Qcom & Msft Trials To Begin>
Microsoft-Qualcomm Venture to Begin Tests
With Cellular Firms
By Andrew Brooks at Bloomberg News
11 February 1999
WirelessKnowledge LLC, a joint venture between Microsoft
Corp. and Qualcomm Inc., expects to begin trials of its cellular
Internet access and other data services with wireless-phone
providers in the next two weeks.
The services give corporate users of wireless phones and
laptop computers access to electronic mail, phone directories
and calendars, as well as the global computer network. The
services are expected to be available in the second half of this
year, Chief Executive John Major said.
No. 1 software company Microsoft and cellular-equipment
maker Qualcomm set up WirelessKnowledge last year to
develop cellular data services and provide secure links
between corporate and wireless networks. The venture is
working with cell-phone companies that want to link traveling
executives to the Internet when they use wireless phones and
laptop computers.
"We're testing and sampling and getting the industry up to
speed," Major said in an interview at a trade show in New
Orleans. "The second half (we'll) start to roll out real users and
high-volume applications."
Earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled an alliance with British
Telecommunications Plc, the No. 1 U.K. phone company, to
develop data services for BT's wireless network.
WirelessKnowledge will have a role in the alliance, Major said.
Though Major declined to comment about specific companies
that will test the services, he said all of the carriers that
endorsed the venture in November are signed up. Those
companies include AirTouch Communications Inc., AT&T
Corp., BCE Inc., Bell Atlantic Corp., BellSouth Corp., GTE
Corp., Leap Wireless International Inc., Sprint PCS and U S
West Inc.
"They're all on board, and more are coming," Major said.
WirelessKnowledge sells its service to the carriers, which in
turn sell them to customers.
The venture as acts a go-between for wireless networks and
corporate computer networks, ensuring secure links for
companies and translating information for wireless users. For
example, WirelessKnowledge reformats World Wide Web
pages so they're more readable on small phone screens.
"What we're attempting to do is provide for the carriers a
common solution set very much like what Visa provided for
the banks for (credit card) purchases," Major said.
WirelessKnowledge isn't alone. Other technology companies
are teaming up to develop Internet services for cellular
networks.
Earlier this week, Netscape Communications Corp. said it will
provide Web links for Nextel Communications Inc. wireless
customers. Equipment makers Motorola Inc. and Cisco
Systems Inc. said they will work together to create standards
for a wireless Internet.
Major expects cellular phones equipped with Internet
browsers to double the number of users on the Internet. Cell-
phone customers will account for more than half of all Internet
users by 2003, he said.
For WirelessKnowledge, the added users mean more revenue.
The company currently collects fees from phone companies
for developing the services and will get added sales as
commercial users sign up.
"This could be a very, very big business," Major said.
"WirelessKnowledge, as an early play in this field, will get
more than its fair share."
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