Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (49283)	11/30/2001 8:32:49 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Respond to of 54805

GPRS WOW! Should we vomit now, or do we have to wait? Brown's GPRS trials -- speeds and why GPRS may not work properly for data M2 Presswire via Factiva 2001-11-23 (13:37:25) Brown's, mobile data developers in Blackheath, London, have conducted extensive tests with the new GPRS networks. The company has identified several issues to be addressed before the service will be suitable for widespread use by corporates in mobile computing applications. (It was reported in the Financial Times, 21st November 2001 that Orange in the UK has delayed the launch of its network partly because it is concerned about the quality of handsets and applications). Brown's tests show that the speed of GPRS in the outbound direction, at least on lightly-loaded networks, is an impressive 4k bytes per second and that the latency (delay on the round trip) is comparable to that of a circuit-switched data connection. But, whilst GPRS is supposed to be an always-on connection, it is no more reliable than GSM and realising "always-on" is challenging. Just like any other mobile connection, there are occasions when the link drops, leaving the user high and dry, and interrupting file downloads and so on. Brown's Managing Director, Geoff Brown says: "Experience shows that if you are working on a train, with your laptop online and you enter a tunnel, for example, you will often lose your IP connection. With GPRS, when you reconnect, you may well be given another IP address and have to re-authenticate to the server and start again. Also, if you lose the GPRS context, there is no way that the centre can go out and remake that connection. It can only rely upon the remote end re-trying the link to re-establish the context. Corporate users will need remote mobile software that will rebuild the connection automatically and seamlessly when conditions are right." Users should bear in mind that, as yet, there are no roaming agreements in place for GPRS. This means that a data user can take advantage of GPRS in the UK but will need to switch to an alternative network or buy a local SIM card to work overseas. Even when roaming agreements are in place, the systems as offered by the operators will not provide end-to-end security so sensitive data could be exposed on inter-network links. Brown's trials were done with BT Cellnet in the UK, D2 Vodafone in Germany and Telstra in Australia. In the UK, neither Orange nor One2One are offering a GPRS service so far. Vodafone and BT Cellnet are concentrating on offering it to big companies via private lines but the actual take-up could be limited by some of the shortcomings that Brown's has identified. Brown's concludes that purpose-built client software for PC or PDA will be essential before corporates can make practical use of GPRS. DNMobile, Brown's own mobile data package for laptops and PDAs, adds resilience, data compression, error-correction and triple-DES security to GSM data and high-speed data services. It is now fully functional with GPRS and will make data calls much easier, more secure and cheaper for GPRS users. Brown's are showing DNMobile at the mBusiness Show, at Earl's Court 2 from 27 - 29 Nov 2001 About Brown's Brown's Operating Systems Services was established in 1969. The company's main product is the Brown's Enterprise Access System, known as the Brown's Box. It is a secure access router for large organizations with distributed users. Together with its PC client software, DNMobile, it provides very effective connectivity for mobile and satellite-based applications. Brown's Boxes are installed worldwide. About half of them are used in the UK whilst the rest are in Europe, North America, Singapore and Australia. Brown's users are typically banks, automotive, government organizations and retailers or any body that requires strong security over complex distributed networks. Mobile network operators are installing Brown's products in their network centres. ((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data prepared by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)). --- Copyright 2001 M2 Communications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. wirelessroadmap.com.