To: jach who wrote (22182 ) 2/8/1999 12:44:00 AM From: brian z Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 77397
From WSJ Motorola, Cisco to Work Jointly On Wireless Service for the Web By SCOTT THURM and QUENTIN HARDY Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Motorola Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. have agreed to work together to extend the reach of the Internet through cellular phones and other wireless devices. The two companies say they will spend up to $1 billion over the next five years to make the Internet as versatile over wireless networks as through computers and telephone lines. The companies will disclose their plans at a wireless-industry convention in New Orleans Monday. "Wireless and the Internet are going to drive the future of communications," said Bo Hedfors, a Motorola senior vice president and president of its Network Solutions Sector. "What we together want to do is to create a new business based on a wireless Internet." Aim of the Venture By collaborating, the companies hope to break into a potentially lucrative market from which both are in danger of being excluded. Motorola, of Schaumburg, Ill., is a big wireless-equipment supplier, but has stumbled over past technological changes and has little experience with the Internet. Cisco, San Jose, Calif., is the king of computer-networking equipment, but has less presence in the wireless world. North America's two largest telecommunications-equipment suppliers, Lucent Technologies Inc. and Northern Telecom Ltd., both purchased computer-networking companies in recent months. Motorola and Cisco say they probably would have spent $1 billion on wireless networking products over the next five years anyway, but hope to make better products faster by working together. The first products of the alliance might be ready in two years, Mr. Hedfors said, instead of four years if Motorola worked alone. The companies will jointly market their wireless Internet products, with Motorola taking the lead. The two companies plan to publish proposed technical standards for wireless networking by May. They hope to create a world where the operators of wireless networks can use interchangeable equipment based on standards, instead of the largely proprietary equipment used today. Cisco and Motorola say this will make it easier for the operators of wireless networks to add new services, such as transferring voice mail to e-mail and smart cards to facilitate electronic commerce. The companies say they have received encouragement from wireless operators such as Sprint Corp., Nextel Communications Inc. and AirTouch Communications Inc. Work With Other Partners While Motorola and Cisco will collaborate on some products, each has other partners as well. Motorola Friday said it would work with Alcatel SA of France to develop and market digital network infrastructure for a popular wireless protocol called CDMA, or code-division multiple access. Alcatel last year purchased DSC Communications Corp. of Plano, Texas, which makes Motorola's CDMA switch. The deal is part of "a broad strategy where we're working with several partners," said Moe Grzelakowski, a Motorola vice-president for marketing. "Motorola believes there will be a migration" from traditional telephone circuit switching to Internet-style packet-switched communications. The companies will open a technical center in Plano and integrate their product lines. Ms. Grzelakowski declined to comment on the terms of the deal, but an Alcatel spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires that Motorola would buy $1 billion in Alcatel products. Also Monday, wireless equipment maker Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego is expected to announce an agreement with Cisco to supply a high-speed wireless network to U S West Inc., which the telephone company will begin testing in April. The so-called HDR network will be sold as a competitor to other high-speed Internet connections, such as cable modems and digital subscriber lines.