San Diego Metropolitan - San Diego Scene

The pall of Sept. 11’s terrorist attacks dimmed but didn’t halt the world’s largest convention devoted to the wireless Internet, the Wireless I.T. & Internet Convention. Held Sept. 10-13 at the San Diego Convention Center, the conference enabled San Diego companies from Qualcomm on down to showcase their latest inventions and meet potential partners.

A keynote discussion featuring Qualcomm CEO Irwin M. Jacobs was cancelled Sept. 12 after other participants couldn’t arrive. Other events including parties were either cancelled as inappropriate or redesigned to reflect the shock and grief at the attacks. Other sessions and exhibitions went on as planned.

Jeff Belk, senior v.p. of marketing of wireless giant Qualcomm, says this year’s convention focused on the practical applications now coming forth, such as Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless software for wireless phones. “Compared to the hype of a year or two ago, you’re going to see a much greater focus on real solutions, real devices, real applications, things that are available today,” Belk says.

Products shown included better cellular antennas, new wireless modems and devices to turn handheld computers into cellular phones.

The convention was the largest devoted to wireless data and Internet products, says Mark Steele, senior v.p. of business development of AirPrime. Based in Santa Clara with a research center in Carlsbad, AirPrime makes wireless products for handheld computers.

A Qualcomm veteran who helped develop a personal computer card modem using Qualcomm’s CDMA technology, Steele spent much of his time demonstrating the new module AirPrime developed for Sprint PCS. Called the Digital Link, the module turns a Visor handheld computer into a wireless phone on the Sprint Network, and also transmits data. The device costs $250.

In between answering questions from guests, Steele said he keeps about 2,000 names in his Visor database, and can automatically dial contact numbers from the software and capture incoming call numbers for reference.

The week before the conference, AirPrime announced it had received $40 million from a number of investors, including Qualcomm.

However, many other companies that had planned announcements for the convention held off, such as one planned at a joint Qualcomm/Verizon press conference for Sept. 12.

The event was planned for 16,000, however, attendance fell well short of that. CTIA officials declined to disclose figures. Thomas E. Wheeler, president and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the show’s sponsor, says the show still accomplished its main purpose.

“Over 80 percent of the exhibitors who were intending to be here are here,” Wheeler said at the convention. “The major players like Qualcomm and others are set up and operational. Frankly, I heard a lot of visitors say there was more than they expected.”

Exhibitors such as IBM, AT&T Wireless, Microsoft, Wireless Knowledge and Sprint PCS attended. However, some East Coast exhibitors such as Lucent appeared to be absent, unable to attend because of the shutdown in air travel following the attacks.

Another exhibitor, Del Mar-based e-tenna, is working on improving antenna performance. At the convention, the company showcased its so-called “phased array” antennas. These can be electronically configured to point to the strongest signal, without having to be manually adjusted. These antennas are smaller than the traditional parabolic antennas which must be mechanically aimed and are often criticized on aesthetic grounds.

The antennas can be used for much-talked about high-speed wireless data applications such as Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service, known as MMDS, and Local Multipoint Distribution Service, known as LMDS. Both can bring fast Internet connections to offices. They also can be used for satellite TV, notes David McCartney, president of e-tenna.

Founded last year, e-tenna is a spinoff of San Diego’s Titan Corp., which retains half ownership. The other half belongs to venture capital investors and company executives and employees. The combination of ownership means e-tenna has the financial stability of a billion-dollar corporate owner and the drive to innovate from venture capital, McCartney says.

E-tenna recently received $10.7 million in venture capital funding, which McCartney says indicates how well its technology is being received by investors. “There’s nobody in the market that has a low-cost phased array,” he says.