Telecom 99 coming soon...
DECT will feature as a small part of the the upcoming major telecomfest in Geneva, Telecom 99
For details of exhibitors and all the events associated with this major occasion check out the special Telecom 99 website.  If you plan to exhibit DECT products, please let DECTweb know.

HomeRF announce preview of first SWAP Products
San Francisco, September 8, 1999 - The HomeRF (TM Working Group, a leading consortium of companies promoting wireless home networking, today announced the inaugural Wireless Home Networking Forum, which will take place on October 12, 1999 at the Sheraton Grand, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.  The conference offers attendees a first of its kind forum where they can hear about the latest developments in technology and see the debut of several SWAP-enabled wireless product prototypes.  SWAP - shared wireless access protocol - is based upon DECT and IEEE802.11.
For full details see their press release.

Xilinx and ISS announce deal on Joint Development of Coding Cores
Xilinx has announced a joint technology development and OEM agreement with Integrated Silicon Systems, Ltd. (ISS) of Belfast, Northern Ireland, for Xilinx to provide versions of the popular ISS Reed-Solomon cores. The products will use Xilinx Smart-IP technology, which permits customers to set their own core parameters.
For full details see their press release.

Ericsson-Ascom Alliance
Ericsson Business Networks AB and Ascom Tateco AB have signed a strategic co-operation agreement regarding supply, distribution and joint development of business cordless communications products and services. Through this new alliance both companies will be able to offer total solutions, a complete product range and full service within the field of on-site business communications. The joint product and service range will be marketed and distributed through both companies' worldwide market channels. 
For full details see their press release.

New DECT Handset with Vibrator
What next - just what you need for those noisy environments or whilst in meetings, the Kirk Telecom dect-z Vibra II handset fits the bill.   The handset looks identical to the earlier dect-z products from Kirk, but the innards are all new, with new facilities. Promised for an August launch, the latest launch date sounds to be October 1999, according to Kirk's website.   Also scheduled for an October/November launch is Kirk's dect-z 3040 handset, offering additional features.
More detail on our Business Systems Page.

DECT in 3G
Whilst Wideband CDMA and UMTS have been getting all the press in recent months, DECT has been making quiet progess too to secure its future role in third generation mobile systems, 3G.   Originally proposed in 1998 for a possible role in IMT, DECT survived the initial evaluation rounds.    At the Beijing TG8/1 meeting back 31st May to 11th  June,  DECT was specified as one of 5 air interfaces to be part of the IMT2000 family.   The details of the specifications of the RSPC (Radio Specification) document for IMT2000 are being developed over these summer months, with finalisation expected at the Helsinki meeting in November this year.   The details of the DECT part of the emerging RSPC specification may be found here on the ITU IMT2000 website.
Details of the working arrangements for the development of the IMT specifications can be found on the ITU website.

DECT Repeaters get more User Friendly
DECT repeaters have taken a step forward in ease of use with a new software release (v3.0) from RTX.  The new software allows the repeater to automatically assign itself to a given  DECT GAP compatible basestation placed nearby  (within, say, 2 metres) - turning on the basestation for registration and turning on the repeater then completes the process.   The repeater can then be turned off and deployed within the normal coverage range of the existing basestation.   Undoubtedly this new step in ease of use will accelerate the acceptance of repeaters in DECT cordless installations, for both gap-filling and range extension.   Up to six repeaters can be assigned to each basestation. 
More info from RTX - see our Repeaters Page.

July 1999 News below:

New Global Company for DECT Approvals
BABT and TUV announced the formation of a new joint venture operation to be known as BABT Product Service.  BABT Product Service is a new global telecoms and radio test, conformance, certification and compliance management provider, established to help designers and manufacturers better prepare to meet the increasing challenges of product design and approval in these global markets.

BABT Product Service is a merger of the world-wide telecommunications businesses of TÜV Product Service and BABT. This alliance combines the wealth of experience and expertise of both parties bringing together the telecoms business of TÜV Product Service, a well respected presence in all the major world markets offering testing solutions for telecoms and radio compliance with BABT, the globally respected European telecoms and radio approvals, and quality systems certifier. With offices worldwide and laboratory locations in UK, North America, Germany and Asia Pacific, BABT Product Service has the ability to provide local access to world markets.

