| FRIDAY - APRIL 15, 2005 - ISSUE NO. 159 | ||||
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging and Paging, Due to the IWCE show is Las Vegas last week, there was no newsletter. While at the show, I enjoyed talking to many old friends and hearing some positive things about the Paging and Wireless Messaging industries. To get right to the point, here is my pick for the best new product at the show: — B E S T O F S H O W —  This is the most promising new product that I have seen in many years—and it's not a pager! It's an amazing tracking device from Trace Technologies. Be sure to read their press release that follows below. I found an article about USA Mobility that I would recommend to anyone following their activities. I do, however, strongly disagree with several statements in the article, especially: "The company, which is essentially synonymous with the industry because it has some 6 million of the nation's 10 million pager customers . . ." I don't think it is fair to lump the industry all together with USA Mobility because they are facing challenges that are different than the ones local and regional paging companies are facing. The article concedes that pagers have certain advantages over cell phones and that "maybe there will always be a market for pagers" but unfortunately the writer's conclusion is that Paging will not be around much longer. I think he is mistaken and I continue to receive encouraging reports of new products and services that reinforce my optimism that Paging will not die. Some Paging companies are doing better today than ever before in their history. If you want to read this article, it appeared in the April 5 issue of The Motley Fool, and its title is: Paging USA Mobility Users. I think USA Mobility will be OK as soon as their attrition levels out—and it has definitely started to do so. The amount of attrition has decreased quarter-by-quarter for over a year. As in any business, customer satisfaction is the key. Sears and Wal-Mart built two of the world's largest retail chains. The next time you go by one of their stores, take a look at the slogan over the door. Both companies promise customer satisfaction. It's the attitude of winners—always has been. Please note that I have changed the layout of the newsletter a little this week. Be sure to scroll all the way to the end as there is a lot of interesting news and some photos from my trip to Las Vegas. Also, please note the new ad from Sun Telecom International. Thanks Sun! Multitone Electronics has some classy new pagers in their ad as well. |
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major Paging and Wireless Data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers—so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my website. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) | |||
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| LAS VEGAS 2005 | |
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www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the Paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. New Product Development New Hardware Platform
Continued Support Programs GTES Partner Program CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS
|  Wireless Communication Solutions The Hark ISI-400LX is a hardware device that encapsulates serial data into TCP/IP for transmission over the Internet. It can also be configured to convert incoming TAP messages from the serial port and send them over the Internet to Paging providers in email (SMTP) or Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) format. The ISI-400LX with the optional external modem can connect to a secondary dial-up ISP when a failure on the ethernet port is detected.
This device is the perfect companion for the Hark Gateway products. An ISI can be located at a remote location for receiving TAP, TNPP, or Billing traffic using a local ISP eliminating long distance phone charges.
System Features & Benefits:
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Daviscomms—Product Examples For information about our Contract Manufacturing services or our Pager or Telemetry line, please call Bob Popow at 480-515-2344, bob@daviscommsusa.com or visit our website www.daviscommsusa.com
|  Prism Message Gateway Systems Your Choice of Options
Popular Choice for Domestic and International
Logical Choice
Go ahead . . . be choosy . . . choose Prism Systems International
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| WIRELESS NEWS | ||||
TRACE TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES NEW WIRELESS ASSISTED-GPS SOLUTION
The G-Tag is one of the world's smallest, most sensitive portable devices and can be located inside buildings and vehicles, urban canyons, under heavy foliage and in other blocked environments where conventional GPS doesn't operate. Trace's services include the following benefits:
Consumers make a location request through an ASP site that is forwarded through Trace and on to the wireless network. The device captures and calculates GPS data and sends it to Trace's servers via the wireless network. For devices in assisted-GPS mode, Trace's SnapTrack-based Position Determination Entity (PDE) employs a Wide Area Reference Network (WARN) of precision GPS receivers to provide acquisition assistance data and compute fixes from GPS satellite measurements. An ASP can translate latitude and longitude into a street address and map the location or perform other location-based services. The service is ideal for people with concerns about safety and security. Other applications may include: asset security, first-responders, roadside assistance, medical emergencies, mobile commerce, games and entertainment. The service is provided by Trace on a wholesale basis, giving customers the ability to efficiently and cost-effectively take the value-added service to market to assist in their overall security solution. About Trace Technologies, LLC ### More information about QUALCOMM's SnapTrack™ technology is available on their web site. Slim's MCI sale to lift Telmex profits, cut debt Mon Apr 11, 2005 06:02 PM ET MEXICO CITY, April 11 (Reuters)—Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's sale of his 13.7 percent stake in MCI will lift his phone company Telmex's second-quarter profit, help cut debt and fund its expansion outside Mexico, analysts said. Slim, the world's fourth-richest man, agreed over the weekend to sell the largest single stake in U.S. telecom MCI Inc. to Verizon in a deal that will give him $1.1 billion, and Telmex is the biggest beneficiary. "Telmex will receive approximately $660 million," said analyst Xavier Escala with Banif Securities, estimating that Telmex directly owned 25.6 million shares, or 8.1 percent, of MCI. Other Slim-owned companies owned the rest of the MCI stock. Analysts believe the cash will be used to boost Telmex profits at a time when it is struggling to lift revenue as strong cellular phone usage bites into its core fixed-line business. Ana Gabriela Ocejo with Scotia Inverlat estimated the company will receive $674 million from the MCI sale in the quarter ending in June. "I don't see them making an important acquisition . . . but they could use it to cut debt." Telmex declined to comment on the MCI deal, which has to be approved by U.S. regulators. Telmex, the main