AT&T and Qualcomm announced that Qualcomm's Gobi global mobile Internet technology has been certified for use on the AT&T mobile broadband network.

The companies also announced certification for notebooks from two brands - Panasonic and HP. Two of Panasonic's Gobi-enabled notebooks - the convertible tablet Toughbook 19 and flagship Toughbook 30 notebook - are now certified on AT&T's HSPA (High Speed Packet Access)- based BroadbandConnect 3G network. In addition, AT&T, Qualcomm and HP announced that HP's refreshed line of notebooks featuring built-in AT&T and Gobi technology has been certified by AT&T.

"Qualcomm's Gobi technology is an innovation that will provide AT&T customers with significant benefits that we believe will lead to increased adoption of notebooks with built-in wide-area wireless technology, particularly among the business community," said Carolyn Billings, executive director of product marketing management for AT&T's wireless operation. "Gobi technology supports the high speeds available on AT&T's network and will provide our customers with potential cost savings on their hardware investments, a key consideration that could lead to the broader deployment of embedded notebooks."

"We are pleased to have reached this milestone with AT&T," said Mike Concannon, senior VP of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "This certification creates even more opportunity for today's mobile consumers to enjoy truly mobile Internet access using Gobi-equipped devices."

The embedded Gobi solution includes Qualcomm's MDM1000 chipset, associated software and APIs, and a reference design for a software-defined configurable data modem supporting HSPA - with full backward compatibility to GPRS/EDGE - and other 3G wireless technologies.