The week ahead: Wireless week

Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of June 10 through June 14.

Technology fanatics will have a menu of events to choose from this week that will help satisfy any cravings for information on the wireless sector.

The 3G World Congress takes place in Hong Kong this week and features presentations by top executives in the wireless industry that will almost certainly touch upon the sector's sometimes uncertain march toward third-generation wireless technology advances.

Conferences covering wireless networking standards 802.11 and Bluetooth technology also take place this week.

Mobile phone maker Nokia will issue a midquarter business update Tuesday, a few weeks after research firm Gartner reported that worldwide cell phone sales for the overall industry stalled in the first quarter.

Earnings releases from tech companies are still scarce, but desktop publishing software maker Adobe Systems reports Thursday. Analysts expect the company to post a profit of 25 cents for the second fiscal quarter versus 34 cents for the same quarter last year.

Analysts will also look for how big a jolt the company is getting from sales of a new version of Photoshop software.

The information was gathered from First Call, Hoover's Online, CCBN's StreetEvents, MSN's Moneycentral and CNET Investor.

Other events scheduled this week:

	Tech Events

Sunday, June 9

• Research firm Forrester will host a financial conference at the New York Marriott Marquis, June 9-11. The event is for executives from banks, brokerages, and insurance companies who want to learn about the technology that customers could use to organize their financial lives. Speakers include E*Trade Financial Chief Executive Officer Christos Cotsakos, FleetBoston Financial CEO Charles Gifford, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis and former American Express CEO Harvey Golub.

• The Networked Economy Summit will take place at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Va., June 9-11. The event will focus on technology security and features keynote speeches by representatives from Verizon Communications, Nasdaq Stock Market, AOL Time Warner, VeriSign and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Monday, June 10

• Research firm Gartner will host PlanetStorage 2002 at the Rio Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, June 10-13. The event is for tech professionals responsible for their company's computer data storage needs and will address what kinds of software, hardware and system design are needed in today's networks. Veritas Software Chairman Gary Bloom and Gartner analysts will make keynote presentations.

• Investment bank CIBC World Markets will hold a telecommunications conference called the "Communications Food Chain" at the Plaza Hotel in New York, June 10-12. Companies scheduled to make presentations include Lucent Technologies, Agere Systems, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and AT&T Wireless. Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg and Motorola COO Ed Breen will make keynote speeches.

• Hardware enthusiasts will congregate at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif., June 10-12 for the USB 2.0 Developers Conference. A USB (universal serial bus) is a port that connects computer peripherals to PCs.

• The 3G World Congress takes place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, China, June 10-13. Wireless telecommunications carriers are upgrading their networks to reach 3G, or third-generation technology, which is expected to offer data and Internet connections that rival current broadband speeds. Keynote speakers include Juniper Networks CEO Scott Kriens, Qualcomm CEO Irwin Jacobs, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser and PalmSource CEO David Nagel. PalmSource is a unit of Palm. Representatives from Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks, Ericsson and other companies will also make presentations.

• The 802.11 Conference and Expo takes place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, June 10-12. The conference will focus on 802.11 technology, a wireless standard that PCs and other electronics use to communicate with each other and get wireless Internet access.

Tuesday, June 11

• Investment banking firm Bear Sterns will hold its technology conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, June 11-13. Keynote speakers include Applied Materials CEO James Morgan, Texas Instruments COO Rich Templeton, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy.

• Cell phone giant Nokia will give a midquarter update to investors and analysts on the company's financial performance on June 11. A press release will come out around 2:00 a.m., and the company will conduct a conference call at 5:00 a.m. that will be Webcast.

• Proponents of wireless technology will gather for the Bluetooth Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, June 11-14. Bluetooth allows PCs, handhelds and mobile phones to communicate wirelessly within a distance of about 30 feet.

• Government "think tank" the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research will host a conference titled "The Future of Telecom Regulation" at the Wohlstetter Conference Center in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

• Microsoft and Intel will conduct a course on Microsoft's .Net business software at the Hotel Inter-Continental Dallas in Addison, Texas, June 11-12.

Wednesday, June 12

• Open messaging software maker Jabber will hold a conference, JabberConf, at the Forum Hotel in Munich, Germany, June 12-14.

• The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge will hold an event called "Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned" at the Tang Center on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass., on June 12. Entrepreneurs such as Lycos founder Bob Davis and others will look back over the past few years and share their insights and experiences.

Thursday, June 13

• Mobile Government" takes place at the Swissotel in Washington, D.C., June 13-14. The event will focus on how government organizations can benefit from using wireless technology.

Friday, June 14

• Troubled long-distance telecommunications carrier WorldCom will hold its annual meeting of shareholders on June 14 starting at 1:00 p.m. The event will be Webcast.

	Earnings

Tuesday, June 11

• CMGI owns and operates a handful of Internet-based businesses. Per-share estimate from one analyst for the third fiscal quarter: loss of 13 cents.

Thursday, June 13

• Adobe Systems makes desktop publishing software. Per-share consensus estimate for the second fiscal quarter: profit of 25 cents.

• Net2Phone provides software and services that let people make phone calls from their PCs. Per-share consensus estimate for the third fiscal quarter: loss of 35 cents.

	Economic Reports

Wednesday, June 12

• The import and export price index from the Department of Commerce indicates the percentage change in import and export prices for May. No estimates were available.

• The Federal Reserve will release the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions, also known as the Beige Book. The study comes out eight times a year and gathers anecdotal information from business leaders on the economic climate in each Federal Reserve district.

Thursday, June 13

• Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week ending June 8.

• The Producer Price Index is expected to rise 0.1 percent in May from last month's decline of 0.2 percent. The core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, is expected to increase 0.1 percent from April's gain of 0.1 percent. This Labor Department index tracks the cost of what manufacturers pay for raw goods to make products.

• Retail Sales for the month of May is expected to stay unchanged compared with April's gain of 1.2 percent as reported by the Commerce Department. Excluding automobile sales, Wall Street expects retail sales to climb 0.3 percent compared with the previous month's gain of 1.0 percent.

Friday, June 14

• Business Inventories represents the percentage change of the amount of goods in inventory in the United States as reported by the Department of Commerce. Wall Street predicts inventories will fall 0.2 percent in April compared with a 0.3 percent decrease in March.

• The monthly Capacity Utilization report from the Federal Reserve indicates the percentage of industrial capacity in use. Analysts expect this measurement of industrial activity to advance to 75.7 percent in May from the previous month's 75.5 percent.

• Industrial Production represents the monthly percentage change in industrial output as measured by the Federal Reserve. The number measures the physical quantity of items produced, unlike sales value, which combines quantity and price. The number is expected to rise 0.4 percent for May, the same increase as April.

• The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is a measure of consumer confidence as reported monthly by the University of Michigan. Experts forecast preliminary numbers for the index to tick up to 97 in June from the previous month's 96.9.