RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.-Ericsson Inc. last week introduced a snap-on wireless modem that allows users to browse the Internet and send or receive faxes and e-mail without cable hookups or a phone line.
The DI 27 eliminates the need to connect a personal computer modem card and telephone line to a phone jack or to use a cable to connect a mobile phone to a modem card.
Users snap the modem on the end of an Ericsson 600 or 700 series phone and place it next to the infrared port on an IrDA compatible computer, palmtop or personal digital assistant. Perfect alignment is unnecessary, as the DI 27 will link the phone and computer up to 36 inches away.
The infrared wireless modem does not draw power from the computer, palmtop or PDA, and frees PC card slots for other applications.
The DI 27 works with Microsoft Fax, Microsoft Mail, Lotus Notes, Netscape and Internet explorer communications software, and with Windows 95, Windows CE, 3Com’s Palm III and Psion-based devices.
The modem package includes Ericsson’s Mobile Office Suite, a Windows 95-based CD-ROM software package offering Short Message Service and phone-book management. The software also allows users to add and delete names in the phone book using the keyboard on their laptop or desktop computer. With the DI 27, the Mobile Office Suite will automatically synchronize with the phone to make sure the phone numbers programmed into the handset are up to date.
