NEW YORK-Home Wireless Networks, a Norcross, Ga., company in which Lucent Technologies
Inc. has invested, Friday announced the commercial availability of a wireless home/office data and voice
communications distribution system.
Its function is to provide small-business customers with secure voice and data
communications they can configure without the need for additional wiring or wall jacks. A home office unit will retail
for about $500 and a small-business unit for about $1,000, said John C.W. Taylor, chairman, president and chief
executive officer of Home Wireless Networks.
The backbone of the system is the controller, which provides
wireless distribution of up to five telephone lines and can communicate via wireless digital technology to and from
multiple peripherals, including handsets and phone and data jacks.
The HWN handset serves both as a wireless local
telephone and as an interface to the controller. The system also will allow users to automatically forward their calls to a
mobile handset that uses any cellular or personal communications services carrier’s radio-frequency technology, Taylor
said.
The goal is to give the mobile phone access to all of the voice and data capabilities now linked together by the
on-premises, fixed wireless system, said Remesh Barasia, vice president of marketing. Barasia, formerly vice president
of advanced intelligent networking for Lucent, said this feature will be in place when HWN is capable of providing
users with voice, data and video over Internet Protocol technology.
The HWN system supports Integrated Services
Digital Network service and will be enhanced to support Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line technology later this
year. Software upgrades will be available on the company’s Web site or by obtaining personal computer floppy disks
from the company, Taylor said.
