university of calgary 2500 university dr nw calgary, ab t2n 1n4 western wireless: calgary and...

University of Calgary

2500 University Dr NWCalgary, AB T2N 1N4

Western Wireless: Calgary and Vancouver

Cooper H. Langford and

Jaime R. Wood, Faculty of Communication and Culture



Location quotient

© Calgary-promote



The Formation of NovAtel

• AGT and “Westech”– The AUORA 400 system - the first wide area

wireless network

• Nova - “an Alberta Corporation” (AGTL) and AGT (later Telus)– two regulated utility “monopolies”

• NovAtel (1982)– subscriber systems (esp. RSA - -50% of market)– Handsets– Growth, problems, and the privatization of AGT



Government Ownership and Divestiture

• Horst Pudwill (Telexel) offer– purchase company less loans on systems

business.

• Northern Telecom (Nortel) negotiations resume in 1992.

• Nortel acquires systems business ($38M)and agrees to create wireless “centre of excellence” in Calgary($12M) - Telexel acquires remainded for $3M and promise of $20M from five year profits.



Cluster Development

• Talent transfer to Nortel• Telus• CDC (GDC), Sanmina (later expanded)• e.g. Deltatee, Glenayre, CSI, Pelorus, Datap• NovAtel entrepreneurs• Harris, Novatel Wireless, JRC (leaving

NovAtel as GPS company) • AGT-NovAtel-UofC spin-off: Wi-LAN &

Cell-Loc



2001• >150 firms - majority since 1995.• 12,000 employed in wireless

telecommunication.• Nortel $1.5 B products in 2000 • Majors enter - Intel, Panasonic, Solectron,

Sanmina (exp), CDC (exp.)• Strong informal network based on “graduates

of NovAtel U”. • World market problems.



Vancouver history

• McDonald Detweiler and formation of MDI

• Motorola takeover

• Glenayre and MPR

• Pioneering in mobile data



…and the present • > 100 firms with well over $250 M revenue (2001)• Strong next generation, e.g.

– Sierra Wireless Inc.Designs and manufactures wireless data devices and enabling software and modems.

– MDSI Mobile Data SolutionDevelops wireless workforce management software.

– fSONA Optical WirelessDesigns and manufactures infrared laser communications equipment for high speed wireless communications.

• Mentoring traditions• Community infrastructure BCTIA, WinBC • BUT.. Loss of original firms of “global reach” –

creators of the talent pool.

http://www.sierrawireless.com/

http://www.mdsi-advantex.com/

http://www.fsona.com/

http://www.fsona.com/



Infrastructure• U of C Geomatics Engineering• TRlabs - wireless centre• U of C, SAIT, SFU, UBC, BCIT• IRAP, CRC, • CTI - Infoport project; Gov’t of AB (iCORE,

ASRA); Vancouver “community”; BC gov’t • Accountants, IP law, Suppliers• Venture capital (?)



Sources of “explicit knowledge”

…the global base Method and apparatus for performing bearer independent wireless application service provisioning (Motorola - 26)

1. TX 2. NJ 3. MD 4. MA 5. Ca 6. CA (assignee 2) 7. Swed 8. MA (assign CA 2) 9. NY 10. CA (2) 11. SWE (no assignee) 12. IL (Ca –2) 13. IL (CA 2).

Modem ejection assembly for a handheld wireless communication device (Sierra Wireless - 14)

1. CA 2. Ca 3. IL 4. Taiwan 5. Taiwan (2 assignee)

2. plus two European patents.

System and method for creating validation rules used to confirm input data (MDSI – 1)

1. CA 5 to CA assingnee (2) 3. WA 4. CO 5. NC 6. CT assign Can.

7. MD 8. FL assign NY 9. NY assignee(2) 10. NJ-NY-CT (NY 2) 11. CA(3) 12. WA 13. FL 14. MA plus 1 foreign patent.



Some policy implications

• Founding cluster?• Path dependence – myth of “best

practices” – how to benchmark?• What is local?

– not the core technology! – “sticky knowledge”– The role of the community (associations,

angels, Florida-Gertler score)



Qualitative benchmarking… a response to path dependence

• Networking Package – characterize the extent to which people, companies, stakeholders and other players in

the cluster and beyond interact with one another.

• Funding Package – What types of funding are the most accessible for the cluster

• Infrastructure Package – metrics of regional and cluster dynamics in terms of role of training and

educational institutions, expertise from specialist services such as IP law, accounting for technical firms, etc. and the impact of research and government

– A: Talent related and B: Other infrastructure



Final observations• Talent

• Quality of life

• Business climate - entrepreneurial spirit

• Tacit knowledge flows “on foot” - and informally

“… efficient import of technology and science from the global knowledge system, its efficient re-configuration to create new knowledge (Mode2) and add value, then successfully export (mainly intermediate) products to a world market. “

university of calgary 2500 university dr nw calgary, ab t2n 1n4 western wireless: calgary and...

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