Qualcomm Gobi is a family of embedded mobile broadband modem products by Qualcomm. Gobi technology 2 was designed to allow for any product with the embedded solution to connect to the internet anywhere a wireless carrier provides data coverage. One of the more notable products that contain a Gobi modem is the iPhone 4 for Verizon, which contains a MDM6600, however it does not take advantage of the support for HSPA+.

History On October 23, 2007, Qualcomm announced the first set of Gobi-enabled chipsets to be commercially available in the second quarter of 2008. The first chip produced by Qualcomm, the MDM1000, gained support from PC manufacturer HP as well as wireless carriers Vodafone and Verizon.

Two years later, on February 11, 2009, Qualcomm announced the second generation of Gobi-enabled chipsets, the MDM2000. The MDM2000 added support for additional frequencies which are prevalent in Japan and rural Europe, improved uplink capabilities and other software upgrades.

The third, and most recent, generation of Gobi-enabled chipsets was announced on March 23, 2010 however this generation consists of a total of 6 different chips which support different ranges of wireless standards and data rates. The reasoning behind the multiple chips was to address additional markets such as USB modems, e-readers, gaming devices and machine to machine commercial applications. Qualcomm also introduced software enhancements for select Mobile Data Modem (MDM) chipsets that enabled “a common Gobi software interface (API) across multiple hardware platforms.”

Products

The main feature of the Gobi modems is their support of multiple wireless standards such as GSM and CDMA. Newer modems also have support for 4G wireless standards such as HSPA+ and LTE, with a notable omission of WiMax. The extensive support of wireless standards allows consumers to choose between multiple carriers based on the modem present in their device. What standard the modem supports and at what rates depends on the chip being used.

Below is a list of Gobi-enabled modem chipsets released by Qualcomm and their features:

MDM1000: Multi-mode modem EV-DO Rev. A support (CDMA) 800, 1900 MHz HSPA support with full backward compatibility with GSM, GPRS and EDGE 850, 1900, 2100 MHz for HSPA 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz for GSM/GPRS/EDGE Simultaneous GPS functionality MDM2000: All the features of the MDM1000 Support for HSPA at 800 and 900 MHz Improved upload speeds for HSPA Improved GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS MDM6200: Single-mode modem Only supports HSPA+ with data rates of up to 14.4 Mbit/s GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS MDM6600: Multi-mode modem HSPA+ with data rates of up to 14.4 Mbit/s CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A/Rev. B support GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS MDM8200A: Single-mode modem Only supports HSPA+ with data rates of up to 28 Mbit/s GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS MDM8220: Single-mode modem Only supports Dual-Carrier HSPA+ with data rates of up to 42 Mbit/s GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS MDM9200: Single-mode modem 4G(LTE) data rates of up to 100 Mbit/s with full backward compatibility to Dual-Carrier HSPA+ GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS MDM9600: Multi-mode modem 4G (LTE) data rates of up to 100 Mbit/s with full backward compatibility to Dual-Carrier HSPA+ EV-DO Rev. A/Rev. B support GPS functionality, including support for Assisted GPS

Model Names and Real World Names

Gobi Model Manufacturer Manufacturer Name Chipset Gobi 1000 Sierra MC ? MDM1000 Gobi 1000 Dell DW5600 MDM1000 Gobi 1000 HP un2400 MDM1000 Gobi 2000 Dell DW5620 MDM2000 Gobi 2000 Sierra MC ? MDM2000 Gobi 2000 HP un2420 MDM2000 Gobi 3000 Sierra MC8355 MDM6600 Gobi 3000 Dell DW5630 MDM6600 Gobi 3000 HP un2430 MDM6600 Gobi 3000 Sierra MC8705 MDM8200A Gobi 3000 Sierra MC8805 MDM8220 Gobi 3000 Dell DW5570 MDM8220 Gobi 4000 Sierra MC7710 MDM9200 Gobi 4000 novatel E371 MDM9200 Gobi 4000 Sierra MC7304 MDM9215 Gobi 4000 Novatel E362 MDM9600 Gobi 4000 Sierra MC7750 MDM9600 Gobi 4000 HP lt2522 MDM9600 Gobi 5000 Sierra MC7355 MDM9615 Gobi 5000 Sierra MC7354 MDM9615 Gobi 5000 Sierra MC7455 MDM9230

Awards Mobile Innovation Awards - Mobile Computing – LAPTOP Magazine.

See also Comparison of wireless data standards Qualcomm Snapdragon Qualcomm Snapdragon LTE modem

References

External links Gobi Homepage -