HANNOVER, Germany-InterDigital Communications Corp. and its two manufacturing partners say their B-CDMA wireless local loop equipment will be commercially available during the first half of 1998.
InterDigital is in an alliance with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Siemens AG to create “the world’s first” broadband Code Division Multiple Access WLL hardware. The trio displayed their creation at the CeBIT ’97 show in Germany.
Initially, the product will be offered as a fixed wireless product that provides e-mail, Internet access, high-quality voice and high-speed data and video.
InterDigital said the 8-15 megahertz bandwidth of B-CDMA is designed to permit features such as Integrated Services Digital Network technology to the desktop in a fixed wireless application and ultimately in portable and mobile environments.
InterDigital said the second phase will provide neighborhood roaming and portability within cells of five to 15 kilometers radius. In the third phase, a fully mobile product will deliver B-CDMA capabilities “on the move,” the company said.
The product will be built in two locations, at Samsung’s factory in Kumi, Korea, and the Siemens factory in Berlin. All three companies are contributing engineering and software expertise to the product.
LSI Logic has manufactured an exclusive new chip for the equipment. Testing and initial trials of the air interface by InterDigital, Samsung and Siemens confirm the ability to provide video over a fixed radio link to a laptop personal computer, InterDigital said.
