L.A. Companies Get Into Act on Latest Technological Trend By Bringing Software and Dozens of Services to Market.

YOU'VE heard the hype, which runs along the lines of "wireless will make you rich" or "wireless will spike the Nasdaq." And indeed, over the past two years, money has been pouring into just about every company with "wireless" mentioned in its business model.

It may sound like a replay of the dot-com hype that ended up in a meltdown, but there are those observers out there who think the wireless industry is in fact poised for spectacular growth.

"It's going to be big. It already is big," said Brad Jones, managing partner with Redpoint Ventures in Santa Monica. "We are watching wireless very carefully. Some of it is hype, but there are also some very interesting things happening."

The L.A.-based companies making the biggest strides in the industry are ones that provide wireless-enabling technologies and targeted software applications.

The predictions for the industry as a whole are encouraging.

Wireless subscribers worldwide will continue to grow at a 15.6 percent annual clip, according to Salomon Smith Barney, reaching 1.2 billion by the year 2005.

Mobile phones will account for most of that growth, but subscribers will also want Internet access, provided it's useful, cheap, speedy and reliable.

Cahners In-Stat Group predicts that 1.4 billion wireless subscribers will access the Net by the year 2005.

Because of that popularity, billions of dollars are now in play to deliver infrastructure, access and services.

Major Wavers

The three major players in wireless communications are device manufacturers (including Nokia Corp., Ericsson , Motorola and Samsung), the carriers (including Verizon Communications, SBC Communications and AT&T Corp.), and an array of technology providers that provide the backbone of wireless communications.

Those technologies and applications are amazingly diverse, because wireless will do much more than facilitate phone calls and emails. Hundreds of new services are coming to market.

Consider Infinite Mobility. The L.A. company offers targeted mobile software applications, like its PocketHoops software, which enables scouts for athletic teams to keep track of player statistics and other information on PDAs.

"Within three years, more workers will access the Internet through a wireless device than through a personal computer," said the company's zealous chief executive Jonathan Sebreiber. "Corporate users are demanding to be able to view Web content, execute transactions and receive critical corporate information via their PDAs, cell phones and pagers."

Infinite Mobility has formed partnerships with Microsoft Corp., Casio Inc., Interscope Records and recently sold its PocketHoops product to several NBA teams.

Another Southern California wireless software provider, FieldCentrix, is reaching out to the field service industry.

Out in the field

The Irvine-based company integrates its field service-oriented software with wireless devices and the Net. The company claims the applications increase field technician productivity and reduce costs.

FieldCentrix has formed partnerships with AT&T and Microsoft Corp.

A local company making headway in the wireless device market is Walnut-based ViewSonic Corp. Founded in 1987, the company is best known for its various visual technologies, such as flat panel screens. More recently, the company rolled out a slew of different wireless devices that allow users to do everything from shopping to banking.

One of the most forward-looking local wireless device and software companies is Beverly Hills-based Charmed Technology Inc. The company develops miniature wearable wireless devices that allow users to access the Net anywhere and anytime.

A spin-off of the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, Charmed already has devices in production that will transform everything from eyeglasses to lapel pins into wireless devices. The first product manufactured and available from Charmed is its SmartBadge, an electronic business card that can upload and transmit user information through infrared technology.

While based in San Diego, PackerVideo Corp. is establishing a strong presence in L.A. The company, which hopes to bring video and audio to wireless devices, is cozying up to Hollywood studios. The company's software enables content owners and providers and mobile operators to deliver audio and video to mobile users over any digital wireless network.

PacketVideo struck a deal with communications equipment giant Lucent Technologies in September, agreeing to jointly develop better streaming video technology for high-speed wireless devices.

The deal was at least the third that PacketVideo has secured in its effort to make its software part of the basic infrastructure of wireless phones. It has also agreed to build its streaming video software into Intel Corp.'s and Texas Instruments' chips.

"There's a lot of money being sunk into wireless technology, and some of it's wise and some of it's not," said Victor Hwang, chief operating officer of the L.A. Regional Technology Alliance. "The survivors are going to be the ones who develop the infrastructure. It's definitely going to be a long and competitive process."

The obstacles and challenges that threaten the development of wireless are intertwined with those that threaten new media convergence as a whole, according to Hwang. Wireless networks must be upgraded to third generation networks at the 700 MHz broadcast range, he said.

Third generation networks will enable connections that are faster, more reliable and always on.

"There is so much ingenuity being put into the development of wireless technology," Hwang said. "I have a feeling that the best is yet to come.