Scanning…
Jules K. Neuringer We’ve spent time looking into a matter described in a letter from Jules K. Neuringer, president of Portronix Communications in Brooklyn, NY. Portronix has a reseller agreement with Motorola, and Motorola has suspended product shipments to Portronix because Neuringer resisted revealing detailed information to Motorola about his customers. It looks as though, whether Neur-inger gives notice to cancel the reseller agreement or Mot-orola terminates it for him, Portronix will cease to be a Motorola dealer as soon as the end of June.
We interviewed Neuringer and three other Motorola dealers, Tim Curbow, David Reeves and Bill Landis. Their comments, along with Neuringer’s letter, appear on the “Online Extras” page under “Industry News” at www.mrtmag.com. At deadline, an interview with a Motorola representative was pending.
Thanks, and goodbye “In 1999, PCIA had the best fiscal year in its history,” said Jay Kitchen, president of the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA), the largest frequency coordinator for the business/industrial frequency pool. Despite the successful year, PCIA has found it necessary to lay off 10 employees from its 91-person staff.
“All of the individuals involved were provided with generous severance packages and outplacement services,” Kitchen said.
PCIA isn’t saying which parts of its business are most affected by the layoff, letting us speculate that it could be the trade show department. Attendance at its renamed PCIA GlobalXChange (formerly Personal Communications Showcase) trade show seems to be dropping in comparison to growth at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assoc-iation’s (CTIA) Wireless trade show.
Even with fewer staffers, PCIA plans to offer more services to members, to capitalize on its regulatory track record and to be the standard-bearer for the next generation of wireless products and services.
“We are setting a new strategic direction and making organizational changes consistent with the emerging market trends that will shape our future: convergence, the mobile Internet and globalization,” Kitchen said.
Naturally, we’d like to hear how PCIA plans to advance the agenda of private land mobile radio communications, in the future too.
Ramona Vassar Isbell We’re saying goodbye, ourselves, to our executive editor, Ramona Vassar Isbell. She’s moving to Intertec Publishing’s corporate communications department, where, among other responsibilities, she’ll have duties involving our company’s employee magazine, InterTalk, and our company Intranet Web site. With the move, Ramona completes more than 13 years in the editorial department.
Among the magazines managed by our group publisher, Mercy Contreras, Ramona has also worked as editor of Cellular & Mobile International and Wireless Technology International and as executive editor of Site Management & Technology, and RF Design. We’ll miss her daily involvement with our projects. She’s planning to join us next year at IWCE, though, to help with the trade show coverage on the Internet via IWCE Live!, which she organized for the use of IWCE attendees and Internet users for the first time this year.
Close calls You know about moves by some communities to ban the use of cellphones while driving, right? Although only a few American cities have passed such ordinances, 22 states are considering motor vehicle safety legislation related to the use of mobile phones while driving.
Now, cardiac health considerations have motivated a ban on the use of portable handsets on trains and buses operated by the Tokyo metropolitan government. A two-year study concluded that the use of a cell phone within 8.66 inches (22cm) of a pacemaker could halt its function.
The Japan Association of Cardiac Pacemaker Friends said that without the ban, some 200,000 Japanese with pacemakers would have to avoid crowded trains to protect themselves. The transportation authority said it decided to enforce a ban on cellphone use after passengers with pacemakers reported getting distressed on trains.
The tug of war between safety-perceived and real-and the convenience of wireless communications will never end. What we’ll see is a shift in the equilibrium from time to time.
Dealers on the Web Are you using the World Wide Web to conduct part of your two-way radio dealership business? If so, we’d like to hear from you. We’ve found some dealer sites using search engines, but we may not have found yours. Send your URL, and we’ll have a look. Thanks!
Joe McNeil Who will challenge Joe McNeil for the record number of badge ribbons at APCO 2000? In 1999, McNeil sported ribbons for executive council, international past president, life member, standing committee member, standing committee chairman, conference committee understudy and APCO Institute alumni.
McNeil is general arrangements chairman for APCO 2000 and a captain in the Harwich, MA, fire department.
