Forecast Calls For Flurry Of Wireless Activity In 2001.'Tis the season for next-gen wireless. Or so it seems. The weeks leading up to the holidays brought countless announcements from numerous vendors claiming to be "getting a jump on the competition" in the markets for socalled 3G (and now even 4G!) wireless services. A day after Nortel, Sierra, and Xircom announced that they were teaming up to build high-speed wireless modems by early 2002, HP and DoCoMo announced a technology partnership program to develop a wireless broadband High-speed wireless transmission of data. What is "high" speed is always a changing number. Wireless systems are typically slower than land-based, wireline networks. In the past, wireless broadband started at 250 Kbps, whereas land-based broadband was generally considered to start at T1 architecture called MOTOMedia. This "fourth generation" platform for wireless services will concentrate on the delivery of multimedia applications to wireless devices. Meanwhile, Handspring Inc., maker of the Visor PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) A handheld computer for managing contacts, appointments and tasks. It typically includes a name and address database, calendar, to-do list and note taker, which are the functions in a personal information manager (see PIM). , just began shipping its VisorPhone, an add-on module that turns the Visor into a cell phone. Palm Computing is working with Motorola to develop a similar device for its line of PDAs. Third- and fourth-generation wireless networks are expected to offer throughput speeds of 2Mbps or faster, and are expected to be available in Europe and Asia in early to mid-2002. The services and devices will be based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies. Currently, the most common form uses W-CDMA as the underlying air interface, is standardized by the 3GPP, and is the European answer to the ITU (UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) The GSM implementation of the 3G wireless phone system. Part of IMT-2000, UMTS provides service in the 2 GHz band and offers global roaming and personalized features. ) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) The first high-speed digital data service provided by cellular carriers that used the GSM technology. GPRS added a packet-switched channel to GSM, which uses dedicated, circuit-switched channels for voice conversations. ) standards, which are packetswitched, "always on" networks. The bidding for new wireless licenses in the United States has been fierce since early December, when the FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. began auctioning 422 licenses for access to unused wireless frequencies-many of them in major markets like New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Los Angeles. The auctions have raised nearly $6 billion, and are expected to bring in as much as $20 billion when the process is complete at about the time you read this. The major bidders thus far have been Cingular Communications, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Nextel. A recent study released by research firm Cahners InStat projects that the market for wireless services among young people (ages 10 to 24) will grow to 43 million in 2004 from 11 million subscribers today. The study says that by 2004, half of U.S. youths will own a wireless phone and nearly three out of four will use one. In a separate study, the firm predicts that by 2004, more than 51 percent of mobile computing devices shipped will be wireless-enabled. Next month's issue will feature a detailed discussion of some the recent activity in the wireless technology space. |
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