Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Lenovo, the world's third largest PC maker, have aligned to provide mobile broadband modules based on HSPA - the world's most widely commercially deployed technology for mobile broadband. Select Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks will include mobile broadband modules beginning in 2008. Lenovo is Ericsson's first announced mobile broadband module customer.
HSPA provides a DSL-like experience wirelessly and is currently capable of peak download rates of up to 14.4 Mbps and peak upload rates of up to 2.0 Mbps. There are currently more than 160 commercially deployed HSPA networks globally, serving more than one billion subscribers.
"Lenovo is committed to PC innovation and providing our customers the latest functionality and tools to enhance their computing experience," said , Frances K. O'Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Product Group, Lenovo. "Our engineering team is working with Ericsson's engineers to deliver ThinkPads with the fastest and most reliable connectivity available. We firmly believe that this effort will dramatically change the user mobile experience, allowing ThinkPad customers to more easily search, download, share, and store information and content when they want."
"With mobile networks being upgraded globally to handle greater demand for Internet services and data connectivity, consumers are increasingly utilizing mobile phones and notebooks to access the high-capacity services that they have typically experienced only through a wired or WiFi connection," said Kurt Jofs, Executive Vice President and head of Business Unit Networks, Ericsson. "Today, Ericsson is doing for broadband what the company did for telephony 20 years ago – making it mobile and available to everyone, everywhere. We respect Lenovo's innovative approach to business and their vision in this maket and we look forward to future opportunities to work with them to create even more advanced mobile computing solutions that translate into direct customer value."
Ericsson's mobile broadband modules provide the end user with a simple and cost effective solution for broadband access while on-the-go. Seamlessly integrated with and optimized to work within the notebook, the built-in broadband module provides superior downloading and uploading performance and takes less power from the battery. Leveraging Ericsson's in-house HSPA chipset technology and strong patent cross-licensing position, the company's economies of scale and longstanding operator relationships, Ericsson can offer a very competitive mobile broadband module solution that will help further drive a mass market for mobile broadband.
Market projections indicate that in 2011, approximately 200 million notebooks will ship annually and Ericsson anticipates that 50 percent of those notebooks will feature a built-in HSPA mobile broadband module. Users will increasingly have the option to take their broadband connections with them, delivering on the promise of full service broadband, which is anytime, anywhere access from the screen or device of choice.
Notes to editors:
Fact sheet and product images: http://www.ericsson.com/solutions/mobile_broadband_modules/press.shtml
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.
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About Ericsson's HSPA solution
HSPA stands for High Speed Packet Access. An inherent advantage of HSPA is that the technology is a natural extension of existing WCDMA/GSM networks, or about 85 percent of the world's existing wireless networks, and therefore has the potential to be readily available to a large number of wireless users, creating a mass market for mobile broadband. By 2010, 71 percent of mobile broadband connections are projected to be HSPA-based.
Ericsson's HSPA mobile broadband solution is part of Ericsson's Full Service Broadband offering. The advanced technology lets operators more than double their system capacity and cuts response times for interactive services. On average, users will be able to download 20 times faster than with a GSM/GPRS connection. Future evolution steps will increase the HSPA download speed to 42Mbps and the upload speed to 12Mbps. Ericsson offers HSPA support on many frequency bands ranging from 850MHz to 2.6GHz.
About Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules
Ericsson's Mobile Broadband module, designed and manufactured by Ericsson, supports HSPA, EDGE, GPRS and GSM. For HSPA it will initially offer peak rates of 7.2Mbps in the downlink and 2Mbps in the uplink. Learn more at:
http://www.ericsson.com/solutions/mobile_broadband_modules