provider of local and long-distance services and Internet in Mexico, was busy in international debt markets earlier this year as it took advantage of good credit conditions. It ended last year with $8 billion in debt, up 31 percent from 2003 as it took on debt from Embratel, the Brazilian long-distance operator which Telmex bought for $400 million. Ocejo said Telmex could also use the cash to further consolidate its business in Brazil, the company's flagship operation in South America. Telmex has expanded its presence outside Mexico in a drive to grow revenue and fend off other regional rivals. The company now has units in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Uruguay. Banif's Escala also said the MCI share sale could give an extra lift to Telmex's ventures Embratel and Net Servicos, Brazil's No. 1 cable television firm. Telmex now holds a majority of the voting shares in Net, its latest foray in the South American nation. Source: Reuters InnerWireless snags $15M Jeff Bounds With an infusion of $15 million, InnerWireless Inc. will double the size of its Richardson headquarters and boost its staff by 50% over the next 12 months, the Richardson high-tech company says. The third round of funding, led by Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), comes on the heels of contracts InnerWireless is netting from a half-dozen large organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, Houston's ChevronTexaco and the new Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. The most recent equity funding, along with an undisclosed amount of debt that InnerWireless hopes to have closed by April 20, are aimed at giving the 100-employee company enough cash to grow aggressively. The company's technology allows wireless devices to be used anywhere in large buildings "We see this market segment coming into its own over the next two years," says Ed Cantwell, InnerWireless' chairman, president and CEO. "We are fortifying the company from a capitalization point of view." Cantwell says this equity funding will be InnerWireless' last. All told, the firm has raised $50 million since its August 2000 inception. Nearly all of InnerWireless' existing investors participated in the latest round, including Dallas firms Sevin Rosen Funds and Genesis Campus. One new addition was Centennial Ventures, a Denver-based venture firm with expertise in the wireless area and with offices in Houston and Austin. Cellphones, personal digital assistants and similar devices often can't be used in parts of large office buildings and corporate campuses, such as elevators and underground parking garages because of technical and construction limitations in cellular networks. InnerWireless solves the problem by installing its system of cables, antennas and base stations. In some cases, InnerWireless owns the system outright and makes recurring revenue from leasing capacity on its system to parties that want to provide wireless services, such as cellphone companies. An example of that business model is in place at New York's Rockefeller Concourse Center and other public venues with large amounts of foot traffic. In other situations, InnerWireless co-owns the system with the building's manager. The landlord can use the system for its own uses, like paging and fire-safety matters, while InnerWireless can simultaneously lease time to wireless services firms. When selling to large institutions like the government, the client often buys the system outright. However, Cantwell says the company is increasingly moving to either owning or co-owning its system, and offering it like a utility such as air conditioning. Later this year, the company will start using this model with hospitals. Employee, client growth The company's 100-employee staff will grow by 50 over the next year, with the new additions being primarily project managers, engineers and designers. With 30 of the hires occurring in Richardson, InnerWireless is roughly doubling its headquarters space there to 36,000 square feet by taking room adjacent to its Kas Drive location. It expects to move by mid-May, Cantwell says. The company has an office in Hong Kong, as it sees much of its new business opportunities coming from Asia. It is also planning to open a New York City office at an unspecified date and has employees located there and in seven other major cities across the United States. Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based market research concern, projects the market for in-building wireless systems will grow from $424 million in 2004 to $1.16 billion by 2008. Of that, the biggest piece, and biggest opportunity, is in selling hardware for the systems, according to Phil Redman, Gartner's Boston-based research vice president, mobile and wireless. Hardware, such as that developed by InnerWireless, will grow from $200 million to $500 million over that span, he says. The second piece of the market, maintenance and service -- essentially keeping installed systems up and running -- will go from $94 million last year to $311 million in '08.The last, implementation, will grow from $130 million to $350 million, he says. Developing hardware is the best growth area largely because it enables players in the space to differentiate themselves, he says. Implementations, he says, are more labor-intensive "grunt work" that can be done by large technical-service firms, he says. InnerWireless has at least two partnerships with service providers for installation work on its system: Norwalk, Conn.-based Emcor Group and Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM. Redman believes InnerWireless is among the top five players in what he calls a crowded industry. He likes InnerWireless' strategy of pursuing big companies and health care concerns, because many are looking to replace older, more complicated systems. Still, he cautions that all players in the space need to focus on differentiating their technology, be it on the types of technologies they support or on supplying antennas that can both send and receive data, rather than just receiving. "Everybody needs to do a better job on building awareness of the capability of the technology in the industry," he says. Competing systems "are looking more and more commoditized." Source: Dallas Business Journal
