* Avaya, Motorola, and Proxim plan to offer a dual-mode "enterprise phone" allowing employees to make calls using either wide-area cell phone connections or corporate WLANs. The trio expect to ship the handset and accompanying infrastructure this September. ... Motorola will use Texas Instruments' (TI) Wi-Fi chipset in the phone.
>> VoWLAN: The Return Of 802.11a?
Ed Sutherland
WiFi Planet
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3370611
As promised last year, Avaya, Motorola, and Proxim plan to offer a dual-mode "enterprise phone" allowing employees to make calls using either wide-area cell phone connections or corporate WLANs. The trio expect to ship the handset and accompanying infrastructure this September.
The rub is, the proposed phone will require companies to install 802.11a networks. They say the more-prevalent 802.11g/b standard cannot provide the level of service needed by voice-over-IP (VoIP).
802.11g/b, with only three channels that do not overlap, is able to support between six and eight calls at a time. In comparison, 802.11a boasts 21 non-overlapping channels able to handle 25 voice-over-IP calls from a single WLAN access point.
The goal of the enterprise phone the companies propose is to provide employees a mobile phone experience with the familiar functionality of wired digital handsets connected to the corporate PBX. People will be able to manage up to three simultaneous calls while putting a fourth caller on hold.
Motorola intends the "enterprise phone" be built upon the Schaumberg, Ill., company's i.250 series.
Motorola says the phone will have a battery life similar to cell phones with talk time between 10 and 12 hours. Standby time will be close to double that -- between 20 to 24 hours, claims Motorola. Although it refuses to be specific on how they managed the battery savings, Motorola will use Texas Instruments' (TI) Wi-Fi chipset in the phone. TI, along with chipmakers Atheros and Broadcom, has previously announced plans of lowering the power demands placed on devices by Wi-Fi.
"The cellular and WLAN markets are on a convergence path to provide users with phones that can handle voice and data traffic in both wireless networks," said Marc Cetto, general manager of TI's Wireless Business Unit in a statement.
Motorola will begin testing the phone this summer.
"Motorola believes that tying together wireless LANs, IP telephony, and cellular technologies in a single handset will extend the mobility of the cellular networks inside the enterprise, and provide the best available access to the user," said Dan Coombes, Motorola's senior vice president and general manager for Motorola's Network Systems Group.
The dual-mode phone will work with either GSM or CDMA cell networks, according to Motorola.
Companies interested in testing the "enterprise phone" will need to invest in network infrastructure equipment from Avaya and Proxim, Motorola's partners on the enterprise phone. A gateway controls access points and a communications manager shuttles incoming calls from local and long-distance networks to the WLAN. The management software also converts circuit-switched phone calls into IP-based packets.
These three companies may have helped set the current trend toward embracing voice over wireless LANs. Wireless switch vendors like Aruba Networks, which originally hawked their solutions "as ways to centralize management of wireless LAN," says ABI Research analyst Phil Solis, "have reinvented themselves as purveyors of VoWi-Fi platforms."
In May, Solis also gave the nod to 802.11a over 11b or 11g for voice applications in the wireless enterprises. "For converged networks, voice should be deployed over 802.11a while data is deployed over 802.11g." Calling 802.11a "the future," Craig Mathias, principal analyst with the Ashland, Mass.-based Farpoint Group, declares there is no other option for voice over Wi-Fi. "11a will have to be used," Mathias says. <<
- Eric -
Recent TXN News
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/06/2024 09:19:28 PM
- Texas Instruments board declares second quarter 2024 quarterly dividend • PR Newswire (US) • 04/25/2024 08:17:00 PM
- Futures Pointing To Sharply Lower Open On Wall Street • IH Market News • 04/25/2024 01:09:21 PM
- U.S. Futures Drop in Pre-Market Trading as Tech Stocks Plunge After Meta Issues Gloomy Forecast • IH Market News • 04/25/2024 11:53:54 AM
- U.S. Stocks Finish Lackluster Session Little Changed • IH Market News • 04/24/2024 08:33:00 PM
- Upbeat Earnings News May Lead To Extended Rebound On Wall Street • IH Market News • 04/24/2024 01:09:05 PM
- Tesla Surges 12% with 2025 Affordable Vehicle Promise, Evotec Slumps 36% on Uncertain Outlook, and Latest Earnings • IH Market News • 04/24/2024 11:29:58 AM
- TI reports first quarter 2024 financial results and shareholder returns • PR Newswire (US) • 04/23/2024 08:01:00 PM
- U.S. Index Futures Rise in Pre-Market, Oil Prices Dip Slightly • IH Market News • 04/23/2024 11:26:41 AM
- Texas Instruments to webcast its 2024 annual meeting of stockholders • PR Newswire (US) • 04/08/2024 05:52:00 PM
- Texas Instruments to webcast Q1 2024 earnings conference call • PR Newswire (US) • 04/02/2024 03:27:00 PM
- TI to showcase technologies for a safer, smarter and more sustainable future at embedded world 2024 • PR Newswire (US) • 03/13/2024 09:02:00 AM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 03/05/2024 10:00:50 PM
- Form 3 - Initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 03/05/2024 09:58:59 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/20/2024 10:29:56 PM
- Rice University President Reginald DesRoches to join TI board of directors • PR Newswire (US) • 02/20/2024 09:54:00 PM
- New portfolios from TI push the limits of power design further, help engineers achieve industry-leading power density • PR Newswire (US) • 02/20/2024 02:02:00 PM
- TI CEO Haviv Ilan to speak at Morgan Stanley investor conference • PR Newswire (US) • 02/14/2024 07:22:00 PM
- Form SC 13G/A - Statement of acquisition of beneficial ownership by individuals: [Amend] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/13/2024 10:15:54 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/08/2024 06:59:32 PM
- Texas Instruments prices $3.0 billion of investment grade notes • PR Newswire (US) • 02/06/2024 12:54:00 AM
- Form 424B5 - Prospectus [Rule 424(b)(5)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/05/2024 01:51:39 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/02/2024 10:14:46 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/02/2024 10:10:38 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/02/2024 10:07:54 PM
FEATURED Cannabix Technologies Launches New Compact Breath Logix Workplace Series and Prepares for Delivery to South Africa • May 7, 2024 8:51 AM
Moon Equity Holdings, Corp. Announces Acquisition of Wikolo, Inc. • MONI • May 7, 2024 9:48 AM
NanoViricides Reports that the Phase I NV-387 Clinical Trial is Completed Successfully and Data Lock is Expected Soon • NNVC • May 2, 2024 10:07 AM
ILUS Files Form 10-K and Provides Shareholder Update • ILUS • May 2, 2024 8:52 AM
Avant Technologies Names New CEO Following Acquisition of Healthcare Technology and Data Integration Firm • AVAI • May 2, 2024 8:00 AM
Bantec Engaged in a Letter of Intent to Acquire a Small New Jersey Based Manufacturing Company • BANT • May 1, 2024 10:00 AM