Sierra Wireless Advances Mobile Web Access in Canada
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Dan McDonough, Jr., Wireless.NewsFactor.com
Sierra Wireless (Nasdaq: SWIR - news) has signed a deal with Telus Mobility that will make it possible for clients in selected areas of British Columbia, Canada, to access their e-mail, the Internet and corporate applications from any computing device with a PC card slot.
The agreement makes Sierra Wireless'
AirCard 300 available for Internet use on Telus
Mobility's CDPD (cellular digital packet data)
network. Telus Mobility plans to charge US$50
a month for the service. Financial terms of the deal between Sierra Wireless and
Telus were not disclosed.
A Wireless Connection
Sierra Wireless' AirCard 300 allows users to get online from most models ofx notebook computers and the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC.
"With the Sierra Wireless AirCard 300, Telus Mobility clients can use theirx PDAs [personal digital assistants] or laptops to get anytime, anywhere wireless access to the Internet," said Telus Mobility vice president of wireless Internet services Robert Blumenthal. "It gives our clients the power to take their office applications with them wherever they go."
The Sierra Wireless AirCard 300 is always on, allowing users to stay connected to the Internet as if working in the office, with no dial-up required.
Faster Connections
Though the AirCard 300 now will be available to Telus Mobility subscribers, Sierra Wireless has other, much faster products both in the pipeline and on the shelves.
In March, Sierra Wireless announced the availability of its AirCard 400 modem for Metricom Inc.'s (Nasdaq: MCOM - news) high-speed Ricochet wireless network. The modem lets users connect wirelessly to e-mail and the wireless Web at 128 kilobits per second (kbps) -- the speed of wired ISDN connections -- Sierra Wireless said.
The company also announced in January that it will supply AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE - news) with GPRS (general packet radio service) wireless modems. That deal is an amendment to a $30 million contract
between Sierra Wireless and AT&T Wireless that dates back to December 1999, when Sierra agreed to supply AT&T with EDGE wireless data devices.
Most importantly, though, Sierra said it plans to continue collaborating with AT&T Wireless on new 3G (third-generation) developments, such as UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications products and services. Extremely fast modems could be around the corner.
A Dead Link
One of the major drawbacks to the AirCard products, however, is that they are not compatible with the Palm OS platform for PDAs. According to Sierra Wireless, AirCard technology can only be used with Windows-based laptops, handhelds and other devices with a PCMCIA Type II slot.
Nevertheless, since most laptops are PC-based, the devices have seen success. |
