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Omnipoint Technologies Inc. (OTI) announced Tuesday that it is being sold by VoiceStream Wireless Corp. to Xircom Inc. in an exchange of stock valued at $52.2 million. Xircom, based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., is the world's largest producer of networking cards in notebook computers.
Omnipoint Corp. was founded in Colorado Springs in 1987 to conduct research in digital wireless communication. Since 1996 its subsidiary, Omnipoint Communication Service (OCS), has held a license to provide GSMC (Global System for Mobile Communication) wireless phone service to major Eastern cities including New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Miami, as well as Midwestern markets such as Detroit and Indianapolis. Globally, GSMC is the preferred technology for cellular communication.
Xircom officials said the company plans to leverage OTI's expertise in wireless data products based on general packet radio service (GPRS) technology to produce wireless networking modems for laptops and handheld PCs. The new products are expected to be released by the end of the year.
Bellevue, Wash.-based VoiceStream already held licenses for most major markets west of the Mississippi, including Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Portland. When it acquired Omnipoint Corp. in February 2000 for a reported $4.6 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt, the company became one of the largest licensees in the world employing GSM technology. VoiceStream had purchased Aerial Communications in September 1999,...