Maddux Report - Tampa Bay's Business, Finance and Development Magazine

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Wireless Broadband in Clearwater

One of Florida's oldest, longest-operating Internet service providers (ISP) has launched a new wireless Internet service in Clearwater. It plans to rapidly expand the service to other parts of the Tampa Bay area. The company, Intelligence Network Inc., based in Clearwater, is one of a just a handful of companies that began offering Internet service in Florida in 1993. Its new service is called Ultrawave (www.ultrawave.net) and offers high-speed wireless broadband Internet connections that range in speeds up to 25 megabits per second. With speeds that fast, you could send an encyclopedia over the Internet in minutes. Comparably, sending a file that size over an ordinary dial-up line could take 25 hours or more.

Verizon Wireless' new service converts a laptop into a phone.

The most important aspect of the new service is that it doesn't require a phone or other type of connection, says Suzi Pilat, one of the co-founders of Intelligence Network. Pilat is Ultrawave's executive vice president. Husband George, is Utrawave chief executive officer. The wireless broadband service operates on the "free" unlicensed radio spectrum offered by the Federal Communications Commission.

Pilat says "there are already several small ISPs that are installing small networks around the country, particularly in rural areas where high-speed broadband is not available." "Our first deployment is for business access," Pilat says. "Our equipment is carrier grade which will endure mission critical business applications and needs. Ultrawave offers speeds from 1 megabit per second to 25 mbps. In the next few weeks, we will introduce our secondary deployment, which will be more for the smaller business or residential customer." For more information, see the Ultrawave Web site or call (727) 449-0072.

Verizon Wireless "3G" Technology Verizon Wireless introduced in April a new wireless cellular phone service that provides high-speed Internet access to customers using a cellular phone or a special computer modem-type device called an air card, that converts a laptop into a phone. It calls the new service Verizon Wireless Express Network. It was launched for businesses and consumers in Lakeland and the Tampa Bay area, West Palm Beach, Miami and Key West. The new service gives people Internet access at speeds between 40-kilobytes and 60-kilobytes per second, roughly the equivalent of the speeds consumers get when they use an ordinary dial-up modem in home PCs. The main advantage is that the new system makes it possible to connect using a special Verizon Wirelss cellular phone, making the transmission free from regular phone connections. A salesman on the road could pull over and use his or her laptop to send or receive data. Prices and rates vary. For additional information, visit www.verizonwireless.com or call (800) 308-3282.

Technology Partners
Technology Partners Global Inc., a professional networking organization for high-tech executives, has expanded its reach into the Tampa Bay area. The organization, founded in 2000 by Damon Cox, organizes and provides a forum for information exchange and networking, for its members. The company has branches in Florida and Georgia. It plans further expansion into the Boston area. For additional information visit www.techpartnersglobal.com or call (321) 559-1014.

Punch Card Medications
Clearwater-based Medical Technology Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: MDTY) says it has signed an agreement to install its OnDemand System for dispensing medications, at NeighborCare Inc.'s Lodi, Calif. facility. NeighborCare is the third-largest pharmacy provider of prescription medications to long-term care residents in the United States. "Our goal is to install two additional OnDemand systems in this fiscal year ending March, 2003," says Bob Smith, president of NeighborCare.

Tech FYI
George Gordon, Enporion chairman and chief executive, has joined the Tampa Bay Technology Forum's board of directors, the organization announced Š The Florida Legislature passed a $50 million bill that calls for the development of state university research centers. If funded, it is expected that the Florida Technology Development Act will help attract additional investment in the state and create more jobs.

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