Possible future demand for light-weight, long-lasting VLNC battery for QCOM's CDMA based wireless Internet device
biz.yahoo.com Wednesday August 23, 8:48 am Eastern Time
Press Release -
Sierra Wireless and Sprint PCS Deliver New Wireless Internet Solution; First CDMA PC Card Offers Connectivity for Mobile Workforce
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--Sierra Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR - TSE: SW) and Sprint PCS (NYSE: PCS - news) announced today the new Sprint PCS Wireless Web Modem, the world's first true type II Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) PC Card wireless modem. Sprint PCS has chosen Sierra Wireless' patented AirCard 510 as a PC Card connection solution option to provide wireless access to the Internet and corporate network applications. The new device is part of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web for Business - a portfolio of products and services aimed at providing solutions that allow enterprise customers to wirelessly extend their corporate applications to the mobile workforce.
For the enterprise mobile user, the AirCard 510 offers clear advantages in simplicity, convenience and performance for corporate wireless connectivity. Incorporating the CDMA-based card as a solution for Sprint PCS customers broadens our product line and delivers more wireless enterprise solutions to the mobile workforce,'' said Andrew Harries, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for
Sierra Wireless Inc. ``We are very pleased to partner with Sprint PCS to deliver the first CDMA PC Card wireless modem solution and look forward to being an integral part of the new Sprint PCS Wireless Web for Business.''
The Sprint PCS Wireless Web Modem offers simplicity, mobility and freedom to the demanding corporate users. It connects a user's laptop directly to the Internet, Intranet, corporate e-mail or a host of other corporate applications - without using a wireless phone or landline. The patented PC Card wireless modem, the AirCard 510, which uses QUALCOMM Incorporated's (NASDAQ: QCOM - news VLNC customer) sixth-generation MSM3000(tm) Mobile Station Modem (MSM(tm)) chipset and system software, fits into a standard type II slot on a laptop running Microsoft Windows and has a unique, internally stored antenna. The card can remain in the laptop when it is not being used for wireless connection services, providing hassle-free wireless access to corporate users. Once connected to the Sprint PCS nationwide network, mobile users can conduct business as if they were at the office - having access to mission critical corporate applications.
The Sprint PCS Wireless Web Modem by Sierra Wireless is the ideal solution for heavy users of wireless data. It offers a simple, flexible option for business users to wirelessly connect to corporate information in the mobile environment virtually anywhere, anytime on the Sprint PCS nationwide network,'' said Chuck Levine, chief sales and marketing officer for Sprint PCS. ``This innovative
wireless connection device and our relationship with companies like Sierra Wireless complement our growing suite of wireless voice and data business solutions to enhance productivity, cut costs and increase the speed of doing business in the mobile environment.''
The Sprint PCS Wireless Web Modem will be available nationwide through Sprint PCS business sales representatives and online at www.sprintpcs.com in October 2000.
Working closely with partners such as Sierra Wireless and Sprint PCS, QUALCOMM is helping drive the success of CDMA data through consistent on-time delivery of chipsets and system software,'' said Johan Lodenius, senior vice president of marketing and product management for QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. ``Sierra Wireless illustrates its market leadership in CDMA-based wireless products with the new AirCard 510, and we look forward to a continued working relationship with them in bringing wireless Internet data solutions to emerging markets.''
Sprint is a global communications company at the forefront in integrating long distance, local and wireless communications services and one of the world's largest carriers of Internet traffic.
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Intel's entry into the wireless Internet/cellphone market
XScale chip
Intel unveils new chip design for handhelds, cell phones
dailynews.yahoo.com
SAN JOSE--Intel today announced the successor to its StrongArm chip architecture. Dubbed XScale, the design will power future generations of handheld computers, mobile phones and the backbone of the wireless network.
Although Intel demonstrated a prototype XScale-based chip running at 1 GHz, the company did not unveil specific chips, saying those announcements will come later in the year. At 1 GHz, an XScale chip would consume 1.5 watts of
power. The processor also could be run in the tens of milliwatts, albeit with a hit in performance.
Ron Smith, the Intel vice president who heads the chip giant's wireless efforts, said the new design will enable
entirely new types of wireless devices that can be powered by a single AA battery.
"It's really going to open up a whole new range of applications on a handheld," Smith said in a briefing with reporters in San Jose. Intel executives said the company already has more than a dozen agreements to put the chip in next-generation wireless phones, handheld computers and devices that are something in between the two.
Although the microprocessor has taken a backseat to the digital signal processor in today's wireless phones, Smith
said the computing muscle of the XScale will be needed to handle tasks such as voice recognition.
"That's clearly an area where you need headroom in the processor," Smith said. Today's StrongArm chips have found a
home in some handheld devices, such as Compaq Computer's iPaq
Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64, said XScale shows the strength of the StrongARM architecture that Intel
inherited when it purchased Digital Equipment's semiconductor division.
He added that today's mobile phones don't require the performance XScale can deliver, but tomorrow's may well have a eed for it.
"The notion we have today of cell phones as something that you hold up to your ear could easily give way to something that looks more like a PalmPilot. Then, of course, you do need the power."
Smith would not detail Intel's plans for integrating components such as DSP, flash memory, XScale processor and
baseband functions. But Smith and others have said in the past that integration is the key to Intel's ability to
crack the wireless market.
"The more total building blocks a company has, the more they can integrate a total solution," Smith said at
the company's analyst meeting in April. "Our objective is to deliver a fully integrated silicon solution...We're
in a position to do a very high level of integration."
