Motorola to sell embedded modules; Ericsson releases module for netbooks

Motorola has jumped into the embedded wireless module market, announcing plans to integrate HSPA, WiMAX and LTE into networked consumer products.

The company, which has seen its handset division struggle mightily recently, said it envisions its modules being embedded in notebooks, netbooks, portable gaming devices and other networked consumer electronics. The new strategy would mean that, for the first time, Motorola would be putting its proprietary wireless technology in other device manufacturers' products and not just its own.

 Manash Goswami, director of business development with Motorola's mobile devices business, told FierceBroadbandWireless the modules are targeted at any device that has a PCIe-Mini connector.

"Our strategy is to tap our early investments in wireless technology as well as our depth in systems integration and use those to enable a space that is becoming very active," Goswami said. "I use the term consumer electronics because it's not just laptops."

According to research firm Strategy Analytics, by 2014 some 100 million devices will be embedded with 3G or 4G technology.

Motorola said its mobile WiMAX single-band half-mini PCIe wireless network adapter for the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz band and its trimode HSPA/EDGE/GPRS adapter will be available in the third quarter. A single-mode LTE card will be sampled in the fourth quarter.

In related news, Ericsson introduced a mobile broadband module, the F3307, specifically designed for netbooks. Ericsson said the new module offers performance and low power consumption at an attractive cost for manufacturers. It is also working with Intel to validate the F3307 module with Intel's next-generation netbooks platform, Pine Trail-M.

For more:
- see this release [1]
- see this CNet article [2]

Related articles:
4G Status Report [3]: Wireless embedded in every device
Embedded devices [4] won't succeed without adequate testing
Notebook market boosted by new Ericsson chipset [5]