Jon: Report from the San Diego Union Tribune on WK at showcase 99.
S.D. venture ties wireless gadgets to
computer nets
By Mike Drummond
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 19, 1999
Wirelessknowledge, the new San Diego-based joint
venture of Qualcomm and Microsoft, today unveils Revolv,
the first in a series of services giving phones, pagers and
other techno gadgets access to corporate networks and the
Internet.
The service is the world's first to link various wireless
devices to a company's computing network, a convergence
that aligns Qualcomm's expertise in wireless
telecommunications with Microsoft's global software
empire.
The service should be available for businesses by April
through nine Wirelessknowledge partners. In the San Diego
area, partners include AirTouch Communications, GTE
Wireless and Sprint PCS.
Revolv transports Microsoft's Outlook e-mail and
scheduling software to a variety of mobile devices and
tailors content to fit whatever device is being used.
Business travelers, for example, will be able to log on to
corporate Web sites and calendars and make changes via
phones equipped with new micro-browsers.
Wirelessknowledge does not make products, but develops
telecommunications applications for new breeds of mobile
hardware.
"I expect productivity to increase because mobile
professionals will be able to put 'dead time' (between
meetings) . . . to good use," Barney Dewey of Andrew
Seybold Consulting Group stated in a recent study.
Revolv debuts at David Coursey's Showcase '99 -- an
exclusive annual event in San Diego highlighting some of
the most innovative technologies speeding to market.
"There were great trends happening with the wireless data
infrastructure, but no one was concentrating on
applications," said Tom Clarkson, Wirelessknowledge's
vice president of marketing. "Now you should be able to
work effectively with your team wherever you are."
The service only will work with Microsoft Exchange
servers, but later versions will work with Lotus Notes and
other servers, Clarkson said.
Privately held Wirelessknowledge, founded in November,
joined some 100 other companies at the Sheraton San
Diego Hotel, home to the Showcase event for the last three
years.
Unlike marquee trade shows such as Comdex or the
Consumer Electronics Show, vendors must be invited by
Coursey, a 39-year-old journalist-turned industry guru
known for his blunt talk and penetrating influence within
the technology industry.
Coursey interviewed about 400 companies, paring this
year's vendor list to about 100.
His opinion can direct venture capitalists to cash-starved
firms -- or leave them gasping, several vendors said.
"Do I kill companies? No," Coursey said. "Can I help?
Yeah."
So why did he invite Wirelessknowledge?
"Everybody's heard of them and nobody knows what they
do," he said between gulps of Dr. Pepper. "Microsoft and
Qualcomm are two great tastes, but the question is: Do the
two taste great together?"
Addressing his reputation as a man who fearlessly speaks
his mind, Coursey said he's just trying to help in that
tough-love kind of way.
"I'm hard on all companies," he said. "I get away with it
because I want to see everyone succeed."
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