Cell Phones Exonerated in New Brain Cancer Study Contributed by Carla Sharetto Cell phones do not cause brain cancer, concludes a new study published in the April 12 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study was supported by the European Commission Fifth Framework Program, International Union Against Cancer, International Epidemiology Institute and Danish Cancer Society. The Danish study questioned 427 people with brain tumors and 822 people without brain tumors about their cell phone use. The study found no increased risk for brain tumors related to cell phone use, frequency of use, or number of years of use. “These results are in line with other large studies on this question, including a recently published large-scale, population-based study by the Swedish Interphone Study Group,” said study author Christoffer Johansen, PhD, DMSc, MD, of the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen. “There have been a few studies that found an increased risk of brain tumors with cell phone use, but those studies have been criticized for problems with the study design,” he observed. Recall Bias Addressed Those results found that people accurately remembered the number of calls they made, but did not accurately remember the length of those calls. But there were no differences between the two groups on how well they portrayed their cell phone use. That finding minimizes the possibility of what researchers call “recall bias,” or the chance that people with brain tumor may exaggerate or underestimate their past cell phone use, Johansen said. No More Tumors Occurred on Cell-Phone Side The researchers also found that brain tumors did not occur more frequently on the side of the head where the phone was typically used. Source: Health, Daily News Central Motorola Unveils New Mission Critical Communications Products at International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) Products Target Public Safety, Small and Medium Businesses, Utilities, Fleet Managers, and Campuses LAS VEGAS, Nev.—6 April 2005—Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), the leading provider of Mission Critical Communications solutions, unveiled four new products—a new generation pager for volunteer firefighters, two new Professional Series Radios for small business, and a new dispatch solution—this week at the International Wireless Communications Expo (April 6-8) in Las Vegas. One of the products, the MINITOR V™ pager, will allow volunteer firefighters to record a message of up to eight minutes, one of the longest recording times in the industry. This would enable the dispatch center to send a longer, more detailed message so firefighters would have more information about the emergency prior to arriving on scene. “As the primary pager supplier for hundreds of community fire departments, we take our responsibility to provide the best performing, most reliable paging products very seriously,” said Grant Milner, director of Motorola Commercial System Products. “Where improvements can be made, we make them. When customers request options, we surpass expectations. The result is the MINITOR V, a new generation of pager, ideal for fire departments as well as businesses and other organizations that must react quickly in times of emergency.” MINITOR V: New Generation of Pager for Volunteer Firefighters
New Professional Series™ Radios for Small-Medium Businesses “In the past few years, the bar has been raised in terms of security. The size of the community shouldn't dictate the level of preparedness and security their citizens should expect,” said Craig Chenicek, director of Motorola Radio Products. “The time is right for the introduction of the PR860 and PR1500 Professional Series two-way radios from Motorola. These radios offer an extremely high level of communication technology and product durability at a price that fits within the budgets of most smaller communities and businesses.” PR860 Features
PR1500 Features
Note: The MINITOR V pager and the PR860 and PR1500 radios are available for sale from Motorola Authorized Two-Way Radio Dealers beginning in mid-April. MIP 5000: New Dispatch Software Solution for Fleets, Campuses, Utilities and Public Safety. Motorola is expanding its VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) portfolio with the introduction of the MIP 5000 Dispatch Software Solution. “We are expanding the Motorola IP Portfolio so all customers can leverage IP technology using Motorola solutions,” said Michele Shaughnessy, Motorola Dispatch Solutions Marketing manager. “MIP 5000 is a software dispatch application that will give users the ability to put radio dispatch anywhere on their existing network.” For customers who already own Motorola desksets migration to VoIP is supported via the compatible MIP Gateway. The MIP 5000 dispatch solution is designed to benefit customers in manufacturing, fleet dispatch, campuses, utilities and public safety organizations and will be available later this year. About Motorola # # # Source: Motorola News Release Did RIM Pay Too Soon? APRIL 8, 2005 A month after forking over $450 million to NTP for five patents, one was rejected by the patent office. Others may meet the same fate. Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry, last month paid $450 million to settle a furious legal battle over five patents held by NTP. The markets welcomed RIM's decision to settle, boosting its stock 8% overnight, to $64.85. But RIM might soon regret that it ever made a deal. On Apr. 6, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rejected one of the five patents NTP had accused RIM of infringing and gave a strong indication that the other disputed four might soon be rejected upon reexamination as well. The agency has been taking a second look at more than 2,000 claims made on a total of eight NTP patents, including the five that RIM allegedly infringed, ever since Arlington (Va).-based concern sued RIM in December, 2002. After more than two years, the officials have rejected all 523 claims NTP made on three of those patents. MERCILESS TROLLS. RIM Vice-President Mark Guibert declined all comment on the patent-office announcement. The company has called the settlement "full and final." And NTP attorney James H. Wallace Jr., a partner at Wiley Rein & Fielding, said the patent office's overturning of the patents represents a mere interim step likely to be appealed. "Don't declare who's won the baseball game at the top of the first inning," Wallace said. "That's just the first step in a multiyear process." This latest development in the BlackBerry saga—and patent holding company NTP's admission that the case is far from over—serves as the surest sign yet of the pressing need for reform of the patent system (see BW, 4/18/05, "How Ampex Squeezes Out Cash "). Patents have become too easy to get, and the current judicial culture makes them all-too-convenient to defend in court as well. The situation has put many businesses at the mercy of so-called "patent trolls," outfits that exist solely to buy up hundreds or thousands of obscure patents with the expectation that they'll eventually manage to extract lucrative licensing agreements from businesses in need of the technology, or sue for infringement if they can't. Everyone has a right to protect his or her intellectual property. But the underfunded, hidebound patent office consistently errs on the side of approving questionable grants, and the specialized Federal Circuit Court, created in 1982 to hear nothing but patent appeals, often shows bias toward intellectual-property owners. RESCUE GROUPS. In a knowledge economy heavily fueled by intellectual property, the existing dynamic puts an awful lot of power into the hands of a few. As a result, in recent years, large companies, Microsoft (MSFT) among them, have gone on the defense, amassing hundreds of patents in an attempt to fend off unscrupulous players. Nonprofit groups have begun organizing to buy patents out of bankruptcy to put them in the public domain and keep them out of the hands of patent trolls. Prodded by intellectual-property owners of all stripes, from Microsoft to small inventors, Congress this year will begin studying ways to fix the system. In the case of Waterloo (Ontario)-based RIM, the broken patent system has concrete effects. Some RIM rivals, including Good Technology, agreed to license patents from NTP rather than join the legal battle. And RIM is out the more than the $450 million it paid to license NTP's patents in perpetuity. APPEAL LIKELY. On Apr. 6, the day the patent office rejected one of the litigated NTP patents, RIM reported a $2.6 million, fourth-quarter loss that it blamed in part on its ongoing litigation with NTP. The resulting 7% stock drop—RIM shed $5.20 a share in after-hours trading—wiped out any gains it saw from its settlement in March. Jim Balsillie, Rim's chairman and co-CEO, sounded upbeat about the settlement in his conference call with analysts: "It's safe to say we're pleased to put this matter behind us and focus on the business of building BlackBerry." The matter might be behind RIM, but it certainly isn't over. NTP will surely appeal the patent office's rejection of its patents, a process that could take years, and end up right where it started—back in the Federal Circuit Court. Source: BusinessWeek online | ||||
