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Technology Stocks : wirelessknowledge -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jon Koplik who wrote (22)	1/20/1999 7:35:00 AM
From: Ron M	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85

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."