Tech Beat: Room for small caps in wireless?

Not all that long ago, the term wireless applied specifically to voice communications. But as is understood by anyone who has discovered the texting feature on their cell phones, the global positioning systems in their cars, or attends company conferences remotely from a laptop in their local Starbucks, wireless voice technology today is just one of a multitude of wireless applications.

The term wireless in the year 2007 applies to the transmission of voice, video and data and covers a long and growing list of uses from accessing the Internet over a handheld device to preventing theft of truck cargo by implanting a GPS device in the trailer. Quite simply, the industry is booming.

Wireless technology helps corporate executives work more effectively on the road, keeps blue collar workers more efficient in the field, and is providing a lot more entertainment options for the living room, the car and the daily subway commute.

The sheer number of wireless devices and applications as well as potential users makes it difficult to even measure the size of the market.

One good statistic is that consumer spending on wireless technologies is projected to exceed spending on wireline, or fixed wire services by the year 2010. And anecdotally, there is growing evidence that more and more consumers prefer using their cell phones for text and entertainment data than to talk. That shift is spurring demand for new wireless technologies.

All the companies that years ago made money selling traditional land-line telephone equipment today are pouring resources into wireless networks, and in recent years many of these industry giants have grown even larger through mergers and alliances. France’s Alcatel merged last year with Lucent Technologies – resulting in Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) -  while Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT) formed a partnership with Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) to build wireless technologies for corporations. Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) has increasingly been investing in Internet gear to allow for the delivery of voice, video and data to wireless devices, and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is actively acquiring smaller businesses that make technologies to enable wireless communications.

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