IBM Loops in More Wireless
IBM on Monday announced new wireless capabilities for its telephone network equipment installed in thousands of offices, including mobile conference calling and “push to talk” cell phone technology. The new features for Big Blues WebSphere Application Server for Telecom service are available through a partnership announced with Teltier Technologies. This is the first time IBM has offered such a feature either directly or through a third-party arrangement, the company said.
Read the full story on: CNET News.com
Wireless LAN Industry Forecast to Hit $1.67 Billion
The wireless LAN industry will generate $1.67 billion in total revenue through the end of 2003, according to Allied Business Intelligence, Oyster Bay, NY. Chipsets for WLANs are set to hit 23 to 25 million units this year, up from 7.9 million in 2001. “There is a very elastic relationship between pricing and demand in the wireless LAN market, and every step down in prices brings the industry closer to unlocking new opportunities and applications,” the company said.
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European Wireless Carriers Unite
Three European cell phone providers announced Monday that they are jointly developing wireless services. The deal unites Telefónica Móviles in Spain, T-Mobile International in Germany and TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) in Italy. Such a relationship could have merit in the United States, where, as in Europe, cell phone operators are bending under huge debt loads and a souring economy, Jupiter Research wireless analyst Joe Laszlo said. The companies are looking to attract corporate clients because they travel frequently and are early adopters of new wireless Web offerings, according to Mondays announcement. The carriers have not, however, ruled out creating an offer for consumers, according to TIM CEO Marco De Benedetti.
Read the full story on: CNET News.com
Synad Demos Low-Cost Dual-Chip, Dual-Band Chipset
British wireless networking chipset company Synad on Wednesday unveiled its Mercury5G, a dual-band, dual-chip 802.11a/b/g offering. The chipset comprises the SYBB8200 modem/MAC and the SYRF8100 radio chip. Synads radio technology, dubbed AgileRF, can directly hop from the 2.4GHz band to the 5GHz spectrum, courtesy of an integrated frequency synthesizer that operates right across that frequency range.
Read the full story on: The Register
Two Taiwanese Suppliers to Launch Zigbee WLAN Chips
Two Taiwan-based IC design houses recently joined the Zigbee Alliance and are developing Zigbee WLAN chips, which support the 802.15.4 draft standard. Uniband Electronic, founded last July, hopes that its focus on RF technology will help the company launch a single-chip solution by year-end. ITE Tech, a spin-off from United Microelectronics Corporations (UMC) Computer Products Business division, is also expected to launch Zigbee chip solutions shortly. The company makes parallel ATA/RAID controller chips.
Read the full story on: DigiTimes