• Chrysler is offering FLO TV's mobile television service in eight of its 2010 model-year vehicles: Chrysler Town & Country, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Journey, Dodge Nitro, Ram 1500 and Ram 2500/3500. The FLO TV service is being sold through Mopar for $629 plus installation and includes a one-year subscription to the service. Audiovox provides the hardware, which includes Mopar's 7-inch DVD screen system.
• Verizon Wireless announced that it has selected Ecrio's mobile framework to power the rollout of new communication and messaging services over Verizon Wireless' current CDMA High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) and Evolved HRPD networks, as well as its forthcoming 4G LTE network. Ecrio's SIP/IMS (IP Multi-Media Subsystem) client framework will be embedded on a range of devices across Verizon Wireless' network and streamlines access to popular IP services, including messaging and calling, for existing and new mobile applications.
• The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has launched a new program to highlight innovative uses of Bluetooth technology. Companies chosen by the group's One to Watch program will be featured on Bluetooth.com and via the Bluetooth SIG's marketing vehicles globally. The first One to Watch is 3M – chosen for its Littmann 3200 stethoscope with a built-in Bluetooth radio for wireless transmission to a PC.
• Kyocera plans to unveil a micro base station for LTE at Mobile World Congress next week. The prototype weighs less than 26.5 pounds (12 kg) with a volume of 12 liters and offers 8 watts of transmit power. The base station is designed to address gaps in coverage and overloaded network hot spots.
• Texas Instruments has unveiled its WiLink 7.0 single-chip solution, which integrates WLAN 802.11n, GPS, FM transmit/receive and Bluetooth technologies. The company says the 65-nanomenter WiLink 7.0 solution reduces costs by 30 percent, reduces size by 50 percent and delivers superior coexistence performance as compared to today's existing solutions. The WiLink 7.0 solution is sampling to major OEMs today. Devices using the WiLink 7.0 solution are expected to enter the market by the end of 2010.
• Cisco has announced a comprehensive end-to-end Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture for mobile operators with the introduction of its ASR 5000 mobile multimedia services platform. The Cisco ASR 5000 will be one of the products managed by the newly formed Cisco Mobile Internet Technology Group, led by former Starent Networks President and CEO Ashraf Dahod. Cisco recently completed its acquisition of Starent Networks.
• EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering has announced that its Brix System network service assurance platform now supports active and passive monitoring for LTE networks. The platform allows operators to monitor their LTE network at multiple service delivery layers, including control plane, data plane and service plane.
• Allot Communications CFO Doron Arazi will be leaving the company "to pursue other interests." Arazi will continue as CFO through a transition period until early April, after the date on which the company expects to file its annual report on Form 20-F for the 2009 fiscal year. Allot has commenced a search for a new CFO.