Northern Telecom entered the wireless handset market in North America for the first time by introducing PCS 1911, a personal telephone that supports voice mail and messaging services, the company said. Nortel was awarded a contract by BellSouth Mobility DCS to deploy the handsets throughout BellSouth’s PCS network in North and South Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. The handset is designed for use with networks that use the PCS 1900 standard, a derivative of the Global System for Mobile communications standard. (972) 684-8721.
Motorola Inc. introduced the MicroTAC SC-720 Flip Phone, an 800 MHz Code Division Multiple Access cellular phone. The phone functions with a variety of batteries and provides up to three hours of talk time or up to 20 hours of standby time with its standard battery. Features of the phone include a two-line LED display, dedicated signal and battery strength meters, Smart Button for access to the phone’s menu and directory, 99 alpha memory locations and authentication for advanced protection from cellular fraud. (800) 331-6456.
Excel Inc. announced the Communications Service Node, a programmable switch designed to support up to 1,024 non-blocking ports with direct access to voice processing resources. The new capability enables CSN switches to support redundant matrix CPU cards, resulting in an entry-level switching platform that can optionally be configured for complete redundancy. The CSN is targeted for applications and services that demand continuous system availability while offering entry-level scalability, and is suitable for mission critical switching and network interface applications, as well as enhanced services such as prepaid calling cards, find-me services and messaging. (508) 862-3000.
A programmable information receiver was introduced by Newspager Corp. of America. The Savant, a third generation NewsPager-capable receiving product, has a large graphical liquid crystal display and can be programmed for fonts in different languages. It contains a removable PC-Card with one-half megabyte of memory, which stores all the software for the device as well as language fonts. PageMart is working with the company to evaluate the features and capabilities of the Savant for specific market opportunities. (415) 873-4422.
Multiplier Industries Corp., a battery manufacturer, introduced the Multiplier Plus line of cellular accessories including battery eliminators, vehicle power cords, antennas, mounts, leather cases and conditioning charges for most cellular phones and personal communications services handsets. The Multiplier Plus Program is designed to provide a customized retail program, including point of purchase displays, inventory management and sales training to increase sales volumes. The company said it is developing additional products for Time Division Multiple Access, Code Division Multiple Access, Global System for Mobile communications and PCS. (800) 642-2424.
InfoRad Inc. unveiled the “SOHO Connection,” a Windows 95 compatible software Suite designed for the “Small-Office/Home-Office” market. It includes AlphaPage, P.I.M. page, E-mail Connect and telephony modules for single computers and networks. Three versions of the AlphaPage technology allow small businesses or home users to choose from a range of paging features. E-Mail Connect allows a personal computer to forward electronic mail automatically to an alphanumeric pager and notify customers of important messages. P.I.M. page keeps track of clients, appointments, to-do lists, phone calls and letters and automatically dispatches appointment reminders and scheduled messages. (800) 228-8998.
A small flat panel microwave radio/antenna system was introduced by Harris Corp. The pizza-box sized radio/antenna unit, which is part of the company’s MicroStar family of products, can go under eaves of building roofs or on light fixtures allowing it to be placed in areas where standard microwave antennas may not be allowed, Harris said. The system is designed for use by cellular service, personal communications services and wireless competitive access providers. (415) 594-3000.
Grayson Electronics, a division of Allen Telecom Group, announced a new line of Surveyor Digital Wireless System Test Platforms which will allow digital cellular systems and personal communications systems designers to test the integrity of the systems. The Code Division Multiple Access Surveyor displays network performance factors including signal strength, location of handoffs and dropped calls, signal quality, layer-3 message decoding and other key measurement parameters. Measurements may be displayed in real time on geographic maps, trend charts or in text format. The system is equipped with a Microsoft Windows 95-based software package and a vehicle positioning system and operates with multiple digital transmission standards including Global System for Mobile communications, DCS-1800, PCS 1900, CDMA 800 and CDMA 1900. (216) 349-8400.
Mobile Mark announced a full line of antennas designed for personal communications services/ISM and other high frequency applications from 1.7 GHz to 2.5 GHz. Models include mobile, portable, handset and site antennas. The antennas feature unique designs that allow them to overcome many of the problems normally associated with higher frequency systems. In addition, the antennas are provided with RG-8X low loss cable which reduces losses along the length of the cable, the company said. (800) 648-2800.
Hewlett-Packard Co.’s HP Open View Element Management Framework is a network management solution for new wireless and wireline service providers that integrates information from multivendor network elements and element management systems into one consolidated view. The system features mediation devices, problem-management services and third-party application-integration services that provide a unified view of network resources so operators can assess how the telephony service is being delivered and whether it is satisfying the required level of quality expected by customers, the company said. The system conforms to Telecommunication Management Network standards, which allows TMN and non-TMN applications to be integrated. (408) 447-6285.
The MDR-7000 microwave digital radio was introduced by Alcatel Telecom. The radio operates over the 15 GHz, 18 GHz, 23 GHz and 38 GHz frequency bands for North American applications and has a capacity range of two 16 DS1s or one DS3, the company said. It also includes built-in diagnostics and testing functions with a network management system that provides constant, end-to-end monitoring. The radio is targeted for personal communications services and cellular carriers. Shipment of the MDR-7000 will begin in the first quarter of 1997. (214) 996-5000.
Maxon America Inc. announced several numeric and alphanumeric personal pagers including two models from the NXP-AN series. Each model is designed for POCSAG 512, 1200 or 2400 bps code format, and features a single line, dot matrix liquid crystal display. The pagers store up to 20 messages and uses a proportional display font, the company said. Also included is a real time clock, message time stamp, alarm clock, message scroll method, message protect and delete, message review, mail box and vibrator or tone alert modes. (816) 891-6320.
The Microelectronics Group of Lucent Technologies Inc. announced one of its flash memory digital signal processor chips helped cut in half the time it took Digital Voice Systems Inc. to deliver its Advanced Multi-Band Excitation-1000 voice codec to the wireless market. The AMBE-1000, which is a low-bit-rate speech compression system on a single integrated circuit, is used for digital land mobile radio, personal communication services, voice mail and multimedia applications. DVSI specializes in speech compression products for communications and voice storage applications. (908) 508-8226.
Ericsson Inc. introduced a new line of dual-mode, dual-band, wireless phones, which operate on bo
th analog and digital networks and at 900 MHz or 1800
MHz frequencies. The PD 328, PD 378 and PD 398 will allow users to roam between cellular and personal communications services systems, and use digital networks where available. The PD series meets industry specifications for Interim Standard 136A, Time Division Multiple Access for Digital Control Channel. (212) 685-4030.
