In an overture to knowledge workers with wanderlust, Hewlett-Packard and Cingular have launched what they are claiming is the world's first notebook with built-in global 3G capabilities.
The HP Compaq nc6400 boasts a built-in Cingular Wireless UMTS/HSDPA module -- in plain English, hardware that lets the notebook connect to Cingular's global high-speed data network in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, and much of Asia, with more than two dozen countries in all.
UMTS, which stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, and HSDPA, which stands for High Speed Data Packet Acceleration, are 3G standards already popular outside North America. Cingular was the first to introduce HSDPA in the States, where it now competes with high-speed networks from Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile.