New Delhi : After WAP Access on non-WAP phones, now its packet-based data access on legacy mobile phones. US-based Convergelabs is developing a technology which will enable a GPRS-like access on non-WAP, non-GPRS mobile phones, said Mr Ajoy Khandheria, founder and CEO, Convergelabs. In simple terms, this translates into twenty-four hour access to the Internet, and at no extra costs. You still might not be able to access graphics or video (even here the limiting factor will not be technology, but your handset), but e-mail will not be a constraint.However, if your handset supports it, the technology will enable you to download video and graphics, he added. Codenamed "MaxG2500", the product launch is scheduled to happen in Q1 next year and commercial launch by Q2 2001, he said. Meanwhile, the company is not willing to divulge many technical details right now, as it has filed for patents for the technology. The company is talking to operators in Europe, Asia and India and field trials of the product will be held both in Europe and Asia. According to Mr Khandheria, this technology, which has been developed exclusively in India, at a cost of $15 million, is revolutionary, because till now it was being said that when WAP finally upgrades to GPRS, subscribers will need to buy GPRS-enabled handsets. Also, boasts Mr Khanderia, with the new technology, Websites will not need to be WAP-enabled or GPRS-enabled.
All subscribers need to do is enter the URL of the site they want to access (in the www.sitename.com format, as in the case of Internet access through a PC) and in 300 milli-seconds, the software converts the site to a format which can be downloaded into the mobile. So a consumer can access all the sites, irrespective of whether or not they are WAP and GPRS enabled, he explained. GPRS or General Packet Radio Service enables transmission of data in packets, so the same line is utilized more efficiently and by many users simultaneously, hence the subscriber only pays for the time required to upload or download information, and can be linked to the Internet, 24-hours a day and at no extra cost.
According to Mr Khandheria, this is different from similar SMS-based solutions, which have come to the market, because while they limit the screen to 160 characters, this technology will enable users to download as many lines are they want-though the mobile phone screen will enable you to read text only one line at a time. The only constraint is the data transmission rate, which as Mr Khandheria points out is in its "teens" right now. However, this translates into more than 200 text screens per second, he added. When attached to a PC port, the data transmission will go up to 56kbps, he said.
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