Fujitsu Personal Systems and Proxim Announce Partnership to Bring Wireless Computing to Vertical Markets
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — August 23, 1993 — Fujitsu Personal Systems Inc. (FPSI), a leading provider of highly integrated systems for mobile computing applications, Monday announced a technology partnership with Proxim Inc. to build wireless mobile computing solutions for vertical markets.
The agreement is part of FPSI's strategy to assemble multiple technology vendors and service providers that can develop mobile computing solutions to meet specific vertical market business needs.
As technology partners, FPSI and Proxim have integrated Proxim's RangeLAN family of wireless LAN adapters and ProxLink Radio Modules into FPSI's portable computers designed for specific industry applications.
Targeting the healthcare, transportation, pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, and utilities industries, these systems allow mobile field workers to communicate wirelessly with a server or on a peer-to-peer basis in most common network environments.
"Fujitsu's alliance with Proxim signifies a growing trend in the industry that requires increased technology collaboration to meet the unique field automation requirements of vertical markets," said Lou Panetta, Fujitsu's executive vice president. "The products that result from the Proxim/Fujitsu alliance are an example of how Fujitsu will continue to develop mobile computing solutions with strategic benefits."
"Proxim's relationship with Fujitsu underscores our belief that vertical industry-specific applications offer some of the most promising opportunities for deployment of wireless networking solutions," said David King, Proxim's president and chief executive officer.
"By leveraging our joint technology expertise, we will offer wireless business solutions that enable companies to automate their field personnel and improve their customer responsiveness."
FPSI's partnership with Proxim is based on its existing family of handheld and palmtop mobile computers. The PoqetPad Plus is a full-screen, hand-held, pen-based, PC-compatible computer designed for use in forms-based data collection applications.
The Poqet PC Plus, a leader in size, weight and battery life, is well suited for keyboard-based field data collection and corporate messaging applications. The 325Point — the industry's first three pound pen tablet — is designed for mobile workers involved in decision support activities in a wide range of vertical markets.
Proxim's alliance with FPSI incorporates the RangeLAN family of wireless LAN adapters, and ProxLink, a self-contained, plug-and-play wireless network device with a user-configurable serial port. RangeLAN is designed for applications such as E-mail, printer-sharing, terminal emulation and many industry-specific mobile computing applications. The RangeLAN family includes RangeLAN/PCMCIA — the only spread spectrum PCMCIA-interface wireless LAN adapter currently shipping, RangeLAN/ISA for desktop PCs and servers, RangeLAN/Parallel for connection to the parallel port of any PC, and RangeLAN/Roaming, which allows mobile computer users to automatically switch from access point to access point within a Novell network.
Proxim recently announced RangeLAN2, a new family of long range, high speed wireless LAN adapters for portable computers, desktop PCs and servers. RangeLAN2/ISA's uncompressed data rate of 1.6 Mbits/second exceeds the data rate requirements of most standard PC applications, making it an ideal wireless platform for high speed LAN environments.
When these products ship, it will open the door for higher speed solutions in future technology partnering solutions from Proxim and FPSI.
Fujitsu Personal Systems, headquartered in Santa Clara, is a leader in providing solutions for data collection and decision support applications through the development of super portable palmtop, pen-based and communicating computers. Its solutions are designed to meet the needs of applications where light weight, small form factor and long battery life are essentials.
The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd. Fujitsu Personal Systems has North American offices in Santa Clara, Irvine, Calif., Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, N.Y., Toronto and international offices in England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.
Founded in 1984, Proxim Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, is the world's leading supplier of spread spectrum wireless networking products for end users, systems integrators, VARs and OEMs.
The company designs, manufactures and markets an industry leading family of off-the-shelf wireless LAN adapters for desktop and portable systems, as well as spread spectrum radio modules and wireless RF modems for custom applications.
Proxim's unmatched spread spectrum networking expertise, combined with extensive experience serving the communications needs of the mobile computing user, have kept the company at the forefront of the emerging wireless LAN market. To date, Proxim has shipped over 50,000 spread spectrum radio products.
Note to Editors: Products and company names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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