Cisco announces effort to set wireless standard
By Duncan Martell
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 25 (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment, on Tuesday plans to announce it will work with 10 high-tech companies in the hopes of setting as a standard a new way of transmitting data wirelessly at high-speeds.
Currently, high-speed wireless data transmission is spotty at best in urban areas, where buildings and other structures get in the way of transmission sites and cause dropped signals and data. But Cisco said that, because of an acquisition it made almost a year ago, the company has solved that problem.
''This is technology that allows you to get to sites you couldn't before,'' said Steve Smith, director of broadband wireless marketing for San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news).
Cisco will team up with Bechtel Telecommunications, a unit of closely held Bechtel Construction, networking chipmaker Broadcom Corp. (NasdaqNM:BRCM - news), computer services firm Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE:EDS - news), accounting and consulting firm KPMG LLP, telecommunications firm LCC International, Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news), Pace Micro Technology Plc, electronics giant Samsung , chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN - news) and a unit of conglomerate Toshiba .
Cisco said that, as a result of technology it acquired in November with its acquisition of Clarity Wireless Inc., two-way data, voice and video communications via the air are possible to both home and businesses at speeds comparable to some cable modems and DSL services.
''The only way to really make the resources of the Internet available to everyone will be by also using wireless technologies,'' said Bob Egan, research director for mobile and wireless at market researcher Gartner Group.
Egan forecasts that by 2003 the market for this type of wireless equipment in Canada and the United States will reach $1.5 billion. Estimates from brokerage firm CIBC World Markets pegs the worldwide market at as much as $4 billion by 2004.
Cisco is already the dominant company in networking and is increasingly coming up against new rivals Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news) and Nortel Networks Corp. (Toronto:NT.TO - news) of Canada as the three firms race to sell next-generation communications equipment to firms such as AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news), MCI WorldCom Inc. (NasdaqNM:WCOM - news) and others.
Cisco's Smith said that the goal is to make the technology available to as many companies as possible, including competitors so that the industry adopts a standard.
''It's not our desire to stop competitors from getting this technology, it's our goal to set this as the standard and get things rolling,'' Smith said.
Products will be available by year's end, Smith said.
That won't necessary be a cakewalk, though.
Egan noted the technological hurdles are high and that the gear needed to send signals via multiple paths to their destinations will need powerful software and computing power.
''The Cisco solution today is going to require a lot of horsepower behind it, but if they can overcome the challenges of the technology, then it has the potential to bring some significant new benefits,'' Egan said.
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Cisco looks to tap wireless Net market
By Ben Heskett Staff Writer, CNET News.com October 25, 1999, 9:00 p.m. PT
Cisco Systems isn't waiting for the wireless Internet market to come to it--it's coming to the market.
The networking equipment giant is looking to jump-start a nascent business by culling interest and support from a wide array of partners for a proposed technology standard, ideally helping in the development of new wireless networks. A standard is a kind of industrywide blueprint for a given product, agreed upon to ensure products made by different companies are interchangeable for end users.
The firm also plans to unveil new products based on the still-developing technology by the end of this year, according to company executives.
The San Jose, California, firm, which reported revenues of $12.15 billion in its most recent fiscal year, aims to tackle a niche that has not been one of its strengths. But an early indication of Cisco's interest in voice, video, and data communications over high-speed wireless technology came from a Net-focused wireless alliance with Motorola that debuted in February.
"We're trying to speed up the market for this technology," said Steve Smith, director of marketing for Cisco's broadband wireless division.
In its latest initiative, Cisco has enlisted the help of component providers such as Broadcom and Texas Instruments, consultants EDS and KPMG, and equipment providers Motorola, Toshiba, and Samsung. The goal is to develop use of a high-speed standard for a fixed wireless technology called Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, or VOFDM, according to company executives.
The VOFDM standard was created from technology Cisco acquired last year when it bought Clarity Wireless for $157 million in stock. It is intended to complement or provide an alternative to land-based cable or digital subscriber lines (DSL) for service providers.
Cisco said the technology could prove useful in areas where there aren't any existing high-speed networks. For example, a company such as cable-based Net access provider Excite@Home could use the technology to connect its cable equipment to its "backbone" network in certain areas, according to executives.
Other companies interested in deploying similar technology include Sprint, MCI WorldCom, and BellSouth, executives said.
Smith said Cisco plans to provide wireless equipment for business offices and for communications companies.
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