OmniSky Corporation (Nasdaq: OMNY), the award-winning provider of branded wireless Internet and e-mail services for users of handheld devices, and Metricom, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCOM), a leading high-speed wireless data company, today announced plans to trial the OmniSky service over Metricom's Ricochet(TM) network. This is the first trial of the Ricochet network for handheld devices to be announced, and is aimed at extending the OmniSky service for the Pocket PC platform to the fastest wireless mobile data network on the market today. Leveraging Metricom's Ricochet broadband wireless network, OmniSky expects to be able to offer Pocket PC users significantly faster delivery of e-mail and complete Internet content, producing an even more robust user experience.
OmniSky plans to trial its wireless Internet service on the Ricochet network using the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC beginning in the first half of 2001. The Ricochet network represents a significant performance advantage as well as additional mobility and coverage areas for OmniSky users, further enriching the OmniSky experience. The combination of the OmniSky service over the Ricochet network promises to uniquely optimize the Pocket PC platform, producing a powerful experience with rich media, file attachments, streaming video and fast content downloads.
"True to our strategy, OmniSky has expanded to multiple platforms and multiple devices - and now we are beginning expansion to multiple networks," said Patrick McVeigh, OmniSky chairman and chief executive officer. "Expanding first to the Ricochet network - the world's fastest wireless mobile network - is a significant move for OmniSky. This collaboration with Metricom presents a mutual opportunity to develop enhanced services and reach out to new customers, it also holds tremendous potential for enriching OmniSky's already best-in-class user experience."
"The combination of Pocket PC, OmniSky and Ricochet will bring the rich experience handheld users have been craving," said Timothy Dreisbach, chairman and CEO of Metricom. "Our newly formed relationship is the opportunity for both companies to continue to push the mobile computing frontier and bring new capabilities to the increasingly critical handheld user market."
"The speedy performance of Metricom's Ricochet network combined with OmniSky's service means Pocket PC users can be mobile, working wirelessly at speeds they're used to from their desktops," said Rogers Weed, general manager, Mobile Devices Division at Microsoft Corp. "Because the Pocket PC platform offers the power to do things like access the Internet in full color and read Word and Excel attachments in e-mail, users can be truly productive wherever they are."
OmniSky launched its highly successful wireless Internet and e-mail service in the United States on the Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) network one year ago. The trial of the OmniSky service running the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC on the 128 kbps Ricochet network is an opportunity to explore new methods of wireless broadband content delivery to handheld devices.
At performance levels rivaling wired connections, Ricochet mobile access delivers an end-user experience that is five to ten times faster than current networks for the PDA. Users of the Ricochet network can view and download full Web content, send and receive email with attachments, link to corporate intranets through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and use applications, information and services at high connection speeds with flat-rate pricing and always-on connections. OmniSky is the first company to announce trialing the Ricochet network for the handheld device.
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