Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NEC and Motorola team on wireless voice and data / Nextel going to sell Microsoft smartphones from Motorola

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2003 16:10:33 -0400

NEC and Motorola team on wireless voice and data
Phones will use some PBX features both inside and outside the office

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service August 06, 2003

 Motorola Inc. and NEC America Inc. are teaming up to offer an infrastructure that
lets enterprise employees use one wireless phone with one number both in the
office and while on the road, enjoying corporate calling features such as dialing
by extension.

 The phones will use VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) over wireless LANs
(WLANs) and also work as cell phones. Server-based call control software from
Motorola, called Mobility Manager, will handle a seamless handoff between the
wireless LAN and the cellular network so employees can continue calls when they
enter or leave the office, according to Nicholas Labun, vice president of
Motorola's wireless LAN seamless mobility business.

Through integration with NEC's PBX (private branch exchange) platforms and a
managed WLAN infrastructure that the companies also are working on together, the
phones will be able to take advantage of some PBX features both inside and outside
the office. Employees also could get access to internal company applications such
as calendars, directories and e-mail on the devices when they are on the wireless
LAN, Labun said.

The system will consist of an NEC PBX with VoIP capability, the Mobility Manager
software, the WLAN infrastructure and the handsets. The deal is non-exclusive and
is an extension of a Motorola strategy that kicked off with an earlier agreement
with Avaya Inc. and Proxim Inc., Labun said. Motorola, in Schamburg, Illinois, is
working with more than one major PBX and WLAN vendor because there are large
installed bases of different systems in place, sometimes two within one
corporation, he said.

The handsets all will be equipped with Texas Instruments Inc. chips that support
IEEE 802.11a, b and g wireless LAN connectivity, but they may come in a variety of
models that work with different kinds of wireless LANs to match up with companies'
existing infrastructures, he said. Likewise, depending on which mobile operators
want to support the system, handsets may be equipped with iDEN (Integrated Digital
Enhanced Network), GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communication/General Packet
Radio Service) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

The handheld device will be designed primarily for voice but will have greater
data capabilities than typical current cell phones, Labun said. It will be based
on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows CE operating system, according to Paul Weismantel,
director of enterprise solutions at NEC America, an Irving, Texas, affiliate of
Japan's NEC Corp. Labun would not confirm that detail and said the companies have
not yet announced what operating system the device will run.

Nextel Communications Inc., a Reston, Virginia, mobile operator that uses iDEN and
has a large base of enterprise customers, began trials with Motorola of a cell
phone with WLAN capability in the second quarter of this year, Nextel Executive
Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Barry West said in March. West also
said the operator would offer by next year a Motorola phone based on Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows Powered Smartphone platform. Nextel is interested in the potential
of services like those the NEC-Motorola partnership would allow, but it's too
early to tell whether they could deliver what they seem to promise, West said
Wednesday.

"The reason we're investigating this is ... to see if we can make the technology
work, but also to see if there's a customer interest," he said. Employees might
end up logging less time on the cellular network, but the operator could charge
the company a fee to use the special service, he said. "One of the principal
benefits to the carrier would be the loyalty of the customer," West said. NEC and
Motorola are eyeing three vertical markets -- health care, hospitality and
education -- as ripe for adoption of the system, which should become generally
available in North America in mid-2004, Weismantel said.

Such a system could solve a problem that vendors have been trying to solve in
other ways: Simplifying corporate phone systems down to just one phone for each
employee to use in the office or on the road, said David Chamberlain, an analyst
at Probe Group LLC, in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey. Managing phones could become
easier too, because telecommunications managers wouldn't have to account for
employees moving across the office to a new fixed-line phone.

"The cell phone and PBX industries have both put a lot of effort into doing that,
historically," Chamberlain said. In the past, this required a separate cell phone
network in the enterprise and users roaming onto that network when they were in
the office. Being able to reuse a company's IP and WLAN infrastructure removes
much of the cost and complexity, he said.
However, the companies are taking on significant and new technological challenges,
particularly the problem of handing off calls between the two networks, said Meta
Group Inc. analyst Chris Kozup.

"VoIP alone, even on a switched segment, has its immaturities," Kozup said. Most
Meta Group consulting customers that are using WLAN for voice have found the
networks can only support four or five simultaneous calls on one access point.
Such a technology might pay off for organizations in specific industries such as
health care or warehousing, where some employees are highly mobile and need to be
reachable at all times. However, if mainstream enterprises start using the
dual-mode phones, it is likely to be in addition to wired desktop phones rather
than to replace them, he said.
"What will be the proof in the pudding will be when these vendors can show us a
carrier who is on board with this," Kozup said.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/08/06/HNnecmot_1.html

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