PAGERS AREN'T JUST FOR PAGING ANYMORE

Pagers now able to send graphics, text and more

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) -- For years the pager has been the sturdy, no-frills nag of the work force. But through the alchemy of algorithms, two Eastside software companies have made radical changes in what pagers can do.

Both Redmond-based Data Critical Corp. and Notable Technologies in Bellevue have figured out how to squeeze a remarkable amount of information through the chunky, cracker-sized device.

Data Critical's core technology is wireless transmission of photographs and charts; Notable's key products are wireless e-mail and a real-time financial news and stock quote service that alerts users to market shifts.

Their products are outriders of a herd of new services being developed for alphanumeric and two-way pagers. Today's pagers do more than beep: they display text messages on small screens and plug into laptop computers so colleagues can swap documents even if one of them is off fishing.

Pager use has been growing between 20 percent to 30 percent a year, said Craig Kairis, Data Critical's vice president of market development.

"I liken the wireless industry now to the personal computing industry in the '80s. We're at the tip of the iceberg in what we're about do to," Kairis said.

Both companies have ties to McCaw Cellular Communications Inc., which is now AT&T Wireless.

Data Critical's chief executive Jeffrey S. Brown and Kairis both came from McCaw's Wireless Data division.

Notable, a California-based company founded in 1991, combined with McCaw Information Broadcasting in 1994, relocating to Bellevue. AT&T Wireless remains a major shareholder. Chief executive Steve Wood was a former vice president of information broadcasting at McCaw Development Corp. Wood also worked at Microsoft in its early days -- he was the company's sixth hire.

But a good idea is not guarantee of success.

While Data Critical is in its second round of venture capital, Notable Technologies recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Data Critical is finding its success as a niche player through a set of tightly focused paging products targeting three markets: medicine, law enforcement and utilities.

Data Critical was founded in 1993 by Dr. David Albert, a medical device developer and consultant in Oklahoma City who has worked with Seattle's Quinton Instrument Co. Albert saw a need, particularly in rural areas, for doctors to be able to receive critical information quickly from a remote location.

Paging provided a perfect medium.

With Aziz El Idrisi, a biomedical software specialist, Albert developed the company's patented secure Data-through-Paging (DTP) technology.

DTP compresses data by substituting symbols for chunks of data and eliminating unnecessary data. For instance, DTP transmits a graph or map by sending only the lines -- not the space surrounding them. The data is also coded to preserve its privacy.

DTP can also bundle information into electronic packets for quick cellular transmissions, skating through the millisecond pauses in wireless conversations in a flash.

So far, Data Critical has parlayed its DTP technology into products which take advantage of either the paging networks' reach into rural areas or the pager's ability to reach several people at the same time.

Working with Hewlett-Packard, which makes patient monitoring systems, Data Critical developed a paging device which can zip critical patient information to doctors anywhere in seconds.

The size of a notepad, the PalmVue wireless receiver displays key vital statistics such as blood pressure and pulse. What it means is that doctors can make decisions quickly from remote locations.

Data Critical's two medical products are ECG-STAT, which transmits electrocardiogram graphs and OB-STAT, which transmits information about fetal heart rate and maternal contractions.

The FBI helped Data Critical develop its Image APB, which transmits mug shots to squad cars equipped with laptop computers. The product debuted after the Oklahoma City bombing. Law enforcement agencies used Image APB to broadcast mug shots of the suspects across the country.

Data Critical's newest product line transmits work site maps to utilities' crews.

Notable Technologies foundered when it asked backers for more money. AT&T Wireless refused to put another half-million dollars in Notable, which spooked other investors and sent the start-up into Chapter 11.

"By the time we realized we would not be able to close our financing in the form we expected, it was like trying to turn the Queen Mary. The company had already made commitments and spent a fair amount of money on the expectation we would move forward," said Steve Wood, Notable's chief executive.

Part of Notable's present difficulty is a result of an earlier decision by the company to sell airtime and pagers.

"On the scale Notable was trying to do -- with a few thousand or tens of thousand of subscribers -- the overhead just kills you, the customer service overhead primarily," Wood said. "We had difficulty having as close a relationship with the carriers as we wanted when they felt that part of the time we were competing with them."

But Notable's financial services and wireless e-mail are doing well, he said.

Notable's Septor Financial Information Service offers timely financial news and a custom portfolio of stock quotes which can be programmed to alert users to changes in prices of particular stocks. Notable's AirNote can pick up messages and e-mail sent by phone or computer modem.

Wood said he's been looking for a buyer for Notable for the last three months, and believes there's a good market for the paging products the company has created.

"From our point of view, we're in the right place at the right time -- or I wouldn't have gone through all the pain, effort and expense to keep Notable alive and try to find it a home," Wood said.