Wi-LAN to supply broadband wireless products

ATLANTA - Wi-LAN and 4G Network Technologies announced a $31 million, 5-year deal at SuperComm under which Wi-LAN will provide wireless broadband access products to a cellular network that 4G plans to build.

Wi-LAN, in Calgary, Alberta, will supply 4G, a Dallas service provider, with 2.4GHz Hopper Plus and 5GHz I.Will units. Wi-LAN's I.Will System is built with a patented Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (W-OFDM) technology, a spokesperson for Wi-LAN said.

W-OFDM is a variation of OFDM that enables low-cost broadband applications and improves on the technology, Wi-LAN said. The signal reception is corrected for distortions, allowing greater transmission speeds. W-OFDM lets lower power, multipoint radio networks be implemented, minimizing interference with adjacent networks.

4G's planned network will initially provide broadband fixed wireless services at speeds up to 30M bit/sec. The company plans to begin offering fixed wireless services in the fourth quarter of this year to commercial customers. Consumer services will follow in the second quarter of next year, according to a statement.

Wi-LAN, along with Ericsson, Nokia, Philips and Sony, is involved in an effort to create a single standard for high-speed wireless communications. Representatives of those companies are included on a steering committee of the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Forum.

Wi-LAN and the other companies are backing a single OFDM standard that would make possible wireless broadband communication between devices such as personal digital assistants and Windows CE devices.

Wi-LAN can be reached at 403-273-9133 or at www.wi-lan.com/.