| READERS COMMENTS |
Hi Brad, Hope all is well. I figured if anyone in the industry would have an some insight on this subject . . . you would. From what I understand, the FCC prohibits scrambling or blocking radio signals. Therefore, if a theater owner wanted to block or scramble cell phone signals so that they would not work in the theater, he would be in violation of the law. Is that your understanding? Hope you don't mind me bouncing this off you. Thanks for your help. Questions like this are always welcome. I am sure the answer will be of interest to most of our readers. First, a visit to the FCC web site:
Source: Federal Communications Commission The FCC says that using a jammer is considered "theft" of airwaves, because that spectrum has been allocated as property to a commercial entity. There are many ads on the internet for cell phone jammers. Just remember "jammer" rhymes with "slammer"—as in imprisonment for up to one year for each offense. [Note for our international readers: "slammer" is slang for a jail or prison.] There is a lot of interest in legally creating areas where cell phones will not work. The solution should be no mystery to anyone who has worked in the technical side of Paging or two-way radio communications—it is called shielding. Radio repair shops of all types usually have a "screen room." This is simply a room completely enclosed with copper or brass screen. (Like plastic window screen but made from metal wire.) Some of the more elaborate ones have every wire going in and out of the room running through an RFI filter, grounding "fingers" around the door, and every miniscule opening completely covered. Inside of the screen room, you will find a test bench with all the electronic equipment necessary to diagnose, repair, and align pagers and other radio equipment. The idea, of course, is to keep all radio signals out of the room while a technician or engineer is working on a radio. Imagine how difficult it would be to try and tune a pager while it is receiving a very strong signal—you can't do it. So, since jamming any radio frequency with a transmitter is illegal, the best way to stop cell phones from functioning in an office, a restaurant, or other area is to shield the area so the radio waves can't get inside. This is no trivial undertaking but it is much more practical today thanks to the many new materials that will block radio signals and that are more aesthetically pleasing than copper screens. A good example is the aluminized Mylar plastic film this is used to tint windows. Some of these are specifically designed to block cell phone frequencies. There are also now many types of construction materials, including drywall, plywood, doors, and windows that include RF shielding built into them. An area properly designed and constructed to be a "radio quiet zone" will keep out almost all RF, not just cell phone signals. Just remember, however, you can't leave the door open. |
I have built two web pages about Mountain Communications in Mountain Home, Arkansas—a regional Paging company that the owner wants to sell. The first page has several photos and some links to background information on the company. Please click here for that page. If you like what you see and want to read all the financial details, please send me an e-mail and I will send you the unpublished address of the second page. This is an outstanding opportunity for someone to acquire a Paging company in a beautiful resort area of the Arkansas mountains where there are several large lakes and rivers. They tell me the fishing and boating are great in that area. By the way, this business also includes some wireless broadband, a trunking radio system, and a two-way radio dealership. Update: we are willing to negotiate. Please call Brad Dye at: 618-842-3892. |
Equipment Needed—Want to Buy the following
Please contact Brad Dye if you have any of this equipment to sell. Equipment located outside of the USA is OK. |
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THIRD TERM SUPPORTER |  Building on its long success story in 1-way Paging, Advantra International has become the expert in designing and manufacturing the most advanced and lowest cost ReFLEX™ radio modems for 2-way data-communication. The company also focuses on offering total telemetry solutions. Advantra’s current product mix of own products includes the ReFLEX™ radio modules Barran, Karli and Wirlki and the new, highly successful and very low cost location device, the Kepler. Advantra thanks its solid reputation to its world-renowned development team, state-of-the-art manufacturing, excellent customer service and its proven track-record. Location Devices & ReFLEX Modems
Sales and Marketing Contacts
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Newsletter repair prices—starting at:
**Special pricing on cellular and pager refurbishment**
Ask for Special Newsletter Pricing. Please call: (800) 222-6075 ext. 306 for pricing.
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Please click here to e-mail Ayrewave. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intelligent Paging & Mobile Data Products
Selective is a developer and manufacturer of highly innovative Paging receiver/decoders and mobile data equipment including the PDT2000 Paging Data Terminal, THE MOST INTELLIGENT PAGING RECEIVER IN THE MARKET. The PDT2000 is a large display pager designed for desktop or in-vehicle mounting and is widely used by emergency services and in onsite Paging systems for forklift dispatch etc. All of the following capabilities are standard features of the PDT2000 and of our other Paging data receivers:
Our mobile data equipment includes a range of intelligent Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) which may be interfaced to a variety of wireless networks including GPRS & CDMA cellular. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and GPS solutions, Dispatch & Messaging software. We offer mobile communications dealers and systems integrators a “fast to market” job dispatch and job management capability with the inbuilt job processing system which may be interfaced to a variety of CAD & JMS Specialised local area Paging systems, Paging interception and message reprocessing software, field force automation and mobile dispatch solutions. We do custom product development and export worldwide.
