Wireless Asia articles from December 2008

Wireless Asia archives from December 2008

Lock up your smartphones.(THE SIGNAL)
December 1, 2008... Global economic meltdown or not, smartphones are expected to be a key sales driver for handsets in 2009. But as more handsets get smarter, they also become more vulnerable to security issues. One of the downsides of ubiquitous smartphones...

Hong Kong buses add Wi-Fi, seek users.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... Two bus companies in Hong Kong have launched free Wi-Fi on select buses--now all they need is to find people interested in using it. New World First Bus (NFWB) and Citybus said last month that they will make free Wi-Fi available on ten selected...

StarHub takes femtocell "home zone" plunge.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... The jury may be out on the value of femtocells to 3G operators as the industry gets its standards sorted out, but someone has to be first. In the Asia-Pacific, it's going to be Singaporean telco StarHub, which has launched what it claims the...

GSMA, NeuStar complete ENUM pilot.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... The GSM Association and NeuStar, which provides clearinghouse and directory services, announced the completion of their PathFinder Carrier ENUM pilot. The ENUM (Telephone Number Mapping) service automatically translates a phone number into an...

Nokia plans TD-SCDMA phones by the end of 2009.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... In a move to maintain its market share in the world's largest mobile market, Nokia said it would launch its first TD-SCDMA handset in China next year. Colin Giles, president of Nokia China, said at Mobile Asia Congress in Macau that Nokia...

KT is reportedly developing M2M services in hopes of opening up new market.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... KT is reportedly developing M2M services in hopes of opening up new market opportunities for its WiBro service, according to Telecoms Korea.

Texas Instruments is working with Fulton Innovation to accelerate development of eCoupled inductive wireless power technology.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... Texas Instruments is working with Fulton Innovation to accelerate development of eCoupled inductive wireless power technology that can charge portable devices without traditional power cords.

HTC and Russian Wimax operator Scartel launch the HTC Max 4G, billed as the world's first integrated GSM/ Wimax handset.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... HTC and Russian Wimax operator Scartel launch the HTC Max 4G, billed as the world's first integrated GSM/ Wimax handset. Among other things, the Max 4G will support Scartel's new mobile TV service, Yota TV.

KDDI says it will deploy LTE using a core networking solution from Hitachi collaborating with Nortel Networks.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... KDDI says it will deploy LTE using a core networking solution from Hitachi collaborating with Nortel Networks, providing an LTE overlay to its existing CDMA network.

TT'&T's parent company, Jasmine International, abandons its 50 billion baht ($.41 billion) 3G investment plan over concerns of profitability.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... TT'&T's parent company, Jasmine International, abandons its 50 billion baht ($.41 billion) 3G investment plan over concerns of profitability. TT&T has already entered into a business rehabilitation plan to fend off bankruptcy.

Skyhook Wireless licenses Qualcomm to distribute Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System solution and incorporate it into Qualcomm's gpsOne positioning technology platforms.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... Skyhook Wireless licenses Qualcomm to distribute Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System solution and incorporate it into Qualcomm's gpsOne positioning technology platforms, enabling hybrid location positioning capabilities on select future...

ZTE.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... ZTE says it will conduct commercial trials of FDD-LTE equipment with some European operators in 2009, with commercial deployment scheduled for 2010.

SoftBank Mobile.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... SoftBank Mobile chief strategy officer Tetsuzo Matsumoto clarifies that his company's femtocell strategy is initially about coverage improvement, not increasing HSPA capacity, according to analyst form Ovum.

Motorola deploys its first Wimax trial network.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... Motorola deploys its first Wimax trial network for VNPT-owned Vietnam Datacommunications Company (VDC).

Nokia Siemens Networks.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... Nokia Siemens Networks says it demonstrated relaying technology proposed for the LTE-Advanced standard. Relaying allows cellphone users to get a signal on the edge of a coverage area without the need for additional backhaul, NSN says.

Wireless internet provider BigAir reportedly negotiates a deal with Hutchison 3G Australia.(SHORT BURSTS)
December 1, 2008... Wireless internet provider BigAir reportedly negotiates a deal with Hutchison 3G Australia to migrate its iBurst customers to H3G's network before its iBurst network closes on 18 December.

How SDRs can make 4G and white spaces usable: the onset of 4G is spurring efforts to develop software-defined radios that can help make devices network agnostic. The first major testing ground could be white-space spectrum.(RESEARCH NOTE)
December 1, 2008... In the developed mobile world, new technologies like Wimax and LTE will have to live alongside several other systems, and consumers will increasingly want to be able to roam seamlessly across different networks according to cost and...

Future apps: mobile trends you should be paying attention to in 2009.(Cover story)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Technology is great, but it's apps and services that make the money. With the mobile industry firmly locked on to their 4G roadmaps, Wireless Asia looks at the top technology trends that will impact how cellcos...

Bluetooth at the heart of smart RF integration: in the rush to equip devices with GPS, Wi-Fi and other RF technologies, it makes sense to base integration strategies around technologies with high attach rates like Bluetooth.(TECH FOCUS)
December 1, 2008... The number of technologies that could go into a current/future mobile phone are huge and growing all of the time--from short-range wireless technologies to almost ubiquitous functions such as cameras and internet capability. These technologies...

