EXCLUSIVE: Samsung Australia has confirmed that it will shortly launch a new notebook and netbook range that will incorporate modem technology capable of delivering up to 100Mbps broadband. The Korean company has also confirmed that its new notebooks will be capable of running Telstra’s new 42Mbps service and next year the 82Mbs service.
According to the General Manager of Samsung’s IT Division Phillip Newton, the company has been talking to Telstra for “some time” about its new high speed Next G HSPA+ network service that will run on a combination of Windows, and Chrome based operating systems.
Last week we revealed that Samsung is set to launch a new Chrome based netbook along with new touch tablet PC’s.
What Newton has not confirmed is whether the new modem technology being built into the new Samsung product offerings are from Sierra Wireless, which is set to supply Telstra with a new USB modem AirCard 312U, which delivers download speeds of up to 42 Mbps.
“The new Telstra dual-carrier HSPA+ technology effectively doubles the speeds of devices currently available. What we have done is future proof our notebooks by building in technology that allows users to access 100Mbps capability when it arrives,” said Newton.
Earlier this week Telstra announced that it is set to double the speed of its Next G HSPA+ network to allow maximum download speeds of 42 megabits per second. It claims that, by early 2011, it will be capable of delivering speeds of up to 82Mbps.
The download speed increase, from 21Mbps to 42Mbps, has been made possible by a software upgrade to Telstra’s Next G network using dual carrier technology.
“Dual carrier is a technique where you combine two conventional HSPA+ channels simultaneously to double the peak speed on a data modem,” Telstra executive director of wireless Mike Wright said.
According to several retailers that ChannelNews spoke to yesterday, the new Samsung notebooks will be extremely popular if Samsung is the only vendor with the capability.
A Harvey Norman executive said, “We are currently looking at the new Samsung notebooks. We currently don’t stock them but if they are able to deliver this sort of technology at the right price, they will prove popular as consumers today are buying notebooks with built-in 3G capability.”
A JB Hi-Fi executive said, “Depending on the price, these notebooks could prove extremely popular. Everybody wants speed and Telstra with its Next G network is way ahead in the mobile broadband market.”
Newton did not say what price the new notebooks will be but he did say that the technology will be built into both netbooks and notebooks.
