Career convergenceA wireless executive returns to video roots

Maggie Wilderotter doesn't plan to exit the wireless realm without taking a little of it with her.

The AT&T Wireless Services executive will start the new year as chief executive officer of Wink Communications, a developer of software and systems for interactive video. She spent 12 years at CableData, which provides management information and billing services to cable TV providers, before joining McCaw Cellular Communications in 1991.

But Wilderotter also has five years of wireless experience, first as president of McCaw's Western region and most recently as executive vice president of national operations at AT&T Wireless (AT&T purchased McCaw in 1994) and CEO of its aviation communications division. Her experience could prove to be the most essential in Wink's new quest to take its technology into wireless markets.

Wink's idea is to use its interactive technology to stream data to cellular phones and pagers, eliminating network alterations. By doing so, Wink plans to tap into the growing market for wireless services beyond voice.

"Phones have menus and larger screens, which give you the opportunity to have alphanumeric text and graphics," Wilderotter said.

That wireless component will accompany Wink's continuing development of its client-server technology for interactive video services. General Instrument, Scientific-Atlanta and Pioneer have embraced the Wink ITV standard for enhanced broadcasting for their set-top boxes. The standard has also been adopted by the Japanese InterText Consortium.

"You can leverage content on a number of different platforms," she said. "The average American household has a TV on seven hours a day. If you can take that content and enhance it, you change the paradigm.

In Wilderotter's eyes, the breadth of possibilities for Wink's offerings means her career move is more transition than drastic shift.

"I'm just adding cable to what I'm already doing, and that to me has tremendous appeal," she said.