SAN FRANCISCO-In line with the wireless data focus that has engulfed the industry throughout 1999, the four keynote speakers on the opening day of the 1999 CDMA Americas Congress represented Internet heavy-hitters.
Executives from Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Cisco Systems and Yahoo! Inc. gave presentations outlining their visions and predictions for accessing data services on the move.
The fourth annual event targeted at Code Division Multiple Access carriers and manufacturers last week drew a more diverse audience than in past years, said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group, which organized the event.
Most notable in the crowd was L.M. Ericsson, which long had doubted CDMA technology. Ericsson debuted its CDMA offerings in the United States at a CDG-organized event and was a conference sponsor. The company purchased Qualcomm Inc.’s CDMA infrastructure division in March.
“In the past, there have been more carriers and manufacturers [as attendees]. Now there are converging interests,” said LaForge, referring to the high number of Internet, applications development and financial companies represented.
The conference drew more than 750 attendees and 24 exhibitors.
Thomas Koll, vice president of Microsoft’s Network Solutions Group, noted that the software giant’s mission statement has evolved to “empower people through great software, anytime, any place and on any device.”
“Opportunities exist in location-based information and seamless [local area network] connections,” said Koll in his presentation.
Killer categories for wireless data will be in communications services such as scheduling and e-mail functions, providing timely information, and e-commerce, said Mohan Vishwanath, vice president of Yahoo! Everywhere.
A common theme throughout the event was how carriers will evolve in the wireless data arena. Several presentations included case studies and information on how carrier business plans will change as new services are added and how those services will affect network use and capacity.
“Carriers continue to formulate plans to understand demand on the network and how to meet that,” said LaForge.
Other wireless data issues focused on the effects on customer care and tracking customer data.
Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president of Cisco Systems’ Service Provider Line of Business, said the keys to success of wireless data will revolve around user wants and include personalization for customers, ease of use, flexibility, offering a community of interests, and privacy and security.
David Douglas, chief technology officer for Sun Microsystems’ Network Service Provider Division, added that operators will have a great deal of information about consumers: who they are, where they are, what services they access and how long they use those services. The challenge will be to optimize the customer relationship so all parties benefit.
Douglas also noted the importance of carriers transforming themselves into Internet portals rather than “allowing themselves to become a pipe.”
He added that carrier revenue models are still being developed and will differ worldwide from one market to another.
To keep up with the quickly changing Internet technology, wireless vendors are establishing partnerships with companies that have strong Internet Protocol technology knowledge. Motorola announced partnerships with Cisco and Sun earlier this year, leading to the development of the Aspira IP-based architecture.
Motorola demonstrated at the conference its 64 kilobits per second CDMA Packet Data technology, being implemented by Japanese carriers DDI Cellular Group and IDO Corp.
“These partnerships are a new paradigm for Motorola,” said Maureen Govern, Motorola vice president, network architecture and technology, Network Systems Group. “To quickly get to market, you’ll see more of it.”
Lucent Technologies Inc. and Sun also announced a partnership last week to jointly define new products and services for Internet commerce.
Pete Peterson, senior wireless communications analyst for Volpe Brown Whelan and Co., said
CDMA is the fastest-growing standard, with the total subscriber number worldwide having increased by 46 times during the last four years. CDMA-including cdma2000 and wideband CDMA-has a compound annual growth rate of 60 percent, while Time Division Multiple Access is at 56 percent and Global System for Mobile communications is at 33 percent, according to figures from Volpe Brown Whelan.
“The Americas will be the driving force of CDMA,” said Peterson, adding that he expects only modest penetration into China due to political considerations.
