Harris introduces single-band LMR-LTE device, intrinsically safe radios
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Harris introduces single-band LMR-LTE device, intrinsically safe radios
Tesh said that Harris officials believe the XL-200Pi is the only multi-band LMR radio to achieve the stringent intrinsically safe standard. That unique designation could remain in place for an extended period of time, according to Yoram Benit, vice president of product management for Harris.
“I think it will be the only one for many, many years to come,” Benit said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “I know what the other competitors have, and it’s hard to believe that they will come up with such a product, because they would have to spend tens of millions of dollars in R&D. By the time they would have the product, … the industry probably will have moved to LTE five years from today. So, I’m sure they’re not investing in it.
“It’s a huge, huge effort. We’re talking about $20 million—easy—to get to that, and they won’t invest the money to do it.”
Griffis said Harris has been able to leverage its experience as a military supplier to establish the knowledge base necessary to meet the intrinsically safe standard.
“It’s because of our military technology,” Griffis said. “It’s because our radio has an agile transceiver that was born on the battlefield—that’s the only reason we’re able to do it.”
Tesh echoed this opinion.
“The Harris radio circuit is based on the same kind of radio that was developed for the Army’s use in theater of war,” Tesh said.
“We understand military specs so much better than anybody else. The XL platform—whether single-band or multi-band—meets military specs that no other radios do. They’re tougher.”
In addition, Harris announced the release of BeOn 17, the latest enhancement to the company’s mobile application that supports push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) functionality that emulates a P25 radio system.
BeOn 17 “includes additional security features and more control to customize the user experience, while leveraging the improvements made in both Android and iOS operation systems,” according to a Harris press release about the announcement.
“The BeOn 17 offers P25-based land mobile radio features such as group calling, individual calling, group scanning, distress calls, and dispatch/administrative services, such as user location, user presence/status, and text messaging.”