Sony Ericsson unveils new GPRS/Wireless LAN PC-Card

By combining the best of two worlds, offering global wireless access and fast local connection, the GC79 provides easy and fast access to e-mails, SMS and fax as well as access to Internet, intranet and company networks. The GC79 will be available in Q2 2003 in EMEA and North America, to be followed by other markets later this year.

Combining GPRS/HSCSD network connection and W-LAN access to Internet, intranet and company network when traveling as well as constant wireless access just as if being in an office environment gives the optimal mobile solution. The availability and use of W-LAN is growing in the North American market, as well as in Western Europe. There are an increasing number of cafes, hotels, airport lounges, offices and even on board airplanes making this wireless access form (IEEE 802.11b) available to their customers via local access points providing data rates up to 11 Mbps.

The GC79 offers the widest choice of connectivity options. A user could start the day in a coffee shop, reading news on the Internet and checking e-mail through the W-LAN hotspot. At the office, there are no cables tying to a desk; the corporate intranet, e- mail, Internet can be accessed in the corridors, reception, meeting rooms, kitchen. Later, at the airport, our user can use the airport W-LAN to download some documents needed for a meeting, and once landed at the new destination, e- mails composed during the flight can be sent over the GSM/GPRS network across five continents, without having to worry about adaptors or cables for fixed phone lines.