(CDMA-Flavored) 3G’s Chance to Shine

Europe had its 3GSM World Congress in February to showcase cutting edge
wireless networking advances with its dominant TDMA
standard.

Now, it’s CTIA Wireless 2004 conference’s turn in Atlanta to showcase how the United States and other global players are pushing 3G
networking with the competing CDMA standard —
and tackling the interoperability with different wireless standards.

Although mobile entertainment device advances are
expected to steal much of the spotlight during the event that runs Monday through Wednesday, developers will be in the
limelight too. Look for CDMA technology, including the CDMA 1xEV-DO data
networking protocol, to be a primary focus of many announcements at the
show, participants said.

Verizon Wireless , currently the largest wireless
carrier in the U.S., is kicking off the news flow with an expansion
announcement regarding its 3G data service called BroadbandAccess, which
is built on CDMA 1xEVDO technology.

The service, which went national in its rollout in January after a
launch in Washington, D.C. and San Diego, already boasts data transmission
speeds of between 300 to 500 kilobits per second, with bursts of up to 2
megabits per second.

In addition to speed, the company said the service is ideal for downloading complex files, with the ability to
download a 1MB email attachment in less than 20 seconds.

Verizon claims GPRS (which is the standard used by
T-Mobile) would take nearly seven minutes to download the same file, and that the EDGE standard, which is built on the competing GSM
standard, would take about a minute and a half for the same 1MB file
download. However, in some deployments, the faster version of the GSM
standard has been hitting up to 384 kilobits per second.

But Cingular Wireless, which won the bidding to acquire AT&T Wireless
(and deploys the EDGE standard in its wireless data
network), is expected to ramp up its 3G network speed. Indeed, it has no choice. AT&T Wireless is committed to rolling out 3G in
four U.S. markets by year-end and faces a $6 billion contractual penalty
from its investor NTT DoCoMo if it does not.

Developers Take Center Stage

Steve Largent, CEO and president of CTIA, said education and development are always focal points of the show.

Rob Mesirow, vice president of conventions at CTIA, said because the
wireless market is so large and diverse, keeping one step ahead can be a
challenge. With that in mind, he said, the developer forums are designed
to inform, challenge, to break new ground.

For example, Qualcomm is offering 3G technical training sessions for
engineers and IT professionals and will cover CDMAU2000 1xEVDO key
concepts, as well as background on high speed, in-building repeaters,
network planning and UMTS/WCDMA network optimization.
Developers will also offer insights about how 3G UMTS networks are helping
to advance CDMA.

Sun Microsystems is planning to address new
approaches to providing wireless payment technologies for carriers and
third-party content vendors, which has seen slow up-take in the North
American markets. Sun is working with wireless platform company Kabira on
a platform that helps wireless providers earn substantial return on
investment on micro-payments. The companies plan to announce new features
for the Kabira High-Volume Transaction Adapter (HVTA) for the Sun Java
Enterprise System (JavaES).

Cisco is planning to discuss how the company is
building new 3G networking features like one that combines Lucent’s
Softswitch with Cisco’s MGX 8000 Series Media Gateways, which are designed
to deliver high-speed data, multimedia and VoIP services.

Industry experts and analysts expect the news announcements from the
show to show positive momentum for 3G overall. However, SG Cowen, in a note
to investors, said while “indicators for mobile handset and mobile
infrastructure markets [have] looked positive lately, on the 3G front,
datapoints are mixed and we remain cautious that mass market adoption will
be later than general expectations.”

Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems, is to join Cisco’s
President and CEO, John Chambers, for the first keynote address Monday.

Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is also delivering a keynote address.

Tuesday’s keynote theme is built for the consumer and mobile
entertainment crowd, with Russell Simmons, a co-founder and chairman of
Def Jam Records, as well as chairman of Rush Communications, joining Juno
Cho, president of InfoComm for keynote addresses and demonstrations. Also slated is Edward Zander, the former Sun president who recently took the helm of Motorola as its chairman and CEO.

CTIA Wireless 2004 arrives amid consolidation among wireless carriers in the U.S. with Cingular Wireless’s successful bid to purchase AT&T Wireless. Expect the state of the industry to come up on Wednesday as senior management of
all the major carriers take the stage for keynotes. They include Timothy
Donahue, president and CEO of Nextel Communications, whose push-to-talk
feature has become a new battle among other carriers looking to provide
similar services.

The Wednesday keynote will also feature Scott Ford, President & CEO of
ALLTEL; Len Lauer, President and COO Sprint Corporation; Stan Sigman,
President & CEO of Cingular Wireless; John Stanton Chairman T-Mobile USA
and Denny Strigl, President and CEO Verizon Wireless.

Expect lots of camera phones looking for snapshot moments, too. Mobloggers (mobile bloggers) will be out in force at the show.
Organizers said attendees with camera-equipped mobile devices can record
photographs and video highlights of the show’s people, products, keynotes,
parties and extracurricular activities. Participants can post submissions
wirelessly to an open mobile blogging site. The entries will be on display
here.

Wireless will hit the runways as a fashion statement as well with the Fashion in Motion event showcasing wearable wireless and Internet
technology. Students from the Topological Media Lab at Georgia Tech will
display garments whose textures of sound and light dance to the wearer’s
movement and gesture with the use of body-imaging and sensing
technologies. Another wearable gadget, Nokia’s Alter Ego device, lets users snap a picture and hang it around their necks with a wearable display that allows the user to upload a color
image. Motorola will be showcasing a Bluetooth enabled helmet that
takes always-on connections to new heights.