Ericsson expands in wireless data communications area

Ericsson expands in wireless data communications area - offers mobile access to local area networks Ericsson has expanded its wireless data communications activities with a decision to exploit the Wireless LAN (WLAN) market. This has until now been one of the few areas within wireless communications not covered by Ericsson. Ericsson will have a full range of Wireless LAN products available by the end of 1998. The first products are sourced from BreezeCOM and based on the IEEE's recently formalised 802.11 standard. Ericsson will enhance the product offer with complementary security solutions that will make this WLAN offer the most secure on the market. WLAN solutions from Ericsson will address the enterprise market, but also public "Hot Spots", such as airports frequented by travelling business persons. "Wireless data communication is one of our priority areas at Ericsson," says Sven-Christer Nilsson, CEO of Ericsson. "Recent announcements, such as Ericsson's involvement in projects like Bluetooth and Symbian are proof of our interest and efforts. The fact that we enter the WLAN market is yet another example of the importance for us to be able to offer our customers total solutions in the wireless data communications sector." The Wireless LAN solution will ensure secure access to intranets (and the Internet) for travelling business persons who transmit and receive large amounts of data. It will truly be possible to communicate whenever wherever. Security issues have been one of the main hindrances in the uptake of WLAN applications. Ericsson's security solutions will mean protection against information tapping, and against illegal access to LAN network resources by unauthorised traffic by introducing an internal "Firewall" node. Ericsson's Firewall Unit will utilise the IP Security (IPSec) protocol; a standard based method of providing privacy, integrity and authenticity to information transmitted across IP networks. Ericsson believes that competitive pricing and expanded bandwidth, together with increased interoperability between products, is driving the Wireless LAN market. There is no longer only a WLAN market for vertical applications, such as for warehousing, logistics, retail or medical segments. Instead we will have horizontal applications, i.e. general office use, independent of industry segment. These are going to be the true drivers of the WLAN infrastructure growth. Ericsson is actively participating in the ETSI standardisation of Hiperlan/2, and is currently developing products according to this standard. Hiperlan/2 is operating in the 5GHz band that is expected to be available world wide for WLAN operation. The Hiperlan/2 system will provide an effective user capacity in the order of 20-25 Mbit/s, i.e. comparable to the performance of wired LANs. Ericsson is also an active player in IETF, working on future standards for security and mobility in wireless local area networks. Information regarding Ericsson's Wireless LAN Systems' offers and activities will continually be posted on http://www.ericsson.se/wlan Global information about Ericsson and its products is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ericsson.se Ericsson´s 100,000 employees are active in more than 130 countries. Their combined expertise in fixed and mobile networks, mobile phones and infocom systems makes Ericsson a world-leading supplier in telecommunications. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Eric Österberg Communications Director, Ericsson Radio Systems AB Phone: +46-8-757 21 59 or +46-70-590 05 99 Henrik Abramowicz General Manager, Wireless LAN Systems, Ericsson Radio Systems AB Phone: +46-8-404 66 08 or +46-70-540 33 72