xG: deal or no deal?

So: I'm ill.

I should be in bed.

Annoyingly, I remember that xG's deal with National Grid Wireless, which was never entirely described but appeared to be a territorial memorandum of understanding pending due diligence, had been extended to the end of March: more due diligence, I think. I can understand that. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, diligently collected.

I realise that it's now a week into April. Someone, somewhere, really should have something to say.

So I email xG's PR company, Citigate Dewe Rogerson. Has the deal been extended, finished, replaced? "Sorry," they say. "We're not with xG any more. Try the good folks at Bankside." I drop my erstwhile contact a note saying what fun it had been (CDR were also PR for Steorn: we've had some good times), and try to place Bankside.

It could be my throbbing head misbehaving, but I can't recall ever having dealt with them.

I really should go back to bed, but can't resist having a peek online. Aha - they do have a handful of IT clients, but seem more solid on mining companies (gold mines in the Philippines, South America and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - and that's just companies with names starting with M), East European real estate concerns and, at last a name I know, Cobra Beer.

There's another name I know, Rothschild, on the partner list. With offices tastefully interposed between the Bank of England and St Paul's, I'm not surprised we haven't had dealings with each other. It's a different kind of PR company altogether.

And I like Bankside's tagline, as refreshingly clear and unambiguous as a pint of Cobra: "Influencing investor decisions".

Which makes perfect sense: xG is all about the investment (it's very welcome to talk about radio technology, of course, but it remains extraordinarily unreceptive. So to speak).

Bed, or further investigation? Let's get under the influence.

I phone up. A well-spoken gentleman, clearly at ease with movers and markets, tells me that "Yes, xG are in town at the moment. Would you like me to set up a meeting tomorrow?". My lord, would I.

Last time CDG promised that, it fell through - and I seem to have fallen off xG's email press release list. And neither NGW nor Cambridge Consultants want to talk to me about the x to the G.

Still, new beginnings, fresh start and all that.

I apologize and explain that I'm not fit to be seen at the moment, but ask about the status of the NGW deal. The well-spoken gentleman says he thinks he knows, but promises to call back to confirm.

(That was an hour ago, and the flu has overcome the sheer adrenaline buzz of chasing this particular fox. I fear it is frit. Updates as/if they happen, as always.)

UPDATE!

No, not really. It's past Bolly o'clock in the City, and the phone remains untroubled, But to pass the time, I went digging back into the story of iDigi, xG CEO Mooer's first wireless data company, and found a far more recent story I missed first time around. This is from an American two-way radio trade mag called MRT, is dated July 1st, and says...

"After two years of questioning from an engineering community skeptical about its claims of a technological breakthrough, Florida-based vendor xG Technology has installed its first commercial network and appears to be on the verge of inking deals with multiple partners worldwide.

Using xG Technology's patented xMAX system, ISP Far Reach Technologies has deployed base stations in Volusia County, Fla., and is scheduled to begin selling mobile voice-over-IP (VoIP) services to customers beginning this month.

“That should be the magical time everybody's been waiting for — commercial-grade handsets together with commercial base stations operating on a network in customers' hands,” said Rick Mooers, xG Technology CEO.

Indeed, the first several hundred handsets were scheduled for delivery to Far Reach Technologies by the end of June for a beta trial, with a full commercial launch expected in August, said Russ White, Far Reach Technologies CEO"

There's lots more - go see - with Russ White expressing total satisfaction with his results so far, Fair use probably means I should stop quoting from this oh-so-quotable piece, but I can't resist one last snippet:

"Skeptics scoffed at some of the company's technical claims, but the deployment of the Far Reach Technologies commercial network should answer most questions, Mooers said."

Yes, yes it should.

I wonder how it's going.