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As wireless network connections get added to more devices, users gain a greater mix of choices for staying connected. Laptops and handheld devices alike are becoming outfitted with both embedded and PC Card-style connections to multiple networks.
Cingular Wireless, for one, is aggressively seeding its budding high-speed 3G network with user connections. At the CTIA I.T. Wireless and Entertainment cellular trade show in Los Angeles last week, for example, the mobile network operator said that the Sierra Wireless AirCard 875, to be available next month, supports connections to Cingular's BroadbandConnnect service.
BroadbandConnect runs on Cingular's High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network in the Americas. The HSPDA network currently supports a theoretical maximum speed of 1.8Mbps, but the AirCard 875 will operate at 3.6Mbps to accommodate imminent Cingular network upgrades to the higher speed, according to Cingular.
Meanwhile, last month, Lenovo embedded Cingular HSDPA/UMTS connections directly into its ThinkPad T60 notebooks. Dell did the same to its Latitude notebooks in March, and HP is expected to follow suit "later this year," says Cingular.
Cingular's own service currently services 87 markets in the United States. The multi-band Sierra Wireless card will also work in Asia and Europe where Cingular Wireless has roaming partners in a total of about 100 countries, though many network connections will fall back to slower EDGE or GPRS networks where HSDPA and UMTS have not yet been launched.
In the CDMA-based cellular world, Dell embedded Verizon Wireless EV-DO connections into its Latitude line in March, and Lenovo's Z, T and X Series ThinkPads ship with both embedded Wi-Fi and Verizon Wireless EV-DO support. The HP Compaq nc6140 Notebook PC also ships with Verizon Wireless EV-DO connections.
Meanwhile, HP, HTC, Nokia, Samsung, and Symbol Technologies are shipping handsets and smartphones with both cellular and Wi-Fi connections, and many more such devices, some supporting voice on both network types, will ship this fall.
Amid all this activity, do you have a mobile device strategy for your user base? If so, do you have a corporate policy for which employees get which devices? Do most of your users want to carry just one device or do they need several?
Please ping me with your mobile story!
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