From...

by Margret Johnston

HANOVER, Germany (IDG) -- The international satellite communications cooperative Inmarsat has announced a new mobile communications service that will be aimed at the growing number of traveling businesspeople who need high-speed data connections from remote locations.

Inmarsat's announcement at the CeBIT trade show here includes new portable satellite terminals that weigh about 9 lbs. and work with 64K bit/sec. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) drivers and modems in notebooks and other portable PCs.

Inmarsat, a 20-year-old cooperative based in London, has traditionally marketed its mobile satellite communications products and services to the shipping and oil industries, government, airlines and news-gathering operations. But the new mobile ISDN offering opens mobile satellite communications to a new category of customers, Inmarsat officials said at a news conference.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
	IDG.net home page
Computerworld's home page
Computerworld Year 2000 resource center
Computerworld's online subscription center
Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
IDG.net's personal news page
Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for IT leaders
Search IDG.net in 12 languages
News Radio
	Computerworld Minute
	Fusion audio primers

The number of mobile professionals in North America and Western Europe who spend an average of 20 percent of their time on the road is expected to grow to about 55 million by the end of next year, Inmarsat said.

The new 9-lb. briefcase-size mobile units are being manufactured by Nera in Norway, Thrane & Thrane in Denmark and STN Atlas Elektronik in Germany.

They will be designed to give mobile businesspeople access to desktop applications such as Lotus Notes and Oracle databases at the top ISDN speed of 64K bit/sec. over satellite.

Pricing for the new satellite terminals hasn't been announced.

The Inmarsat cooperative comprises 86 countries, and most of the signatories are public telecommunications companies.

Margret Johnston is a Washington correspondent for the IDG News Service.