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To: Mark Fleming who wrote (46178)	10/26/1999 9:19:00 AM
From: Kent Rattey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Posted at 8:56 p.m. PDT Monday, October 25, 1999 Giveaway by Cisco aims for share of wireless technology BY JON HEALEY Mercury News Staff Writer Cisco Systems Inc. plans to give away some of its wireless networking technology, hoping to spur wireless high-speed Internet services and gain a share of that equipment market. The technology, which comes from a company Cisco acquired last year, works in the frequency band once reserved for wireless cable TV operators. It is designed to cut the cost and improve the performance of the wireless links, enabling them to support voice, video and data services to more homes and businesses. Most high-speed wireless networks today aim their services at office buildings and large corporate users, setting prices well above what a home user or small office could afford. And companies using the wireless-cable frequencies have offered only Internet or video service, not an all-in-one communications package. This year, however, long-distance powerhouses MCI WorldCom and Sprint -- which are trying to merge -- invested heavily in those frequencies as a way to deliver bundles of voice and data services. To serve homes as well as businesses, those companies will need a wireless Internet service that can compete with the $40- to $50-per-month high-speed offerings from cable TV and local phone companies. Several equipment suppliers already are competing for that business, and Cisco has to play catch-up. It has no paying customers, although Excite@Home and a handful of international companies are testing out its wireless equipment. Hybrid Networks Inc. of San Jose is the leading supplier of high-speed Internet equipment for networks in the wireless-cable frequencies, said Robert Furniss, director of product-line management for Hybrid. Furniss said Cisco's initiative isn't a threat to Hybrid, adding, ''If their system is superior, we would adopt the technology.'' Cisco is expected to announce today that 10 wireless industry suppliers, including three leading makers of computer chips and three consumer electronics companies, have embraced its high-speed technology. The company plans to give the technology, royalty free, to any other would-be partner, said Steve Smith, marketing director for broadband wireless. The technology aims to solve one of the main problems for networks using the wireless-cable frequencies: reflected signals that interfere with transmissions. Those reflections force networks to cut back on the power of their signals, reducing their range and preventing them from penetrating foliage. Cisco's technology, which it acquired when it bought Clarity Wireless Corp. of Belmont, increases the range and the power of the wireless signals, Smith said. The resulting connection is up to 380 times faster than the speediest dial-up modem, although speeds would drop as more users shared the network. Analyst Bob Egan of the Gartner Group, a market research company, said the technology is still largely untested. He said he didn't expect to see packages of voice and data services for at least a year, although Cisco plans to have products available by the end of 1999. Contact Jon Healey at jhealey@sjmercury.com or (877) 727-5005.