Tuesday September 1, 12:18 pm Eastern Time
Ericsson Expands in Wireless Data
Communications Area -- Offers Mobile
Access to Local Area Networks
STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 1998--Ericsson has expanded its wireless data communications
activities with a decision to exploit the Wireless LAN (WLAN) market.
This has until now been one of the few areas within wireless communications not covered by Ericsson.
Ericsson will have a full range of Wireless LAN products available by the end of 1998. The first products are sourced
from BreezeCOM and based on the IEEE's recently formalized 802.11 standard. Ericsson will enhance the product offer
with complementary security solutions that will make this WLAN offer the most secure on the market. WLAN solutions
from Ericsson will address the enterprise market, but also public ''Hot Spots'', such as airports frequented by travelling
businesspersons.
''Wireless data communication is one of our priority areas at Ericsson,'' says Sven-Christer Nilsson, CEO of Ericsson.
''Recent announcements, such as Ericsson's involvement in projects like Bluetooth and Symbian are proof of our interest
and efforts. The fact that we enter the WLAN market is yet another example of the importance for us to be able to offer our
customers total solutions in the wireless data communications sector.''
The Wireless LAN solution will ensure secure access to intranets (and the Internet) for travelling business persons who
transmit and receive large amounts of data. It will truly be possible to communicate whenever wherever. Security issues
have been one of the main hindrances in the uptake of WLAN applications. Ericssons security solutions will mean
protection against information tapping, and against illegal access to LAN network resources by unauthorized traffic by
introducing an internal ''Firewall'' node.
Ericsson's Firewall Unit will utilize the IP Security (IPSec) protocol; a standard based method of providing privacy,
integrity and authenticity to information transmitted across IP networks.
Ericsson believes that competitive pricing and expanded bandwidth, together with increased interoperability between
products, is driving the Wireless LAN market. There is no longer only a WLAN market for vertical applications, such as
for warehousing, logistics, retail or medical segments. Instead we will have horizontal applications, i.e. general office use,
independent of industry segment. These are going to be the true drivers of the WLAN infrastructure growth.
Ericsson is actively participating in the ETSI standardization of Hiperlan/2, and is currently developing products according
to this standard. Hiperlan/2 is operating in the 5GHz band that is expected to be available world wide for WLAN
operation. The Hiperlan/2 system will provide an effective user capacity in the order of 20-25 Mbit/s, i.e. comparable to
the performance of wired LANs. Ericsson is also an active player in IETF, working on future standards for security and
mobility in wireless local area networks.
Information regarding Ericsson's Wireless LAN Systems' offers and activities will continually be posted on
ericsson.se
Global information about Ericsson and its products is available on the World Wide Web at ericsson.se
Ericsson's 100,000 employees are active in more than 130 countries. Their combined expertise in fixed and mobile
networks, mobile phones and infocom systems makes Ericsson a world-leading supplier in telecommunications.
Contact:
Ericsson, New York
Kathy Egan
Per Bengtsson
212/685-4030 |
