Sierra Wireless supports new Canadian centre of excellence for wireless commercialization

Pledges financial and technical support for Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre to make Canada a leader in M2M communications

VANCOUVER, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ - Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR; TSX: SW) today announced  its support for the Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre (WWCC), which the Government of Canada has chosen as one of the grantees of the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) 2010 competition. The WWCC has been awarded $11.6 million in federal funding to drive the growth of Canadian wireless companies, improve their global competitiveness and productivity, create high value technology and business jobs, and improve the quality of life for Canadians. 

With the financial and technical support of Sierra Wireless, a global leader in wireless solutions for mobile computing and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, the WWCC will be launching an industry-leading M2M Development Lab and Market Development Program to enable Canadian universities, emerging start-ups, and solution providers to rapidly prototype and commercialize new M2M applications.   

Wireless M2M communications is a rapidly growing market, as an increasing number of applications are using integrated wireless communications capabilities. These include smart meters that monitor and communicate power usage to utilities and consumers; connected cars that offer emergency calling and internet connections for safety, convenience, and entertainment; industrial equipment with remote monitoring capabilities; wireless handheld payment processing machines; and innovative connected consumer devices like e-book readers, wireless health monitoring devices and personal navigation devices. ABI Research has forecasted that worldwide cellular M2M connections will continue to grow at a rate of 26 percent per year through 2015, to a total of more than 297 million connected devices.⁽¹⁾

The WWCC will promote the commercialization of all wireless technologies through its world-class business and technical advisory services, global market linkages and training opportunities. The M2M lab will additionally offer industry-leading development and testing solutions for M2M solution providers and application developers to accelerate their time to market. Specifically, the WWCC M2M Development Lab will provide:

Developer Support: Developers using the centre will have access to wireless hardware devices along with development tools, training and technical support, plus sandbox access to the Sierra Wireless AirVantage™ web-based M2M service delivery platform, which provides a broad set of capabilities to accelerate the design, deployment, and management of M2M solutions.

Pre-Certification Testing: Devices with integrated cellular radio modules require extensive certification testing to be approved for use on cellular networks. The M2M lab will provide pre-certification to help mitigate costly delays in the certification process, helping application and product developers get new products to market faster.

Interoperability Testing: As M2M is becoming a pervasive technology in the utility industry and in smart appliances, the WWCC will also provide certain interoperability testing for smart grid components such as smart meters, home area network devices such as in-home displays, and smart household appliances.

The WWCC was championed by Wavefront, a commercialization centre accelerating the growth of Canada's wireless and new media development companies that was established in Vancouver in 2007. Sierra Wireless has been an early supporter of Wavefront, collaborating in 2008 on the Sierra Wireless - Wavefront Developer Program, which solicited best-in-class consumer and enterprise mobile broadband applications and resulted in increased global promotional exposure to Sierra Wireless' market distribution channels for the program's finalists.

"We are proud to support Wavefront in building world-class commercialization capability in wireless M2M and we commend the Government of Canada for embracing the wireless industry as part of its Digital Economic Strategy," said Jason Cohenour, president and chief executive officer of Sierra Wireless. "We believe the capabilities to succeed in M2M - from sophisticated wireless devices to advanced applications and complex systems integration - are a good fit with the knowledge and experience in the Canadian wireless industry and there is an opportunity to build a strong market position for Canada."

"Sierra Wireless is a global leader in the M2M space which is poised for exponential growth. By teaming with Sierra Wireless, the WWCC will have the capacity and expertise to drive Canadian M2M innovation globally," said James Maynard, president of Wavefront.

For more information on Wavefront and the WWCC announced today, visit www.wavefrontac.com.

⁽¹⁾ ABI Research, M2M Market Data, Published August 3, 2010.

About Sierra Wireless
Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR - TSX: SW) offers industry-leading mobile computing and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications products and solutions that connect people, devices, and applications over cellular networks. Wireless service providers, equipment manufacturers, enterprises and government organizations around the world depend on us for reliable wireless technology. We offer 2G, 3G and 4G wireless modems, routers and gateways as well as a comprehensive suite of software, tools, and services that ensure our customers can successfully bring wireless applications to market.  For more information about Sierra Wireless, visit www.sierrawireless.com. 

About Wavefront
Wavefront is the commercialization centre accelerating the growth of Canadian wireless and new media companies.  Wavefront improves speed-to-market and delivery of mobile applications and devices by providing emerging companies with a suite of WaveGuide™ training, mobile industry advisory, incubation and testing services that facilitate market linkages and commercial engagement with the mobile ecosystem and enterprise companies around the world. For more information, visit www.wavefrontac.com.

"AirVantage" is a trademark of Sierra Wireless. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements about future market conditions, supply conditions, channel and end customer demand conditions, revenues, gross margins, operating expenses, profits, and other expectations, intentions, and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact. Our expectations regarding future revenues and earnings depend in part upon our ability to successfully develop, manufacture, and supply products that we do not produce today and that meet defined specifications. When used in this press release, the words "plan", "expect", "believe", and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in technology and changes in the wireless data communications market. In light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding the wireless data communications market, you should understand that we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release will be realized.

SOURCE Sierra Wireless, Inc.