"Report on Wireless, March 29;1999
INFOWAVE IN POSITION TO TACKLE US MARKET WITH MATURE PRODUCT
Vancouver-based Infowave Software Inc has new confidence in its wireless messaging software product following the signing of several large US customers. It's now ready to leverage those deals, and CFO Todd Carter hopes he'll be at the liberty by the second half of this year to announce new contracts with several Fortune 500 companies. At the same time, he expects to be in a position to talk about significant new developments that will greatly enhance its product's capabilities.
Infowave's Office Enabler product brings a customers Microsoft Outlook environment from their desktop to the laptop for mobile Email (RoW, April 27/98). The program rides on the Mobitex network and uses as Research in Motion OEM RF modem to hook the server to the portable. Data exchange is encrypted with Certicom Corp technology.
Last year, the company's wireless division sold $260,000 worth of product, but Carter has a much more ambitious figure in mind for 1999. He says the company would like to increase that figure eight-fold to $2 million.
The company not only has new customer endorsements, but is also looking forward to riding the convergence wave. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association show in New Orleans last month provided positive indications that the company is competing in the right space.
"It's validating what we've been saying and we think it's going to accelerate the business. We're very confident about what we're going to bring to the table."
The 35-person wireless division of Infowave is split almost evenly between software engineers and sales staff. The company is eyeing the US market and the largest barrier it faces is overcoming corporate uncertainty about the benefits of wireless mobile computing. Infowave has a single staff-member in Boston handling American customers, but Carter says it will probably expand with increased sales. The company has a cross-marketing agreement with BellSouth.
Carter says the company pockets around US $200 per seat making the division lucrative. While it lost $4.1 million last year, officials say they expect to turn the page on profitability now that the product is mature and no longer requires heavy R&D expenditures.
Infowave's other division, which sells printer drivers for Macintosh computers, was profitable to the point of offsetting the 1998 deficit. Carter points out that even 1% of the Microsoft Exchange market (with which the product currently works) is a $50 million dollar opportunity.
That potential may become even greater if, as Carter hints, the product's capabilities are dramatically enhanced in the second half of this year. He says the details are secret, but the companies engineers are working with their counterparts in Redmond to make Office Enabler compatible with the next generation of Microsoft Exchange.
If successful, Infowave will make all data on a server available to mobile users, essentially bringing their entire desktop to their laptop wirelessly. Tests of the new system, he says, are currently underway in-house.
|