I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. | TGA Technologies 
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CUSTOM APPLICATIONS
Please call me so we can discuss your need or your idea. Or contact me by e-mail for additional information. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Remember that old word “Residuals”? The EE Group is actively seeking Dealers with sales/ service/installation capabilities to promote the latest wireless AVL, SCADA and data products from Telegauge Systems, Inc. This innovative program requires NO inventory and NO billing by your facility; you just sell it and sign up the end user to collect the commissions. Now the real reason to choose the EE Group and Telegauge over the host of others; we pay you permanent residual income every month on your airtime sales forever. Airtime commissions range up to 12% per month based on prior sales and you buy all equipment direct from the factory at 2-tiered wholesale prices as well for great margins. Telegauge builds fully 2-way overt and covert (hidden) GPS based Automatic Vehicle Location, SCADA, remote management, telemetry and data systems routed via cellular and satellite that are delivered to the end user via the Internet or direct to the desktop. Applications are both ‘canned’ and custom depending upon the customers needs. We even have full dispatch systems including credit card swipe and billing if needed. Finally, the prices on the product are guaranteed to be the LOWEST in the industry at under $600 retail for the equipment and from $6 to $30 on the monthly airtime with most customers in the $15 range. Note too that the price is the same for cellular OR satellite world wide coverage and no one else has this exclusive capability. Telegauge provides the product, software, airtime, billing and final information from a single source and you can be a BIG part of it. You stock NOTHING, just collect the checks. We are paid by the manufacturer to support YOU and unlike other factories; we never bid against you, restrict you or take your deal. We help you with demo equipment, brochures, information, sales assistance, web advertising and user name/passwords for the website so that you don’t even need to buy anything to start up fast. Contact us for a no-obligation CD of all the presentation and training material, price spreadsheets and information at: EEGroup@EEonTheWeb.com or for fast action call for a link to the Dealers Only page: 310-534-4456 and mention that you found out about it via Brad Dye’s Newsletter. You have nothing to lose and some great residual income to gain. Call or e-mail NOW. |  Sun Telecom International Suite 160 5875 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Norcross, GA 30092 USA One-way Products
ReFLEX two-way devices are also available and will be featured in next week's advertisement. Customers in Latin America may contact Brad Dye for price and delivery information. Español esta bien. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Wireless Overview System Operation Payment Guardian requires absolutely no customer interaction and integrated seamlessly into the vehicles electrical system and is not visible to the customer, decreasing the possibility of tampering. Unlike other similar products on the market, Payment Guardian™ requires no keypads or input devices, eliminating the hassle of having to generate codes and giving those codes to the customer each and every payment cycle. With Payment Guardian?, lenders no longer have to rely on customers to enter codes into a keypad correctly. With Payment Guardian, only non paying customers require use of the system. Once the system has been activated in the customer’s vehicle—each time the ignition is turned to the OFF position, Payment Guardian reminds the customer that payment has not yet been received or insurance is not current and provides them with specific instructions to contact the leinholder immediately. If the reminder is ignored, you can simply activate Payment Guardian’s Starter Interrupt feature allowing no one to start the vehicle until the system is reset. Payment Guardian’s system control center has been designed to meet the different need of individual lenders and dealers that want a total customized solution to manage their systems, providing you with 3 different ways to use the systems features. This enables you to instantly activate system features, schedule activations to occur at a preset time or completely automate the systems features, allow you to just manage your systems with just a click of the mouse. System Features Audible Voice Reminder Starter Interrupt Emergency Override Vehicle Finder Door Unlock
| High-speed simulcast Paging with protocols such as POCSAG and FLEX™ requires microsecond accuracy to synchronize the transmission of digital Paging signals.  Zetron's Simulcast System uses GPS timing information to ensure that the broadcasted transmissions between the nodes of the Simulcast System and associated transmitters are synchronized to very tight tolerances. This system is ideal for public or private Paging system operators that use multiple transmitters and wish to create new Paging systems or to build out existing systems into new regions. For more information about Zetron's High Speed Simulcast Paging System, the Model 600 and Model 620, go to: www.zetron.com/paging.
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Advertise Here Your company's logo and product promotion can appear right here for 6 months. It only costs $500 for a full-size ad in 26 issues—that's $19.23 an issue. (6 month minimum run.) Details about the various advertising plans can be read here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
InfoRad® Wireless Office (Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP) is designed for the professional who needs full-featured wireless messaging capabilities. Features include enhanced user interface, message log with search function, scheduled Paging, group and individual message addresses, TAPI Smart™, multiple protocol SMS communication compatibility. AlphaCare™ support services available. With a 32-bit architecture, InfoRad Wireless Office is designed for compatibility with Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. For more information on InfoRad Wireless Messaging software, and a free demo, please click on the logo.
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| MORE TECHNOLOGY NEWS |
EasyTel Announces New Free Web Based Paging Service
Nevada-based EasyTel.Net announced today that it has launched a fully revamped web site, built in part around a new free service it is offering to its subscribers, their customers, family and friends. The new service—called "Reach Me Now!"
[ClickPress, Sat Apr 02 2005] Nevada-based EasyTel.Net announced today that it has launched a fully revamped web site, built in part around a new free service it is offering to its subscribers, their customers, family and friends. The new service—called "Reach Me Now!"—is a free paging service through which anyone can reach any EasyTel subscriber from any web browser anywhere in the world free.
"We're making paging simpler to use than ever before," said EasyTel president Randal Skala, "even if you don't have a pager."
The www.EasyTel.net web site includes the following description of the "Reach Me Now!" free paging service:
"First, there is NO CHARGE to you or our subscriber for this service. (That's what "free" means.)
Every Genie Subscriber has a Genie Number for their account. This is just like a telephone number, with an area code, prefix and number. Just enter the Genie Number for the subscriber you wish to reach, along with the phone number you want that subscriber to return your call.
When you click the SEND button, Genie will immediately send that subscriber a message with your phone number and the time/date you "paged". That subscriber will get the message in whatever way they decided to use when they set up their Genie account. They may get an actual page on a regular pager. They might get a voice message on their cell phone. Genie might send it to them as an email message. They might even get ALL THREE, and more!! But they WILL get it; even if they have their cell-phone off and are out of pager range—because Genie will hold the message for them until the[y] DO get it."
