Peter Judge

New vendors are lining up to deliver an Android phone in 2009, while Google is planning an update to the software -- and gave around 18,000 of the first-generation phones to its staff as a Christmas present.

Google gave 85 percent of its staff (around 18,000 people according to reports) customized, unlocked versions of the HTC Dream, the first commercial Android handset, which is sold by T-Mobile as the G1.

The market for WiMax is set to decline in 2009, as mobile WiMax is hit both by the economic squeeze and competition from the LTE standard, according to an analyst report.

Total sales of fixed and mobile WiMax equipment fell 21 percent to US$245 million in the third quarter of 2008, from the second quarter's figure, and are expected to "slide" in 2009, according to a report from Infonetics Research, which puts the decline down to the recession. "With less cash available for network rollout - and possibly less spectrum being auctioned until the current financial crisis passes - WiMax deployment will be inhibited for the next 12 months," said Richard Webb, wireless analyst at Infonetics.

Systems management company Kace Networks has delivered a module for its KBOX appliance, which manages iPhones used on a corporate network.

The iPhone module can centrally set up and track iPhones, which are becoming increasingly common amongst business users, since the 3G model added corporate features such as support for Microsoft Exchange. A recent survey by ChangeWave Research found that 22 percent of IT managers plan to deploy iPhones in the current quarter. (http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/20/survey-corporations-warming-to-the-iphone/)

The market for WiMax is predicted to decline in 2009, as mobile WiMax is hit both by the economic squeeze and competition from the LTE standard for 4G networks, according to an analyst report.

Total sales of fixed and mobile WiMax equipment fell 21 percent to $245 million in the third quarter of 2008, from the second quarter's figure, and are expected to "slide" in 2009, according to a report from Infonetics Research, which puts the decline down to the recession. "With less cash available for network rollout -- and possibly less spectrum being auctioned until the current financial crisis passes -- WiMax deployment will be inhibited for the next 12 months," said Richard Webb, wireless analyst at Infonetics.

Novatel Wireless has launched a pocket device to share a 3G Internet connection over Wi-Fi, creating a "mobile cloud" of connectivity

Novatel Wireless, a maker of 3G wireless products, has produced MiFi, a battery-powered mobile hotspot, that combines a 3G modem and a Wi-Fi hotspot, so it can share a 3G Internet connection among nearby Wi-Fi machines.

Illustration: Lou BeachBroadcom has announced a single chip that combines 802.11n wireless LAN, Bluetooth and FM radio for use in phones and other handheld devices.

The BCM4329 chip was announced at Broadcom's analyst day.

New technologies could be developed into products more quickly and cheaply if new "patent pool" licensing programs set up by the IEEE Standards Association are a success.

Companies contributing to any Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers technology standard will be encouraged to define and share a single "pooled" licence fee for all the intellectual property (IP) involved, instead of negotiating multiple separate fees, according to the announcement by the IEEE Standards Association, a significant source of standards for data networking -- and the first formal standards body to set a patent pool program.

Femtocells, indoor 3G base stations installed by consumers, will boost cellular network capacity more than ten-fold without causing interference, according to research carried out by the Femto Forum.

Femtocells are designed to give indoor coverage for 3G (third-generation) phones, routing traffic over broadband networks and freeing up the existing cellular networks. However, as they will often operate on the same frequencies as outdoor networks, operators have expressed fears that they will cause interference. Because of these and other concerns, femtocell services have been slow to appear.

Users want unified communications -- and the technology will actually save money in a recession, according to research commissioned by Mitel.

Nearly three quarters of UK workers want unified communications, combining e-mail, voice and video conferencing, and instant messaging (IM), according to a survey of 1,000 people, carried out by market research company Redshift in summer 2008. Seventy-three percent said it makes workplace communications more efficient -- and more than half said it helps them work outside the traditional office.

On Monday, Meru Networks announced virtual ports, a technology designed to make Wi-Fi networks as reliable as wired Ethernet. IDG News Service interviewed the CEO of Meru, Ihab Abu-Hakima, on a visit to London.

Meru's product controls wireless access points centrally, to support wireless LAN access throughout a building, but the company has championed a different approach from rivals Aruba, Cisco and Trapeze (now owned by Belden). Its virtual cell architecture puts all the access points on the same channel, and holds all the BSSIDs (Wi-Fi's equivalent of a MAC address) centrally. The company has now added the ability to partition the network so each client gets the equivalent of a wired network port.

Meru Networks has announced "virtual ports" for its wireless networks -- a development it claims will finally enable Wi-Fi to replace Ethernet by making it as reliable as a switched Ethernet port.

The new fast version of Wi-Fi, 802.11n, can match the performance of Ethernet, but it can still be unpredictable, said Meru's vice president of marketing, Rachna Ahlawat. Virtual ports, introduced to the latest software on Meru's wireless controllers, give each user a dedicated network service, which can be tied to quality of service and delivered data rates.

Chinese network company Huawei Technologies is planning to launch smartphones based on the Android and Symbian operating systems in the first half of 2009, according to James Chen, director of marketing for the company's terminals division. It will also launch a new embedded 3G module at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress this month, he said.

Despite recently calling off the sale of part of its terminal business, Huawei is planning major expansions in phones and mobile broadband devices. The economic crisis will extend the life of low-end feature-phones which have been its main handset product, giving the company time to deliver smartphones running all the major operating systems, without outside investment, he said.