Motorola Inc has announced more details of its plans for modems that are simply software that runs on the processor. The company says the first products will be host-based software running on Windows95 personal computers, to be launched later this year. According to Mike Tramontano, the company’s product manager for information systems, they will be marketed through OEM deals; he said that the technology is currently being demonstrated to a number of personal computer manufacturers. In addition, said Tramontano, Motorola is expecting it to be incorporated in devices such as Personal Digital Assistants and television set-top boxes. Although there is a hardware component in the form of a transceiver to interface with the phone line, the company says its software modems will work out cheaper and lighter than current versions, as well as being more readily upgradable. Tramontano denied that the devices would be any less advanced than their hardware brethren, claiming: We fully intend to have our software communications products keep pace with the features and function set of hardware-based modems. He claimed that in the long run, they would make traditional modems redundant.
