MDS America

Infobox Company
color = red
company_name = MDS America, Inc.
company_
company_type = Corporation
foundation = 2001
location = flagicon|USA Stuart, Florida, USA
key_people = Kirk Kirkpatrick
industry = Telecommunication Manufacturing
products = Direct broadcast television, Internet
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees = 20
parent =Al Fawares Holding
subsid =MDS Operations
homepage = [http://www.mdsamerica.com]
footnotes =

MDS America, Inc (MDSA) is a startup wireless Internet and wireless cable TV technology provider based in Stuart, Florida. MDS America was the primary party responsible for the invalidation of Northpoint Technology Inc's patents having to do with terrestrial rebroadcast of satellite signals. [ [http://www.fedcir.gov/opinions/04-1249.pdf Appellate Ruling] ]

MDS Operations, an affiliated company, participated in recent auctions in 2005 and 2006 held by the FCC of the frequency band of 12.2 - 12.7 GHz, which it christened "MVDDS". [ [http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=MVDDS/ TechWeb definition] ]

Technology

The receiver of MDSA's system uses a technology that is patented under US patent number 7,286,795. [ [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7286795.PN.&OS=PN/7286795&RS=PN/7286795 United States Patent: 7286795 ] ]

The MVDDS system uses similar spectrum to a DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) system, and is capable of operating at the same frequencies without interference. The MDSA two-way system competes against satellite internet access; the shorter round trip distance of only a few hundred kilometers reduces the latency compared with a geostationary satellite's 44,000 mile 250ms latency. The MDSA system has the disadvantage of requiring infrastructure closer to the user - a satellite can cover a significant proportion of the country, instead of the maximum 200km radius of an MDSA base station. However since the MDSA signal can be sectorized, MDSA's bandwidth, unlike that of satellite, can be multiplied in most geographical areas. For video distribution, this means that local channels and local advertising can be injected into the signal, unlike with DBS satellite systems.

Legal History

MDSA was sued by Northpoint Technology Ltd., [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E6DC1631F933A05757C0A9649C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fF%2fFederal%20Communications%20Commission%20/ Northpoint/MDSA info] ] on the grounds of patent infringement (US Patents #5,761,605 and #6,169,878.) MDSA contended that the patents that Northpoint had been granted were invalid since the patents essentially covered attributes of a satellite dish and Northpoint had not invented satellite dishes. In 2004, a jury in Federal Court in Ft. Pierce, Florida invalidated both asserted Northpoint patents on four separate grounds [ [http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/default.asp?file=cases/index.html/Federal Court Site] ] . This court case and subsequent invalidation of Northpoint's patents opened the way for the auctioning of MVDDS spectrum. [ [http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3102421/ Northpoint and MVDDS] ]

Appeal

The above case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On June 28, 2005, the court AFFIRMED the findings of the lower court permanently invalidating both patents. [ [http://fedcir.gov/opinions/04-1249.pdf Appeals Court Decision] ] [ [http://www.sbca.com/PublicAffairsdocs/NP_Wright_Testimony_052203.pdf Spectrum Grab] ]

Management

*Kirk Kirkpatrick: Founder, President, and CEO
*Peter Blond: Exec. Vice President and COO
*Grigory Kholodkov: Chief Engineer MDSA
*Sharif Rabah: Vice President, Sales and Marketing
*Allen Quinn: Vice President, Operations
*Gopiballava Flaherty: CIO

External links

* [http://www.mdsamerica.com/ MDS America Inc Homepage]
* [http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=772&wit_id=2128/ MVDDS Senate Testimony]
* [http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/business/2002/mds.html New Wireless Broadband]

Notes