A new high-tech suburban Tokyo train has been launched with the promise of a wireless Internet service allowing passengers to surf the Web on the move. The semi-private Tsukuba Express links Akihabara, Tokyo’s discount electronics heartland, with Tsukuba, a campus town 58 kilometers (36 miles) to the north. For now the Wi-Fi wireless Internet service, offered by NTT BP and Intel, is only on trial in the train carriages and five of 20 stations along the line.
Connexion by Boeing and Intel announced an agreement to enhance and promote high-speed, in-flight wireless Internet service. The companies have successfully completed compatibility testing with Intel’s Centrino-based laptop configurations, making Connexion by Boeing the first in-flight Internet service to be verified through Intel’s Wireless Verification Program, according to the companies. They said that Connexion by Boeing is the only high-speed wireless Internet, data and entertainment connectivity service for commercial airlines and their passengers as well as for operators of private and government executive jets.
Ericsson and the Softbank Group said they have succeeded in a trial experiment for seamless handover of circuit-switched voice data using an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) on a 3G mobile network and wireless local area network (WLAN). This live demonstration was executed on a mobile WCDMA 3G network operated in the 1.7-GHz radio band.
Nintendo is partnering with IGN Entertainment to create an innovative network for portable video games that is not only expansive but also extremely easy for everyone to use. Set to debut later this year, the wireless service for Nintendo DST will use IGN’s GameSpy Technology to let people around the world link easily and wirelessly to play games, just as if they were playing face-to-face. The Nintendo DS service will provide an easy, seamless transition to wireless Wi-Fi gaming, the service represents the first foray by IGN’s GameSpy into portable games.
Internet service provider Livedoor is reportedly partnering with PoweredCom to set up some 100 WLAN access points in central Tokyo around the busy Yamanote train line according to a report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. PoweredCom is the fixed-line service arm of TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Though Tepco dominates PoweredCom with a share of 83.81 percent, other powerful investors include Mitsui and Mitsubishi. The Nikkei reports Livedoor’s investment in this venture is expected to hit 2-3 billion yen. The service, based on IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g WLAN standards, will be available for a monthly fee.
KT Corp., South Korea’s biggest fixed-line telephone and Internet operator, announced Monday an alliance with Sony Corp. to equip the Japanese electronics giant’s popular PSP console with Wi-Fi Internet access. KT said PSP customers will be able to surf the Web via the company’s 14,000 hotspots nationwide. Kang Hee-won, a spokesman at Sony Computer Entertainment Korea, added it is the first time in the world for Sony to add Wi-Fi connectivity for the PSP machines.
