The echoes of earlier intellectual property fights between Qualcomm and everyone else over digital mobile wireless technology are undeniable. Likewise, the sense that while establishment of patent rights is crucial to the survival of some of the combatants, the fight is doing little to expand the market. But it's noteworthy that veterans such as Michael Greenbaum, CEO of Sprint's key MMDS equipment vendor Hybrid Networks, observed that talk at the Forum about expanding the market seemed to take a back seat to talk about the power struggles over patents, the developing standard for OFDM and the scary economic climate in which his customers find themselves competing. Development of standardized non-line of sight networks could follow recognized international protocols or could emerge from a de facto industry standard, depending on who moves the fastest. Let's hope that in their competition to dictate what the NLOS standard will look like, the warring factions don't continue descending into another technology holy war that results in the same fractured setup that now defines mobile wireless in the United States.
Pessimism breeds caution, which leads to slowdown, the thinking goes.
But someone also needs to wonder about the corporate financial forecasting that has led to the recent wave of cutbacks and layoffs. Published by Cahners Business Information Copyright 2001. All rights reserved.