It's really validating the industry. Things are getting off the ground now. The way Metawave Chairman and CEO Bob Hunsberger sees it, though, his company is further off the ground than its competitors. Smartantennas concentrate wireless signals within a base station so a network operates more efficiently and can handle more calls. Those changes, however, don't increase the capacity of a network operator's spectrum.
Capacity grows when additional frequencies are added to a network's spectrum.
In the interim, smartantenna vendors offer products to lower operating costs while slowing the need for more base stations. ArrayComm's Intellicell technology won't be added to base stations in CDMA, GSM or TDMA networks already deployed anywhere in the world. Calif.-based Wireless Online , provides technologies for existing wireless data and messaging networks and fixed wireless broadband networks, and for 2.5G general packet radio service networks. Like ArrayComm and Wireless Online, Metawave is collaborating with an infrastructure vendor to embed its technology in base stations before they are deployed. Metawave is supplying SpotLight technology for Samsung 's 2.5G and 3G CDMA networks.