From...

May 6, 1999
Web posted at: 2:12 p.m. EDT (1812 GMT)

by Jana Sanchez

(IDG) -- Lucent, using technology from Netscape, is developing an Internet portal for telecommunications providers to use with wireless phones and handheld personal digital assistants, the companies announced on Wednesday.

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Telecom service providers will be able to use the new portal, called Zingo, as a development tool for testing applications for various wireless devices, Lucent and Netscape said. Eventual customer services the providers could develop with the portal include applications that offer users driving directions displayed on PDAs or mobile phones for travelers arriving in a strange city, Lucent and Netscape said.

Lucent will use Netscape's Custom Netcenter to build the portal, the companies said. The portal will also use technology from Spyglass to transform HTML (hypertext markup language) content into VXML (voice extensible markup language) for voice applications. Possible voice applications will include having e-mail messages or other information read to users over mobile phones or browsing the Internet with voice commands.

The portal will be enabled by Wireless Applications Protocol, a protocol being developed by several wireless industry participants, including Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola. WAP, when complete, will be positioned as a global standard for Internet access for mobile phones, pagers, palm-size PCs, handhelds, mobile computers or any portable connected mobile device. The protocol is based on XML. WAP is designed to work on the CDMA (code division multiple access) cellular phone standard common in the U.S. as well as GSM (global system for mobile communications), the cellular phone standard popular in Europe and Asia.