Acer Notebook Supports Security Cards, Wireless

Thin-and-light notebook includes smart card reader and ships Bluetooth-ready.

Tom Mainelli, PCWorld.com

Acer's new TravelMate 350 notebook is barely an inch thick and weighs just 4 pounds, but it's chock full of new technology. The unit includes a built-in smart card reader and the hardware to add integrated Bluetoothwireless connectivity. It also represents the company's latest effort to win the hearts of small businesses in the United States.

Acer expects to offer the TravelMate 350 in numerous versions by November, but the notebook is available at its debut in a single configuration called the TM350TE. It sells for an estimated $1999 and includes a 650-MHz Pentium III, 64MB of memory, a 10GB hard drive, a 56-kilobits-per-second modem, a 10/100 network interface, a 13.3-inch active-matrix display, and Microsoft Windows Me. The unit also includes an external combination drive with a floppy and a 12X-24X CD-ROM drive.

Notebook Gets Smart

The TravelMate 350 offers great performance for a light notebook, but its extras make it special, says Paul Tayar, Acer's mobile products marketing manager.

He points to the integrated smart card reader as a unique feature. About the size of a credit card, a smart card contains a chip that stores data. Some notebook and desktop vendors offer smart-card readers as add-ons, but few include them as standard notebook equipment.

Acer added the smart card reader to provide better notebook security, Tayar says. The TravelMate 350 ships with the feature disabled. But if a customer activates the smart card security technology, the only way to access the notebook's data is through the smart card that came with the notebook. That way, if a notebook is stolen, the thief can't access important business information.

The technology goes beyond simple security, Tayar says. Acer's implementation is a full-fledged card reader. As smart cards become more common, eventually carrying financial and medical information, the TravelMate will be able to read them all, he says.

Bluetooth Supported, Too

Industry pundits say the wireless networking technology Bluetooth is right around the corner, so Acer built the TravelMate 350 to accommodate the technology without an external add-on, Tayar says. (See "How it Works: Wireless Networks.")

An internal Bluetooth antenna is built into a hinge. Acer expects Bluetooth hardware to drop in size and price by early next year, and it will offer TravelMate 350 owners an internal upgrade for about $199, Tayar says.

Acer is eyeing another built-in wireless technology: It plans to include 802.11b wireless high-speed networking in future versions of the TravelMate 350, says Campbell Kan, director of mobile product marketing. The 802.11b antenna will reside in the notebook's other hinge, he says. Acer has already worked out the complicated details of running both Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless technologies at once, he says.

Acer Refines U.S. Strategy

Acer hopes the TravelMate 350 will help it break into the small-business market in the United States as it has elsewhere in the world. Its notebooks and desktops are selling very well in growing markets, says Simon Lin, president and chief operating officer. For example, in China Acer is the third largest seller of notebooks and the fifth in desktops, he says.

The company enjoyed some U.S. consumer retail success after a strong push in 1995 and 1996. But profits failed to follow and it lost money, Lin says. By 1999 the company was pulling out of the U.S. consumer market.

This time, Acer is focusing on small businesses, Lin says. While other PC companies continue to focus on corporate buyers, Acer is going after the little companies that need just two or three PCs, he says.

These companies often need help because they don't have a department to handle PC buying chores, he says. Acer hopes its combination of hardware and services will appeal to business customers who don't have time to deal with hardware hassles, he says.

And this time out, market share is not the only goal here, he says. "We want to make money."