Lucent Creates Team For Corporate 3G & Wi-Fi
By Kristy Bassuener
July 17, 2002
news@2 direct
Lucent Technologies links with wireless and computing giants to help bring more mobile data solutions to the enterprise market. The telecom equipment manufacturer will work with Agere Systems, Hewlett-Packard, iPass, ipUnplugged and Sierra Wireless -- as well as yet-unnamed U.S. carriers -- to make wireless data offerings simple, appealing and secure for companies that so far have not taken the wireless plunge.
Called Secure Mobile Data Solutions for Enterprises, the portfolio of services and gear basically will enable workers to link with both 3G mobile networks and 802.11b or Wi-Fi networks for access to data in the office, on the road or at a client's office, says Maria Palamara, distinguished member of technical staff at Lucent Mobility Solutions.
''We are going a little bit out of the box here to help operators educate enterprises to the benefits high-speed data solution could bring to their business,'' Palamara says. ''What we are trying to accomplish is to break down user barriers and bring wireless LAN together with 3G for more acceptance into the enterprise.'' Lucent will help carriers co-market the solution, she says, while other members of the team will offer client services or software solutions.
Partner iPass will serve as aggregator and clearing house for high-speed data services, and ipUnplugged will provide a hardware-based roaming gateway, Lucent says. Sierra Wireless will provide the modem cards needed to connect laptop and PDA devices to CDMA 3G networks. HP will provide systems integration services and devices, while Agere Systems will provide its ORiNOCO link of Wi-Fi networking products.
One use of the system likely to go over well with many corporations is the sales-call example Palamara gives. In the office, a sales executive could have a wireless LAN connection with VPN security for data access, but may be meeting a client out for lunch where a CDMA2000 1x mobile network is accessible. That executive could log back on using a 3G networking card and close a deal on the spot -- leaving less room for a client to change his or her mind after the meeting and before the deal is completed.
By the fourth quarter, Lucent plans to use a software system so users can seamlessly roam between a Wi-Fi and 3G network without losing the connection. Also by the fourth quarter, Lucent expects to offer similar services for UMTS as well as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO high-speed data-only networks.
''To date, mobile operators have had a hard time taking advantage of the enterprise market for wireless data services,'' says Philip Marshall, director of Wireless Mobile Technologies for the Yankee Group. Lucent's new initiative ''has the potential to make things easier for wireless operators to introduce new data services into enterprise markets.''
At midday, Lucent share rose about 3 percent to $2.78 per share.
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