Ericsson launches always-on mobile broadband chip for Windows 7 machines

By Tim Conneally | Published March 31, 2009, 9:40 AM

Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson today has announced its newest mobile broadband module, which offers promising wireless features built specifically for upcoming Windows 7 devices.

Ericsson's Vice President of Mobile Broadband Modules, Mats Norin, told Betanews that the F3607gw module consumes half the battery of its predecessor. With this decreased battery consumption, the module's HSPA/GPRS/EDGE radios can remain connected even when the equipped device (notebook, netbook, MID, etc) is asleep.

With this permanent connection, the device can be endowed with security and monitoring features comparable to a LAN-connected device, such the ability to be remotely awoken, patched, or pushed content.

A computer can also be given an emergency "kill pill" in cases of theft or breach of security, bricking the system to all but the remote security admin.

Since the module contains a GPS transciever, protected units like those in a workplace can be given a notebook's equivalent to an electric dog fence. Once the unit is taken beyond the established perimeter, for example, it can automatically be locked down.

Ericsson has announced no distribution deals for its module so far, but says it is working closely with Intel on integrating the module into future platorms, similar to the way many intel ATX and Mini-itx boards are equipped with Remote Wake technology or Wake on Wireless LAN (WoWLAN).

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*Very* nice.

Can't wait to see this become an option.

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You and me both! If big business needed a reason to go with Win7, this has got to be the one. Reminds me of how much we needed this 5 years ago when stories about stolen laptops with user data on them... Just imagine how all that coupld have been prevented.

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The HD can still be removed and read outside of the machine, but with bitlocker/PGP, it'd take a pretty serious effort. The "accidental" leaks would be stopped though.

Still, it's not like I'd expect major corporations or the government to actually use any of this. ;)

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Very true... BitLocker will reduce a lot of theft... but then again, it's also true that maybe 1% of corporations will actually embrace the technology... that age old mind-set of "it'll never happen to us!" still prevails... *sigh*

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