The imported grass was frost-nipped and the sod was as firm as a chilled flapjack as brave officials held a ground-chipping ceremony Monday for the new Panasonic Wireless Design Centre.
The $13-million Calgary facility, slated to be completed in the much warmer month of June 2001, will be the Canadian headquarters of an international family of Panasonic design centres developing the next generation of wireless, web-enabled handset products.
The three-storey, 76,000 square-foot building at 8th Street and 72 Avenue N.E. will eventually house about 150 engineers and 25 support staff working on third-generation wireless protocols.
The Remington Development Corp. project is also the latest feather in the cap of a city working to develop a reputation as a wireless centre of excellence.
Calgary already hosts the wireless research divisions of Nortel Networks Corp. and Telus Corp., as well as home-grown high-tech companies including Wi-LAN and Cell-Loc.
“Panasonic did an assessment of a number of cities, and Calgary came out as number one,” said Mike Wuerstl, the company’s Director of Calgary Operations.
“There’s a lot of wireless technology already in the city, and several excellent education facilities. Those were all key factors for them coming to Calgary. And the Canadian dollar didn’t hurt.”
Also attending the ceremony, held Monday morning in a heated tent near the construction site, were slightly weather-shocked Panasonic officials from Suwanee, Georgia, the company’s North American wireless design headquarters.
“We did not account for this,” laughed Salah Jarrad, vice-president of Software and Systems for Panasonic, as he glanced at the turf platform built for the groundbreaking ceremony. “Very interesting.”
On a more serious note, Jarrad said he’s pleased with the availability of engineering and software talent in the Calgary area, who will help the company establish a strong North America presence in the wireless handset market behind the “Big Three” — Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola.
The Calgary design centre will be responsible for the core “over the air handshake” software in the handsets, which combine cellphone capability with Internet, e-mail and other interfacing applications.
Panasonic’s third-generation product line will offer a full suite of high-end features including high-speed Internet access and streaming audio and video.
Research will run the gamut from TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) infrastructure now commonly used in North America, to newer technology EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution), which allows for higher data transmission, and eventually to a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System-based protocol which can operate around the world.
“All these technologies are converging to a universal standard,” noted Jarrad. Panasonic staff will occupy the top two floors of the Calgary building, which will include a 6,000-sq. ft. health club.
