The specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed..
Agilent (
News -
Alert) officials said that it offers R&D, interoperability, conformance, manufacture and deployment test solutions for a wide range of wireless communication systems including cellular, Wi-Fi, WiMAX and Bluetooth-enabled products. Agilent is the second test equipment manufacturer to license Wi-LAN technologies in fiscal 2009.
This license with Agilent brings the total number of license agreements signed so far this quarter to 15 and the total number of wireless license agreements signed to date to 73.
Wi-LAN, founded in 1992, is a technology innovation and licensing company. Wi-LAN has licensed its intellectual property to over 190 companies worldwide.
Wi-LAN Inc. recently
announced that the company has acquired a portfolio of over 125 issued and pending wireless patents from NextWave Broadband, Inc. (NextWave), an early developer of mobile wireless broadband products.
Company officials said a number of the inventions protected by the issued and pending patents acquired from NextWave may relate to 4G wireless technology. 4G refers to the fourth generation of wireless communication systems. A 4G system is expected to upgrade existing communication networks and to enable the delivery of data, voice, and streaming multimedia to users on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis and at much higher data rates compared to previous generations.
This acquisition increases the size of Wi-LAN’s patent portfolio to over 670 issued and pending patents. In consideration for the acquisition, a payment will be made to NextWave in the third quarter of fiscal 2009.
Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anil’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Amy Tierney