by
Mark Sedenquist
A
new Website has launched, and it certainly captured my attention.
In a previous column I mentioned
the WIN 4 wireless backbone network that GTE Wireless has
created, and although the desired customer for the WIN 4
service does not include mere mortals like myself, there
is an excellent description of the types of business applications
than can be enhanced by wireless communications devices.
WIN
4 is expected to be able to offer backbone routing capability
for the three digital formats, (CDMA, GSM & TDMA) as
well as analog. Since this a new Website, some of the components
are not fully operational but www.win4.net is one to watch.
The
wireless wizards have returned home from the meeting in
New Orleans, and so the question is: what do we know now
that will enable us to log-on from anywhere in North America?
Well, there is good news and so-so news. The good news is
that major corporate communications entities have pledged
to invest millions of dollars to create the necessary wireless
gadgets and services to meet the needs of Dashboarders and
other data communication customers. The so-so news is that
the current demand for those services may not be enough
to accelerate the roll-out of the equipment until 2002.
On
the other hand, lots of cool gadgets are hitting the marketplace.
I have a decidedly jaundiced view about the claims of some
of the manufacturers but recent news reports about new joint
ventures between telecommunications firms like Motorola,
Cisco, Microsoft, Qualcomm, NEC, Nextel and Netscape Communications
are very intriguing.
Body
Glove wetsuits are synonymous with quality and state-of-the-art
body swimwear, and now road warriors can consider using
neoprene phone cases to protect their newest wireless gadgets,
check out www.goneo.com.
“Wireless
Knowledge” is a venture created by an alliance between Microsoft
and Qualcomm that will produce new equipment using wireless
and wireline networks to deliver e-mail and information
services to client LANs. A “virtual assistant” is under
development by Wildfire
Communications that may provide superior voice recognition
for on-the-road telematics services. Lucent Technologies
and SRS Labs have teamed together to create a VIP
chip, (voice intelligibility processor) that can be
used in noisy environments like airports or tradeshows.
When a button on a cell phone is engaged, this chip analyzes
the background noise and selectively alters the portions
of the sound waves from the interfering noise levels that
a human brain uses for cognitive thought. The result is
supposed to be a “crystal clear” audio reception of the
voice.
Although
I have been critical of the GSM standard, the news from
the New Orleans wireless meeting would suggest that it is
alive and well. There are supposed to be 17 GSM service
providers in North America with cellular coverage in over
2500 North American cities. One development that might encourage
this growth lies in the introduction of the new Ericsson
I-888 World Phone. By using a couple of accessories (the
CF-888 or DI-27) it is supposed to be possible to simply
place the GSM-cellular phone next to a laptop or a PDA and
“beam” the e-mail or internet data from the phone directly
to the computer without using a connecting cable. This is
something the Road Wirer will have to see in person...
Mark
Sedenquist
Pasadena, California
February 15, 1999
