3Com to Form New Business for Wireless Internet Services
Santa Clara, California, June 18 (Bloomberg) -- 3Com Corp., the No. 2 maker of networking equipment, said it will form a new company to supply wireless Internet service for cell phones, 3Com's PalmPilot and other hand-held devices.
The new company, named OpenSky, will receive investments from 3Com, OpenSky's top management and closely held Aether Technologies International LLC, a maker of software used to run wireless data networks. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OpenSky President and Chief Executive Patrick McVeigh said the new company's service will be available in the U.S. by the fourth quarter for users of the PalmPilot and some cell phones. The service, which will let customers download e-mail and information from corporate databases over the World Wide Web, later will link to devices run by Microsoft Corp.'s Windows CE operating system.
''We want to speed the development of the market for wireless data services,'' said McVeigh, former vice president of worldwide sales for 3Com's Palm Computing division.
OpenSky will be based in Palo Alto, California.
3Com will license its Palm operating system and provide technical support to OpenSky, part of plans to increase sales of its market-leading product.
The new company will employ ''a handful of 3Com people,'' said Mike Dolbec, 3Com's vice president of business development.
Shared Technology
3Com's so-called Web clipping technology, which speeds up the transmission of data from Internet sites by selecting only part of its content, will be integrated with Aether's AIM.net service.
3Com, based in Santa Clara, California, in November invested $6 million in Owings Mills, Maryland-based Aether, which runs wireless data services for Bear Stearns & Co., Discover Brokerage and other financial companies.
The pricing of the OpenSky product hasn't been set yet. McVeigh said the company will likely offer ''unlimited access for a fixed price.'' The company will announce in the next two months which wireless telecommunication providers will carry the service on their networks, he said.
Separately, Aether soon will unveil an agreement to run an internal wireless data service for Merrill Lynch & Co., Aether Chief Operating Officer George Davis said.
Jun/18/1999 0:16
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