Robert Redford pitches mobile phone as '4th screen' at confab

4th-gen WiMax
Fourth-generation WiMax devices use the globally available 2.3-to-2.7 GHz and 3.4-to-3.8 GHz bands, called the WCS (Wireless Communications Service) band, and the EBS/BRS (Educational Broadband Service/Broadband Radio Service) band. WiMax 4th generation mobile handsets aim to offer improved range, lower power consumption and higher speeds than do 3rd generation devices.

At the Congress, NextWave Wireless will also reveal its plan to create a next-generation chip set that allows handsets to be built that can switch between using the new WiMax bands and existing WiFi bands.

Virus scanning

Also at the Mobile World Congress, Freescale will announce its cooperative efforts with Finland-based Qosmos to harness the pattern-matching hardware on Freescale's next-generation 45-nanometer multi-core PowerQuicc processor to scan for viruses and other malware. Using Qosmos deep packet inspection (DPI) algorithms, Freescale's forthcoming 45-nanometer PowerQuicc processors will scan data packets for the known signatures of viruses and other malware without slowing down the speed of communications.

Today, deep-packet inspection for viruses and other malware has to be performed in software, or with a dedicated hardware-acceleration chip. By integrating pattern matching hardware on its forthcoming 45-nanometer multi-core PowerQuicc processor, Freescale is aiming to enhance the speed of deep-packet inspection, when compared with software solutions, without incurring the extra cost of a separate dedicated hardware-acceleration chip.

Qosmos is currently porting its deep-packet inspection algorithms to Freescale's current multicore PowerQuicc processor--the MPC8572--but will likely extend the service to all of Freescale's forthcoming 45-nanometer multi-core PowerQuicc processors as they become available.

Hardware acceleration of deep-packet inspection for viruses and other malware will enable network operators to provide Internet protocol (IP) services to mobile phone users with the a degree of security that rivals that provided to personal computer users today.

Freescale's next-generation 45-nanometer multi-core PowerQuicc processors employ multiple cores using the e500-mc Power Architecture, plus they have built-in hardware acceleration for encryption, decryption, authentication and, now, pattern matching.