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To: 49thMIMOMander who wrote (17035)	11/30/2001 8:34:37 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: London GPRS Expo - Focus on Software - Fonestar Exchange: MS-Exchange e-mail with G-Zip compression - Centre Technologies AirDocs: fileserver "mobilizer" file-sharing between Windows-based PCs and Pocket PCs using data-compression and caching technology, treducing wireless airtime costs by up to 90 percent - Brown's (testing) points out need for vendors to develop always-on client software that can cope with broken connections and reauthentication problems. >> GPRS Net Services Take Center Stage At London Expo Nov. 29, 2001 At London's Mobile Expo show this week, many attendees found their attention focused on high-speed Internet connections via general packet radio services (GPRS). Although the GPRS standard has been around for a few years, it's only in recent months that two of the U.K.'s cellular networks, BT Cellnet and Vodafone, have started offering GPRS to all their customers. Netverk (http://www.netverk.com ) unveiled its Fonestar Exchange data acceleration software at the show. Fonestar Exchange sits on Windows-powered laptops alongside the MS-Exchange client. When communicating with an Exchange server over mobile data connections, the technology can move information up to 12 times faster than a standard wireless connection, said Chris Dadd, the firm's head of products. Fonestar Exchange, which is aimed at companies already using MS-Exchange on their office networks, costs around 35 British pounds ($50) per mobile user, and is based on G-Zip compression standard, Dadd said. "Unlike some of the competition, Fonestar has been developed for mobile access to e-mail, rather than the Web, as we feel that mobile e-mail is often ignored by communications software developers," he said. Fonestar also allows MS-Exchange users access to extra facilities, such as data session recovery, which Dadd says is useful if a wireless user has a broken connection. On the BT Cellnet (http://www.btcellnet.co.uk ) stand, London-based Centre Technologies (http://www.airdocs.com ) was showing its AirDocs fileserver "mobilizer" software, which supports file-sharing between Windows-based PCs and Pocket PCs across mobile data connections. Like Netverk's Fonestar software, AirDocs also uses data-compression technology, as well as caching technology, to speed up the rate at which data is carried across the network, reducing wireless airtime costs by up to 90 percent. Another London-based firm, Brown's (http://www.brownsbox.com ) said it had conducted extensive tests on the GPRS networks in the U.K., and has discovered that, while the technology is much faster than standard GSM data, it still has a number of problems. The main issue with GPRS, the firm says, is that it is being marketed as an "always-on" service, even though it still relies on a radio-based signal for its transmission circuit. Just like any other mobile connection, the company says, GPRS connections can drop off, interrupting the link and halting a file download in midstream. Geoff Brown, the firm's managing director, said that, if a GPRS connection drops, a user must reestablish the link and reauthenticate an IP address to continue. The solution, he argues, is for vendors to develop always-on client software that can cope with broken connections and reauthentication problems. << - Eric -