Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Lumera Aims at Wi-Fi and Wi-Max Markets with Smart-Antenna

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2003 01:42:30 -0400

Lumera Aims at Wi-Fi and Wi-Max Markets with Smart-Antenna

Breakthroughs
Source: Business Wire
Publication date: 2003-09-03

BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 2003--Microvision, Inc.
(Nasdaq:MVIS) and Lumera Corporation, its majority owned subsidiary,
announced today that it has demonstrated two technologies that it
believes may form the basis for a family of unique "smart" antennas that
can address a broad range of wireless network applications including both
"Wi-Fi" 802.11b and "Wi-Max" 802.16 wireless Internet access.

The company says that it has demonstrated an innovative antenna design
using proprietary patch array technology to form single beam or
multi-beam disbursement patterns. According to Lumera, the compact
antenna -- measuring about 3 inches on a side and 1/4" in height -- is very
versatile and can support low power applications such as Wi-Fi, as well as
applications that require up to 10 watts.

The company says that it has also demonstrated major advances in the
design of proprietary polymer-based radio frequency (RF) phase shifters
that can result in dramatically reduced cost and power consumption for
smart antennas -- potentially key enablers for the most cost sensitive
wireless Internet applications.

According to Tom Mino, Lumera's CEO, the company plans to couple the
two developments in order to develop low-cost smart antenna products
that can address emerging requirements in a variety of large and growing
markets for wireless communication systems.

"Wireless network bandwidth can be highly sensitive to antenna
placement or positioning," offered Mino. "A network with its antenna(s)
improperly positioned may have difficulty carrying high-resolution video and
digital audio reliably, whereas the same network with just a minor change
in the antenna position could carry such media rich streams flawlessly.
Smart antennas improve signal quality and range and can improve
bandwidth availability and network coverage by electronically steering
and/or shaping the antenna pattern to more precisely aim it where it is
needed."

The technique can be applied in all manner of RF communication ranging
from satellite communication to GPS to cellular telephone networks and
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) such as Wi-Fi.

Wireless Ethernet or "Wi-Fi' has taken hold as a standard for wireless
broadband access to the Internet. When a computer equipped with a Wi-Fi
card comes within range -- usually 100 feet or so -- of a Wi-Fi access
point it can access the Internet with the same kind of broadband
performance as a hard-wired broadband network or up to 11 megabits per
second. Wi-Max is a next generation wireless standard that promises to
increase available bandwidth up to 70mbps and to extend broadcast range
up to several kilometers to enable wireless Metropolitan Area Networks
(MANs).

The market for Wi-Fi equipment has experienced strong growth during the
last two years as companies and individuals have installed wireless
infrastructure in homes, office buildings, retail locations and public places
in order to enable low-cost (and in some cases free) wireless broadband
access to the Internet.

According to a recent issue of Business Week, "Wi-Fi spending on
hardware and subscriptions is expected to reach $3.4 billion this year and
is growing at a 30% clip. Network buildouts over the next two years will
chip in $8.2 billion more."

Research analysts at the Gartner group say that by 2006, there are
expected to be 89,000 public Wi-Fi network access points and more than
99 million Wi-Fi users worldwide.

Consumer electronics makers and cable operators have been eyeing the
rise of Wi-Fi as well with plans emerging for Wi-Fi enabled televisions,
monitors and game consoles as well as handheld devices that could all be
connected with a single high-speed Internet connection. Analysts at Allied
Business Intelligence expect that by the end of 2008 there will be over 80
million wireless enabled video and host devices.

Wi-Fi has appeared in three major markets: residential, enterprise and
public "hot-spot" networks that are owned and operated by third parties.
Lumera says that smart antennae are likely to be increasingly important in
all three of these segments, because they can potentially increase
network reliability -- critical for high-bandwidth audio and video content --
and because they can allow for either automated or remotely-controlled
optimization of network performance. Such characteristics are key to
making sure that networks are user-friendly and to controlling the cost of
operating and maintaining such networks.

In February of this year Lumera first demonstrated an RF phase shifter
based on its proprietary electro-optic polymer technology. This device
allows the RF beam of an antenna to be steered and/or shaped in order to
more precisely aim it. The low voltage required to drive Lumera's
proprietary polymer components enables the design of phase shifters that
feature fully integrated electronics and allow for the elimination of
expensive and bulky power supplies.

The company says that its phase shifters have consistently demonstrated
very high quality beam steering with extremely linear response. However,
the company's latest designs exhibit dramatic improvement in angle,
shifting through as much as 120 degrees -- as compared to the 45
degrees previously attained -- using only 20 volts of power.

The newest Lumera designs also make innovative use of readily available
printed circuit board technology, enabling the antenna to be produced at a
dramatically reduced cost. As a consequence the company says that it
can now focus on more cost sensitive high volume markets that are
experiencing impressive growth.

"This is a very promising product direction for Lumera," said Mino. "With
our most recent development, we now believe we have the ability to design
and build antenna systems that can deliver high performance beam
steering and shaping at costs that can be compelling in virtually every
segment of the wireless market. Our particular focus is to enable a level of
network functionality previously not affordable for many of the highest
growth applications including the most cost-sensitive high volume markets
like residential Wi-Fi. We are actively working with prospective customers
and partners to fully define our product strategy, and we expect as a next
step to demonstrate fully functional smart antennas for one or more of
these applications later this year or very early in 2004."

About Lumera www.lumera.com

Lumera, a majority owned subsidiary of Microvision, Inc., is developing and
commercializing a new class of electro-optic materials and devices that
utilize proprietary polymer compounds and processing technologies.
These new devices and materials are expected to dramatically improve
performance and reduce costs of electro-optic components for
telecommunications, phased array antenna systems, optical computing,
optical signal processing and optical interconnects. The properties of
these materials are also expected to enable new applications in other
technologies such as organic light emitting diode displays, low k
dielectrics and coating materials. Lumera expects to be able to sell and
license its technology in a variety of forms, including custom polymer
materials, coated wafers, and discrete and integrated component devices,
both packaged and unpackaged. Additional information can be found at
Lumera's web site at http://www.lumera.com.

About Microvision: www.microvision.com

Headquartered in Bothell, Wash., Microvision, Inc. is a world leader in the
development of high resolution displays and imaging systems based on
the company's proprietary silicon micromirror technology. The company's
technology has applications in a broad range of military, medical,
industrial, professional and consumer products.

Microvision has been working with Canon, BMW, the Electronics
Research Lab of Volkswagen of America, Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon
Endo Surgery subsidiary and others to develop a number of display and
image capture product applications based on its proprietary scanned
beam technology.

Forward Looking Statement

Certain statements contained in this release, including those relating to
future business prospects, expected component and product performance
and cost reduction, enabling of new applications, ability to build new
antenna systems, development plans and product applications, as well as
statements containing words like "believe," "expect," "plans" and other
similar expressions, are forward-looking statements that involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected in the company's forward-looking
statements include the following: market acceptance of our technologies
and products; our ability to obtain financing; our financial and technical
resources relative to those of our competitors; our ability to keep up with
rapid technological change; government regulation of our technologies; our
ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary
technologies; the ability to obtain additional contract awards and to
develop partnership opportunities; the timing of commercial product
launches; the ability to achieve key technical milestones in key products;
and other risk factors identified from time to time in the company's SEC
reports, including in its Annual Report on 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2002 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Publication date: 2003-09-03

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=41317751&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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