The customer seminar, held at Ericsson's office in Dallas, attracted a handful of key notebook players from top PC brands to a demonstration of what "super 3G" HSPA technology is capable of when it comes to mobile broadband.
 

Anders Hörndahl, head of sales at Ericsson's unit for mobile broadband modules, says the feedback was excellent. As one vendor representative said: "Keep this group and forum and come back twice a year."
 

Hörndahl says: "We are in a very strong position, and we have a number of customer contracts in the pipeline."
 

An advantage of the HSPA solution is that the technology is here, now. It is widely implemented around the world, whereas customers still do not have a network for the alternative, WiMAX.
 

The theme of Ericsson's event in Dallas was "creating a mass market for mobile broadband" and the purpose was to build relations with the PC industry.
 

The product, a small module Ericsson wants embedded in every new notebook, is called F3507g  - the g stands for global (satellite) positioning system, or GPS.
 

"Here we are in the forefront," Hörndahl says. "Our modules will all be GPS equipped, and the speed for data communication will reach 7.2Mbps for the downlink (to the notebook) and 2.0Mbps for the uplink."
 

Embedded modules are much desired by the market. Data traffic is exploding, the number of notebook platforms is growing rapidly and all new notebook models will be fitted with these radio modules. The main alternative to 3G/HSPA is the CDMA2000 EVDO (data only) solution in the US.
 

Ericsson's module will also be used in fixed wireless terminals for residential use and, in the future, a range of different kinds of devices, such as cameras.