Wireless Access Inc.-recently licensed to incorporate the ReFLEX protocol in its integrated circuit chipset-is guided by a twofold business philosophy, said Tim Williams, founder and chief technical officer of the company. “You build better equipment by having better silicon and you have better silicon because you’re building better equipment. It’s a synergistic relationship.”
The Santa Clara, Calif., company designs and supplies messaging devices to narrowband personal communications services carriers, which currently include SkyTel Corp. and MobileMedia Corp.
At PCS ’96 in San Francisco, Wireless Access announced that it had received a license from Motorola Inc. to include ReFLEX protocols within its family of integrated circuit chipsets. Wireless Access plans to start marketing to original equipment manufacturers early next year. OEM companies will be able to incorporate Wireless Access’ chipsets in their products without direct licensing from Motorola, said Williams.
Wireless Access’ technology is incorporated in its AccessLink two-way messaging product for SkyTel, branded by the carrier as SkyWriter.
Established in 1991, Wireless Access developed the Series 6000 ReFLEX chipset using its own technology, said Williams. The company has been involved with ReFLEX “since the very first draft of the ReFLEX protocol,” he said.
The chipset can be electrically switched between ReFLEX 25 and ReFLEX 50 and uses an antenna-to-user interface solution, said the company. Architectural advantages include low cost, low power consumption, a high level software interface and simplified RF design.
Devices suited for the chipset include messaging units for narrowband PCS and telemetry, and wireless modems and other personal communicators.
The chipset is scheduled for large scale production by the third quarter through Wireless Access’ AccessComm semiconductor division. Williams said the company hopes to start receiving chipset customers in the fourth quarter. U.S. Robotics Mobile Communications Corp. has shown interest.
Pricing is $75 per chipset based on a purchase of 1000 units.
The company also recently announced it plans to provide software protocol stacks and drivers that allow the chipset to be used in conjunction with Motorola’s Memos Client messaging system. Memos is an open client/server architecture that enables personal messaging applications and delivery of information services to pagers, smart phones and other devices.
Motorola has licensed Wireless Access for its entire FLEX family, including FLEX and InFLEXion, but to date Wireless Access has focused its business around ReFLEX, the protocol most adopted and tested among narrowband PCS carriers.
Both versions of ReFLEX enable two-way data transmission, allowing for detailed and larger incoming messages and brief acknowledgements on the return channel. ReFLEX 50, which facilitates greater speed and capacity, was pioneered by SkyTel and Motorola. SkyTel received a pioneer’s preference for the protocol.
Other protocols available to narrowband players include Motorola’s InFLEXion, Ericsson Inc. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s personal Air Communications Technology and NexNet, a protocol being tested by a joint venture of Nexus Telecommunication Systems Ltd. of Israel and American Paging, now a part of AirTouch Communications Inc.
Williams said he intends to take the company public, but did not say when. Motorola currently holds a minority equity investment in Wireless Access through a purchase of preferred stock. Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp. and Telxon also are investors in Wireless Access. The company’s venture capital comes from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Olivetti Holdings and JAFCO, said Wireless Access.
The company’s chief goal is to serve paging and narrowband PCS markets, said Williams. Its staff of 62 specializes in design of antennas and RF transceivers and in developing digital signal processing technology.
Before starting Wireless Access, Williams worked at Motorola as a senior member of the technical staff in the Telecom Design group.
