Wireless Related Topics

Wireless cameras making strong inroads
The need for remote monitoring, whether it’s for a second home, a vacation condominium, a docked boat or even a home viewed from an office, has increased sales of network-based and wireless cameras in the home surveillance industry, according to participants in that market. This trend has taken shape as technology advancements enable people to remotely view video from any location and the cost for cameras with this capability has come down. “We definitely have cameras going into the home market,” said Vance Kozik, product manager for StarDot Technologies, Buena Park, California. In fact, he said, about 10 to 15 percent of sales are from residential users, mainly in the mid- to high-end market. Cameras are another pair of eyes, said Kozik, giving users a chance to conduct surveillance not only around their home but at construction sites, to check on the environmental conditions at their vacation home and the like. “In the home surveillance market, remote accessibility of images is huge,” said Rick Davitt, vice president-marketing for IQinVision, Newport Beach, Calif., even bigger than on the commercial side. Davitt said surveillance via network cameras typically falls into two levels: those willing to invest in higher-resolution products and more inexpensive web cams. But Davitt predicted the market will continue to grow as prices of the higher-end products become more in line with what web cams are selling for these days.

Qualcomm launches new wireless solutions
Qualcomm and UTStarcom have introduced new wireless solutions that underline their efforts to extend their footprints in next-generation technologies. UTStarcom said it has unveiled an end-to-end Internet protocol-based solution known as MovingMedia 2000 to allow operators in providing voice and data services to their end users. The vendor also announced deals with two customers in Bangladesh and Angola. UTStarcom signed deals with OneTel of Bangladesh and Movicel of Angola. "The transparent, distributed architecture of MovingMedia 2000 is a unique departure from the centralized architectures of all other traditional CDMA/CDMA2000 solutions," said Jack Mar, president of the CDMA division at UTStarcom. Separately, Qualcomm said it has introduced a chipset that combines wideband CDMA and EDGE, including GSM/GPRS. The company said the chipset, known as MSM6255, will enable GSM operators to upgrade their networks to W-CDMA service. Qualcomm's GSM/GPRS/EDGE chipset is the MSM 6250. The new product allows carriers to deliver a slew of multimedia services ranging from video to music.

Google now works even with inexpensive cellphones
Google now works with inexpensive cellphones, not just the more costly ones with Web access and more features. Over the last month, the popular search engine company has quietly turned on a new service that lets people use most newer cellphone models to get snippets of information by sending short text messages to a special five-digit number, 46645, which spells GOOGL on a phone keypad. People looking for a list of pizza or Chinese restaurants in Back Bay, for example, just have to send the message "pizza 02116" or "Chinese 02116." Within 10 seconds or so, Google shoots back one or more text messages listing restaurants with addresses and phone numbers from its Google Local page. Related services from Google let users get a phone number by sending a message containing the desired person's first and last names and city, area code, or ZIP code; they can also use Google's Froogle shopping site to get a price quote by sending a text message with "price" followed by the item's name or Universal Product Code number.

Minimal acceptance rates for wireline to wireless
According to a survey released Monday by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, rural carriers have received very few requests from customers to switch from wireline to wireless. "Results indicate strikingly minimal take rates for wireline-to-wireless local number portability, ranging from 0.04 percent for respondents serving more than 20,000 lines to 0.01 percent for those serving 1,000 or fewer lines," said NTCA. The survey was distributed earlier this year to NTCA's membership with 63 percent-more than 350 members-responding. NTCA said the survey results will be used in its lobbying efforts both at the Federal Communications Commission and on Capitol Hill. "The information will be used as an example to show that the FCC sometimes adopts regulation without considering the impact on small carriers," said Jill Canfield, NTCA senior regulatory counsel. The NTCA survey results are in stark contrast to the cut-the-cord numbers from the FCC, which said in November that 10 percent of all the LNP ports were for wireline to wireless.

China's Wireless LAN market to grow by 33 percent
According to a recent survey done by In-Stat / MDR, China's WLAN market is expected to experience a strong 33 percent increase in revenues from 2004 to 2008. WLANs, or wireless local area networks, allow users to connect to the Internet through high-frequency radio waves, without the need for direct Ethernet lines between the computer and the network hub. This allows for greater ease and flexibility in connecting multiple computers to the Net, and also allows users to keep their connection as they move around an area with a notebook computer. In-Stat finds that WLAN equipment revenues in China will nearly triple between 2004 and 2008, rising from $54 million to $160 million. Although China is surrounded by technologically advanced neighbors who are also embracing WLANs, various factors, including government support for technology (tempered by moves to restrict users' access to unapproved content), the robust economic growth of the Chinese economy, overwhelming population numbers, a rise in urban income and the declining costs of wireless equipment, will boost the country into becoming one of the dominant markets for WLAN in the Asia-Pacific region.

Wireless LAN's outnumber those of wired LAN's
Spending on wireless Local Area Networks (LAN's) just beat spending on wired solutions for the first time, according to a study from TNS Telecom. While the survey did not address Wi-Fi directly, TNS Telecom says the wireless spending numbers could have positive implications for the world of Wireless LAN. "As the predominance of wireless services grows on the telecom side, you would have more of an acceptance of the Wi-Fi technology, especially as the two technologies merge together," explained Charles A. White, vice president of marketing and client service at TNS. On the telecom side, the TNS spending analysis shows continued momentum for wireless. In the second quarter of 2004, 30 percent of spending on telecommunications services was dedicated to wireless services. Wired line service represented 29 percent of spending, a drop of three percent from the previous quarter. As of the second quarter, 70 percent of households have at least one wireless phone.

NextWave Telecommunications emerging from bankruptcy
NextWave Telecommunications just emerged from bankruptcy, following approval of its plan by Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin Jr. NextWave had filed for bankruptcy June 8, 1998. "It has been a long and challenging road to get to this moment, which makes it all the more special. We are pleased that the years of effort have resulted in a plan that pays creditors in full and provides for significant distributions to equity holders. I am grateful to the constituents of the NextWave estates and to the bankruptcy court for their patience and tremendous support in helping us achieve these results," said Allen Salmasi, NextWave's chairman and chief executive officer. NextWave now plans to launch a commercial broadband wireless network in Las Vegas later this year and New York in 2007. NextWave will also make its network available to public safety. "We strongly believe that new and emerging fourth-generation Internet Protocol-based wireless technologies will provide us with cost advantages and an ability to offer a unique and wider range of services that cannot be offered over existing wireless networks," said Salmasi.