Clearwire Picture Cloudy

For all the end-of-the-year talk about how the tech IPO market would come roaring back in 2007, it's been remarkably quiet so far. But things are about to heat up with the launch of the Clearwire initial public offering.

There's been quite a bit of buzz around Clearwire. It has strong footing in an emerging technology -- WiMax, a wireless broadband alternative to cable and DSL. It's backed by deep-pocketed giants such as Intel .

And above all, it's the current pet project of one of the biggest names in American entrepreneurialism: Craig McCaw. ...