this year and that services should be broadly available in 2003.