Sony Investing in Wireless Tech Company
Hoping to speed up consumer access to broadband wireless systems, Sony Corp. and two venture firms said Tuesday that they are investing $15 million in ArrayComm Inc., a small wireless technology company in San Jose.
Privately held ArrayComm has been gaining notice lately with its new i-Burst wireless Internet access system, a behind-the-scenes technology that could give users high-bandwidth Web access through portable wireless devices.
The company says its technology, which has yet to undergo field testing, provides an always-on connection that handles multimedia and data at speeds of up to 1 megabit per second, per user (or up to 40 mbps total). That kind of speed is unheard of in the mobile wireless arena and is almost 20 times the rate available using a standard dial-up modem on a desktop computer.
Media and electronics giant Sony said that after spending a year assessing the potential for i-Burst it is investing $8 million in the company. The investment, though a paltry sum for Sony, underscores the company’s push for new ways to reach customers with its games, movies and music.
The remaining $7 million will be provided by investment firms Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. and Ballentine Capital Partners. Further funding and support will come from partnerships with chip and equipment firms, service and content providers, and others, according to Nitin Shah, general manager of ArrayComm’s Internet products unit.
Shah said the new money will fund a field trial in San Jose before the end of the year and a market trial of potential services and applications in mid-2001. ArrayComm wants to start commercial deployment of i-Burst in late 2001 or early 2002--but the timing will depend on the government’s willingness to set aside new radio spectrum for i-Burst-like offerings.
The company is headed by Martin Cooper, an industry icon credited with developing the first hand-held cellular phone while at Motorola in the early 1970s.
“There may be some question marks still [with i-Burst], but Marty has done things which suggest that he could again lead the industry,” said Richard Siber, a wireless analyst at Andersen Consulting.
