The SDR Forum™ is Now The Wireless Innovation Forum

Announcement Made at Annual Technical Conference and Product Exposition

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SDR Forum members approved a renaming of the organization to Wireless Innovation Forum™ (www.WirelessInnovation.org) during its annual technical conference and product exposition, SDR’09, the premier event for bringing next-generation radio technologies to life, held December 1 through 4 in Washington, DC.

“The committee feels that this is a natural evolution of The SDR Forum, as reconfigurable radio technologies have expanded beyond those that are solely SDR to include cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum access”

The renaming comes after a year-long research and planning effort by the group’s Organization Transformation Committee, composed of 10 Forum members, and supported by independent marketing firm Howe Brand Communications. The committee proposed the name change to the board, who then proposed it to the members at the meeting after having debated the merits of the change.

“The committee feels that this is a natural evolution of The SDR Forum, as reconfigurable radio technologies have expanded beyond those that are solely SDR to include cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum access,” says Lee Pucker, Forum CEO. “The board agreed that the changes best support the long-term health of the organization and needs of our members. Our organization is comprised of organizations from across the wireless value chain of next-generation wireless technologies, and we feel our new name more accurately reflects this. We consider this to be Version 2.0 of The SDR Forum.”

Established in 1996, The Forum is a non-profit international industry association with a 100+ strong membership comprised of world-class technical, business and government organizations from EMEA, Asia and the Americas who are passionate about creating a revolution in wireless communications based on reconfigurable radio. It is the only organization in the world dedicated to serving the industry's needs through advocacy, opportunity development, commercialization and education. The renaming will not change the current benefits provided to its members or the Forum’s primary mission. The Forum’s legal name will continue to be The Software Defined Radio Forum, Inc. and will do business as The Wireless Innovation Forum. To learn more about The Wireless Innovation Forum, its meetings and membership benefits, visit www.WirelessInnovation.org.

The vote occurred during the group’s annual meeting, held during SDR’09, which represents the latest in an annual conference that has become a highlight on the wireless industry event calendar. Sponsored this year by General Dynamics C4 Systems, Harris, Motorola, Xilinx, Wind River and Pentek, the event brings together world class business and technical leaders from around the world across commercial and civil organizations including service providers, operators, manufacturers, developers, regulatory agencies and academia.