xG Announces Field Trials of its xMax Technology

In February 2006, xG Technology (News - Alert) announced that its xMax technology, which delivers mobile VoIP and other multimedia services over unlicensed wireless spectrum in the sub-GHz frequency range, had passed key FCC compliance tests.

 

The following month, the company announced that its first product would be a dual-mode, Wi-Fi mobile phone that would work with the company’s xMax wireless platform.

Then, in December, the company announced that, due to “unprecedented demand” for its xMax technology, it had no choice but to implement an increased fee structure for new and then-current mobile network operators planning to launch xMax-based service in 2008.

“The success of our xMax mobile VoIP deployment program highlights the demand in the marketplace to deploy and deliver our cost-effective mobile IP services,” said Frank Peake, director of sales and marketing for xG, in a release. “This change in our program allows us to prioritize potential customers in an orderly manner while also creating additional revenue for the company. xG has already entered into contracts in 130 communities covering approximately 57 million people for 2007, affording us an opportunity to accomplish a fast and cost efficient wireless rollout.”

But the “fast and cost efficient” rollout never seemed to come to fruition: In September 2007 the company announced yet another plan to launch a new (beta) mobile VoIP service in Florida by that coming November. In addition, xG said it had deals in place with mobile operators in six to eight other areas of the U.S. -- with additional service rollouts expected in the months to come. Whether an xMax-based service was ever actually launched remains unclear: There are no reports or reviews from consumers to be found anywhere on the Internet.

In January 2008, the company announced that it was expanding its market reach beyond its initial market in Daytona Beach, Fla., to include new customers in Maryland, South Carolina, Kansas and elsewhere in Florida. In addition, in May of that year the company announced that it had selected Trinity Convergence’s (News - Alert) VeriCall Edge embedded VoIP software for its new xMax TX60 wireless handset, which was at the time was still being developed by Cambridge Consultants. Things seemed to be rolling along for the company -- but still no network deployments to speak of.

Then in September of 2008, xG announced that it bagged an order worth $75 million from Treco International to supply 1,000 next generation BSN250 base stations to various network operators. Treco, a European private conglomerate with major holdings in real estate, finance and telecommunications, as well as a stakeholder in xG, also reportedly became one of the company’s first customers late in 2008. According to published reports the idea was to have Treco “lease” the base stations to xG’s "territory partners" in Florida, such as regional internet service providers and local telecoms carriers. No word yet on how many of the base stations were actually deployed – and some critics of the company theororized that the base stations never shipped at all.

This week, the oft-criticized and publicly-maligned company issued a press release announcing that the base stations had been deployed and field testing was underway by several as-of-yet un-named “local telcos” in Florida.

The company also claims in its release that it has already collected “field trial results” of these deployments -- however it doesn’t offer any substantive measurements of network performance. Nothing about the nature of the transmission, signal quality, where the trials were carried out (including what the terrain was like) – nor does the release mention whether anyone else was using the spectrum at the same time.

Rather, the release simply states that the field trials “highlighted the reasons why the xMax approach can allow cheaper calling,” and goes on to state the obvious: That mobile VoIP is cheaper than traditional wireless service because it runs over unlicensed spectrum; that this new service will support mobile Internet and other multimedia services; and that the technology will enable smaller network operators to go up against the major carriers “by offering customers unlimited voice and data plans both locally and long distance, extremely low-cost international calling, no contracts, as well as home phone and high-speed Internet service.” All of which could be true for WiFi (News - Alert) and WiMAX as well.

Bottom line: Sarasota, Fla.-based xG Technology has been developing its mobile VoIP technology for more than seven years now, but due to the company’s secrecy there is very little evidence -- anecdotal or otherwise -- that its xMax technology is even viable.

xG claims its "revolutionary," chip-based “4G” wireless technology is a low cost method for delivering mobile VoIP. It claims the technology, which works in the sub-GHz frequency range, is up to “1,000 times more efficient than WiMAX (News - Alert),” and can send and receive signals at a range of up to 18 miles. The technology reportedly uses single-cycle modulation and a narrowband timing signal to synchronize and decode a wide-band, low-power signal (similar to that used in ultra-wideband).

xG says the real strength of its technology is its efficiency. Compared to WiMAX and WiFi, xG Claims xMax operates at much lower power levels – so low, in fact, that a base station can operate on a single watch battery for years. Yet, according to the company, xMax costs about 25 times less than other carrier-grade equipment.

xG claims xMax “is an international effort that involves companies in Europe and Asia.” The company boasts a portfolio of 50 U.S. and 101 international patents, with additional patents pending.

According to the company’s Wikipedia page, “as of January 2009, no verifiable public demonstration of a working system has been made, no independent authentication has taken place, and insufficient information has been released to allow analysis of xG's claims.”

So the question remains: If xG’s technology really does what the company claims, then why is it just being deployed now, after more than seven years of development and testing -- and furthermore, why is it that no one, other than investors who feel they’re being taken for a ride, talking about it? Indeed it will be surprising to see if this technology turns out to be something worthwhile – perhaps even more surprising to see if xG continues to find backers and survives the current economic downturn…