News Briefs – Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Kenwood, ICOM and Trident to form strategic alliance
LAS VEGAS–Kenwood Corp., ICOM Inc. and Trident Micro Systems announced today at IWCE 2006 that they plan to form a strategic alliance to develop a new generation of digital networking systems. Trident, developer of the Passport trunking protocol and the NTS digital wide area dispatch networking infrastructure, is expected to join the previously announced Kenwood and ICOM working alliance, which jointly developed a common air interface for digital radio systems demonstrated at IWCE 2005. A strategic goal of this alliance will be to accommodate seamless migration from current analog systems to new digital technologies, the companies said in a joint statement.
SafetyNet promises secure communications during emergencies
Telus launched SafetyNet, an interoperable mission-critical emergency response communications device. The product has an IP-infrastructure that supports an emergency management operating system–a Web-based notification system that can send data to users with wireless devices.
Sweden’s national public safety network chooses two-way radios
Motorola won a contract to supply radios to Sweden’s national public safety radio communications TETRA network. The MTH800 portable and the MTM800 mobile radios will be used during the first phase of a nationwide deployment to facilitate communication between police, fire, rescue, customs and the coast guard. The system will be completed by 2010, Motorola said.
Sensor technology helps rescuers find victims
UltraVision Security Systems’ LifeLocator uses rugged sensor technology to locate trapped victims who are moving or breathing. The sensor can detect motion from 20-feet away and breathing from 15-feet away. It then sends data to a hand-held PDA that displays the data, including the rate of motion or rate of breathing coming from the victim.
At-sea wireless provider acquires rival
At-sea wireless voice, data and Internet communications provider SeaMobile acquired rival Maritime Telecommunications Network, a provider of satellite-based broadband communications networking services. SeaMobile paid $168 million for the company in order to “change the way travelers communicate at sea,” according to a joint statement.
Company transfers patent rights
Acacia Patent Acquisition Corp. has acquired the rights to Acacia Research Corp.’s patents relating to two-way, mobile communication and control devices for data and voice communication networks. The devices are capable of accessing or controlling other devices on a network to receive, transmit, relay and or process voice and data.
California university goes wireless
Sensoria deployed its EnRoute500 dual-radio, outdoor wireless mesh routers and accompanying systems to deliver wireless broadband access throughout the campus of California State University, San Marcos. The routers feature the company’s next-generation WirelessFabric mesh-networking platform, which runs on a QoS framework to support multiple users.
