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To: DaveMG who wrote (18694)	11/23/1998 10:30:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

China Deals a Blow to GSM> Beijing bans further foreign GSM ventures South China Morning Post Beijing will not allow new foreign joint ventures manufacturing GSM mobile telecommunications infrastructure and handsets, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Information Industry. "The mainland has already sufficient production capacity for such equipment. The ban is aimed at better protecting investors' interests," said Wang Jianzhou, director of the ministry's planning department. It is the latest move by Beijing aimed at cutting imports of mobile equipment in favour of further boosting local manufacturers. Most of the leading foreign manufacturers, such as Ericsson, Nokia and [ Motorola ] supply the mainland market with equipment made by local joint-venture companies. It was not clear if the new rules prohibited extra investment in these ventures, market analysts said. Last month, Beijing issued another "buy local" edict that was aimed at cutting imports of telecom equipment. Mainland firms have succeeded in grabbing a large share of the switching market but have made little inroads into the market for global system for mobile communications (GSM) products, partly because the technology has been moving so fast. Mr Wang said the ban would not cover joint ventures making equipment for the advanced so-called "third generation" mobile phones and satellites. The mainland is the biggest market for companies such as Ericsson, and a real move to tilt the playing field against them could threaten a lucrative business. (Copyright 1998) _____via IntellX_____ Publication Date: November 21, 1998 Powered by NewsReal's IndustryWatch ...back to top

To: DaveMG who wrote (18694)	11/23/1998 10:37:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Q, Well Positioned?> New generation of mobile phones will have little to do with talk Future mobiles will be an extension of the office for faxes, emails and video links The Irish Times The countdown to the introduction of third generation cellular radio networks has begun. In Japan, the first third generation networks should be up and running by 2001. In Europe and the US, the aim is to launch in 2002. There is still some disagreement over what the standards should look like. At the moment it looks as though the US may go one way, Europe and Japan another. But there is remarkably little disagreement between the various parties over what third generation will offer. "Since we have enough spectrum allocated in existing hands to cope with voice alone until the year 2010, the whole emphasis about third generation is not about voice at all," notes Mr Ian Sugarbroad, vice-president responsible for business development at Nortel, the Canadian-owned telecoms equipment maker which employs 900 people in Galway. "It will do voice. It will do voice cheaper. But the focus of this is coming down to mobile access to Internet-type networks." Today's second generation cellular radio networks send the bulk of their information over circuit-switched connections. This means that a connection is tied up by a user continuously from when the link is established to when it is cleared down - whether or not any information is being communicated. Third generation will use packet connections, which work more like a computer local area network (Lan) or a taxi control radio system. The channel is open all of the time but is shared by many users. It is only tied up by a user at the precise moment when information is sent or received. This approach is particularly efficient for data communications. "Third generation will be the intersection between voice and data," says Mr Bob Bond, vice-president responsible for regulatory affairs at San Diego-based Qualcomm. There will also be an all-round capacity and data communications speed increase, he adds. This is likely to have a great impact on mobile communications for the end user. "It puts the Internet in your pocket," says Mr Ukko Lappalainen, head of marketing and business development of radio access systems at Finland's Nokia Telecommunications. "Data and image will become as familiar ways of communicating as voice is today. People will expect to be able to do anything on the move which they have grown used to being able to do at home or in office." This is likely to include sending and checking emails or faxes, Internet browsing, group working or uploading or downloading computer files. These things can be done on today's second generation systems but with third generation they will be faster and richer. "The difference between second generation and third generation is like radio and television or like the propeller and the jet engine," says Mr Hakan Djuphammar, director of Third Generation product strategy at Swedish telecoms equipment maker [ L M Ericsson ] . "Third generation is going to be a lot about sending pictures and video clips. It's also about more of the same but faster - especially when it comes to data communications such as Internet browsing." Third generation handsets could incorporate cameras, screens capable of supporting moving images and data input devices such as keyboards as well as the microphone, speaker and keypad of today's phones. Either that or they may go the other way, becoming simple communications gateway devices clipping to a belt or kept in a pocket and giving other pieces of equipment such as personal digital assistants or headsets access to the network. As with any big change, there are some concerns. A big fear is that there could be a disruption to the market during the transition between second and third generation. "We could end up with a stall in the market," says Mr Sanjay Jhawar, business manager, Smartphone and Data Products at US company Motorola's European Cellular Subscriber Division. "{With first and second generation systems} wireless data took a lot longer to get going than we expected and has really only started to take off in the last year. There is a danger of it all stalling again." The key to third generation's success will be to find applications that make it essential for consumers. Third generation's video supporting capabilities have been widely touted as a potential "must have". But not everyone is so confident. "I'm not sure video alone will make it a success. Video-phones and video-conferencing have been around for years and they are still only tiny niches," says Mr Neil Montefiore, chief executive of Singapore cellular operator MobileOne. Ms Monica Horten, high-tech marketing specialist and author of a forthcoming report* on the convergence of the information industries and mobile communications, believes the real driver will be information. "The key for the industry is to discover what people will want to receive via third generation," she says. A new business called Infomedia will emerge, says Ms Horten. This will be the business of producing and distributing information via new media such as third generation. "Infomedia will form a significant proportion of traffic over third generation networks," she says. The keys to success will be the ability to deliver quality and people knowing who you are and trusting you, she says. Divide and Rule: Infomedia on Mobile Networks. A Strategic Analysis. Published by M.com, www.mcom.mcmail.com. (Copyright 1998) _____via IntellX_____ Publication Date: November 21, 1998 Powered by NewsReal's IndustryWatch ...back to top

