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FEB 2005
RAIL travellers will soon be surfing the internet and sending e-mails at high speed from their notebook PCs and laptops, thanks to a deal signed by high-tech company Nomad Digital
The Northumbrian-based company has teamed up with mobile telecoms giant T-Mobile and train operator Southern to launch the world's first truly broadband WiFi service on trains. T-Mobile announced the new service today (February 15) at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes.
Nomad's system allows travellers with suitably equipped laptop computers or PDAs to access internet and e-mail services via wireless broadband, without the need for cables or connection sockets. Nomad has spent two years developing the technology behind the system and, although there are already a small number of other existing services based upon satellite technology that provide internet access on trains, Nomad's is the first in the world to offer a true bi-directional broadband connection, making it many times faster than any existing system. Nomad's system uses a small number of trackside radios (utilising IEEE 802.16 technology, also known as (pre)WiMax technology), which create a link to the train as it speeds past. The links can pass data to and from any train at up to 32Mb/s, making it the fastest data link to a train anywhere in the world.
Nomad chief executive Graeme Lowdon said: ``The potential is enormous. The system can be used to provide passengers with high speed internet access. For busy commuters, who perhaps spend up to two hours a day travelling to and from work, this technology will allow them to use that time productively, sending and receiving e-mails, or accessing the internet and their own corporate networks - all on broadband, with all the speed and convenience that entails. That could mean a shorter working day.
"More than that, the system can also be used to support other services for train operators, such as closed circuit television (CCTV)''
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