Carmen Nobel

ATLANTA — Telecom networking vendors faced an even more subdued atmosphere than anticipated at the NetWorld+Interop convention here following Tuesdays terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. With many large exhibitors packing up to leave the trade show within hours of the news, the show floor closed 4 hours early and keynote addresses were canceled. […]

With the new Jornada looking a lot like the old iPaq, a consolidation of handheld computing lines seems inevitable in the wake of Hewlett-Packard Co.s announcement to acquire Compaq Computer Corp. Meanwhile, both companies are focusing on Intel Corp. hardware and the latest Microsoft Corp. operating system for their PDAs (personal digital assistants), causing concern […]

iAnywhere Solutions Inc. is going forward to the basics. A year after releasing several complicated mobile applications, the mobile subsidiary of Sybase Inc. this week will introduce iAnywhere Mobile Mail, an application that provides wireless, dial-up or cradle access to fundamental features such as enterprise e-mail, calendar, contacts and schedule information from a variety of […]

At the request of the companies, the Federal Communications Commission has retracted approval of three wireless devices—two from Handspring Inc. and one from Palm Inc.—but the cat is already out of the bag. Once a product is approved, information about it is made public on the FCC site. Since the FCC retracted the approval, the […]

The drive toward next-generation wireless services is producing a torrent of application development. But a look at some of the resulting products reveals a concerted effort by developers to satisfy vendors and carriers bottom lines, rather than solve real-world wireless issues. Several vendors, such as Octave Communications Inc., Bitfone Corp. and Danger Research Inc., are […]

After a summer of trying to turn itself around, Palm Inc. last week named David Nagel to head the handheld computing vendors new operating system subsidiary. Nagel, the former chief technology officer at AT&T Corp., will become president and CEO of the Palm Solutions Group at a time when Palm is facing economic troubles in […]

NextWave Telecom Inc., the bankrupt wireless carrier that has been fighting to retain rights to personal communications services spectrum, has received a $2.5 billion loan commitment from UBS Warburg Ltd. to fund the build-out of a next-generation wireless network. But the fate of the spectrum is not yet clear of court decisions and red tape. […]

Following a collaboration trend in the handset space, NEC Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and its subsidiary Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. Ltd. are forming an alliance to co-develop mobile handsets. NEC and Matsushita, which sells consumer products under the brand name Panasonic, are the top two cell phone sellers in Japan, thanks to deals […]

WLAN protocol successor 802.11a is making headway as manufacturers take advantage of reduced component prices and growing user interest to prepare products for the speedier specification. The momentum has many calling 802.11a the heir apparent to the slower 802.11b—also known as WiFi—which itself is evolving beyond laptops into a variety of devices. Support for 802.11a […]

Continuing to streamline operations and shift focus to serving wireless carriers, Motorola Inc. last week announced plans to sell the companys Integrated Information Systems Group to defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. for $825 million. The planned deal comes one week after Motorolas chairman, Chris Galvin, issued a mea culpa and at an analyst meeting acknowledged […]