Nokia Oy has launched the Data Card Expander which, when used with the Cellular Data Card, makes data transmission possible from mobile phones and personal computers. The Data Card Expander, with its own battery supply, attaches to the back of a Nokia 2110 mobile phone; Nokia’s PC Card-type Cellular Data Card slots in to it and both the card and phone are powered by the Expander’s battery. The phone can still be used as an ordinary phone in this mode, as well as for sending data, facsimile mes-sages and using the Short Message Service over Groupe Speciale Mobile networks. The Data Card Expander attaches to mobile personal computers via the serial port and Nokia says that be-cause the Expander has its own power supply, even low-power palmtop machines can be used to manage wireless data. It can also connect via an infra-red port; Nokia is a member of the Infra-red Data Association that is pushing for compatibility in data transfer using infra-red connections. Nokia says that the Expander is for use in machines that do not have PC Card, formerly Personal Computer Memory Card International Association-type slots, or when a computer’s PC Card slots are all in use. But although the Expander can attach to a variety of mobile personal computers it is only compatible with Nokia phones and can only be used with Nokia’s Cellular Data Card, which itself is only compatible with Groupe Speciale Mobile and Personal Communications Networks, in some cases. The card, however, can be slotted into Type II and III PC Card slots. At CeBIT Nokia unveiled an enhanced Cellular Data Card with V.42 bis 4:1 compression. Nokia says this version is Windows95 ready and will enable the use of the AT command set extensions on which Nokia has been working with L M Ericsson Telefon AB and Hewlett-Packard Co.
