APCO: MSV announces Sprint Nextel deal, mutual-aid talkgroup 

By Donny Jackson

BALTIMORE--Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) today announced a resale agreement with Sprint Nextel, which will market MSV’s mission-critical satellite communications service as a complement to the commercial wireless carrier’s emergency-response-team offerings...

APCO: Telecommunicators can be key in helping combat terrorism 

By Donny Jackson

BALTIMORE--Emergency call takers and dispatchers may not be in the field, but they can be the first line of defense in identifying terrorist activity and limiting its damage, a speaker said yesterday during a continuing-education course proceeding today’s opening of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) conference...

Frontline: iPhone shows independent network needed 

By Donny Jackson

Limitations associated with the much-hyped rollout of the iPhone underscore the need for an independent 4G wireless network in the United States—the kind of network proposed by Frontline Wireless using 700 MHz spectrum, a company official said yesterday...

PSAPs can get interoperability money, NTIA official says 

By Donny Jackson

CHARLOTTE--Public safety answering points (PSAPs) and other 911-related entities are eligible to receive a portion of the $1 billion in interoperability funds being allocated during the next year, an official with the government agency overseeing the grant program said yesterday...

EFJohnson announces availability of enhanced P25 vocoder 

By Donny Jackson

Communications vendor EFJohnson is including the Enhanced Project 25 digital vocoder in its new P25 radios and will offer the capability as an upgrade to some existing customers, the company announced recently...

Encryption module available for Icom, Kenwood and Vertex radios 

- MRT

NetMotion upgrades mobile VPN software 

By Glenn Bischoff

NetMotion Wireless announced version 7.2 of its Mobility XE mobile VPN software package, which now supports the Windows Vista operating system and gives network administrators more control...

Sprint Nextel continues to lose iDEN customers 

By Donny Jackson

Sprint Nextel lost more than 700,000 traditional iDEN customers while registering a $211 million loss during the first quarter, offsetting growth in other sectors of the wireless carrier’s business, corporate officials said today during the company’s earnings conference call...

Shared Spectrum to demonstrate radios with cognitive abilities 

By Donny Jackson

Shared Spectrum will demonstrate its cognitive-radio system developed for the military’s neXt Generation (XG) program this week at an IEEE symposium on shared-spectrum technologies that begins tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland...

FCC nixes idea of cell phones on planes—for now 

By Donny Jackson

The FCC yesterday released an order terminating its proceeding to examine whether cellular phones could be used on board airplanes but acknowledged that the item could be reconsidered in the future...

xG Technology, Telefonica Mexico to pursue joint venture 

By Donny Jackson

Florida-based technology upstart xG Technology has signed an exclusive agreement with Telefonica Mexico (Pegaso PCS S.A. de C.V.) that could result in a joint venture to deploy a network based on xG Technology’s xMAX solution in Mexico...

IWCE: RELM plans small, lightweight Class A radio 

By Glenn Bischoff

LAS VEGAS--RELM Wireless plans to introduce this summer the “smallest, lightest Class A spec” radio on the market, said Dave Storey, the company’s president, in an interview with MRT. The radio will be marketed under RELM’s BK Radio brand....

IWCE: JPS gateway connects IP phones, two-way radios  

By Mary Rose Roberts

LAS VEGAS--Raleigh, N.C.-based Raytheon JPS Communications launched the ACU-2000 IP gateway at IWCE 2007 in Las Vegas. The device converges interoperability, Internet protocol (IP) and session initiation protocol (SIP) functions into a single communications system...

IWCE: M/A-COM announces new P25 radio 

By Donny Jackson

LAS VEGAS--Wireless vendor M/A-COM today introduced the P5400, a P25 radio that is among the smallest in the industry for a public-safety-grade LMR device, said Greg Farmer, M/A-COM product manager...

IWCE: EFJohnson announces resale agreements 

By Donny Jackson

LAS VEGAS--Wireless systems vendor EFJohnson this week at IWCE is announcing business agreements with two partners that are designed to bolster its solutions portfolio...