CDPD Forum Claims Gain in Momentum

We all remember the great fanfare with which CDPD was formally introduced a couple of years ago. And while a recent report card published by the CDPD Forum shows that cellular carriers in the United States have made significant progress in deploying the technology nationwide, an equally significant effort will be required to attain the early promises made by CDPD proponents.

As described by the report card, the leading cellular carriers are now offering CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) services in 40 markets throughout the US. This compares favorably with the 19 markets that were served just six months ago in February, 1995. In addition, the cellular carriers are beginning to form the all important interoperability agreements that are necessary to fulfill the original goal of having a seamless, nationwide service enabling users to roam from one service area to another.

The first providers to establish such an agreement are Ameritech and GTE Mobilnet, which now allow customers to have the same capability in either market areas. Hopefully, others will follow suit.

In addition to cellular service providers, the CDPD Forum revealed that its corporate membership, a number of which are software and hardware manufacturers, has more than doubled since the inception of the forum one year ago.

As part of its role to promote technology evaluation, CDPD Forum members recently reviewed and accepted a Circuit Switched CDPD specification. In addition, AT&T’s McCaw Cellular unit recently submitted a messaging specification, known as the Limited Size Messaging protocol (LSM), for forum consideration.

CDPD Forum
401 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-4267
(800) 335-CDPD (2372)
Liz Dunham (312)
644-6610 x3320