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CSI Wireless To Develop GPS-Enabled, TDMA/GSM/GAI OEM Wireless Phone Module With Airbiquity Airbiquity's aqLink™ voice channel software to be integrated for delivering GPS information to wireless networks
URL(s): CSI Wireless
Las Vegas, NV (CTIA) – March 21, 2001 – CSI Wireless Inc, a leading provider of advanced wireless and GPS technologies, announced at the CTIA
today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbiquity, a location technology company that delivers GPS data to wireless networks worldwide, for the development of an integrated multi-mode wireless OEM phone module combining TDMA/GSM, with GPS and Airbiquity's aqLink™ voice channel communications software. The unique OEM module will be available to mobile phone manufacturers worldwide to support wireless network providers' implementations of GPS or location-based services. Today's announcement at the CTIA marks CSI Wireless's entry into the location-enabled handset market, which encompasses a large range of location-based services for mobile phone subscribers and mobile Internet users.
Small and cost-effective, the OEM module will encompass a multi-mode TDMA/GSM/GAIT wireless radio, Global Positioning System (GPS) chipset receiver and Airbiquity's aqLink™ software for the transmission of location data over digital wireless networks.
"With this technology platform, we can provide handset manufacturers with an efficient and cost effective way to build GPS location functionality directly into their wireless phones," stated Stephen Verhoeff, President & CEO of CSI Wireless. "By integrating GPS and wireless technologies that we have already developed at CSI Wireless, with Airbiquity's patented aqLink™ software, we are able to provide an effective solution right at the board level." "Working with CSI Wireless, Airbiquity will embed our location delivery technology directly into the handset," said Dan Allen, President and CEO of Airbiquity. "We believe this will be very appealing to OEMs and their target consumers because our multi-protocol capability - making it the ideal choice as TDMA and GSM effectively merge during the next few years. The
addressable market is enormous."
Together, TDMA and GSM subscribers comprise more than 69 percent of the global wireless subscriber market. TDMA or Time Division Multiple Access, is gradually converging with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology that is the standard in Europe and many other parts of the world. Representatives of the two technologies have formed the GSM/ANSI-136 Integration Team (or GAIT), to define standards to allow GSM and TDMA phones to operate seamlessly between networks. The new module will provide clear cost advantages for OEM customers. In addition, the upcoming merging of GPRS into GAIT will not require new handsets or redesigned hardware.
With the new OEM offering, manufacturers will have the ability to manufacture handsets and other mobile wireless devices that work seamlessly over each of the TDMA, GSM or GAIT networks. The module can be used for current products such as phones, dedicated telematics modules and PDAs as well as for a wide variety of emerging product applications. The module will assist wireless network carriers in meeting the demands of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) E9-1-1 mandate. Nearly 60 percent of the wireless carrier filings to the FCC cited the selection of a handset-based approach to the pending mobile location requirement. The ability to determine the location of the phone enhances public safety for people placing emergency calls on their mobile phones. In addition to public safety applications, value-added services include location-sensitive billing, mobile directory assistance, personal navigation, improved roadside assistance and enhanced vehicle fleet management. Strategis Group has estimated that the wireless location services market is expected to generate more than $30 billion per year in revenue for European carriers and vendors by 2005.
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