AT&T Wireless Services and Cingular Wireless will offer intercarrier multimedia messaging service (MMS), allowing customers to exchange text, photos, music and video clips between the two carriers from their wireless phones.While such an agreement was expected-Cingular is set to close its acquisition of AT&T...
TORONTO-Canadian wireless operator Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. selected Azaire Networks as its core system provider for the carrier's Wi-Fi service locations throughout Canada. Azaire will provide Rogers Wireless with secure authentication and authorization of Wi-Fi services and the ability for customers to pay for...
Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. made handset news Wednesday.Siemens' new CX70 mobile phone features "push and talk" (PaT) walkie-talkie functionality based on open specifications.PaT is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a platform that is also being used for future multimedia services, including...
Is the public-safety community at the forefront of the technology revolution or picking up the rear? It depends on your perspective, who you ask or what day it is.Public safety was one of the first industries to embrace wireless data. CDPD communication was essential...
WASHINGTON-The official wireless world was strangely silent last week with everyone from Nextel Communications Inc. to Verizon Wireless refusing to say what happens now that the Federal Communications Commission has released the details of its plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz...
NATICK, Mass.-The public-safety community wants software-defined radio technology to solve interoperability issues with communications between departments, according to a new study by Venture Development Corp.The study, "Software-Defined Radio: North American and European Market Demand Analysis," found 88 percent of U.S. public-safety respondents want such...
OYSTER BAY, N.Y.-The market for ZigBee, a low-power, short-range wireless sensor and control technology, could see explosive growth during the next three years, according to a new study by ABI Research.The study, "ZigBee and 802.15.4 Wireless Networks," predicts shipments of about 1 million ZigBee...
WASHINGTON-Legg Mason Inc., which owns just over 9 percent of the stock for Nextel Communications Inc., said Monday it expects Nextel to accept the Federal Communications Commission's plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band."Once the order is published in the Federal...
WASHINGTON-The First Response Coalition seized the heightened terror alerts in New York and Washington and the recently released 9/11 Commission report to once again urge lawmakers to overturn the Federal Communication Commission's recently adopted decision on how to solve public-safety interference in the 800...
WASHINGTON-Interoperability is not easy, but it is something that needs to happen and it is something Congress is concerned about, said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House cybersecurity subcommittee."One of the things we talk a lot about in the halls of Congress...
After years of development, certain specifications now provide basic guidelines for wireless security at both the commercial and more stringent enterprise levels, but it remains up to wireless users to decide what level of security, beyond those basic guidelines, they require and how to...
The launch of converged mobile devices, capable of communicating over both Wi-Fi and cellular technologies, suggests Wi-Fi, long hailed by start-up companies and tech-savvy consumers, may be gaining credibility among the big names in wireless.The launch of such integrated devices could also put investor...
WASHINGTON-Interoperability is not easy, but it is something that needs to happen and it is something Congress is concerned about, said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House cybersecurity subcommittee."One of the things we talk a lot about in the halls of Congress...
Enterprise users can now seamlessly switch between outside GSM networks and enterprise 802.11-based wireless local area networks for both voice and data using Motorola Inc.'s Enterprise Seamless Mobility solution, launched today in collaboration with Avaya and Proxim.The solution features Motorola's new CN620 mobile office...
WASHINGTON-The Department of Homeland Security needs to step up and do a better job of coordinating public-safety interoperable communications, said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of the House Government Reform national security subcommittee."The Homeland Security Department is clearly responsible," said Shays. "I think DHS...
WASHINGTON-The Department of Homeland Security needs to step up and do a better job of coordinating public-safety interoperable communications, said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of the House Government Reform national security subcommittee."The Homeland Security Department is clearly responsible," said Shays. "I think DHS...
SAN DIEGO-Nokia announced its CDMA2000 variable-rate multimode wideband speech codec (VMR-WB), the first wideband speech codec standard developed by 3GPP2/TIA, is ready for large-scale deployment. The codec is fully interoperable with 3GPP/AMR-WB, the standard in GSM and W-CDMA networks, which is "a significant leap...
The standards deadlock over ultra-wideband technology between the Multiband OFDM Alliance and the Direct Sequence UWB Forum continued at the IEEE conference last week. This time, however, it had an unexpected twist. In a vote tally often won by MBOA, the DS-UWB Forum won...
When Java came into wireless, it was welcomed with arms half open. Companies like Qualcomm Inc. thought the technology was too open and had to shrink its appeal. Some said it was not open enough because it savored such a wide array of supporters...
CHICAGO-Mobile instant communications provider Fastmobile Inc. reported a development partnership with integrated conferencing solutions provider Spectel to develop interoperability between Spectel's MobileConneXion mobile conferencing solution and the push-to-conference and instant-message capabilities of Fastmobile's Fastchat service. The companies noted the agreement will allow Push to...
SINGAPORE-The Open Mobile Alliance wireless standards group announced the release of several new specifications covering Web services, location-based services and other hot-button technologies. Founded two years ago, OMA works to set global specifications for various wireless data services and functions.In conjunction with the CommunicAsia...
WASHINGTON-Verizon Wireless said late Wednesday that changes to the Consensus Plan proposed by Nextel Communications Inc. June 2 would only recreate the interference problem in the 800 MHz band that it purports to solve."The additional spectrum does not solve the public-safety interference problem. Instead,...
WASHINGTON-The public-safety advocates of the Consensus Plan told the Federal Communications Commission that statements made by Verizon Wireless are misleading."Verizon continues to repeat claims regarding the Consensus Plan that are simply incorrect. Once again it wrongly states that 'public safety will be forced to...
CHICAGO-Mobile instant communications provider Fastmobile Inc. reported a development partnership with integrated conferencing solutions provider Spectel to develop interoperability between Spectel's MobileConneXion mobile conferencing solution and the push-to-conference and instant-message capabilities of Fastmobile's Fastchat service. The companies noted the agreement will allow Push to...
