ROW Short Takes

SR Telecom completes reorganization in FranceMontreal-based SR Telecom Inc. has finalized previously announced restructuring activities at its France-based operations. The details of the plans have been confirmed, take effect immediately and include the closing of its research and development facility in Lannion before the end of June. According to the company, the cost of the plan is within its expectations. SR Telecom will release further details concerning the restructuring when it announces its second-quarter financial results. "We are now focusing our operations in France on sales, customer support and projects. We remain committed to providing ongoing support for product installations and expansion plans generated by our customers for our swing product," said CFO David Adams in a news release. Agilent Technologies showcases productAgilent Technologies Inc. demonstrated a number of products last week at an industry conference. A news release states: "These microwave frequency products offer higher frequency, new capabilities and cost effectiveness. In addition, they extend Agilent’s comprehensive portfolio of wireless connectivity test solutions for wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ultra-wideband and WiMAX devices." The products demonstrated include: a wireless LAN-in-a-box test set, Wide Bandwidth Power Meter & Sensor, Signal Source Analyzer, among others. Spotwave releases Mike network repeatersSpotwave Wireless Inc. has expanded its family of wireless network repeaters to include support for Telus Mobility’s Mike network. The Ottawa-based company introduced the SpotCell 163 and SpotCell 263 on June 7. "SpotCell repeaters are ‘out-of-the-box’ coverage solutions that can be quickly deployed to boost wireless coverage significantly in these previously inaccessible indoor areas," reads a news release announcing the new products. Mitec Telecom inks two-year supply dealMontreal-based Mitec Telecom Inc. has inked a two-year supply agreement with a "prominent systems integrator". The identity of the systems integrator wasn’t revealed in the June 1 news release. The purchase deal is in the multi-million dollar range, but further monetary values weren’t provided. The systems integrator is buying high power block up converters, which are used in C- and Ku-band satellites and for VSAT applications. NEWT announces three Leapfrog contest winnersThe Network for Emerging Wireless Technologies (NEWT) has announced that Blister Entertainment, Integral Biosensors and NON-ELEPHANT Encryption Systems (NE2) are the three winners in its Leapfrog wireless technology development contest. Each company has been awarded $30,000 and free use of NEWT’s test facility, technical development advice, business mentorship and venture capital exposure. All of the projects are scheduled for completion this year. Blister has developed a location-based fishing game for cell phones, dubbed Swordfish, which combines the features of GPS and Java. Integral Biosensors has designed CardioBlue, a wireless cardiopulmonary monitoring system that features a real-time data acquisition and reporting system. NE2 is developing the NE2 PrivacyDrivers, a line of IP communications security solutions that will be both software- and silicon-based. ATI introduces new graphics chip for notebooksATI Technologies Inc. has unveiled the Mobility Radeon X600, a PCI Express graphics processor the company says is the industry’s first. The company has also introduced Axiom, a module design innovation for PCI Express notebook upgradeability. ATI says that more than 16 of the industry’s OEM and ODM designers, including Acer, Arima, eMachines, Gateway, HP and others, will use the graphics processor. The company launched the two products at an event on June 3 in Taipei, Taiwan. "ATI’s modular approach helps PC OEMs win early in the fast-growing mobile market, with the full line of ATI Mobility solutions to help them stay in front as the business develops in the future," Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst with In-Stat/MDR, said in a news release. Contec inks agreement with Hong Kong associationContec Innovations has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hong Kong Wireless Development Centre Ltd. (HKWDC) for the deployment of Contec’s Hornet DE mobile service delivery platform. The mobile applications server will be installed at HKWDC’s facility in Hong Kong and will be connected to all six mobile operators in the region. Contec also noted in a June 2 news release that it is working to install its Hornet DE server platform at a similar development facility in Canada. The goal is to provide applications developers in each country with enhanced access to the markets in each country. Redline’s AN-100 wins award from TIAThe Telecommunications Industry Association has awarded Redline Communications Inc.’s AN-100 Eight Port TDM product the SUPERquest award in the backbone/edge networking category. The AN-100 is an 802.16 compliant broadband wireless access system. Designed for service providers operating in the 3.5 GHz and the 5.8 GHz, the AN-100 provides a carrier class solution for backhaul and high-capacity access in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint network configurations. A news release reads: "The AN-100 supports ranges beyond 80 km (50 mi) and features extremely low latency to support high-speed data and real-time applications - including voice and video - with outstanding spectral efficiency (5 bits/second/Hertz)." Voq handset from Sierra Wireless wins awardSierra Wireless has announced that its Voq Professional Phone has been awarded the Excellence in Product Innovation Award from the British Columbia Technology Industries Association (BCTIA). The BCTIA presented Sierra Wireless with the award on June 9 at an awards ceremony in Vancouver. The annual prize recognizes superior innovation or discovery in advanced technology, and demonstrates an alternative solution or next stage development in technology. The Voq is a new breed of mobile handset aimed at the business user market, offering users the best features of a mobile phone, personal messaging device and PDA. One of the more innovative aspects of the device is its flip-open QWERTY keyboard. Bundles reduce wireless churn, says Yankee GroupA new report from the Yankee Group says that bundling wireless services with other telco services reduces wireless customer churn. Wireless Emerges as the New Star in the Telecommunications Bundle notes that market developments in landline, media and wireless telecommunications sectors are driving new enthusiasm for wireless bundling. The report says that wireless carriers can increase their net present lifetime subscriber value by 40%. A news release reads: "ILECs see wireless as a natural fit now that the RBOCs (regional Bell operating companies) have permission to sell long-distance service in every market. Cable (providers) and CLECs believe wireless is essential to their competitive strategies. Wireless carriers that face a maturing market and hyper-competition calculate bundling will enable them to reduce churn, attract new subscribers, and reduce operating expenses." Marriage of VoWLAN and cellular coming soonIn-Stat/MDR predicts that the marriage between Voice over wireless local area networks (VoWLAN) and cellular technology will arrrive sooner than most have previously believed. The high-tech research firm projects that VoWLAN/cellular combo handsets will start trials in the latter part of this year. Carriers are also looking into trials as well, says In/Stat. "By 2009, roughly 30% worldwide of all cellular voice devices will have some type of WLAN and roughly 18% of cellular voice devices will incorporate WLAN designed to carry voice." Verizon hits 70M downloadsVerizon Wireless reports that its has reached 70 million downloads for its Get It Now applications since the service launched in September 2002. The vast majority of downloads were recorded in the last year, notes the firm. Jim Slaight, VP of data and mutlimedia services for Verizon said at Qualcomm’s BREW Developers Conference this week that 34 million downloads were recorded in the first five months of this year. Most of the downloads were for games, with instant messaging, photos and ringtones also being popular.

ROW Short Takes

News | 06/11/2004 4:00 am EDT

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