Novatel Wireless has confirmed that it is producing pre-commercial samples of wireless broadband cards in the emerging ExpressCard form factor. These products cover both EV-DO and HSDPA standards. Availability of these new devices is expected to be extremely limited.

The promise is for Novatel's design to enable 2.4 Mbps download speed over EV-DO, and 3.6 Mbps over HSDPA, for notebook and even sub-notebook systems currently being manufactured. By going non-commercial with its early renditions - the communications equipment equivalent of a beta - Novatel is apparently enticing system manufacturers to move toward even smaller form factors.