Portable Computer and Communications Association Special Comdex meeting to Explore Challenges, Opportunities in New Technology
SAN JOSE, Calif. — November 8, 1996 — A special meeting of the Personal Computer and Communications Association (PCCA) during Comdex/Fall (Las Vegas, Nov. 18-22) was called Friday by association cofounder and president Andrew M. Seybold to deal with the urgent challenges and opportunities presented to the wireless data communication industry by the new handheld PC (HPC) operating system software (Microsoft Windows CE) and the new generation of handheld personal computers expected to debut at Comdex.
The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m., Nov. 18 in the Tropicana Hotel Meeting Room.
Chief among the topics to be discussed, Seybold said, are: (1) getting wireless data users connected back to their own desktops or local area networks with minimal participation by the Information Systems department; and (2) enabling handheld synchronization software for wireless networks.
''These two problems need to be addressed by all of the companies involved in order to grow the wireless data communications industry,'' Seybold said.
''There are solutions available, but in most circumstances they are neither convenient nor elegant. PCCA is calling the meeting because the solutions required to fulfill the potential of the new generation of technology will take the efforts of many different types of companies: hardware, software, network providers, Internet providers and others.''
In an article in the current issue of The Outlook on Communications and Computing, Editor-in-Chief Seybold noted that most industry analysts expect between 700,000 and 1,200,000 handheld PCs to be sold in 1997 but that over time, volume sales of these and other portable computing devices will be driven largely by the ability of their users to easily access their own desktops wirelessly.
''If wireless connectivity solutions providers can offer access back to users' own desktops or back to their corporate LANs so they can access their desktop — thereby extending the synchronization aspects of the link between the desktop and the HPC — these users will quickly embrace wireless connectivity systems and services,'' he said.
A copy of the issue or of the article may be obtained by contacting Ruth Johnson at 408/338-7701. It is also posted on the PCCA Web site: http://www.outlook.com/pcca.
Founded in 1992, the Portable Computing and Communications Association is a non-profit trade association which focuses on the convergence of the two industries. Its charter is to enable, develop and promote the adoption of software and hardware standards for interoperable mobile computing and communications. Membership is open to all companies and individuals with an interest in these disciplines.
CONTACT:
PCCA
Bob Venter, 408/338-0924
or
Victor Wortman Co.
Vic Wortman, 310/393-6281