sprint

Top vendors form WiMAX patent alliance

Paul Mah — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:19:03 -0400

A group of six major vendors have announced the creation of a patent alliance to ensure that companies are able to access WiMAX technologies at predictable costs. The Open Patent Alliance (OPA) is made up of Cisco, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, Clearwire, Samsung and Sprint. Another six to nine companies are expected to join the organization.

Companies interested in creating WiMAX equipment can approach the OPA directly, resulting in a "competitive and open intellectual property rights model." In turn, it is hoped that the WiMAX industry will be stimulated to create a healthy ecosystem. This way, it will be easier to reach the critical mass of equipment and users necessary for WiMAX to truly take-off.

For more the Open Patent Alliance:
- check out this CNET News.com article

H-1B visas top out

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

The IT community knew that nothing was changing this year for H-1B visas. And so it comes as no surprise that it took just a week for government authorities to announce that the number of visa applications for 2009--85,000--had been taken. Last year, the U.S. department of citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said they had given out all of the applications on April 1, the day that the 2008 applications became available. This year, USCIS didn't say, but we can assume they went very, very quickly. This is an issue that many people have opinions on, and we'd like to hear yours in the comments.

For more on this year's H-1B visa sprint:
- See this PCWorld article
- Also see this InfoWorld article

Gartner: How to tighten your IT belt

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

A new blog entry at ZDnet talks about what to do when times grow tight in the IT world. The first piece of advice is to cut staff, an issue you hope never to visit. But take a look at this blog, which covers the recent Gartner IT conference on Emerging Technologies in Las Vegas, to learn about other suggestions that may, in fact, be useful to you.

For more on this Gartner advice:
- See this ZDnet blog

For more tech stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Javascript attack gains control of routers. Article
> HP ships infected flash drives. Article
> Sprint to launch new push-to-talk devices. Article

Live from CTIA Wireless 2008

Mehan Jayasuriya — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:37:57 -0400

The crowds on the show floor are starting to thin, the seemingly endless parade of panels is coming to a close and exhaustion is finally starting to set in. Yep, it's the final day of CTIA Wireless 2008. If you didn't check in with us throughout the week, here's a quick recap of show highlights that you missed:

If that's not enough for you, make sure you check out the full CTIA coverage at FierceWireless, the official online show daily of CTIA. It's been a fun couple of days out here in Vegas--we'll see you again at CTIA IT in the fall! -Mehan

ALSO NOTED: Sprint's WiMAX launch remains on track; Anatomy of an IT failure;

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:59:50 -0500

> Sprint's WiMAX launch remains on track. Article
> A network-based anti-virus solution for $300. Article
> AT&T hands out free laptop data cards. Article
> Anatomy of an IT failure. Article

And Finally... Palm takes aim at BlackBerry outage. Article

Sprint, Palm cut jobs, stores

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

With all the recent talk of economic doom and gloom, it might not be too surprising to hear that Sprint and Palm--two of the companies that made our mobile telecom endangered species list this year--are making some cuts in an attempt to save cash. As was previously discussed, Sprint is moving forward with its cutting of 4000 jobs. Here's the kicker: the first three folks on the chopping block are chief financial officer Paul Saleh, chief marketing officer Tim Kelly, and president of sales and distribution Mark Angelino. Yikes! Best of luck in the future, guys.

Meanwhile, over at Palm headquarters, it looks like they're getting ready to cut all of their retail locations loose, with the exception of those stores that are located inside airports. Allegedly, all retail locations will be closing by the end of January, which means that you've got little more than a week to hightail it down to your local Palm store and say your last goodbyes.

For more on the cuts:
- see this Wall Street Journal article on Sprint (sub. req.)
- and this Engadget story on Palm

Verizon, AT&T flesh out 'openness'

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

With Sprint and T-Mobile both members of Google's Open Handset Alliance, the other two tier one U.S. carriers, Verizon and AT&T, have been working hard to prove that they can be open too. As you'll recall, Verizon has announced plans to open its network to unlocked devices this year and AT&T has claimed that it was open all along. While announcements are all well and good, it sure would be nice to see some action behind those initiatives, eh?

To that end, Verizon has announced the Open Development Conference--a two day event in New York City that's aimed at introducing developers to Verizon's Open Development initiative. "This initial conference is for developers of devices - because before consumers can have open access, you have to have open development," Verizon VP Anthony A. Lewis said at a New America Foundation event in Washington D.C. today. "In hosting this conference, our aim is to jump start the development community by sharing information needed to develop devices for our network that achieve our network performance goals while making it easy for them to deliver devices."

Meanwhile, AT&T has quietly unveiled a SIM card-only plan that will allow consumers to use an AT&T plan with an unlocked GSM handset. Customers can purchase a SIM card from AT&T for $5, which can then be used with any AT&T voice/data plan. Though initial reports stated that SIM-only customers would have to sign a 2-year contract like everyone else, it now appears that the SIM-only plan is contract-free.

For more on Verizon and AT&T's open initiatives:
- see this Verizon press release
- and this Engadget article on AT&T's SIM-only plan

HTC Touch gets ready for Verizon

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Last week, we briefly noted that photos of a Verizon-branded HTC Touch had surfaced on the Internet, suggesting that a launch of the device on the big V was imminent. Well folks, those rumors just became a whole lot more plausible, as Engadget Mobile has somehow gotten their hands on a bunch of leaked press photos and documents relating to the so-called Verizon XV6900 Touch. Here's what they're telling us to expect: Windows Mobile 6, EV-DO, a 2-megapixel camera and GPS. So yeah, pretty much the same thing you'd get from Sprint or Alltel but in white. No word yet on release date or price, though given the nature of these documents, I'd say it's a fairly safe assumption that we're going to see this one soon.

Want all the gory details?
- head on over to Engadget Mobile

Sprint lays off 4,000 amid restructuring

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:59:57 -0500

As our sister publication FierceWireless reported earlier this week, job cuts are coming over at Sprint. As the first stage in his corporate restructuring, new CEO Dan Hesse announced 4,000 job cuts today and plans to close 125 Sprint retail locations. According to Sprint, these moves are aimed to help the company save as much as $800 million by the end of the year. The cuts come amid news of heavy subscriber loss at Sprint--the company reports losing some 683,000 subscribers and 202,000 pre-paid users last year. In a statement, the company maps out "continued downward pressure on subscriber trends, revenues, and profitability in 2008."

For more on the layoffs:
- see this FierceWireless article

ALSO NOTED: WGA-free IE7 coming for corporate users; Acer to offer pre-loaded Ubuntu;

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> Clearwire customers getting Google Apps. Press Release
> Acer to offer pre-loaded Ubuntu. Article
> Thousands more jobs to be cut at Sprint? Article
> WGA-free IE7 coming for corporate users. Article
> iPhone browser dominates on Christmas day. Article

And Finally... HP faces exploding laptop lawsuit. Article