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To: slacker711 who wrote (213)	8/28/1999 12:00:00 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 426

Explanation of Sprint relationship with 3com (IWF).... To: DownSouth (38871 ) From: michael piturro Friday, Aug 27 1999 6:58PM ET Reply # of 38924 Inside The Belly> From the August 30, 1999, issue of Wireless Week Inside The Belly Of The Network Beast By Brad Smith When Sprint PCS launches its Wireless Web service in a few weeks, 3Com Corp. will be playing a key role behind the scenes. Even though its importance may not be understood outside the industry, it's a function that 3Com intends to expand. The company is supplying a hardware/software gateway combination to Sprint PCS that allows the code division multiple access carrier's circuit-switched network to function with Internet protocol networks such as the Internet and corporate intranets. The company calls the gateway its CDMA InterWorking Function, which is combined with QuickNetConnect software. All that technical stuff may seem esoteric to non-techies, but its importance will be evident when Sprint PCS commercially launches its nationwide Wireless Web service around Sept. 20. Among other things, a Sprint PCS customer will be able to use his wireless phone as a modem to send and receive documents at a data rate of 14.4 kilobits per second. The CDMA IWF is important in another way. It shows 3Com's new focus on wireless communications, a path the company started down in earnest last spring when it created a wireless division to compete in networking areas against Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks and others. 3Com's new division is under its Personal Connectivity Business Unit, an umbrella for emerging markets, which also includes home networking and high-speed Internet access. The 3Com gateway acts as a hand-shaking link between a CDMA network and a wireline network, while the QuickNetConnect feature eliminates the need for a network modem so that mobile users can connect directly to the Internet or an intranet, or can make a dial-up connection through the public switched telephone network. 3Com owns the market for this kind of IP gateway, with 95 percent penetration worldwide and 100 percent in the United States. "It converges the wireless and the Internet worlds," said Ben Cardwell, wireless product director for 3Com. He said it enables voice and data use on one device, such as a smart phone, but also provides a full spectrum of data services. Neither Sprint PCS nor 3Com is saying how much the IWF contract is worth, but the basic price of each gateway is $1,600 per access port. At least one server is installed at each central switch in the carrier's network, which has 4 million subscribers in 4,000 cities. Installation of the IWF gateway and QuickNetConnect was completed in Sprint PCS' network by the end of June. The gateway also is in use by other CDMA carriers in the United States and globally, presumably including Bell Atlantic Mobile Inc. and Canada's Bell Mobility Ltd. Keith Paglusch, operations senior vice president for Sprint PCS, said the next data step for the carrier will be the 1XRTT standard. A so-called 2.5G protocol, it will enable data rates up to about 144 kbps. Paglusch said Sprint PCS would start testing 1XRTT next year, with commercial deployment in 2001. Besides Internet and intranet connectivity, the Sprint PCS Wireless Web offering includes two new handsets with a microbrowser from Phone.com Inc. and access to new mobile services from Yahoo! Inc. Subscribers may not be aware of it at all, but 3Com's CDMA IWF technology allows fast data setup times and eliminates the cost of wireless modems. Despite its transparency, Paglusch calls 3Com's technology a "magic" tonic in the innards of the carrier's network. Taking the analogy a bit further, it speeds up the digestive process.