i had been under the impression that wi-lan's technolgy was simply for non-mobile wireless.
there are news reports to the contrary-- thisa report specifically says that the technology could be placed in wireless phones:
Wi-LAN shares soar on talk of Cisco deal
Alliance would catapult tech firm into big leagues
TYLER HAMILTON
Technology Reporter
Thursday, November 25, 1999
Wi-LAN Inc. stock surged 32 per cent yesterday as investors bet that the wireless equipment maker is close to a deal with Cisco Systems Inc. that would launch it into the major leagues of the technology sector.
Industry sources said Calgary-based Wi-LAN is expected to license its patented technology to Cisco, setting in motion a series of licencing deals that would represent significant revenue for the tiny firm and could make its technology an industry standard.
The agreement will likely be expanded through an alliance of industry players, led by San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco, aimed at combatting the dominance of market leaders Nortel Networks Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc., sources said.
Wi-LAN's share price rose $6.40 yesterday to $26.05 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, where the company began trading on Oct. 28. It previously traded on the Alberta Stock Exchange.
Nearly 1.2 million shares traded hands, more than nine times the average daily volume over the past year.
"The fever over rumours is increasing, because some of the these deals are so close you can feel them," one industry source said.
Wi-LAN released a comment on trading activity yesterday after the close of markets, announcing it was not aware of any developments that could account for the stock's rise.
"Everything is rumour at this point, so we're not going to confirm or deny," said Wanda Posehn, a spokeswoman for Wi-LAN.
Ms. Posehn would not comment on whether Wi-LAN was engaged in discussions with Cisco.
But analysts said some type of deal with Cisco is a strong possibility. The data equipment maker is leading a consortium of 10 top high-tech firms to come up with a standard for high-capacity wireless Internet and data networks.
Motorola Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill., and Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. are among the consortium's members.
Cisco already owns a patent to one component of that standard, but Wi-LAN holds a piece to the puzzle that would complete the standard, analysts said.
Louis Kates, an analyst with Credifinance Securities Ltd., said there's a 90-per-cent chance that a new alliance is forming.
"It's likely there's a consortium forming with Cisco, Motorola and Wi-LAN, for the purpose of incorporating Wi-LAN's W-OFDM [wireless] technology into Cisco's and Motorola's devices, and promoting the technology as a standard."
Wi-LAN has a U.S. patent on wide-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (W-OFDM) technology, which significantly increases the capacity and speed of wireless networks. The technology could be built into modems, TV set-top boxes and wireless phones to allow for the high-speed transmission of data.
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