Another key feature of the new web site design is a set of user stories intended to make it easier for visitors to understand how best to use the wide array of services provided by EasyTel. Called "What's In It For Me?” the stories are broken down into two groups, one for Business users and the other for Consumer users.
But Skala is quick to point out that the distinction is almost an arbitrary one. "The line between business and consumer when it comes to phone communications, Internet, banking and e-commerce is fuzzy at best and growing fuzzier every day. Anyone is very apt to find stories that apply to their own life in either category."
Source: ClickPress
Mac, iPod sales bring Apple record Q2 earnings
The company posted a net profit of $290M, up from $46M last year
News Story by Joris Evers
APRIL 14, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE)—Apple Computer Inc. yesterday reported record quarterly earnings and revenue on significant increases in Macintosh computer and iPod digital media player shipments.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company posted a net profit of $290 million, or 34 cents per share, for its fiscal 2005 second quarter, which ended March 26. That compares with earnings of $46 million, or 6 cents per share, in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement.
In the second quarter, Apple said it shipped 1.07 million Macintosh computers and 5.31 million iPod players. That's up 43% year on year in computer shipments and up 558% on the iPods.
Revenue for the quarter hit $3.24 billion, up 70% from $1.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40% of Apple's revenue in the quarter, the company said.
The results are records in both earnings and revenue, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in the statement.
Apple's results beat Wall Street expectations. Analysts had forecast 24 cents in earnings per share on $3.21 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson First Call.
Apple is optimistic about the future, with new products in the pipeline for the coming year, starting with an update to its Macintosh operating system to be released later this month (see story). The company predicted revenue of $3.25 billion and earnings per share of about 28 cents for its current third quarter.
In the past quarter, 62% of Apple's revenue came from its Mac business, which grew 27% from the year-ago quarter driven by strong Mac, peripheral and software sales, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said during a conference call.
The company shipped 608,000 desktop systems during the quarter, an increase of 55% from the year-ago level. Combined sales of iMac G5s, eMacs and Mac Minis more than doubled to 467,000 units from the year-ago quarter, and PowerMac shipments totaled 141,000, Oppenheimer said.
Total portable shipments hit 462,000 units, up 29% from the year-ago quarter. Apple shipped 251,000 iBooks and 211,000 of the recently refreshed PowerBooks, according to Oppenheimer.
Apple's digital music business, which includes the company's iPod music players and iTunes online music store, generated 38% of total company revenue and grew 280% compared to the year-ago quarter, Oppenheimer said. The iTunes store operates in 15 countries and last week sold its 350 millionth song download, Oppenheimer said.
Shipments of iPods, over six times the year-ago level, were driven by strong response to the new iPod Shuffle, a refreshed 4GB iPod Mini and a new 6GB iPod Mini, Oppenheimer said. Apple in the quarter also lowered the price of both of its iPod Photo models.
The iPod Shuffle is now the top flash-based MP3 player in the U.S. with a 43% market share in February, Oppenheimer said, citing NPD Techworld numbers.
Apple is very happy with the performance of its retail stores. Revenue from its retail segment more than doubled from a year ago to $571 million and actually increased sequentially, bucking the expected seasonal decline. Apple opened two stores in the quarter, bringing the total number of Apple Stores to 103. The company expects to end its fiscal year with 125 stores, including 10 outside the U.S., Oppenheimer said.
The company's record earnings did nothing to help Apple's stock, which ended the day with shares down $1.62, or 3.8%, at $41.04 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Source: ComputerWorld
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| Paging Seminar Specially designed course for sales, marketing, and administration personnel. Engineers will only be admitted with a note signed by their mothers, promising that they will just listen and not disrupt the class. (This is supposed to be funny!) This is a one-day training course on Paging that can be conducted at your place of business. Please take a look at the course outline to see if you think this might be beneficial in your employees: Paging Seminar outline. I would be happy to customize the content to meet your specific requirements. Although it touches on several "technical" topics, it is definitely not a technical course. I used to teach the sales and marketing people at Motorola Paging and they appreciated an atmosphere where they could ask technical questions without being made to feel like a dummy and without getting a long convoluted overly-technical answer that left them more confused than before. A good learning environment is one that is non-threatening. Let me know if you would like to receive a quotation, or if you would like to have any additional information. |
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| Qty | Part No. | Description | Price | Qty | Part No. | Description | Price | |
| 9 | 140-0636 | Analog DID Cards | $300 | 1 | 140–0729 | 128 MB Optical Drive | $700 | |
| 1 | 140-1206 | T1 | $2,500 | 3 | 148–0755 | Dual 2.2 GB | $3,500 | |
| 4 | 140-1207 | DT-PCM30 | $850 | 1 | 140–1869 | LCC Card | $2,500 | |
| 2 | 140-1858 | APT (audio pass through) | $300 | 4 | 140–1759 | Switch+Clock | $300 | |
| 1 | 140-1859 | Dual Modem Card (New) | $1,200 | 7 | 140–1099 | SIO | $350 | |
| 2 | 140-1808 | 4M Ram + Card | $850 | 6 | 140–1080 | ISIO | $350 | |
| 4 | 140-1323 | 8M Ram | $1,600 | 7 | 140–1867 | SCSI 2 | $500 | |
| 1 | 2000-00222 | 8 Mb Ram + | $2,000 | 3 | 140-0642 | CPT | $250 | |
| 1 | 140-2046 | CPU 030 + | $2,500 | 11 | 140-2012 | ECIF | $200 | |
| 3 | 140-7144 | CPU 060 50/32mb | $3,000 | 3 | 140-1829 | 48v Power | $700 | |
| 1 | 140-1996 | CPU 302 8MB | $3,500 | 6 | 140-1714 | 12V Converter | $600 | |
| 1 | 2000–02350 | CPU 604 NPCS 333/128MB | $4,500 | 12 | 140-1715 | 5V Converter | $500 | |