Intel Corp aim for wireless market with beefed up Internet solutions industrysearch.com.au
MOVING to solidify its makeover from computer chipmaker to Internet parts supplier, Intel Corp is beefing up technology
that serves as the low-power, high-performance brain for cellphones, handhelds and other Web devices.
Intel announced Wednesday it was renaming its StrongArm chip architecture "XScale" as it seeks to position it as the
fastest and most energy-efficient product in the nascent wireless market.
"The whole wireless/cellphone area is growing like mad. It's one of the big two drivers for integrated circuitry
usage besides computing," chief executive Craig Barrett said. "It's a major marketplace we want to, and are, playing in."
Design improvements have already achieved processing speeds of nearly 1 gigahertz, or 1 billion cycles per second, that could allow a person to watch a movie preview, listen to high-quality audio - even videoconference - from handheld devices.
As a frame of reference, Compaq Computer's popular iPAQ handheld electronic organiser runs Window's PocketPC
operating system using Intel's "fast" 206 megahertz StrongArm processor.
Intel acquired the licence to use the StrongArm technology three years ago, considering it able to get the most
computing bang out of handheld devices with the least energy consumption - key to conserving battery power.
The company has been touting the StrongArm foundation, with other technology built upon it, as ideal for providing
multimedia Internet access to the next generation of electronic organisers and cellphones as well as for equipment to route voice and data on the Internet.
Intel, Microsoft and others that have long dominated the PC business are now putting more time and money into
developing for portable devices that people can use to access the Internet while on the go.
Research firm International Data Corp estimates the market for wireless Internet-ready phones alone will surge to 536 million units in 2003 from 85 million units this year.
Intel is already the leading supplier of flash memory chips that save data in cellphones even when they're turned off.
The company earlier this year announced a three-year pact with Ericsson to collaborate on a third generation of Internet-ready mobile phones. It is also working with Palm Inc to bring StrongArm to a new generation of handhelds due next year.
Barrett said he expects combined revenues from XScale and flash memory to grow at 50 per cent a year beginning in 2001.
The 32-year-old company has been moving aggressively in the past year to diversify beyond its core business of
supplying microprocessors to the PC market into virtually everything connected to the new Internet economy -
networking equipment, branded appliances, wireless devices and Web hosting.
The company said a number of products will begin shipping later this year with the XScale architecture, running on a variety of operating systems that include Linux and Windows.
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news.cnet.com
By Stephanie Miles
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 24, 2000, 8:45 a.m. PT
Retail sales of handheld computers are set to double this year, according to a new report, granting the once geeky devices mass-market status.
Sales of personal digital assistants (PDAs) from Palm and Microsoft are surging, according to the survey by NPD
Intelect, which tracks retail and mail-order sales of technology products. PDA sales for this year already equal sales for all of 1999, according to the market research firm, with a strong holiday season around the corner likely to boost the numbers yet more.
The skyrocketing sales of the devices, which were once attractive only to geeky, affluent males, reflect the expanding market for information appliances that increasingly offer wireless Internet communication, games, personal information management and third-party applications. These devices and appliances are expected to overtake the PC in the next few years as the primary means of accessing the Web as well as personal and corporate information.
With back-to-school and holiday buying sprees around the corner, device sales for 2000 should more than double those
of 1999, NPD Intelect said. Last year, 1.3 million devices were sold in the United States, the same number sold in the
first six months of this year. At the same time, total sales in 1999 accounted for $436.5 million in revenue, while
revenues for the first half of 2000 hit $406.9 million.
The revenue discrepancy is explained by a small decrease in the average selling price of these products. The average
price of a PDA sold in June of 1999 was $350, compared with $324 this June. That relatively small drop is a result of strong demand as well as the component shortages that continue to plague the device industry.
In recognition of this broadening of the market, Palm, Handspring, and Microsoft and its partners are aggressively
marketing new devices to the more general consumer market, NPD Intelect said.
"Initially, PDA products were targeted to professionals, tech-savvy consumers and men," Lisa Schmidt, an analyst with
NPD Intelect, said in a statement. "Today, companies such as Handspring with its colorful Visors, Palm with its
affordable M series and new Claudia Schiffer Palm, and Sony with its upcoming PDA line should open up the largely
untapped young consumer and female market."
Market leader Palm is the primary beneficiary of the trend, taking 65 percent of the retail market. Start-up Handspring, whose Visor device is based on the Palm operating system, is next with 21.6 percent of the retail market in its first six months on store shelves.
This morning, Palm shares rose $2.32, or about 6 percent, to $40.25 and traded as high as $40.50. The company was
rated "recommend list" in new coverage by analyst Vik Mehta at Goldman, Sachs. In addition, Pacific Crest Securities
analyst James Faucette initiated coverage of the company with a "buy" recommendation.
Devices based on Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system for handheld computers continue to struggle. Despite the
software giant's marketing heft and rejiggered software, Pocket PCs from Casio and Hewlett-Packard took a little over
4 and 3 percent of the market, respectively.
This year's boom is reflected in the fortunes of handheld makers. Handspring and Palm, which recently spun off from
parent company 3Com, both went public this year in highly anticipated offerings. Palm raised $874 million in its IPO,
while Handspring took in $200 million from its offering.
Both companies' sales have surged this year. In its first quarterly earnings report as a public company in June,
Handspring announced quarterly revenues of $51.8 million, a 51 percent jump over the preceding quarter's $34.3 million
in sales.
Palm, for its part, said in its earnings statement in June that it shipped 1.1 million units in the second quarter of this year. The company's sales rose to $350.2 million for the quarter, up from $174.3 million for the same time last year. Lets hope the ipaq grabs up a lot of the back to school and xmas $$$
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More later. Ram |
