Novatel Cuts Euro Reseller Deals
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Dan McDonough, Jr., Wireless.NewsFactor.com
Mobile modem maker Novatel Wireless (Nasdaq: NVTL - news) has found out that there is comfort in quantity. The company is unloading its modems in bulk to resale partners, and it just landed a US$10 million contract with BT Wireless' UK mobile operator, BT Cellnet.
Terms of the agreement call for BT Cellnet to
purchase Novatel's Merlin GPRS (general
packet radio service) PC Card Modems. Shipments begin this month, and Novatel
said the pact could be expanded to more than the initial $10 million order.
Novatel also lined up distribution deals for its Merlin modems with Irish carrier
Digifone, The Netherlands' Telfort and Germany-based Viag. Those deals give
Novatel new sales channels through which it can unload more modems -- namely
the Merlin G201 GPRS Card, which connects to GPRS/GSM (global system for
mobile communications) networks.
For mobile users in those countries, the deals mean quick access to mobile data services and a reasonable price point to get in: Many carriers likely will offer a deep discount on the modem for folks who sign on to their service.
Faster Data
The relatively new GPRS technology with BT Cellnet offers download rates of up to 53.6 kilobits per second (kbps) over GPRS -- much better than the 14.4 kbps available via circuit-switched data over GSM. Using the Merlin G201, users will gain access to the 900/1800 MHz bands that are common in Europe and Asia.
As GPRS grows and expands to other nations -- Novatel hopes to gain a good piece of the market. And by lining up deals with major carriers, the company can reduce its own sales burden. Additionally, the carriers always are looking for new products to beef up their offerings.
"To meet the growing demand for mobile data services and products, BT Cellnet aims to provide our customers with innovative, first-to-market products like the Merlin G201," BT Cellnet executive vice president of devices Tony Greaves said. "The introduction of Merlin G201 gives mobile professionals access to mission-critical information while expanding BT Cellnet's corporate mobile data service offerings."
Access for Notebooks, Handhelds
Novatel's stock in trade is its Merlin line -- modems that offer mobile access to data, for fun or for work. The Merlin G201, a key player in the deals Novatel just inked, is slightly larger than a credit card and slides into a Type II PC Card slot.
The modem provides access to e-mail, corporate databases and the Internet for users of any device with a comparable PC Card slot, Novatel said. Most notebook computers are equipped with this functionality, and a few handheld devices are compatible, too.
The Merlin G201 comes with its own software that is compatible with Microsoft's Windows 98 (news - web sites), 2000, Millennium, XP and Pocket PC operating systems. |
