Economic conditions may be bleak worldwide, but a light appears to be shining on the mobile broadband industry. Both the Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium (MCPC) of Japan and the IEEE's Communications Society (ComSoc) recently announced that they would together promote their respective training and certification programs in mobile and wireless technologies, respectively, to help supply needed expertise for the mobile broadband industry, undergoing tremendous growth at present.
Growth is not a word seen often in electronics circles lately, but the willingness of these two large organizations to collaborate points to the future engineering needs in the mobile broadband area. MCPC now numbers 166 members, including top mobile network operators, information processing firms, mobile device manufacturers, and system integrators, while the IEEE's ComSoc is a leading educator of engineers worldwide. For many high-frequency electronic firms struggling to find opportunities outside of the military area, this teaming of two powerful organizations is a sign for which to give thanks.