Novatel Wireless HSDPA PC cards gain GCF compliance

May 10, 2006

Novatel Wireless announced that its Merlin U740 PC Card Modem and Expedite EU740 PCI Express Mini Cards for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) networks have received industry compliance from the Global Certification Forum (GCF). Novatel Wireless' products passed testing on GCF version 3.20, encompassing the most exhaustive testing coverage performed on any HSDPA user equipment available in the market.

GCF is a partnership between network operators and terminal manufacturers, providing an independent program to ensure global interoperability of 2G and 3G mobile wireless terminals. GCF compliance involved several hundred product lab test cases and extensive field trials that measured the PC Card and PCI Express Mini Card performance on different 2.5 and 3G networks in multiple countries.

The testing conducted to achieve GCF certification ensures that the Merlin U740 and Expedite EU740 will have the highest quality, reliability and performance on HSDPA, UMTS, EDGE and GPRS networks throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Wireless operators benefit by knowing that GCF certified devices are optimized to perform reliably on their networks, maximizing the user experience and enhancing overall network performance.

"As a current member of GCF, Novatel Wireless knows the competitive advantage this certification offers, when it comes to providing carriers with the highest quality of wireless broadband solutions," said Dr. Slim Souissi, chief technology officer at Novatel Wireless. "We will continue to ensure our solutions meet GCF compliance standards so mobile workers can have the best possible user experience from any location at any time."