Trucking Technology Report - Jan 26

Adding Pictures is Next Challenge for Cell Phones

arriers and device makers. Currently, U.S. wireless networks lack the bandwidth to offer video.

Toshiba has gone forward with plans to develop wireless video technology that can be used by future networks. The company has developed a chip that can decode video sent to a wireless device. The technology could enable users to view the person they are talking to on the device's display. Toshiba introduced the chip last week. While the chip could be used by modern cell phones, the slow data rates of current mobile services would make the frame rate excruciatingly slow. Many carriers and wireless device makers indicated that they would prefer to use the technology when newer networks are deployed.

Sprint PCS CTO Oliver Valente said his company plans to complete network upgrades and offer national coverage by 2002. Verizon Communication's executive director of network strategy, Bill Stone, believes the wireless industry is six months away from having the

echnology in place for streaming video.

Motorola is also seeking to offer video to cell phone users. The company revealed this month that is investing millions of dollars in Packet Video. Warren Holtsberg, director of Motorola Ventures, indicated that the firm plans to offer wireless phones with MPEG-4 chips later in 2001.New York Times (01/25/01) P. E7; Greenman, Catherine

Complexity Deepens Among Rail Dot-coms

acific had teamed up to establish an Internet supplies procurement service known as RailMarketplace.com.

It operates on the premise that if enough single buyers who desire the same thing band together, they can obtain a lesser, bulk rate. Another RailMarketplace.com founder is iRail.com Inc., which helps rail firms form e-commerce operations.

The Internet exchange will be technologically powered by GE Global Exchange Services, which formed and branded last November GlobalRailExchange.com, its own online rail supplies procurement site. That firm meets the needs of Amtrak, Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, and Norfolk Southern, two of them establishing members of rival RailMarketplace.com.

There has been a conspicuous absence of any firms purchasing and selling transport capacity online, and the rail firms themselves appear to be more concerned for the time being with back-end tasks.

CN, for instance, formed in August its own e-procurement network. Around 140 purchasers and requisitioners in Edmonton, Montreal and Winnipeg are connected via the Internet to six leading goods

nd materials suppliers. Journal of Commerce Online (01/26/01); Atkinson, Helen

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Ericsson to Outsource Cell Phone Production

Flextronics will now operate Ericsson's plants in Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Malaysia. Ericsson reported that its pretax profit for the fourth quarter plummeted to 4.6 billion Swedish crowns ($477 million) from profits of 8.5 billion crowns in 1999.

In addition, net profit dropped from 6.3 billion crowns in the fourth quarter of 1999 to 2.2 billion crowns for last year's fourth quarter, a decrease of 64 percent.

Ericsson has attributed the struggles of its mobile phone business to component shortages and its failure to offer more competitive products. The firm's cell phone business had a loss of 10.3 billion crowns during last year's fourth quarter, compared with a

rofit of 928 million crowns during the year-earlier period. CNNfn (01/26/01)

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FedEx Deploys Simple Text Messaging in Europe

imple text messages between wireless devices.

Trucks will be outfitted with Husky Computers terminals running Microsoft Windows CE, which will receive data from the drivers' handheld computers and transmit it to the company over the cellular

hone network.

The system being deployed in Europe differs from the

roprietary technology FedEx is using in the United States, but the company's regional IT director, Grahame Ritchie, says the new system will mimic the U.S. system's functionality.

FedEx had to develop a different type of system for Europe because the company could not acquire the frequencies it would need to make a private wireless network like the one it has in the United States.

I>Computerworld (01/22/01) Vol. 35, No. 4, P. 8; Brewin, Bob; Hamblen, Matt

Possible Bandwidth Shortage Lurks as Applications Spread

bandwidth shortage. Technology developers are focusing on methods to condense data or improve infrastructure to prevent shortages.

Broadband technologies are likely to become a major factor in offering wireless services in coming years. The leading broadband technologies appear to be satellite, cable, and xDSL. Satellite technology can effectively pass multimedia content through the Internet.

Many ISPs find the technology very attractive since a common complaint among ISP customers is that providers do not deliver quality streams. Three kinds of protocols – TCP/IP, ATM, and DVB – are being considered by the satellite industry for their broadband services.

Meanwhile, DSL and cable remain satellite broadband's chief competitors. While DSL can offer downloads speeds between 384 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps, distance and user loading can cause service to suffer. Analysts predict cable will be the leading technology for delivering broadband services. But telecom firms providing cable broadband will have to modify some of the older cable infrastructure so it can handle two-way telecommunications. Like DSL, cable broadband loses bandwidth if a lot of users attempt to use the service simultaneously. Satellite Broadband (01/01) Vol. 2, No. 1, P. 34; Worthman, Ernest

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