Wireless Internet
Wireless Internet

Wireless Internet

Sanyo Markets Wireless Broadband

Sanyo Electric Co. announced it will begin marketing a wireless broadband communications system it has developed jointly with Soma Networks Inc., a U.S. venture business for broadband solutions. Sanyo will initially develop and produce transmitting and receiving equipment, ground stations and other devices for the system before providing the service of creating telecom systems. Sanyo has already won an order to supply a system to a telecom operator in the Cayman Islands.

Proxim and NEC Begin Deployment of Large Retail Wireless Network

Proxim Wireless Corporation, a global provider of broadband wireless equipment and subsidiary of Terabeam, Inc., today announced that it is supplying NEC Infrontia Corp., a leading manufacturer of key telephone systems and point-of-sale (POS) systems, with the infrastructure to deploy Wi-Fi hotspots and wireless POS solutions throughout Japan in all of the locations of two large retail chains. These deployments are individually the largest retail wireless networks in both companies’ history.

Cellcom Reports 50,000 i-mode Subs

Cellcom Israel Ltd. reports that it has 50,000 i-mode subscribers three months after launch. Since their i-mode roll-out in September, Cellcom has been adding content, which now includes 96 Israeli websites and access to 80,000 foreign websites. Cellcom said most new i-mode subscribers since the launch of the service use it extensively, although it should be kept in mind that most services are given free during the first months of use.

Vodafone Selects A-GPS Solution

Openwave Systems announced that NEC Corp. is integrating Openwave Location Manager into NEC’s Network Assisted Location Information Solutions. Vodafone K.K. in Japan is the first customer to select the combined solution. Openwave and NEC’s location solution is in compliance with the pre-standard Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) standard currently under consideration by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The solution integrates Openwave Location Manager’s Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) with NEC’s SUPL positioning server to provide a high-accuracy, Assisted GPS (A-GPS) offering that enables location-based services for both the consumer and enterprise markets. The combined solution also incorporates an access management feature to protect subscriber privacy at both the mobile handset and application levels.

Japan Gets 2nd Chance at Global Market

They have full-fledged Web browsers, and they even have fingerprint readers and cameras with face-recognition software that locks up a phone if an unwanted stranger tries to use it. Interested in getting one? Good luck. You essentially can’t buy one outside Japan.

Editor’s comment: This article is a good review of why Japan keitai are the world’s best, underscoring Editor-in-Chief Daniel Scuka’s comments earlier this week in the WWJ newsletter (click here to subscribe for free).

NEC Set to Deliver HSDPA Network

NEC Corporation announced that its High Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) is ready to be delivered for use in commercial networks worldwide. The successful field network operation trial for NEC’s HSDPA was carried out this summer through the cooperation of Vodafone K.K. in Japan. During the trial, Node-Bs and radio network controllers (RNC) based on NEC’s HSDPA achieved a high level of performance and functionality, including high-speed internet access among HSDPA-based 3G mobile terminals, consecutive data transmission and handover in a HSDPA service environment and flexible and variable change in transmission speed.