The case for GPS, FM and Bluetooth integration.(TECH FOCUS)
December 1, 2008... With close to 1.18 billion mobile handsets sold in 2007 and an expected 1.8 billion in 2012, the attach rate metrics for GPS technology in cell phones are becoming increasingly important for both industries. Bluetooth and FM radio...

Many systems, one GNSS: the maxim that "more is better" could well apply to satellite positioning, as signals from multiple systems like GPS, GLONASS and augmentation satellites can combine to improve availability and accuracy.(TECH SPOTLIGHT)
December 1, 2008... This year, the GPS satellite constellation reached a new height: 31 active satellites in space and thus more GPS ranging signals available than ever before. But, for many applications, this still is not enough. As we all know from our own...

GNSS interoperability in China: overrated? As China's Compass system of positioning satellites rolls out over the next five years, speculation has been rife over how it will interoperate with other systems to improve accuracy. But new research suggests Compass may not need to play well with others.(TECH PERSPECTIVE)
December 1, 2008... Much has been made of system interoperability among GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and, most recently, Compass, the Chinese system. A recent study suggests reasons why interoperability may not be high on the Compass wish list, and may foretell some...

3G for humans and machines. (TECH VIEW).
December 1, 2008... Lccording to Wireless Intelligence, there are approximately 705 million 3G subscribers in the world today. By 2012 this figure will reach 1.6 billion. While we see similar levels of growth in the Asian region I am particularly excited about the...

Next-gen ULC phone chips.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Infineon Technologies has launched its latest chips for ultra-low cost (ULC) mobile phones, which optimize the system performance by a factor of five and further reduces the bill-of-materials by almost 10% compared to currently available...

Mobile Wimax host tester.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Anite has launched its Mobile Wimax Host Tester (HT), the "only such solution available" in the market for mobile station stack developers and integrators and which allows users to test the protocol stack in isolation of any hardware. This has...

LTE RRH platform.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Axis Network Technology (AxisNT) has rolled out a family of remote radio heads (RRH) for OEM deployment of LTE networks. The LTE RRHs provide 2 x 10W at 64QAM of diversity multi-carrier radio frequency power using AxisIPR amplifier technology,...

320-Mbps Wi-Fi access points.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Proxim Wireless has released Orinoco AP-8000 (dual radio) and AP-800 (single radio) access points, which are touted to deliver 802.11n networks at half the price and at less complications of existing wireless LANs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Secure embedded Wi-Fi core module.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Digi International has launched its ConnectCore Wi-9P 9215, the industry's first 802.1 la/b/g embedded core module for secure wireless networking and integrated application processing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Customers can now network...

Muni Wi-Fi starter kit.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Meraki has released the Main Street Wi-Fi Starter Pack, aimed at helping towns or business districts to deploy broadband wireless access within an area of a square mile. The kit includes the technology and support that cost less than...

Femto-sniffing software.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... PicoChip has developed three software reference designs that provide the first integrated network listen (or 'sniffer') capabilities for femtocells. The PC8210, PC8211 and PC8810 radio environment scanners (RESs) enable femtocells to...

LTE digital signal processor.(WIRELESS GEAR)
December 1, 2008... Freescale Semiconductor has launched its MSC8156 processor, a six-core device based on new SC3850 StarCore DSP core technology and designed "to dramatically advance the capabilities of wireless broadband base station equipment." The...

LTE is shutting Wimax's opportunity window.(ANALYST VIEW)
December 1, 2008... T-Mobile USA recently announced that it is to skip evolution of HSPA and go straight to LTE, bypassing HSPA+. The announcement is a further sign of the growing operator momentum behind LTE, and increasing marginalisation of mobile Wimax....

Networking opportunities across Asia.(EVENTS CALENDAR)(Calendar)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] january Jan 12-15, 2009 Management World Asia Singapore Jan 18-21, 2009 PTC 2009 Hawaii, USA Jan 21 - 22, 2009 India & South Asia Corn Mumbai, India february Feb 16- 19, 2009 GSMA Mobile World...

Touch-screens in the air.(WIRELESS HORIZON)
December 1, 2008... Touch-screens may be all the rage in the mobile device sector, but they do have their limitations--namely, screen size and finger size. Microsoft reckons it has the solution: extending the touch-screen field into thin air using infrared...

The iCEphone cometh.(WIRELESS HORIZON)
December 1, 2008... The latest contender in the Asia-Pacific smartphone wars may well be the first smartphone designed to save lives. Designed and manufactured by UK-based company The Medical Phone Ltd and due for commercial release in Q2 next year, the...

Powerful voice.(WIRELESS HORIZON)
December 1, 2008... In the multi-pronged race to make mobile devices more power-efficient, engineers at Texas A&M University say they're a step closer to enabling handsets that can charge themselves using the power of your voice. The researchers said in a...

Falling short on green phones.(WIRELESS HORIZON)
December 1, 2008... While handset vendors have made progress in complying with regulations banning toxic substances like heavy metals and PVC, very few are creating biodegradable and recyclable products from sustainable resources. And while most do have recycling...