BellSouth Cellular Corp. announced it will invest in designing software-defined radio technology, a
move that could give momentum to the rest of the wireless industry to change the way handsets are produced.
The
idea of developing a wireless handset that can operate on any air interface regardless of technology, slowly is gaining
momentum among manufacturers and carriers. BellSouth is the first company to announce a significant investment in
the technology.
BellSouth said it is partnering with QuickSilver Technology Inc., a semiconductor company in
Campbell, Calif., to develop Adaptive Computing Machine technology that will allow a wireless phone to
automatically change its configuration to work on different networks. Plans call for trials of ACM-enabled devices to
begin in late 2000 to early 2001. The two companies plan to license ACM technology to original equipment
manufacturers and are in discussions with handset vendors concerning development of the new devices. BellSouth did
not disclose the financial details of the agreement.
“This will be a breakthrough offering in that the customer
will have truly seamless roaming, and this will be an advantage for BellSouth,” said Jeffrey Kagan, an industry
analyst based in Atlanta. “I think other companies will be quick to jump on the bandwagon.”
Kagan said
flat-rate plans, like AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s One Rate plan that eliminates roaming and long-distance fees, are
changing the desire of the marketplace. Customers are beginning to expect seamless roaming.
ACM technology will
change the way handset manufacturers produce phones today. Rather than fusing pieces of hardware together to build
multimode/multiband phones, carriers and manufacturers will be able to consolidate phone product lines around a
single chipset. BellSouth Corp. is looking to tie its Global System for Mobile communications personal
communications services network, its Time Division Multiple Access networks at 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz, analog and
international networks.
“The multiple technology world will not go away,” said Stephen Blust, senior
manager of strategic technologies with BellSouth and chairman of the SDR Forum. “We’re taking advantage of
cutting-edge technologies rather than stamping out more chipsets … Even if one [third-generation] standard is chosen,
you still have different frequency bands, and you still have to support 2G on your network.”
And the
prospects of ACM technology do not stop at roaming.
“It will enable simple things, like updating your
operating system code in your phone or downloading a new voice coder. And we hate to say this, but fix bugs in
handsets. A carrier could remotely reconfigure and download new software without the customer coming into the
store,” said Blust. “In addition, we’re seeing handsets becoming more information-centric than voice-
centric. That is where this technology has great potential.”
BellSouth also envisions ACM-enabled
applications in automobiles, allowing new on-board communications capabilities to complement their on-board
computing products. Computer manufacturers can embed wireless communications in applications without worrying
about choosing a proprietary technology, added Blust.
The SDR Forum-a group comprised of the defense and
commercial wireless sectors and civil government to develop SDR technology-commissioned a study with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluding the anticipated demand in the commercial wireless market for
annual, global SDR-enabled appliances ranges from almost 9.5 million in 2000 to more than 130 million in 2005.
