Wireless: NEC And Telia Announce Technical Trials of NEC's WATMnet Broadband Wireless Network. New Technology to Provide Mobile Multimedia Networking Solutions - Company Business and Marketing

EDGE, On & About AT&T, May 3, 1999

NEC Corporation, NEC USA, Inc. (NEC) and Telia AB, Sweden's national telecommunications provider, Monday announced a new program to trial NEC's WATMnet broadband wireless network for mobile multimedia services of the future. The trial, named SEBRA (Semi-mobile Broadband Radio Access), will test and evaluate WATMnet's ability to provide high-speed wireless Internet Protocol (IP) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) services. The trials are expected to conclude in June 1999.

Telia plans to evaluate WATMnet for delivery of high-speed wireless data services with quality-of-service (QoS) to campuses, corporate buildings, factories and outdoor "hot-spots". The technology is intended to provide a seamless wireless extension to IP or ATM-based core networks for delivery of multimedia information to portable computing devices. The SEBRA service will enable a new generation of semi-mobile broadband applications including, Internet access, video-on-demand and teleconferencing.

"We are always looking for emerging technologies that can be used to offer new and more efficient services to our users," said Roger Bengtsson, project leader for SEBRA at Telia Research AB. "NEC's WATMnet represents an exciting new area of mobile communications by providing broadband access capabilities competitive with those of wired networks."

WATMnet, developed by NEC USA's C&C Research Laboratories and NEC Corporation, is the world's first broadband wireless network to provide QoS and dynamic mobility. The system has been designed to operate in the newly defined 5 GHz Unlicensed NII (U-NII) bands in the United States and the European Hiperlan2 5 GHz frequency bands, which are expected to be allocated shortly. WATMnet delivers reliable end user data services at bit-rates up to 25 Mbps using proprietary TDMA/TDD medium access and data link control protocols on the radio link. Dynamic mobility is supported by integrating location management and handoff enhancements into standard IP/ATM network protocols used in the core network.

"This is a cutting-edge technology that we have been researching and developing since 1994 and are very excited to be working with Telia on this project," said Dr. Raychaudhuri, assistant general manager, C&C Research Laboratories. "With continued improvements being made to further enhance performance and reduce the size of certain components and evaluations of the product by leading telecommunications companies such as Telia, we hope to bring WATMnet into the consumer marketplace in the near future."

The WATMnet system features NEC America Inc.'s NETNEX 8660 ATM switches with integrated mobile ATM or IP software. Radio access into the network is supported by WATMnet base stations (access points) with plug-in radio modules and integrated mobility software. User terminals in the system interface with a WATMnet network interface card (NIC) which incorporates a 5 GHz U-NII band 25 Mbps equalized GMSK modem together with hardware support for TDMA/TDD and advanced error control features. The current trial system supports Windows '95 or Linux notebook computers with application programming interfaces (API) for QoS-based IP and ATM applications.

FMI: http://www.nec.com. For additional information about Telia and its services visit the Company web site at http://www.telia.com.

NEC USA, Inc., a subsidiary of NEC Corporation and headquartered in Melville, NY, oversees extensive design, research, manufacturing and marketing operations across North America with revenues in excess of $3.7 billion and over 7,000 employees. Its C&C Research Laboratories, based in Princeton, NJ, conducts research aimed at core technology advances in communications, computers and semiconductor devices.

Telia is the leading supplier of telecom-based information services in the Nordic/Baltic region. At the same time, "seamless" pan-European and global services are being realized through powerful alliances and partnerships in Europe and around the world. Telia is one of the world's leading mobile services operators and the largest Internet operator outside the United States. Annual turnover 1998 reached 51,240 MSEK and the number of employees amounted to approx. 30,500.