Scribbles

Phoenix Technologies Ltd.—With the goal of improved PCMCIA support, IBM has announced the inclusion of Phoenix’s PCM+ v3.01 (PhoenixCARD Manager Plus) in its new PC DOS 7.

The PCMCIA manager includes several new features such as the ability to launch applications upon card insertion, dynamic card configuration, and card event notification messages. For more information, please contact Margaret Kahnke of Phoenix at (714) 440-8052.

McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.—Citing annual growth in excess of 30 to 40 percent, McCaw Cellular announced that it has changed the name of its messaging division to the more highly-branded name AT&T Wireless Services. As you’ll recall, AT&T completed its $11.5 billion merger with McCaw Cellular in September, 1994.

Federal Communications Commission—The FCC recently completed its auction of 99 licenses for broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS) in 51 Major Trading Areas (MTA), as defined by the Rand McNally Statistical Atlas.

Begun on December 5, 1994 and completed on March 13th, 1995, each PCS license provides 30 MHz of radio spectrum in the 1.8 GHz band for commercial use. When the shouting was all done (actually they used an electronic bidding system), the auction had raised in excess of $7 billion of much-needed revenue for the U.S. Treasury.

Toshiba America Information Systems—Hoping to simplify the mobile computing experience, Toshiba has joined with Microsoft Corp. to launch a North American Joint Marketing Plan. As part of the plan, Toshiba will promote its portable computers with Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system pre-installed.

Windows 95 features 32-bit performance, a “Plug and Play” architecture, and built-in support for pen-based input. However, it’s not clear to what degree, if any, Toshiba plans to support the later. For more information, please contact Howard Emerson of Toshiba at (714) 583-3925.

Ericsson—With Mobitex service already available in countries ranging from Germany, France, the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Australia, Singapore, Chile, Canada, and the United States, the service has arguably become a defacto wireless data communication standard. In March, the Swedish communication giant announced that Poland would also be joining the club.

The Polish company Telbank has ordered Ericsson’s Mobitex equipment for a pilot installation in the capital city Warsaw and surrounding area, including the airport. Within the next three years, plans include expanding the system to cover 90 percent of Poland’s 40 million person population.

QUALCOMM Inc.—Building on the anticipated interest for advanced cellular and Personal Communications Services, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has signed a multi-million dollar royalty-bearing license to use QUALCOMM’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology.

Mitsubishi intends to manufacture and sell mobile phones employing the advanced CDMA digital technology, enabling wireless service providers to extract more communication channels than rival technologies such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) from the equivalent radio spectrum. For more information, please contact Julie Cunningham of QUALCOMM at (619) 658-4224.

Nokia, Ericsson, and Hewlett-Packard—The three industry giants teamed to announce that they have enhanced the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) specifications by releasing AT Command Specifications for GSM data cards and adapters. The AT Command set is the most commonly used standard for controlling modems through personal computers.

The new specification includes AT commands capable of controlling GSM data and fax communication, similar to normal modems. While designed for GSM, the specification is also applicable to other digital telephone standards such as DCS 1800, D-AMPS, and PCS.

Explorer Communication—Recognizing that Internet access is becoming critical for business and personal success, Explorer has joined with NETCOM, a leading Internet service provider, to bundle NETCOM’s NetCruiser Internet Access Software with its PCMCIA fax-modem cards.

New Media Corp.—The PCMCIA market continues to grow, as does Irvine, California-based New Media. The company recently added two new surface mount production lines featuring vision-assisted robotics. With the new production lines, New Media is now capable of producing over 60,000 cards per month.

According to Dataquest and Intel Corp., over 26 million PC Cards are expected to ship in 1997, compared with an estimated 6.5 million in 1995. For more information, please contact Saundy Morrison Hill of New Media at (714) 453-0100.

RadioMail Corp.—Wireless electronic messaging removes a number of boundaries and constraints, chief among them time. Since mobile workers are no longer tied to normal business hours, RadioMail Corp., a leading supplier of wireless messaging in the United States, has matched the hours of its Customer Care Center with its customers.

As of March 9th, RadioMail has begun offering 24 hour support for their customers, free of charge and accessible through a toll-free number. For more information, please contact Rose Williams of RadioMail at (415) 286-7821, [email protected].

AT&T—The recent FCC PCS auction produced its set of winners and losers. AT&T, the largest cellular service provider in the world, obviously counts itself as a member of the former.

AT&T was successful in bidding for 21 wireless licenses, for which it has agreed to pay a total of $1.685 billion. AT&T will become a service provider in 23 of the top 25 markets in the United States, reaching a potential audience of over 107 million people.

PCS PrimeCo—Not to be left out, four regional Bell companies also announced their success in bidding for PCS licenses. Under the name PCS PrimeCo, the four partners include Bell Atlantic, AirTouch Communications, Inc., US WEST, and NYNEX.

While the group spent $1.1 billion, they managed to get licenses in only 11 major cities covering about 57 million people. Still, enthusiasm was high as the group promised to quickly construct its PCS network and deliver wireless services within 18 months.

SEIKO Communications America, Inc.—In a sign of things to come, SEIKO announced that AirTouch Paging will become a distributor and service provider for SEIKO’s MessageWatch. The MessageWatch is a near-normal sized wristwatch that including paging and other information capabilities. For more information, please contact Dianna Schmid of SEIKO at (503) 531-1623.