To: DaveMG who wrote (18694)	11/23/1998 10:59:00 AM
From: DaveMG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

M'soft, Sun duel hits new turf -- Microsoft tries to bottle Sun's Java-based Jini for distributed computing Alexander Wolfe Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft Corp. will mount a challenge to Sun Microsystems' Jini distributed-computing technology, EE Times has learned. Microsoft is already proceeding quietly with development efforts, and a company executive said it expects to detail its plans publicly in April at its WinHEC conference in Los Angeles. The move could spark intense competition for control of the technology required to enable the coming generation of Web-based services. For Sun, Jini is a bold bid to create a completely new software infrastructure built upon its Java language to allow such devices as smart phones and PDAs to identify each other automatically on the network, communicate and share services (see July 20, page 6). In contrast, Microsoft appears intent on leveraging its huge installed base by folding the necessary additional capabilities into its existing operating systems. "We think the trend of TCP/IP-capable devices that can identify each other and communicate is an attractive one," said Carl Stork, general manager of Windows hardware strategy at Microsoft. "There are some protocols that need to be nailed down. However, I don't think [Jini] is the direction that makes the most sense, because you don't need that much processing power for a device to identify itself." "All that's needed is a small amount of software in a PC to identify devices. We're working on it." Sun officials said they are not cowed by the potential of competition from Microsoft on the Jini front. "We have a pretty good jump on anybody who would even think along the lines of Jini, which is very small and very portable," said Theresa Lanawitz, product manager for Jini technology at Sun. Sun also sees as a negative any Microsoft technology that's closely tied to Windows. "In the case of Jini, we're not really reliant upon the operating system," Lanawitz said. Word of the Microsoft gambit comes in the wake of a preliminary injunction handed down last week in Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif. Within 90 days, Microsoft must cease shipping an altered version of Java now used in its products. Microsoft said it would comply with the court order and suggested it would support both Sun's original and its own Java implementations. The decision, by Judge Ronald M. Whyte, was an initial ruling in a suit brought by Sun alleging that Microsoft violated licensing agreements by altering Java. Non-Java approach As for distributed computing, Microsoft won't be relying on Java. In that competition, one analyst right now gives the edge to Sun. "Microsoft claims to have some technology, but I haven't seen anything that's as rich as Jini," said Van Baker, director of consumer research at market-analysis firm Dataquest Inc. (San Jose). Nonetheless, Baker noted that the road to Jini won't be without stumbling blocks."Whether Jini succeeds or not is going to hinge on Sun's ability to convince people to support it. It's basically a job of evangelism," he said. Indeed, the paradoxical challenge both Sun and Microsoft face in building momentum for their respective approaches is their diametrically opposed sets of strengths and weaknesses. Sun has established a strong buzz as a technology leader in the brave new world of digital convergence. However, the company is not a major player in Microsoft's stronghold of PC operating systems. Sun said it is in the process of lining up OEMs and independent software vendors in the PC world to support Jini, but it declined to provide specifics. Of course, Microsoft rules the roost in the desktop world. But in providing the embedded software that's needed to power the coming generation of Web-aware smart phones and their cousins, Microsoft is essentially in the early stages of building momentum for its Windows CE operating system. Dataquest's Baker also sees Microsoft as being hamstrung by its ongoing antitrust fight. "The problem that Microsoft faces is that with their current legal battle they can't do anything that appears too aggressive; they have to behave themselves," Baker said. "So this is a perfect time for somebody else to try to rally support for a new technology." A broader issue is that the whole arena of Web-connected devices is still so new that no single systems-software pro-vider has established a dominant position. Indeed, many small vendors of real-time operating systems are expected to play significant roles in setting the industry's technological direction. Mutual sniping Accordingly, Sun and Microsoft are each trying to poke holes in the other's tactics. "Sun is essentially trying to do an operating system with Jini," said Microsoft's Stork. "You don't really need that." For its part, Sun emphasized the tightly wound 48-kbyte footprint of the basic Jini code package. "If Microsoft tried to attach [similar] services to the operating system, it would be very large, and you'd still be bound to Windows," said Sun's Lanawitz. "This means that you'd have to go to something with Windows CE in it, to allow smaller devices to work with a PC. "The monolithic [Windows] operating system- plus the fact that it's getting to be a pretty brittle code base-doesn't really make for the type of services that we can offer with a technology like Jini," she said. The next technological event of note will occur later this fall, when Sun will post the Jini source code on its Web site. But the crucial battle in the coming months may revolve more around marketing than technology. Sun is offering Jini to all comers at no charge, and it emphasized that source-code licenses will remain free moving forward. However, Sun has yet to detail its business plan for Jini That plan will be revealed in the first quarter of 1999, Sun officials said. Sun hinted that the scenario would involve royalty charges for the use of Jini. Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc. techweb.com