| 1 | 2000–00384 | PC/NVR 16MB | $2,500 | 2 | 140-0766 | Alarm | $250 | |
| 1 | 140-2193 | Net-060 50/32mb | $2,000 | 1 | 140-1725 | Arbitrator | $1,000 | |
| 1 | 2000–00257 | Net 060 50/16MB | $2,300 | 8 | 140-1722 | Transfer | $1,000 | |
| 6 | 140-1857 | QVSB | $400 | 2 | 166-0524 | Fan Module | $300 | |
| 1 | 140-1856 | DVSB | $150 | 3 | 148-0719 | Shelf Power | $700 | |
| 1 | 140-0868 | UOE Card | $1,500 | 6 | Serial IO Panel | $200 | ||
| 3 | 140-1953 | Dual 270 MB Drives | $1,500 | 3 | Fuse Panel | $350 | ||
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| 2005 IWCE LAS VEGAS PAGING ZONE | |
 | AAPC The American Association of Paging Carriers had a nice booth and made information available about the activities and accomplishments of the association. This organization represents the interests of the US paging companies through group activities and legal counsel. Membership is available to vendors, carriers, and individuals. All interested parties are urged to join and help promote paging and its many related businesses. |
 | PRISM SYSTEMS Jim Nelson and Jim Nelson (father and son) representing Prism Systems International, the able manufacturer of Message Gateway Systems. Among their products is an incredibly versatile Paging Control Terminal (PCT). There are many Paging operators using terminals that are no longer supported with service or spare parts who should talk to this company about a modern and current replacement product. They were also promoting their TNPP Network Router. |
 |  hmce@bellsouth.net  e-mailhttp://www.h-mce.com web site | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
TAPS—Texas Association of Paging Services is looking for partners on 152.480 MHz. Our association currently uses Echostar, formerly Spacecom, for distribution of our data and a large percentage of our members use the satellite to key their TXs. We have a CommOneSystems Gateway at the uplink in Chicago with a back-up running 24/7. Our data is live on two different satellites at all times in case of a failure of one of them and covers the North American Continent. Our Paging coverage area on 152.480 MHz currently encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Kansas. The TAPS Paging coverage is available to members of our Network on 152.480 MHz for $.005 a transmitter (per capcode, per month) broken down by state or regions of states and members receive a credit towards their bill for each transmitter which they provide to our coverage. Members are able to use the satellite for their own use, for their own frequencies, by paying only for the data which they transmit, we track the data on a per bit basis and what ever percentage of the total data sent by each user is billed back to them as a percentage of the total satellite bill, (ex: if 6% of the data is the members', the member is billed for 6% of the cost of the sat plus 10% for overhead.) If you are on 152.480 MHz or just need a satellite for keying your own TXs on your frequency we have the solution for you. TAPS will provide the gateways in Chicago, with Internet backbone and bandwidth on our satellite channel for $500.00 to $1,500.00 a month (depending on the amount of traffic). Contact Ted Gaetjen @ 1-800-460-7243 or tedasap@asapchoice.com | Want to help the newsletter? Become a SPONSOR Promote your company's image with one of the posters or better yet, one of the commercial advertising packages
* cost per week—six-month minimum—or 26 issues For more details, and pricing on the various advertising options please click here |
| EMPLOYMENT SECTION | |
The well-known sales manager at CalAmp (formerly Vytek/Sonik) is looking for a new position. You may download his resumé here. And you can send him an e-mail here. | With 30 years experience, a seasoned wireless industry executive that has the unique blend of strategic planning skills, balanced with operational management experience. You may download his resumé here. And you can send him an e-mail here. |
EXPERIENCED PAGING TECHNICIAN Knowledgeable w/ Glenayre 3000L and Motorola paging infrastructure. Full-time salary including health benefits. RCC in Allentown, PA. Send resume & salary requirements via e-mail to: nickb@cawinet.com | |
| Wi-Fi, WiMax, and VoIP News |
Intel wildly optimistic about WiMAX
Will become global standard, head man says
By Mike Magee: Tuesday 12 April 2005, 14:01
SEAN MALONEY, general manager of Intel's mobility group is here in old London Town. He said that Intel realised some years ago that fibre wasn't the answer to delivering broadband He said that while there were lots of technical challenges with Wimax, Intel had gotten over them one by one.
He said that Intel has just shipped its first production chips for wireless DSL. The second version, 16e, is probably three to four months behind schedule.
He said Intel's feeling is that we're heading towards a global WiMAX standard and will see economies of scale. Signals, he said, penetrate better than people expected and there's a growing confidence people will give coverage. He said that Intel is arguing that spectrum for WiMAX should be technologically agnostic because something better than WiMAX may come along. In Europe the argument revolves around 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz, he said, but Intel is from a camp that says more is better. We're impatient but a government around the world is going to lead on this. Korea is already leading on WiMAX at 2.49GHz. It has allocated WiMAX spectrum already, he said.
Sean Maloney talked to Sally Pettipher, the head of development of the Science Museum archives, using a WiMAX connection and a phone using Skype. She said that the archive site is an old warehouse on an ex aerodrome and we needed to keep a track of the archives. People used to use pen and paper and drive a mile across the site and it was entirely antiquated. Networking the site would have cost a million pounds that we didn't have and Intel offered us a WiMAX solution, she said. Intel installed it for nothing, she added.
Maloney said there would be an option for WiMAX in laptops in 2006.
Source: The Inquirer
Motorola meshes with cops
Mobile networks boost their ability to transmit data, maybe saving lives
By Mike Hughlett
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 7, 2005
BUFFALO, Minn.—Merton Auger, the city administrator here, likes to talk about "cutting down windshield time." That's the dead time when a public works employee drives to city hall to fill out a report on a busted street light or some other municipal malfunction.
