Industry's First EV-DO Revision A Mobile Calls

Canada Vancouver : Nortel and Sierra Wireless have achieved a significant technology milestone needed to power wireless services such as push-to-talk, push-to-video, VoIP and interactive gaming at speeds much faster than available today.

The two companies achieved the industry's first over the air test calls using EV-DO Revision A wireless technology and pre-commercial wireless data devices. The successful tests confirm the commercial viability of EV-DO Revision A for powering next-generation broadband wireless services.

"The ability for operators to deliver new, revenue-generating services with increased network intelligence enabled by EV-DO Revision A will provide a powerful competitive advantage," said Doug Wolff, vice president and general manager, CDMA, Nortel. "The successful tests are the latest step in Nortel's aggressive EV-DO strategy to deliver cost-effective, high-bandwidth capabilities for wireless operations."

"Joint interoperability testing, particularly with new network technologies like EV-DO Revision A, enables wireless operators to assess the quality and reliability of new technologies," said Jim Kirkpatrick, chief technology officer for Sierra Wireless. "We are pleased to collaborate with Nortel to lead the market in enabling advanced EV-DO Revision A wireless solutions for our customers."

The companies completed over the air tests using Sierra Wireless AirCard® 595 wide area wireless network cards, Sierra Wireless MC5725 PCI Express Mini Card embedded modules, and EV-DO Revision A equipment from Nortel. EV-DO Revision A technology will offer significant performance improvements to both the uplink and the downlink speeds compared to current EV-DO (Release 0) networks. EV-DO Revision A enables peak data rates of up to 3.1 Mbps on the downlink and 1.8 Mbps on the uplink.

Nortel has provided EV-DO equipment to 18 of the 29 operators worldwide including Verizon Wireless and Sprint in the United States, VIVO in Brazil, Pelephone in Israel and.Eurotel in the Czech Republic. Nortel's CDMA equipment is designed to support EV-DO through modular upgrades to existing hardware, re-using existing base station to help operators reduce or eliminate the need for costly hardware replacements.

The AirCard 595 wireless wide area network card and the MC5725 Mini Card embedded module are Sierra Wireless's first products for EV-DO Revision A networks and are scheduled for commercial release later this year, bringing the company's EV-DO product portfolio to five devices since launching the industry's first EV-DO PC cards in 2003. Both products are fully compatible with current EV-DO and CDMA 1X networks, for use in areas where an EV-DO Revision A network is not available.

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