Novatel Wireless has begun commercial shipments of its Merlin XU870 ExpressCard to HSDPA and UMTS carriers worldwide. Designed to operate on both North American and European HSDPA networks, the Merlin XU870 ExpressCard is the first commercially available HSDPA ExpressCard. Initial shipments began in the third quarter to leading carriers in several countries, including Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal and New Zealand.

The Merlin XU870 ExpressCard fits both 34 and 54 size slots and is a tri-band HSDPA/UMTS and quad-band EDGE/GPRS product that allows for worldwide roaming between HSDPA networks in North America and Europe. The Merlin XU870 ExpressCard has been initially configured for 3.6 Mbps data speeds and when mobile operators start providing 7.2 Mbps service, a software utility will be used to upgrade the card and boost its speed to 7.2 Mbps. The Merlin XU870 ExpressCard will allow new notebook platforms, with the ExpressCard slot, to take advantage of its performance and scalability for wireless broadband connectivity.