WiLAN

In 1992, Hatim Zaghloul and Michel Fattouche co-founded WiLAN after they developed together the Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (WOFDM), and Multi-code Direct-sequence Spread Spectrum (MCDSSS). Through WiLAN's efforts, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allowed OFDM technology over the 2.4 GHz unlicensed ISM band for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. MC-DSSS (MultiCode-Direct-sequence Spread Spectrum) is central to high speed CDMA applications, the main technology currently used by many cellphone networks.

In March 1998, WiLAN had its initial public offering.

In November 1999, WiLAN and Philips invited companies to attend a meeting to form an alliance to promote the OFDM technology and its applications. WiLAN was a founding member of the WiMAX Forum together with Ensemble, CossSpan, Harris, and Nokia.

From its founding in 1992 to 2000, WiLAN had success as interest and investment in the tech industry grew. However, in 2000, when the world's first tech bubble collapsed, WiLAN's fortunes changed. At the start of 2000, WiLAN's share price was at $80. By the end of that year, WiLAN's share price had dropped by 90 per cent.

Refocusing business in 2006

In 2006, WiLAN changed their business model. Instead of focusing on research and development and trying to commercialize its patent technology, WiLAN divested its various technology product lines to refocus its business on licensing intellectual property and patent rights.

WiLAN's company goals would center around licensing its own technology patents to third-party companies, as well as licensing patents it had acquired.

In line with WiLAN's refocus on patent licensing, in late 2005 the company brought in Jim Skippen, who had previous experience in licensing technology from working at Mosaid as a senior vice president of patent licensing and general counsel.

WiLAN also moved from its original location in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Ottawa, where the company has remained since. That same year, WiLAN acquired Tri-Vision, a company that developed a key ingredient in the V-Chip technology. WiLAN also signed a $50 million license deal with Nokia, allowing Nokia to use WiLAN's wireless patents.