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Group Hopes to Leapfrog 802.11 for Wireless Video
A working group quietly kicked off an effort this week to bring the 1394 protocol over 802.15.3 wireless networks. Backers hope the approach could leapfrog efforts on 802.11 to provide a route for consumer electronics companies to send high quality video signals over wireless home networks. “A lot of OEMs have tried to send video over 802.11, especially 802.11a, but the video wasnt at the level where they felt comfortable putting out a product in the market,” said Alan Heberling, the chairman of the new study group. The 802.15.3 network promises greater throughput than 802.11, in part because it is an ad hoc network between devices and does not route all traffic through access points which can become network bottlenecks.
Read the full story on: EE Times
Cypress, Envara Link for USB-To-WLAN Connection
Cypress Semiconductor and Envara are combining forces to develop and market a low-cost, high-performance device to enable PCs to connect to WLANs via a USB 2.0 port. The adapter will incorporate Envaras WiND512 and WiND502 multi-mode WLAN chips and Cypresss EZ-USB SX2 USB 2.0 Serial Interface Engine for connection to 802.11a/b/and g WLANs at up to 54Mbit/s. The companies plan to start sampling the product to ODMs and OEMs in June.
Read the full story on: CommsDesign
Ericsson: U.S. Mobile Market Has Stagnated
Ericsson, the worlds biggest producer of mobile telephone networks, is worried that the market for cell phones has stalled in the United States, its American chief told Swedish daily Dagens Industri Thursday. “The market is at a standstill just now,” said Ericsson U.S. chief Urban Gillstrom. “Based on official market studies we had calculated sales in the U.S. market would go up to between 90 to 95 million units this year. Now we believe that sales will be around 88 million,” he was quoted as saying on the Web site of Swedish daily newspaper Dagen Industri. Gillstrom did not say what were the ramifications for the U.S. market developments for Ericssons bottom line.
Read the full story on: Yahoo! News
Wireless Gurus: Give Us Broadcast Spectrum
A group of radio frequency spectrum experts and wireless technology advocates called for the U.S. Congress to reallocate part of the television broadcast spectrum for wireless uses, during a congressional forum in Washington, D.C., Thursday. The broadcast TV band has 67 channels allocated, while the average U.S. city gets seven over-the-air channels, said Thomas Hazlett, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. A U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) goal to allocate another 100Mhz to wireless uses in the next 10 years “is not very ambitious,” Hazlett said.
Read the full story on: InfoWorld
Wireless Pioneer to Control Globalstar
Wireless communications pioneer Craig O. McCaw is taking control of bankrupt satellite phone provider Globalstar in a $55 million deal that arose after Globalstars creditors rejected two other bids for the company. The deal gives McCaws ICO Global Communications a 54 percent stake in Globalstar, which burned through $4 billion before filing for Chapter 11 last year. ICO — which counts McCaw as its chairman and international telecommunications companies and Microsoft founder Bill Gates as investors — has been developing its own phone and data satellite service. It has launched two satellites, but one was destroyed during the launch.
Read the full story on: Yahoo! News
Zyxel Unveils WLAN Lineup, Seeks Wireless Channel Partners
ZyXEL on Thursday previewed a new family of wireless LAN products geared toward security, hot spots and mesh network solutions at the NetWorld Interop conference. The new offerings from the company include the ZyAir B-3000 Secure Wireless Bridge/Repeater, priced at $199; the ZyXEL Vantage VPN; the ZyWALL 2XW Internet Security Gateway with wireless embedded, priced at $279; the ZyWALL 10W Wireless Internet Security Gateway, priced at $649; and the ZyXEL ZSG-100W, a $649 WLAN solution that includes an 802.11b wireless access point, a wireless router, a 4-port switch and wireless service gateway in a compact box.
Read the full story on: CRN