VANCOUVER, B.C.-Sierra Wireless Inc. unveiled a new embedded laptop card ready to operate on Sprint Nextel Corp.’s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network.
The Sierra Wireless MC5720 PCI Express Mini Card is the first product in Sierra’s “mini card” series, designed for integration into laptop computers and other mobile devices. Now that the device has been certified for Sprint Nextel’s EV-DO Power Vision broadband network, Sierra Wireless said equipment manufacturers can use it to develop laptops with the built-in ability to connect to Sprint Nextel’s network.
“Customers looking to build Sprint connectivity into notebook computers can now do so with the confidence that the MC5720 comes pre-tested by Sprint and Sierra Wireless to minimize the possibility of delays in development and time to market,” said Jim Kirkpatrick, chief technology officer for Sierra Wireless.
According to Sierra, the card offers typical data rates of 400-700 kilobits per second, with peak speeds up to 2.4 Mbps. The card also is backward compatible with Sprint Nextel’s 1x network and allows seamless roaming where an EV-DO connection is not available.
A number of laptop manufacturers have launched similar embedded modems compatible with Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO network and Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s EDGE network.