DECTweb includes the full press release.
Information on the approvals process for DECT products may be found on our Regulatory Issues  Page. Test Houses for DECT Products may also be found on DECTweb

HomeRF by winter - how will it compete with DECT ?
The HomeRF Group announced steps, June 7, to speed availability of  SWAP-compliant products. 

Several manufacturers have declared an intention to launch products by winter this year.  Proxim have announced that its Symphony Cordless Networking Suite will become SWAP compliant and will be fully backward compatible with currently shipping Symphony products.The HomeRF WG also announced the release of SWAP 1.1, which incorporates several low-level changes to the SWAP specification.  Launched in January, the SWAP specification provides an open platform that enables a broad range of interoperable consumer devices for wireless voice and data communications in the home.

Proxim has announced that it will add SWAP 1.1 support into new members of its Symphony product family.  This will include a cordless USB adapter for desktop computers, a cordless PC card for notebook computers, and a cordless miniature design-in module for radio integration into products such as broadband Internet gateways.   These new SWAP compliant devices will ship with Harmony bridging software to enable seamless interoperability with currently shipping Symphony and other OpenAir wireless LAN standard-based enterprise wireless LAN devices.

Earlier this year, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Proxim announced a technology relationship to develop wireless home networking products also based on the SWAP specification.  Early June this year, Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Proxim announced a partnership to produce integrated wireless networking products for shared high-speed Internet access in the home or small office based on SWAP.

SWAP (=Shared Wireless Access Protocol) is partially based upon DECT technology - version 1.1 of the SWAP specification was released to coincide with the recent press release from the group.

DECTweb includes the full press release.
See also our  July Feature on HomeRF, contributed by Wayne Caswell of IBM Microelectronics, the HomeRF Marketing Chair, in our News & Views Feature Section.

Innovative DECT Receiver
DECTweb has been advised of a new patent filing offering a low cost innovative DECT receiver, capable of operating in time dispersive channels.  "Time-dispersion becomes a more and more important effect as the data rates increase. If equalizers are to be avoided for cost reasons, time dispersion effects can limit the transmission quality. The proposed receiver reduces bit errors due to time dispersion while requiring only a simple limiter.   Benefits include reduced sensitivity to time dispersion errors, only one additional limiter required, can also be used in conjunction with diversity".  Potential Fields of Application include cordless telephones for offices, airports, industrial environments, wireless local loop terminals, low-mobility PCS systems.  For more info, please e-mail us at DECTweb.

Careers in the DECT Cordless Industry
We've just added a new page on DECTweb for those of our visitors seeking employment or with specific vacancies, technical or commercial.  Please feel free to e-mail us if you fall into either of these categories and we'll happily include your item on the new  Jobs page.

GaAsTEK announce new RF components for DECT/WDCT...  
Hot on the heels of a raft of new  integrated DECT/WDCT RF components, GaAsTEK has recently announced a range of some 8 new RF switches and 4 attenuators.  Details may be found under their section on our Semiconductors Page.

...and a Merger 
July 15,  DECT RF component supplier GaAsTEK announced the merging of its operation and that of the ITT MicroElectronics Center (MEC), both located in Roanoke, VA, USA. 

"Over the past year our customer base, both commercial and military, have increasingly asked for module level solutions," said Paul Gralnick, President of ITT GaAsTEK.  "By making MEC a part of ITT GaAsTEK, we are now positioned to supply our customers with high volume, customer specific module solutions."  "Our merger with ITT GaAsTEK makes a lot of sense," added Ed Donoho, Operations Manager of MEC, "we are a consistent, low cost, high quality, fully automated module manufacturer ideal for a GaAs IC supplier like GaAsTEK."

Paul Gralnick noted that because MEC has been in the business of producing and delivering military, commercial, and space qualified modules for several years, "ITT GaAsTEK has a leg-up on competitors just now entering the module business.  We are solidly in the module design and manufacturing business for internal and external customers, and where it makes sense, we will support module business on a subcontract basis."

What will this merger mean for the DECT industry  ? 
Integrated miniature DECT modules 1 x 2 cms, perhaps, enabling a new range of miniature products ?
We await future product releases from the company with interest...

  Corporate Onephone Launched
According to the NewsEdge Corporation, Ericsson and BT's Corporate Mobile Solutions division have just launched a variant of the BT Onephone service aimed at business users.   The service is entitled Corporate Onephone.  Supporting both DECT short range and GSM mobile, the service also supports a combined voice-mail facility.