By Carol de Giere
Several major phone carriers in the US will now be offering HP s OmniGo 700LX, in a new incarnation as the "HVO1000." HVO stands for Handheld Virtual Office, which conveys the breadth of applications of the package being offered through the phone companies by Data Critical of Oklahoma City.
As previously reviewed in The HP Palmtop Paper July/August, 1996, the HP OmniGo 700LX is based upon the 200LX Palmtop and comes with its built-in application. It is integrated with a Nokia mobile phone, which can be docked into the 700LX or used separately.
Data Critical made an agreement with Hewlett-Packard and Nokia to become the importers of the product to the US. Data Critical adds software to the packaging, including web browsers as well as all of Data Critical s medical and imaging software. In addition, users can navigate their way with Geolog and Getrack, two new products using Global Positioning System based on satellite data to calculate position on the earth.
To operate a Nokia phone model 2190, which is packaged with the unit, a phone company must be using a protocol called GSM. Many carriers use a different system, but several in the US were already using GSM and thus were able to offer mobile phone service with the HVO1000. Carriers thus far signed up to sell the product and mobile phone service are:
* Omnipoint in New York City * Pacific Bell in some parts of California * Western Wireless (Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Hawaii) * APC in Washington DC area * Bell South in North and South Carolina * Powertell/Indercell in Atlanta.
Data Critical s work with medical applications supports vertical market applications in this area. Law enforcement officials have also expressed interest in the capabilities of this technology which transmits both text and graphical data over phone systems.
According to Data Critical, HP will not be marketing the OmniGo 700LX in the US through other channels. Pricing: $2000-$2300 depending on configuration
CONTACT: Data Critical Corporation, 100 North Broadway, Suite 2200, Oklahoma City, OK 73102, USA; Phone: 405-236-4441; Fax: 405-236-5118; E-mail: rsallee@datacrit.com; Web: http://www.datacritical.com