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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (30570)	12/31/2002 12:16:27 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196704

MIKE WENDLAND: Ann Arbor, Israeli firms team up in wireless world December 30, 2002 freep.com BY MIKE WENDLAND FREE PRESS COLUMNIST A small Ann Arbor company has big plans to put high-tech communications technology perfected by the research and development department of Israeli army intelligence into your car. Or your office. Or maybe your cordless telephone headset. The company is called Commil (www.commil.com), a name that combines the words communications and Israel. Commil has opened a marketing office in Ann Arbor to convince American automobile and telecommunications companies it has found a way to provide seamless voice and data communications in buildings and cars the same way cellular towers pass along wireless phone conversations on the highway. Commil's technology uses the fast-growing Bluetooth short-range radio system, which eliminates the cables needed to connect computer keyboards, mice, printers and other devices. But instead of the typical 30-foot range that most consumer Bluetooth devices have, Commil says it has found a way to get a 100-foot coverage radius. And, what's more important, the proprietary technology developed by the ex-Israeli intelligence engineers is able to pass off telephone or data signals from one access point to another without losing connections. Adnon Steiner, Commil's North American marketing manager, says one key application would be the wireless phone. "What we have is a way to make that phone essentially two devices," he explains. "Outside, it's like your regular wireless phone. But at the office, it turns into a cordless phone that connects to your corporate phone system. You wear the headset and you can move all over the office and never miss a call." Steiner likens it to an indoor cellular network and says the technology handles both voice and data. A key feature, he says, is that it is easily adapted to existing cordless headsets, hands-free cell phone microphones and earbuds and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) like Palm and Pocket PC handhelds. And it can do the same thing in a car, wirelessly connecting to an in-dash communications console. A key reason Commil, based in a suburb of Tel Aviv, set up its North American headquarters in Ann Arbor was to be near southeast Michigan's automobile manufacturers and suppliers. The company is still a startup, funded by about $8.5 million invested by a couple of Israeli venture capital firms. Among its global partners are the French telecommunications giant Alcatel, the Tokyo information technology firm NTT-ME and Amsterdam-based giant Royal Philips Electronics. Ah, you ask, but have they sold anything? "Close," says Steiner. "We're close." That's the problem with new technology. So much front-end research and development has to be done that funding often runs out before marketing pays off. Steiner won't give exact numbers but says Commil has plenty left from the $8.5 million to commercialize the technology. And now that the first Bluetooth products are making their way into consumer products with generally positive reviews, being ready as Commil is to take the technology to a new level isn't a bad place to be. Contact MIKE WENDLAND at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@freepress.com.