Year: <span>2004</span>
Year: 2004

Year: 2004

3G CDMA Industry Achievement Awards Recognize Excellence IN CDMA2000

The CDMA Development Group today announced the winners of the 3G CDMA Industry Achievement Awards, presented yesterday during the CDMA Americas Congress, taking place this week at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Both companies and individuals were recognized for excellence in deploying CDMA2000. The awards were presented by Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG, and Gerry Flynn, vice president, industry relations of the CDG and director, advanced technology strategy/standards for Verizon Wireless.

HP Signs Five-Year Managed Services Agreement with Nokia

HP today announced that it has signed a five-year agreement with Nokia to continue providing global information technology (IT) outsourcing services for the company’s 51,000 employees worldwide. The new agreement is valued at approximately $100 million per year and formalizes a memorandum of understanding announced in February. Extending the companies’ original collaboration that began in 2001, HP will continue to manage the IT infrastructure and operations for Nokia’s messaging, groupware and network.

KDDI Announces Mobile FeliCa

According yesterday’s press release, KDDI will roll out FeliCa IC chip-enabled handsets by Q42005. DoCoMo launched four models that utilize Sony’s non-contact solution earlier this summer and has stated that all future phones must have this feature. The Mobile FeliCa system allows users to make small cybercash transactions; it can also be used as an ID pass to access secure areas and for marketing programs such as retail customer loyalty point programs.

OMRON Launches EPC-compatible UHF-band RFID Reader/Writer

OMRON Corporation, a leading Japanese RFID systems provider, is launching the V740 series EPC reader/writer for UHF-band RFID tags in North America. The first UHF tag reader/writer from a Japanese RFID device manufacturer, the unit supports both EPC Class 0 and Class 1 protocols. It is also designed to accommodate Generation 2 protocol by EPC Global (C1G2) by upgrading its firmware when these specifications become available. Additionally, the product supports standard network protocols including DHCP, UDP/IP over Ethernet, 820.11x (Wi-Fi), HTTP and SNMP, and its superior network adaptability enables its software to be easily implemented from remote sites.

Heavy Traffic Slows WWJ Site

It appears that demand for our latest Sony PSP video story has set new WWJ site traffic records, thanks Tech-Crunch & Boing Boing, and caused a severe slow-down in loading pages over the last half day. There is, unfortunately, little we can do to boost our server in the short term and request that visitors remain patient, perhaps checking back periodically.

Dilithium Networks Multimedia Gateway Supports SIP Protocol

Dilithium Networks, a leading provider of wireless multimedia solutions, announced today support for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) in the DTG2000 multimedia gateway. By supporting SIP, DTG2000 enables conversational video services between SIP-enabled terminals on the packet network and 3G-324M terminals on 3G mobile networks.

Vodafone Prepares for Show Time

Vodafone will call together analysts and investors today to showcase its top operations in a quest to restore shaken market faith in the world’s largest international mobile phone operator. Earlier this week, the company unveiled plans for a broader 3G mobile phone launch, with seven of the 10 new multimedia handsets aimed at Japan, where Vodafone has blamed its lack of a competitive 3G handset range for eroding revenues and profits as it loses customers to rivals.

Mobile TV Rocks!

In his 14 September WWJ Viewpoint, Philip Sugai raised some valid criticisms of the new TV cell phones and points to both technological and end-user behavior limitations that he believes doom TV phones to “DOA” status. Of these, the behavioral problems appear to be the most difficult to overcome. These criticisms, however, seriously underestimate both the technological developments that the devices will undergo in the next 18-24 months as well as the imagination and creativity that Japan’s end-users and broadcasters will apply to receiving and delivering, respectively, useful content via mobile TV (and FM radio).

Part 2 of a two-part series. Previously: MobileTV: Hype or Reality?, by Professor Philip Sugai.)

CEATEC 2004 & Japan's IT & Electronics Industries

The fifth staging of CEATEC JAPAN is nearly upon us. Optimism has returned to the industrial world this year, boosted by strong demand for mobile network-related products and car electronics equipment. Digital home appliances have been especially popular. In the Japanese electronics industry, domestic production reached peak levels of 25.4 trillion yen in 1997 and 25.1 trillion yen in 2000. In 2004, the figure also looks certain to exceed the 20.0 trillion yen mark.

Sony's New PSP Debut on Video

Sony's New PSP Debut on VideoThe Tokyo Game Show opened yesterday — with all the usual fanfare — at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. Amid the pounding music, laser light shows and the 3G’s (Games, Geeks and Girls), we found what has been one of the most highly anticipated product debuts of the season: Sony’s new PlayStation Portable; the device is also Sony Entertainment’s first step into the mobile gaming market. Today’s program brings you close-up video of the PSP during its first public unveiling. Bonus: get a hands-on look at a several new games for DoCoMo’s F900i-series of handsets.