- Nortel Networks has signed an agreement with Sierra Wireless and Xircom to independently develop what is claimed to be the industry's first third generation (3G) wireless modems based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) standard.
Sierra Wireless and Xircom both plan to develop their own multi-mode UMTS/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) wireless modems, including PC cards, Compact Flash cards and embedded modules, the companies say. Nortel Networks intends to finance the development and to provide technical and joint marketing support. Market trials and general availability are expected to start in the first half of 2002. Nortel has not disclosed how large a financial investment it was making.
The growing demand for UMTS and GPRS in Europe, Asia and, ultimately, in the US is pushing Nortel deeper into this market, says Peter MacKinnon, Nortel vice president of wireless Internet. What is coming are faster data rates and richer video and sound possibilities for wirelessly enabled devices, he says.
Nortel will make several announcements in the coming weeks about IP (Internet Protocol) service delivery and applications for wireless networks, he says.
The new modems will work in PDAs (personal digital assistants), laptops, in-vehicle information systems, MP3 players, digital cameras and IP-enabled personal digital devices, Nortel says.
There is a movement to bring UMTS to the U.S. AT&T Wireless Group earlier this month announced it will upgrade its US network during 2002 to support UMTS and 3G data rates speeds of 2M bps (bits per second).
Sierra Wireless, based in Richmond, British Columbia, offers wireless data communications hardware and software products and recently licensed wireless protocol stacks from Bangalore, India-based Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd.
The protocol stacks for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and GPRS will be designed into wireless PC modem cards to be introduced by Sierra, which is likely to support both on a single PC card. Sasken engineers are currently working on integrating these two protocols on sample boards built around a third-party chipset that Sierra is considering using for its devices.