Motorola, Cisco officially open Invisix house

Cisco Systems and Motorola opened the doors on their joint wireless Web development venture, Invisix, with the official launch of the first Invisix centre in the UK on Wednesday.

As announced earlier this year, Motorola and Cisco will invest a total of $US5 billion over the next four to five years to develop and promote global wireless Internet architecture and products, with a focus on systems integration on IP (Internet Protocol) networks.

"There is a permanence to this alliance," Invisix President and General Manager Woody Ritchey said to guests at the Invisix centre's open house and product demonstration in Stockley Park, outside of London.

The UK Invisix office, which is the first of four centres, specialises in end-to-end applications for wireless GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) digital standards for both voice and data. Specifically, Invisix is developing products and services for the new GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network, Ritchey said.

The other centres will be in Fort Worth, Texas; San Jose, California; and Tokyo, Ritchey said.

The UK Invisix center has three GPRS networks working full time for demonstrations as well as for development purposes. "The centre will serve as a test environment for customers where they can experience and test products from a customer perspective. We will also tap into third-party innovation," Ritchey said.

Furthermore, Invisix will act as a consultancy business, working as a sub-contractor for Motorola and Cisco led accounts, Ritchey said.

Invisix demonstrated IP network technologies including WAP (wireless application protocol) access over GPRS phones and handheld devices, voice Internet access and unified IP messaging platforms that connect e-mail, fax and voice messages over a wireless network.

Invisix expects to start releasing products on the market by the second half of 2000, Ritchey said.

Invisix is one of two companies jointly owned by Cisco and Motorola. SpectraPoint Wireless is the result of the Cisco/Motorola purchase of Bosch Telecom Inc. for its LMDS (local multipoint distribution services) wireless communication technology last June.

"We're a sister company to SpectraPoint so to speak, and we are currently partnering on some bids worldwide," Ritchey said.

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