Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Padcom Roams Too

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 14:30:38 -0500

Padcom Roams Too

12.09.02

Unstrung

Isn't that always the way? You wait all day for a system that can
pass data across wide-area and local wireless networks, and then
several come along all at once.

Last week, Nortel Networks Corp.'s (NYSE/Toronto: NT - message
board) said it would go a-roaming (see Nortel Romances Roaming
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=25325). And this week,
Padcom Inc. (http://www.padcomusa.com/) has popped up to say it's
already doing it.

Bethlehem, Pa.-based Padcom, which was founded in 1989, has
software that can be installed on a company's premises, switch a
user between different networks (maintaining a static IP address),
and convert IP data packets so that they can be sent over
different network types. Padcom's system uses a client/server
based setup that can support 802.11 wireless LANs, CDPD, and
private RF networks. The company gives a fairly extensive rundown
of its technology in a white
paper(http://www.padcomusa.com/whitepages/Connectivity%20Suite%20T
echnical%20Overview%20-%20SGV1.pdf) on its site.

Padcom has just announced support for roaming between WLAN and
CDMA 1xRTT cellular networks and is testing similar capabilities
for GPRS networks. The company plans to work on more
carrier-oriented projects in the future, according to Mark
Ferguson, the firm's director of marketing.

"We've worked with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint before," Ferguson
says. Currently, the company usually works with corporations, as
well as a number of public utilities and governmental agencies.
For instance, the firm has a contract with the Baltimore police
department. This civic-mindedness is the reason Padcom has focused
on linking up pager, WLAN, and private radio networks, and only
recently started to add the more commonplace cellular networks.

One of the questions that arose from our story about Nortel's work
with another startup, Mobility Networks, is how roaming systems
can deal with latency problems without dropping the connection.
The three or four seconds that it takes to leap from one network
to another can often result in a dropped line.

Padcom's CTO, Chris Bogdon, says the Padcom software gets around
this problem by querying the network it is trying to reach behind
the scenes, handing over the user only when a connection has been
established.

This sounds similar to the technique that softswitch startup
Winphoria Networks uses to get around call-setup and latency
problems (see Winphoria Talks Back
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=24718). Now, it so
happens Winphoria also called, after we ran our Nortel article, to
say that it had the roaming problem licked, but we haven't yet
talked to them fully about what they're offering.

There are also other companies working on the WLAN-WAN roaming
issue. Transat Technologies Inc. says it has a roaming system, and
has been linked with Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC - message board) in
the past. IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM - message board) says it has
middleware that will help facilitate multi-network roaming.

However, when it comes right down to it, the main impediment to
multi-network roaming is the lack of chipsets and cards that could
enable roaming between networks. We know of just one
GPRS/GSM/802.11 card in production -- from Nokia Corp. (NYSE:
NOK - message board) -- although we've heard that Sprint PCS
(NYSE: PCS - message board) has one in the works for CDMA 1xRTT
networks.

However, until multi-modal chips from the likes of Qualcomm Inc.
(Nasdaq: QCOM - message board) (see WLAN/WAN, Thank You Qualcomm?)
hit the market in volume, which isn't likely until sometime into
next year, roaming between 802.11 and wireless LAN networks is
likely to be the preserve of a very select band of laptop-totin'
"road warriors."

- Dan Jones, Senior Editor, Unstrung

http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=25523

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