Those in the technology and marketing departments have one thing in common, they love initials.  For the technology guys and gals, the people that actually invent all the gadgets we love to play with, initials are an easier way to describe something. They have a certain logic. Firstly, you just jumble together a load of adjectives, describing what your invention does, then just use the initials: simple.

So HSPA, is High Speed Packet Access. Brilliant! And its great for the marketing guys and gals as well, because it saves time having to think of some brilliant name. So, okay, it’s an application name, so is generic across quite a few products, but lets say you had to think of a cool name everytime you invented something. The problem is, most of the cool names have gone, or have been patented, so it’s a nightmare if you don’t use the initials.

A test. What does DVD stand for? Answer in a moment and just to task your brain that bit further, what does the HSDPA and HSBC stand for in the title of this article?

Right, DVD. This is a popular one in pub quizzes, but there are two correct answers: Digital Versatile Disc, or Digital Video Disc. It’s a long story, but actually the name apparently originally stood for digital video disk, although it seems no-one really tied down what DVD stood for. It sort of evolved.

So, if you invent a new product, don’t get wound up with a name; think what it took the guys to come up with Blu-ray, the next generation DVD (maybe they thought DVD-2 was a bit uninspired). So, maybe, if you invent a software that tells a machine to wind back a cable automatically, you could call it: Cable Rewind Automatic Programme, or CRAP. Okay, perhaps not! Right, HSDPA. Funnily enough, it’s the same as HSPA, but the D stands for Download, clever, huh? By the way, both HSPA and HSDPA enhance the speed of third generation (3G) network mobile phones.

And HSBC, why that’s the high street bank of course.

The next generation telecommunications network 4G may be around the corner, but that hasn’t stopped Vodafone trialing fast speeds of up to 16Mbp/s via HSPA+. HSPA+ is effectively 3.5G, not quite 4G. If you want to know more about HSPA, see the glossary of terms, but it’s there to improve speeds.

Currently, top speeds are about 7.2 Mbp/s, although its claimed that the HSDPA platform can be ramped up to 14.4Mbp/s with the wind behind it and if it’s going downhill. The HSPA+ super-fast trials were conducted alongside Ericsson, the manufacturer of telecoms infrastructure, and Qualcomm, the maker of mobile chipsets. It’s thought that speeds of up to 21Mbp/s could be reached by early 2009.

So, if speed matters, then you can look forward to HSPA+ maybe final quarter 2009, but bear in mind that you would need a new handset to take full advantage of those kind of performance figures. Ah right, another handset, of course, might have guessed that. Best send the old mobile off for cash then. But, the great advantage for the network operators, that only new software will be required to upgrade the existing network.

Now you can see why HSPA+ is so attractive as a short term measure before they have to start again with 4G networks, which are far more than just software upgrades.  For all you out there that lap up all this new technology, then please note that HSPA+ is part of the 3GPP release, standard seven. Now why you’d want to know that is beyond this writer!