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...
The GSM Association and China's TD-SCDMA Forum today announced in Beijing an agreement to coordinate the development of two third-generation mobile-phone standards. The accord is designed to foster interoperability and international roaming between GSM, the world's most prevalent mobile-phone technology, and TD-SCDMA, a technology...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-The Bluetooth Special Interest Group reported that the Bluetooth industry is now shipping more than 2 million units per week worldwide, which is less than nine months after the Bluetooth SIG said the industry had passed the 1-million-units-per-week mark."Bluetooth wireless technology is...
WASHINGTON-A plan to use auction revenues to fund grants for first-responder interoperable communications was withdrawn Thursday, allowing the House Commerce Committee to pass the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act of 2004.Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), a consistent supporter of public-safety communications and...
MUMBAI, India-Countering a similar offering by rival wireless provider Tata Teleservices, Indian wireless carrier Hutchison Essar launched Fastmobile Inc.'s push2talk service, which combines walkie-talkie services with instant messaging, short message service, multimedia messaging service and voice messaging.The carrier said the service would be available...
DALLAS-Two marquee chipmakers Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics said they are sampling what they describe as the first standard CDMA2000 1x EV-DV solution.The chips will be embedded in cell phones, personal digital assistants and other mobile devices.EV-DV technology is the next migration step from EV-DO...
Two marquee chipmakers Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics said they are sampling what they describe as the first standard CDMA2000 1x EV-DV solution.The chips will be embedded in cell phones, personal digital assistants and other mobile devices.EV-DV technology is the next migration step from EV-DO...
BOSTON-With the full commercial deployment of Internet Protocol multimedia subsystems, carriers are gearing up for a variety of services that will converge various technologies like Wi-Fi, DSL and cable, according to a report by the Yankee Group.With this deployment, callers can forward calls, and...
WASHINGTON-Public-safety advocates of the Consensus Plan to solve interference in the 800 MHz band spoke by telephone with FCC Chairman Michael Powell May 27, expressing concern Nextel Communications Inc. will walk away from any plan that includes 2.1 GHz as replacement spectrum."The public-safety associations...
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent creation of a still-evolving homeland security regime in the United States probably did more for the wireless industry than all the combined hype about third-generation mobile-phone technology that preceded the startling wake-up call to...
Camera phones are the most rapidly accepted consumer electronics device in history. Yet it appears that wireless carriers-a group many assumed would reap the rewards of a camera-phone revolution-are sitting on the sidelines of this mass adoption, watching and waiting.Annual sales of camera phones...
Motorola Inc. has unveiled what it describes as the first cross-technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular solution rooted in wireless networks. The announcement comes against the background of an industry search for a common standard for PoC even as the major players and the Open Mobile...
Countering a similar offering by rival wireless provider Tata Teleservices, Indian wireless carrier Hutchison Essar launched Fastmobile Inc.'s push2talk service, which combines walkie-talkie services with instant messaging, short message service, multimedia messaging service and voice messaging.The carrier said the service would be available to...
AUSTIN-The Wi-Fi Alliance announced it has adopted a color-coded Wi-Fi Certified logo and a product Interoperability Certificate for its Wi-Fi Certified branding program, designed to help consumers in wireless local area network purchasing decisions."Technology consumers at home and in the enterprise need to know...
Motorola Inc. has unveiled what it describes as the first cross-technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular solution rooted in wireless networks. This announcement comes against the background of an industry search for a common standard for PoC even as the major players and the Open Mobile...
Tim Berners-Lee, widely credited with creating the World Wide Web, published a paper criticizing the wireless industry's attempts to create ".mobi," a mobile-specific Internet domain name. The Technical Advisory Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops and evaluates Internet technologies, voiced...
WALLINGFORD, Conn.-SmartLink Radio Networks Inc. announced the opening of a new office in Billerica, Mass., to house its eastern regional sales, corporate marketing, business development and engineering development divisions.The 8,000-square-foot facility will employ 30 to 40 people. It is SmartLink's third office in New...
Nextel Communications Inc. continues to dominate the walkie-talkie space and is not expected to relinquish that lead for some time, despite recent attempts by Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS and Alltel Corp. to garner some of the push-to-talk pie. Nextel reported more than 13.3 million...
Quality of service requirements recently have become more urgent for wide area wireless networks because of the increasing need for data and other multimedia services. QoS also is being propelled by the variety of technologies and platforms emerging for different applications."A few years ago,...
In their spare time after work and on the weekends, three tech-savvy guys in Petaluma, Calif., in about six months have managed to surmount a technical hurdle that the multibillion-dollar U.S. wireless industry has not yet resolved after more than a year of effort.Paul...
As Wi-Fi adoption grows, companies are coming together to work out suitable standards in two key areas-security and quality of service.The security protocol for Wi-Fi is called Wi-Fi Protected Access, or 802.11i. The QoS protocol is known as 802.11e. WPA standards should be settled...
WASHINGTON-The estimated $1 billion contract awarded to M/A-COM to build a public-safety wireless network throughout New York state will be paid for through a 911 cell-phone surcharge on consumer bills, calling into question whether funds will be diverted from a federal mandate requiring wireless...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Trade groups 3G Americas and the CDMA Development Group released technical specifications to allow GSM subscribers to send picture messages to CDMA users. The groups' new "Americas MMS Inter-carrier Implementation Guidelines" include technical and service-level requirement guidelines for multimedia routing, MMS relay/server connectivity...
As the standards bodies for two metropolitan area network protocols prepare for separate meetings in May, both 802.16 and 802.20 are spoiling for a battle for survival. Neither .16e nor .20 have reached standards specifications yet, but supporters of each are pushing the strengths...