Such a trip isn't necessary anymore in Buffalo, a town about 40 miles west of Minneapolis. Public employees, including police officers and firefighters, either have or soon will have full mobile computing capability, just as if they were in an office.
Buffalo is an early adopter of a technology known as a "mesh network," a wireless system that Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. found so promising that it recently bought a leader in the field, MeshNetworks Inc. Buffalo's network, switched on two months ago, was the first under the Motorola name.
Motorola has long been a market leader in wireless communication systems for public agencies, particularly police and fire departments. Mesh networks take those systems a step further, boosting their ability to transmit data and images, from routine accident reports to—eventually—real-time footage of police chases.
Mesh networks have potential life-saving attributes, too. Vehicles and people can become "nodes" in a mesh network, sending and receiving radio signals. The technology can thus be used to track firefighters in a burning building. In fact, Motorola has a product due out later this year to do exactly that.
"It's the coolest thing we've had in a long time," Motorola system architect Keith Kemmerline said of the technology.
Kemmerline works in the Motorola division that specializes in radio systems for municipalities. It doesn't get the attention of Motorola's mobile phone business but it has been a core operation for decades and comprises about 15 percent of the company's $31.3 billion in total sales last year.
Maitland, Fla.-based MeshNetworks, on the other hand, was just a step beyond a start-up when Motorola bought it earlier this year for $169 million. The firm was created in 2000 after buying mesh network rights from ITT Industries Inc. (which had originally designed the technology for the U.S. military).
Its system is operating in five other cities: Medford, Ore., Cocoa Beach, Fla., Garland, Texas, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, and, on a test basis, Las Vegas.
The mesh starts with a network of radio transmitters that blanket a city, usually attached to light poles. The more hills and buildings—and the bigger the city—the more radios needed. In Buffalo, a flat town of 13,000 people, there are 83 radios spread out over 11.5 square miles. In addition, seven Buffalo police cars have mesh radios and 20 public works employees have mesh-enabled laptops in their vehicles.
The radio signals bounce between the fixed and the mobile nodes to create a communications mesh. Even the laptops equipped with mesh cards are transmitting points, albeit somewhat weaker.
A mesh network with no fixed radios is a concept soon to be reality with Motorola's MeshTracker. Due out later this year, it would allow firefighters to establish a network in a burning building, for instance. Each firefighter inside would carry a small mesh-enabled radio, allowing someone on the outside to track his whereabouts.
In Buffalo, Auger isn't looking that far out yet. He's busy breaking in the city's network, which cost $550,000—about $48,000 per square mile. It was a significant investment but only comprises 3 to 5 percent of the city's capital budget over the next five years, he said.
So far, Auger likes what he sees. The network, which was installed by Lombard's Scientel America Inc., has delivered as advertised, with only a smattering of weak transmissions, he said.
"There's one or two spots where we need to put up [fixed] antennas, but our technical people are really impressed," he said.
It has also been effective in "pushing the desktop out to the field," as Auger put it. City workers are now doing work in vehicles they previously would have done in an office. And they have more tools at their disposal, including speedy Internet access in their vehicles.
One Buffalo police officer recently used the mobile Web to catch someone driving with a revoked license, according to Mitchell Weinzetl, the city's police chief. The driver gave the officer her name but claimed to have misplaced her license. So the officer went to the squad car and tapped into the state motor vehicle department Web site.
He typed in the name given by the driver, but the picture that appeared wasn't the driver's. Turns out the driver had given a false name because her license had been yanked. Without the Web, there would have been no way to see the picture.
Winning over police departments is crucial if mesh networks are to become standard for municipalities.
Police officers and firefighters can be a tough sell on new technologies because they come from a culture in which wrong decisions can mean life or death, said Motorola's Kemmerline. "Public safety folks don't like to do anything untested, untried, unproven."
And at this point, said telecom analyst Ronald Gruia, mesh networks are "relatively unproven." The technology is "still in a baby stage right now," said Gruia of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
However, Motorola may offer a boost for mesh technology, since the company is so prominent in public safety communications.
"People are much more willing to take a risk on this," said Rick Rotondo, Motorola's mesh marketing director and an executive with MeshNetworks before the buyout. "The thinking now is `Motorola is behind it, maybe there is something to it.'"
A key competitor agreed. Motorola's entrance "validates the technology, the idea that it's something that public safety agencies should be looking at," said Bert Williams, marketing vice president at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Tropos Networks.
Williams said he expects Motorola's entrance into mesh might lead to other partnerships between the technology's pioneers and large radio equipment makers—Motorola's major competitors.
"There will be acquisitions in that space for sure," Gruia agreed.
Mesh networking
What: A wireless system for public agencies to transmit data and images, including routine accident reports and—eventually—real-time footage of police chases.
How it works: A network of fixed radio transmitters blankets a community while cars and laptop computers also act as transmitters. Radio signals bounce between fixed and mobile nodes to create the mesh network.
Significance: Work typically done in the office can now be done in the field, saving time. Police officers and firefighters also have high-speed Internet access in their vehicles.
The future: Vehicles and people act as "nodes" in the mesh by sending and receiving radio signals. Hence, the technology can track firefighters in a burning building.
Source: Chicago Tribune
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| THE WIRELESS MESSAGING AND PAGING INFORMATION RESOURCE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Omaha, Neb. April 5, 2005—Trace Technologies, LLC unveils a new asset tracking system fusing advanced GPS, wireless and Internet together into one integrated product. The Trace technology combines SnapTrack™ Wireless Assisted-GPS™, the Trace Asset Tag (G-Tag) and the ReFLEX wireless network allowing consumers to locate critical assets and people quickly and easily in environments conventional GPS loses accuracy.
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