Handspring (HAND:Nasdaq - news - boards), whose stock came out at 20 and closed at 26 15/16 Wednesday, proves one thing about the IPO market: High-growth companies with a proven management team still can go public and achieve a robust reception from investors.

The IPO of OmniSky will attempt to prove another maxim of the School of What's Working Now for tech stocks. To wit: The new, sensible rules are suspended for companies whose business plans feature the magic words "wireless" or "optical networking."

OmniSky, like Handspring, has been created by former executives of handheld-device pioneer Palm (PALM:Nasdaq - news - boards). It's a solid team. CEO Patrick McVeigh was head of sales of Palm.

Michael Dolbec, senior vice president of business development, held a similar role at 3Com (COMS:Nasdaq - news - boards), the soon-to-be-ex-Palm parent.

President Barak Berkowitz is a longtime Apple Computer (AAPL:Nasdaq - news - boards) marketeer who also ran marketing for the former Infoseek, now the Go.com (GO:NYSE - news - boards) tracking stock of Disney (DIS:NYSE - news - boards).

And the basic business proposition is credible. OmniSky markets a wireless modem and companion Internet service for users of Palm's svelte Palm V handheld computer. It also plans offerings for Handspring's Visor, as well as gadgets that work with hardware running Microsoft's (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - boards) handheld software.

But a look at the prospectus for OmniSky's planned IPO, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 16, shows how this offering tries to rewrite the current rules. It is, in fact, reminiscent of 1999 -- in the good, bad and ugly senses of that turbulent time.

The good includes the sex appeal OmniSky will display for the public. Its most prominent partner and investor is News Corp. (NWS ADR:NYSE - news - boards). Lachlan Murdoch, the 28-year-old scion of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, sits on the board of directors. (News Corp. also holds a small stake in TheStreet.com (TSCM:Nasdaq - news - boards), publisher of this Web site).

OmniSky's biggest shareholder is Aether Systems (AETH:Nasdaq - news - boards), a provider of wireless information services whose shares have soared along with its fast-growing business.

Snazzing up this IPO are all the typical tactics we came to expect in last year's go-go offerings. The company initially raised money primarily from Aether, a venture unit of 3Com and various venture arms of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. OmniSky also raised money immediately before the filing from content-delivery service Akamai Technologies (AKAM:Nasdaq - news - boards), AT&T Wireless (AWE:NYSE - news - boards) (the main supplier of access lines to OmniSky) and InfoSpace (INSP:Nasdaq - news - boards), which also supplies wireless services to various Web sites. This now-standard, pre-IPO-filing mezzanine round raised a total of $90 million, according to the release from OmniSky.

What really makes the OmniSky filing a blast from the recent past, however, is that it's one of those brash science-project-stage companies asking the public to play venture capitalist -- to the tune of as much as $115 million. Revenue to date has been, in the company's words, nominal ($1.3 million). Only since May has OmniSky actively marketed its service, after a 5,000-subscriber trial in the first quarter.

This is the kind of entrepreneurial/investment banking hubris we haven't seen for a long time -- maybe not since Healtheon (HLTH:Nasdaq - news - boards) tried to go public on little more than a business plan in late 1998 before merging with WebMD.

News Corp. also is more than a passive investor. It is also a partner in a European joint venture with OmniSky, and its U.S. media entities will get $30 million of advertising from OmniSky over five years. Make an investment, gain an advertiser. That's pretty cool.

Finally, there's the fact that OmniSky committed to buying 100,000 Minstrel wireless modems from privately held Novatel Wireless by April 30. As of March 31, however, it had bought only 21,125, and owed Novatel $18.1 million. "We have discussed modifications to the agreement regarding delivery timetables," OmniSky says in its SEC filing.

Naturally, the document includes a lengthy discussion of competition for OmniSky, which sells the wireless modem for $299, and its service for $39.95 per month. Among the competition is Palm's own Palm.net service, which works with the Palm VII handheld computer.

Another is the service run by GoAmerica (GOAM:Nasdaq - news - boards), whose own shares, at around 10, are uncomfortably below their April 6 IPO price of 16.

OmniSky will have plenty of support to continue growing in the public eye. It is employing a five-banker underwriting team led by Credit Suisse First Boston, invoking the Herb Greenberg rule that any offering needing more than three investment bankers will rely more on the muscle of the institutions than demand by the market.

OmniSky may be on to something. It is positioned nicely in an undeniably hot field with mature and tested partners. But it's a completely unproven company with less than two months of full-bore operations under its belt, and facing stiff competition. If history offers any lesson, this IPO will be like an undercooked dish that could have used a little more heat before coming out of the oven.

Watch Silicon Valley columnist Adam Lashinsky and Gary B. Smith face off at the first RealMoney conference, live in New York, June 28. The challenge: technical analysis vs. fundamental research.

Says Adam: "Because I research *facts* about companies, I almost never agree with Gary B., who practices a form of voodoo called technical analysis. But when we get into the ring together, innocent bystanders generally enjoy themselves." -- Adam Lashinsky

Says Gary: "Technical Analysis rules, especially when my adversary is the pitiful Adam Lashinsky. Don't believe me? Then come watch me square off with him." -- Gary B. Smith

Surviving and Profiting in Treacherous Markets June 28, 2000, Marriott World Trade Center, New York City