Dedicated to data: GoAmerica rides CDPD to work

A provider of dedicated wireless data service that concentrates almost exclusively on the business user market is putting the growing number of cellular digital packet data systems around the country to good use.

CDPD is one of a number of technologies GoAmerica Communications uses to deliver its suite of service offerings to corporate customers seeking to equip their mobile workforces with fast and inexpensive access to the Internet, corporate intranets and e-mail. GoAmerica is currently a value-added reseller of CDPD service on the networks of both AT&T Wireless Services and Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile.

GoAmerica is able to boost the capabilities of CDPD beyond what wireless network operators themselves can do by employing Bellcore's AirBoss middleware, which enhances the compression and security functionality of CDPD transmission, said Aaron Dobrinsky, president and chief executive officer of GoAmerica.

"The problem the carriers have is that they do this natively," Dobrinsky said. "They don't have the compression we have, and we also offer an additional layer of security because of our server's firewall."

GoAmerica is also able to offer CDPD airtime to its customers at lower-than-average costs by converting the protocol in mid-transmission.

"CDPD is native TCP/IP," Dobrinsky said. "Our middleware converts TCP to UDP over the air and converts it back to TCP on the other side, which lowers the over-the-air overhead and provides for more economical usage for the end user."

CDPD has been a troubled and underutilized technology mainly because of the high cost of usage and a lack of applications that were accessible to horizontal users. GoAmerica has focused on developing mobile applications that duplicate what corporate users need inside their offices.

"Everything you can access while sitting at your desk, you can do wirelessly," Dobrinsky said. "We found that wireless e-mail is nice, but it's not enough to wirelessly enable your employees. [CDPD is] a great network, but you have to use it for something."

Dobrinsky said GoAmerica's services are not meant to replace high-speed wireline data services but rather add a mobility tool to corporate users. The company was recently granted a service contract to provide the North American field operations of Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control with wireless Internet and intranet access.

GoAmerica has existing device alliances with both Novatel Wireless and U.S. Robotics, under which the provider bundles its services with those vendors' wireless data modems. The company is currently negotiating a similar deal with Inet, Dobrinsky said.

Inet, which manufactures the Spider CDPD modem, has faced challenges to date in pushing its product into the markets that are the targets of providers like GoAmerica because of the lack of logical horizontal applications and the high costs of airtime on CDPD networks. Dedicated wireless data providers that can offer integrated packages of devices and applications--while also subsidizing the cost of modems or rolling it into monthly service charges--are likely to jumpstart the use of CDPD in horizontal markets, said Mark Lund, manager for wireless products at Inet.

"The market needs to do that to fuel corporate acceptance of CDPD," he said. "CDPD's finally getting to the point where people are offering an integrated solution, and we're starting to see some companies coming to the table and offering a flat package. It's not going to sell unless you bring it to the end user in an integrated package."

CDMA LANDS IN UTAH U S West NewVector, which operates as AirTouch Cellular, has launched code division multiple access service in its Utah markets. Digital switching and power equipment, as well as 13 kb/s vocoders, was provided and installed by Lucent Technologies under a $50 million deal.

METAWAVE TAPS WIRELESS VET Robert Hunsberger will join Metawave Communications as president and chief executive officer on July 28. Previously, Hunsberger was vice president and general manager of Siemens Wireless Terminals and vice president of wireless sales and marketing at Northern Telecom.

GTE TSI GAINS CIBERNET ROAMERS Cibernet has announced that it is discontinuing its on-line roaming database for intercarrier roaming exchange and billing. The organization is replacing those services with RoamerXchange services from GTE Telecommunication Services Inc.