Toshiba Corp. Monday
unveiled its U.S. wireless initiative to be executed by its Computer
Systems Group within Toshiba America
Information Systems Inc.
Designed to tap into the growing mobile Internet lifestyle, Toshiba’s
global initiatives involve a strategic consortium of hardware, software and
service partners to develop a wide range of new portable products.
Toshiba created a wireless business development group in Tokyo to
coordinate research and development of wireless products across different
divisions of the company. For U.S. deployment, Toshiba established a
wireless network solutions group in Irvine, CA.
Jeffrey Friederichs, Toshiba American vice president and general manager of
marketing, said its global initiatives are designed to change the way
businesses and people work in a wireless future.
“We are working with companies that complement our industry-leading
strengths in mobility to make different technologies work together more
efficiently,” Friederichs said. “By improving the way information is
exchanged and providing the tools necessary for wireless connectivity, our
customer’s can truly live the mobile lifestyle.”
According to the high-tech research firm Gartner
Group Inc. , the wireless data market is poised for
explosive growth and is expected to increase from three million subscribers
in 1999 to 36 million subscribers in 2003.
Friederichs said the firm recognizes that as the mobile workforce
grows, real time remote access to critical corporate information will no
longer remain a luxury; it will become a necessity.
“You will see wireless capabilities throughout all of Toshiba’s products
and solutions,” Friederichs said. “From products such as notebooks,
desktops, servers and projectors to services based on wireless
technologies.”
Toshiba intends to develop its wireless products and services in three
distinct market segments including Wide Area Networks, Local Area Networks,
and Personal Area Networks.
In the WAN market segment Toshiba is building alliances with infrastructure
providers to create a seamless environment for simple and fast
communications between notebooks and mobile phones. Ericsson phone
customers using Bluetooth-enabled
mobile phones and notebooks can enjoy secure, wireless Internet access via
cellular carriers from any location.
Toshiba initiated the first phase of its entry into the LAN environment in
April when it partnered with Wayport
Inc., a Texas-based high-speed wireless service provider that targets
the mobile market segment in airports.
Toshiba intends to ship its first LAN standard PC cards by November this
year. The PC Card is designed for use in portable computers with a PC Card
slot.
Toshiba also established working deals with 3Com Corp. , IBM Corp.
, Lucent Technologies, Inc.
, Microsoft Corp.
, and other leading global technology companies.
Toshiba continues to be one of the world’s leading vendors of portable
computers with a 16.2 percent market share in global computing according to
International Data Corp., an independent
research firm.
With annual sales of approximately $2.5 billion, Toshiba America
Information Systems Inc. is comprised of six divisions, organized into two
business groups, which manufacture, market and service a wide range of
business and information-oriented products in the
Americas.
