TECHNOLOGY - GSM: What you need to know

GSM mobile telephony is changing. When the global specification was drawn up in the late 1980s - as the digital answer to many of the problems that plague analog cellular networks - many of the facets of today's computer, telephony and networking world were unknown. By the time Vodafone launched the world's first GSM network in 1991, telephony features such as call waiting, ISDN and the host of facilities that most office PABX users now take for granted, were starting to appear.

Today, GSM handsets support voice, SMS (short message system) text messaging and 9,600bps data. Within the next year, GSM channel aggregation will push this speed to 64Kbps, giving users access to wireless ISDN capabilities.

What is driving GSM is the prospect of access, via satellite, to a wide variety of services, from voice and paging through to wide bandwidth communications from any point on the Earth's surface. Satellite services such as Skybridge, ICO and Iridium will become complementary facilities to GSM phone users - roaming agreements using multi-band handsets, which will log on to a satellite rather than a terrestrial base station, will arrive on the market by Q4 of this year.

Several of the industry majors, notably Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia, have published an open standard for GSM (and other cellular network) datacomms known as the Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP).

WAP will allow GSM devices to communicate with non-mobile network infrastructures.

The company taking the lead with WAP's development is Unwired Planet, which has developed a low bandwidth HTML variant called HDML, short for handheld mark-up language.

TOP PLAYERS

- Ericsson

The Swedish company is riding high as sales of its new GSM handsets continue to do well. The company's teeny rival to the Nokia 9000 is expected to launch this summer.

- Motorola

A year ago, the StarTAC phone cost #300. Today it costs #30. This is a classic example of how to upset high-spending customers.

- Nokia

Nice product, shame about the after-sales service. Although Nokia has good products, its back-to-base policy on repairs, with long delays, is not currently doing its share price much good.

- Philips

Early shortages of the excellent Genie GSM handset have now been solved, and Philips' innovation is now enjoyed by many GSM phone users.

IN THE HOT SEAT

Focus on Malcolm Bird, European MD, Unwired Planet

1 Web access across GSM handsets seems overkill

Unwired's Up.Browser technology is much more than a system of allowing mobile web access. It's a new system for presentation of information to a mobile phone user, and one that can present web-based data as well as Lan-based information and even access to the company e-mail system.

2 Why has WAP attracted the support of so many players? (20 and rising fast)

Because GSM is a lot more than voice telephony. Today, the bulk of GSM traffic is voice-based. Within a few years, data traffic looks likely to match the volume of voice traffic among business users.

3 When will the first Up.Browser-enabled handsets start appearing?

They already have. Several vendors showed off handsets with integral microbrowsers at the CeBIT show in March and, now the specification has been published, we expect handsets to appear in volume this coming autumn.

OPTION SHOWS THE WAY FORWARD

Option International has launched the FirstFone, the industry's first GSM datacard that doubles up as a GSM phone using the supplied earpiece and microphone. According to Option, unlike the Compaq and Nokia phone/cards, the #297 FirstFone is the first not to rely on the host PC's mic and earpiece.

Instead, the PCMCIA card has a plug into which slots a microphone/earpiece combo, allowing the user to make ordinary voice calls.

In use, FirstFone allows users to exchange data, faxes, SMS and e-mail from a notebook or personal digital assistant (PDA) without the need for additional cables or equipment.

Option: (00 32) 1620 7303.