Thursday, September 2, 2004
GSM Over Wi-Fi Standard Approved?
Posted by Janak Parekh in "NEWS" @ 02:00 PM
"Kineto Wireless, a key innovator and leading supplier of solutions for seamless mobility and Cellular/WLAN convergence, today announced the company, along with thirteen other leading service providers, infrastructure suppliers and handset manufacturers in the wireless industry, have published a set of open specifications for extending mobile voice and data services over Wireless LANs. Companies that participated in the development of the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) specifications include Alcatel, AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., BT PLC, Cingular Wireless LLC, Ericsson AB, Kineto Wireless Inc., Motorola, Inc., Nokia, Nortel Networks, Inc., O2, Rogers Wireless Inc., Siemens AG, Sony Ericsson, and T-Mobile USA."
If you go to the UMA technology site, they describe the technology as "Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology provides access to GSM and GPRS mobile services over unlicensed spectrum technologies, including Bluetooth and 802.11. By deploying UMA technology, service providers can enable subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and unlicensed wireless networks." That is very cool, and could provide for a whole new level of roaming experience. The idea of patching or complementing cell coverage inside office spaces or hotspots with Wi-Fi is compelling; I don't know how it'll actually be implemented in practice or how much it'll cost, but I'll be keeping an eye on this.
If you go to the UMA technology site, they describe the technology as "Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology provides access to GSM and GPRS mobile services over unlicensed spectrum technologies, including Bluetooth and 802.11. By deploying UMA technology, service providers can enable subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and unlicensed wireless networks." That is very cool, and could provide for a whole new level of roaming experience. The idea of patching or complementing cell coverage inside office spaces or hotspots with Wi-Fi is compelling; I don't know how it'll actually be implemented in practice or how much it'll cost, but I'll be keeping an eye on this.
