HP integrates Vodafone 3G into notebooks

July 10, 2006

HP and Vodafone have joined forces in a market initiative for wireless communications. The two companies hope that this joint venture will speed up the convergence of the IT and telecommunications markets and open up new market opportunities. HP and Vodafone will achieve this by pooling their marketing and sales competence to promote the development of new products. In future, the two companies' customers will be able to use new HP notebooks that incorporate the technology to use Vodafone's UMTS and HSDPA services. International roaming in Vodafone's core markets, including Europe and the Pacific region, will also enable 'cross border', location-independent mobile working. The joint venture is not limited in terms of time.

"Business customers with an international work environment are looking for ways to improve their productivity on the move," explained Stephan Wippermann, Vice President and General Manager of HP Germany's Personal Systems Group. "HP has extended its portfolio to include notebooks that incorporate Vodafone's UMTS and HSDPA services so that these customers have access to high-speed wireless communications practically everywhere in the world."

Mark Klein, Director Marketing Office at Vodafone Germany is convinced that, "The Vodafone and HP joint venture is an important strategic move for both companies. HP notebooks with integrated UMTS broadband will provide our customers with fast, secure and cost-transparent mobile broadband services. That's guaranteed by our 'Connected by Vodafone' label. I'm certain that UMTS mobile communications technology will be incorporated as standard in every notebook in the future."

The first HP notebook with integrated Vodafone UMTS technology is the HP Compaq nc6400 Business Notebook PC. It has been on the market since mid-June, has an integrated antenna and is fully equipped for future technology. The built-in SIM card module sup-ports UMTS and UMTS broadband. UMTS broadband is based on the new HSDPA standard (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) and enables data connections at speeds of up to 1.8 MBit/s. Vodafone customers already have access to UMTS in over 1800 towns and cities, and UMTS broadband is already available in many major cities. One of the advantages associated with this technology is that customers don't have to register to use it. A convenient billing procedure means that they simply pay via their mobile phone invoice. They can work efficiently while on the move, enjoy wireless surfing on the Internet and they can conveniently send and receive e-mails with attachments when they are out of the office. When no UMTS broadband network is available, the devices automatically switch over to GPRS.