Wireless Telephony products at HKEF Spring

     Shenzhen Think Century Information Technologies is a wireless telephony specialist. A fascinating array of wireless equipment was on show at the company’s booth, at this year’s HKEF Spring, including model GSM-TIT400, a 4-port GSM Fixed Wireless Terminal. Utilizing a SIM card, this terminal supports GSM at 850-, 900-, 1800-, 1900MHz.
     This fixed wireless terminal can connect with a telephone, PBX or billing machine, and set up parameters can be modified via telephone. This unit also supports redialing and handsfree use, and there is, in addition, built-in PIN code protection. Model GSM-TIT200A is an 8-port version of this fixed wireless terminal. Applications for these terminals units include use as a wireless trunk line or a wireless public phone. They could also connect with an IP gateway, enabling an IP telephony environment over fixed wireless.
     Model GSM-TIT600 is fitted with a PSTN port and will support phoning by either GSM or PSTN, or as specified in the setup parameters. Model GSM-TIT300 supports voice, fax and GPRS. Model GSM-TIT904 is a GSM fixed wireless phone, as also is GSM-TIT900. Model GSM-TIT903 is a fixed wireless GSM phone with a built in billing meter.
     Model GSM-TIT700 is a wireless PBX system that supports PSTN, cellular (GSM/ CDMA), SMS, Fax and Data services. GSM-TIT700 also supports VoIP terminations and can be upgraded to support 3G.
     Shenzhen Think Century Information Technologies specializes in the design and production of wireless communication equipment and related software. Currently, the company is very much focused on the development of GSM wireless transmission and access equipment.
     Business manager Kathryn Liu said the company has a 1,000 square-meter factory in Shenzhen, employing a staff of 200. There are 3 production lines. The company also employs 11 engineers, mainly in R&D. The company is shipping some 5,000 GSM products a month, mainly to Europe, North Africa and Asia, with some exports to North and South America also.
     Shenzhen Think has a website at www.thinktech.com.cn.

Phones from Exon International
     The wide product range of Exon International Technology Co., Ltd. includes mobile phones, GPS devices, MP3 audio and video players, digital photo frames (DPFs) and computer accessories.
     Among the mobile phones at the Exon booth at HKEF Spring was the Oligo MP805-HS, a 3.5G modem phone. Exon claims this model is the world’s smallest HSDPA high speed 3.5G USB modem phone. As a modem phone, it enables any PC or notebook PC to establish a wireless broadband connection to the Internet. The Oligo MP805-HS is compatible with major networks worldwide, including GSM 900/ 1800/ 1900/ UMTS and HSPDA (HPDA2100), at up to 3.6Mbps. The Exon Oligo MP805 automatically detects all available network connections and then proceeds to connect to the one that will enable the best performance.
     The Oligo MP805 boasts a 0.8-inch OLED display, and there are 256MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM. Standby time is rated at up to 280 hours and talk time at up to 240 minutes.
     Exon is also offering dual SIM card phones in its Diops series. The Diops MP731-GG, for example, supports a dual tri-band GSM and GPRS capability, Line 1 and Line 2, at 900/ 1800/ 1900MHz. The target application are users who would like to combine a personal and a business phone in one unit, with the handset supporting two SIM cards from any network simultaneously.
     Exon International has a website at www.exon-technology.com.

Data networking at Hong Kong’s ICT Expo

     Among the data networking companies on show at the ICT Expo, which ran concurrently with this year’s Hong Kong Electronics Fair (HKEF) Spring Edition, was eWorld Enterprise Solutions Ltd.
     A key product on display at the booth was the company’s Multi-Host device, which, targeted for SMEs, offers easy network management at relatively low cost.
     The idea is that multiple management functions are combined in one box, with the actual combination of options normally customized according to a client’s requirements.
     A Linux-based OS, designed in-house at eWorld, is embedded on-chip, enabling network security, for example, that combines a firewall with virus protection.
     The Multi-Host can also function as a server, and mail, web, and file server options are all available.
     The Multi-Host can also function as a router or database, and enable virtual private networks (VPNs).
     eWorld manager Carrie He explained that the Multi-Host offers a combination of easy Plug and Play network management, while reducing both the initial investment and ongoing operational costs.
     For a minimum of 20 users, the Multi-Host would normally retail for around US$4,000, indicated He, and the target market is small businesses whose network management resources are limited.
     Other eWorld products on show included a VPN gateway, which combines a router, firewall and VPN functions. Another product at the booth was Net-Guard, which monitors network traffic.
     A company could monitor the contents of employee emails, for example. A fourth product on show was eWorld’s mail server.
     eWorld Enterprise Solutions Ltd. entered the China market last year and is headquartered in Shenzhen.
     The company has a website at www.e-worldes.com.

Wireless networking
     A key exhibit in wireless data networking, at the ICT Expo, was a set of 802.11n products from China’s TP-Link. These included TP-Link’s TL-WR841ND Wireless N Router, a combined wired/wireless network connection device designed specifically for small businesses, and office and home office networking requirements. It complies with the IEEE 802.11n (Draft 2.0) standard, delivering transmission speeds of up to 300Mbps. The router adopts 2x2 MIMO technology and has two external antennas, providing even better wireless performance, transmission rates, stability and coverage. At the same time, CCA technology automatically avoids channel conflicts by implementing a channel selection feature. It also works well with other 11g and 11n protocol wireless products.
     Wireless router TL-WR841ND provides multiple security measures; supporting SSID broadcast control, MAC address access control, WEP encryption, WPA/WPA2, and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK authentication. At the same time QSS (Quick Secure Setup) complies with WPS allowing for worry-free wireless security configuration.
     Also on show was the Ultimate N Gigabit Router, a very similar product, but fitted with 4 Gigabit switch ports. There is 1 Gigabit WAN port and 4 Gigabit LAN ports. There are three external antennas.
     TP-Link international sales executive Eric Wang explained that TP-Link now expanding beyond Shenzhen and its base in China, where it is well known.
     The company has now opened several offices outside China, including in Germany, Singapore, Sweden, India and Russia. The company is very much oriented to the needs of SOHO users, emphasized Wang, competing with the likes of D-Link, Linksys and NetGear.
     TP-Link Technologies Co., Ltd. has a website at www.tp-link.com.