BROWSING: IBM

GROUP SEEKS STANDARDS TO WIRELESSLY CONNECT HOME

A new group consisting of personal computer, telecommunications and consumer electronics companies is developing a protocol for wirelessly connecting home appliances to PCs.The Home Radio Frequency Working Group's mission is "to enable the existence of a broad range of interoperable consumer devices by establishing...

WIRELESS DATA FORUM MOVES TO WARD GOALS

Since announcing its new vision last fall, the Wireless Data Forum has taken several significant steps in the last weeks to move toward its goal of transforming into an industry-wide organizationMost recently, the organization hired Mark Desautels as the WDF's new managing director. Desautels...

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS ATTRACTIVE PROSPECTS FOR BILLING

NEW YORK-Look no further than North American borders for the biggest near-term opportunities to provide billing and customer care systems.In recent years, the focus of procurement contract competition has been on supplying operations support systems, which include billing and customer care, to the green...

WIRELESS ’98 WRAP-UP

Ericsson forms office mobility unitATLANTA-Ericsson Inc. announced the formation of the Wireless Services unit in response to the increasing need for wireless communications in the workplace.Ericsson said the new unit will provide a wireless office solution based on the Interim Standard-136 Time Division Multiple...

INNOVATIVE NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES USES HIGH-SPEED ANALOG

NEW YORK-Rumors of analog's death are premature, according to a group of former IBM Corp. executives who have joined with other industry veterans to form a new company to exploit high-speed analog transmission, first over plain old copper wire and later over the airwaves.Innovative...

NORTH AMERICA BRIEFS

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to move forward with a rulemaking on calling party pays service. While CPP service has been implemented with great success throughout much of the rest of the...

IBM ENTERS WIRELESS WITH COMMQUEST BUY

IBM Microelectronics Division and CommQuest Technologies Inc. last week announced a merger agreement, giving IBM an entrance into the wireless industry with CommQuest's experience in semiconductors for wireless applications. The arrangement is valued at $180 million, which IBM said will be financed by cash...

AMSC TO BUY ARDIS

Giving the wireless data industry some important momentum to start the new year, American Mobile Satellite Corp. announced it plans to acquire Motorola Inc.'s Ardis data messaging business, which combined potentially could create the most ubiquitous coverage of any wireless data company.Under terms of...

PEOPLE

ArrayComm Inc. announced that G. John Gruen III will fill the newly created position of director of corporate development. Gruen will be responsible for building and enhancing strategic partnerships and corporatealliances as well as developing pre-initial public offering strategies and communications for the privately...

WIRELESS DATA INDUSTRY FIGHTS FOR GROUND ON NEW BATTLEFIELD

The wireless data industry has long been considered the most optimistic bunch in the world of wireless. Each year, it seemed, was going to be "the year" the technology would rocket into mass acceptance.This upcoming year is again touted as having the potential for...

HUGHES’ ARMSTRONG TO LEAD AT&T, 3Q EARNINGS DROP 15 PERCENT

AT&T Corp.'s board of directors unanimously elected C. Michael Armstrong chairman and chief executive officer of the company, effective Nov. 1.AT&T was widely viewed to be under pressure to partner with someone after its nearest rival in the long-distance arena, MCI Communications Corp., became...

GSM PCS CARRIERS BEGIN WIRELESS E-MAIL SERVICES

Personal communications services operators Western Wireless and Aerial Communications Inc. each launched a service last week that will allow subscribers to receive e-mail messages using their PCS phones.Western Wireless customers using the company's @Stream e-mail service can have messages sent directly to the phone's...

IBM, GEOTEK PARTNERSHIP TO PROVIDE INTEGRATED MOBILE BUSINESS SERVICES

IBM Corp. and Geotek Communications Inc. announced they will join forces to provide integrated mobile communications services, equipment and software to business customers in the United States and some international markets.The agreement will see the two companies working together in two areas: technology, and marketing...

WIRELESS STOCKS START TO CLIMB CHARTS

The whisper on Wall Street is turning into a roar.Suddenly, telecom stocks are "hot" again, springing back to life in recent weeks following a painful and prolonged two-year slump.Telecom stocks-Wall Street darlings during the early 1990s-had been taking something of a beating the past...

ONE-OF-A-KIND COMPANY ENJOYS PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS DAWN

Metrica says it holds the sole championship title in its corner of the global telecom industry, network performance management. The United States is especially promising right now for its business, as personal communications services licensees start up their networks.The company is just one of...

PEOPLE

Metawave Communications Corp. named Tom Crawford director of product marketing and business development. He will be responsible for maintaining strategic partnerships that provide new sales and marketing opportunities for Metawave's multibeam antenna systems. Prior to joining the company, Crawford was director of strategic accounts...

TECHNOLOGY WAR ENSUES OVER UNIVERSAL STANDARD

The technology wars aren't over until the new universal, third generation worldwide standard is developed.Two prominent institutions are pushing the development of such a standard-the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva and the European Union in Brussels.The ITU first proposed the idea. A committee called...

WIRELESS RESELLERS WILL BE BIG WINNERS IN FUTURE, ANALYST PREDICTS

NEW YORK-As unlikely as it may seem at first glance today, an affinity marketing company and an airline reservation system offer a glimpse into the future landscape of the wireless telecommunications industry.Working Assets, a cause-related marketer, is a successful example and role model for...

PRODUCTS

Siemens Components Inc. introduced its Model CMY210, a GaAs MMIC that can be used for designing cellular or personal communications services handsets based on Time Division Multiple Access or Code Division Multiple Access standards. The company said it functions as an up/down converter for...

PEOPLE

USCI Inc. named Albert Bodamer senior vice president of Ameritel Communications Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of USCI. He will be responsible for all operational aspects of Ameritel. Bodamer previously served as vice president and general manager for PriCellular Corp.'s southern New York region....

PEOPLE

Metawave Communications Corp. named Vito Palermo senior vice president and chief financial officer, with responsibility for the company's financial and administrative operations including accounting, treasury, financial planning, investor relations and human resources. Most recently, Palermo served as vice president and corporate controller for Bay...

STANDARDS ISSUE BECOMES FLASHPOINT AT MOBILE COMPUTING SHOW

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.-Laissez-faire capitalists repeatedly faced off with supporters of de facto or government-mandated high-technology standards during last week's Mobile Insights '97 conference on mobile computing.The three-day meeting, held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here and hosted by industry consultant Gerry Purdy and his Mountain...

WORLD BRIEFS

Teklogix International Inc. received a contract from Samson Transport A/S, a third-party warehouse and transport company with worldwide locations. Under the agreement, Teklogix will provide Samson with a narrowband wireless data communications network with Ethernet TCP/IP connectivity to an IBM AS/400 host platform, the...

MOBILE DATA CARRIERS TRY TO ACCESS THE INTERNET

WASHINGTON-The mobile data industry still is in its infancy, according to manufacturers, service providers and users, but the next few years promise a mini boom in applications easy for almost anyone to use. A study recently released by Booz Allen Hamilton predicts 17.4 million...