Qualcomm Readies LTE On Gobi Modems

A number of Gobi modems will soon gain greater connectivity options after Qualcomm said it would add LTE (Long-Term Evolution) to the devices.

News of the LTE addition was part of an extended product roadmap Qualcomm released 23 March, with officials stating that they were building on the success they have seen with the PC market and expanding into markets such as USB modems, e-readers, gaming devices and M2M commercial applications. Qualcomm partners in the PC space have included Sony, Acer, Lenovo, Panasonic, Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

“With Qualcomm’s commitment to expand the Gobi program to support the latest 3G and coming 4G networks, Dell mobile devices with built-in Gobi wireless technology will deliver the best anywhere, anytime connectivity solution for digital nomads around the world,” John Thode, Dell’s vide president of small-screen devices, said in a statement.

Gobi technology has offered particular benefits to enterprises, as it can switch between competing 3G technologies, such as Verizon’s EV-DO and AT&T’s HSPA. Whereas previously a nationwide deployment for service workers, for example, might entail purchases and contracts with the carrier offering the strongest service in a particular area, Gobi allows for the rollout of a single, ready-to-go device, eliminating the potential need to switch out the internal modem.

“For the mobile user, Gobi in a Dell laptop or netbook has become synonymous with simple, reliable access to various mobile broadband networks, regardless of where their travels take them,” Thode said.

The newly announced data chipsets with the Gobi application programming interface are:

• The MDM6200, supporting HSPA+ data rates up to 14.4 Mbps
• The MDM6600, supporting HSPA+ data rates up to 14.4 Mbps, plus CDMA2000 1xEV-Do Rev. A and Rev. B
• The MDM8200A, supporting HSPA+ data rates up to 28 Mbps
• The MDM8220, supporting dual-carrier HSPA+ for data rates up to 42 Mbps
• The MDM9200, supporting LTE data rates up to 100 Mbps with backward compatibility to dual-carrier HSPA+; and
• The MDM9600, which supports LTE data rates up to 100 Mbps with backward compatibility to dual-carrier HSPA+ and EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B.

“Our Gobi technology is bringing the transparent, reliable and widely available connectivity of 3G to notebooks, netbooks, e-readers, routers and other market segments that are benefiting from access to mobile broadband,” said Garry Matsumori, Qualcomm vice president of product management for CDMA technologies. “With this newly extended roadmap, Gobi-enabled devices can bring greater value to consumers and enterprises than ever before.”