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To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (24300)	3/16/1999 5:45:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Race is on > Race is on to establish mobile standards Birmingham Post The explosive growth in mobile phone use is generating an equally explosive battle for standards for the next wave of devices and services, which will allow two way data communication as well as the voices over the airwaves which drive mobile phones. Mobile phone populations are predicted to outnumber normal phones by 2003, given the current global growth rates of five million mobile phones per month. Already Nokia has the clamshell 7110 mobile phone which can receive web pages, and 3Com is not far behind with the Palm VII wireless device. The so-called banana war pales into insignificance compared with the "wireless carrier standards battle" which is being waged between US and European technology players for the so-called 3G, or third generation, phones that will allow a world-wideunified standard. Global standards for 3G are necessary to get bandwidths up to the speeds necessary to transmit data. Today's carrier standards for mobile phones are simply too constrained for services like Internet access, video, image and multimedia. The International Telecommunications Union this week meets in Brazil, trying to play referee to 11 competing proposals for land- based wireless networking and several more from satellite-based networks. At stake is a potential market in excess of 500 million devices. The Americans are lining up behind Qualcomm's CDMA standard, while Europeans are backing Ericsson's WCDMA, each seeking the lucrative licensing fees. Qualcomm is miffed that the European Union doesn't recognise its technologies, preferring those developed by local boys Ericsson and Nokia instead. Consequently Qualcomm is backing Microsoft Windows CE for its next generation devices, while the Europeans are backing Britain's Psion EPOC. The recent $56 billion take-over of Airtouch, a leading US mobile phone network by UK-based Vodafone should add an interesting touch to this little standards war. In contrast, higher up the communication stack, at the protocol layer, things are moving a little more harmoniously. The inelegantly-named WAP Forum (Wireless Application Protocol) has more than 90 participating technology companies co-operating on a protocol over which everyone can share and exchange information. Handset manufacturers representing more than 75 per cent of the world market, and carriers representing 100 million subscribers, have committed to WAP-enabled services. WAP draws heavily on existing Internet standards such as HTML, XML and IP. It seeks to solve the problem of delivering web-based content to tiny screens on devices which have limited power, processing, graphics and memory capabilities. Part of the WAP protocol calls for a modified HTML known as WML (Wireless Markup Language) to deliver web content to these devices. And what do you need as an application to display this cut-down protocol? Why, a micro-browser, of course. The monster browsers that Netscape and [ Microsoft ] have developed would never fit into these devices. Unwired Planet has developed such a beast and called it UP. Browser. What is clever about this software, is that manufacturers pay a licence fee that is free of per-unit royalties and so has fuelled rapid adoption. Remember, in the crazy new world of network economics, early volume and coverage is the key to later mass profits - Unwired Planet have learned this lesson well. What sort of services might you use over WAP? Well, traffic congestion reports, ticket booking, message notification, courier delivery recording, mapping and locator services, news, stock market transactions - the list is endless. Already major Internet-portal sites are committed to WAP-enabled services and several will have sites ready for the new Palm VII later this year. This type of approach does work. I am testing a messaging system that allows e-mails and faxes to be redirected and converted to speech on a web site and reach my mobile phone, as well as receiving normal voice messages. I can now stay in touch through one mobile and receive e-mails on the move - a great boost. WAP services will deliver even more. Brian Prangle is new product strategy manager at SCC (Specialist Computer Centres). (Copyright 1999)