FOCS news:Monday June 12, 11:56 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: ORBCOMM Global, L.P.
FiberChem and Intrex Form Joint Venture With Cornerstone to Deliver ORBCOMM Monitoring Services to Propane Industry
DULLES, Va., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- ORBCOMM Global, L.P. (ORBCOMM), the first commercial provider of global low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite data communication services, today announced that its value-added reseller Intrex Data Communications Corp., in partnership with its merger partner FiberChem Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: FOCS - news), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cornerstone Propane Partners L.P. (NYSE: CNO - news) to form a joint venture to market Intrex's proprietary monitoring system to the propane industry worldwide. The joint venture will market a product package consisting of Intrex's proprietary sensor and communication system and Cornerstone's dispatch and delivery software using the ORBCOMM satellite network for data transmission.
This joint venture will become part of the FiberChem/Intrex merged company, which will be renamed DecisionLink, Incorporated. The propane monitoring joint venture will be equally owned by Cornerstone and DecisionLink, and is expected to begin operations this summer.
The first phase will be the installation of approximately 6,000 units on propane tanks owned by one of Cornerstone's business units in California. Cornerstone expects to outfit the majority of its 460,000 installations with the joint venture package in the second phase of installations beginning next year. The joint venture expects to begin marketing the propane monitoring system internationally this year and in North America in early 2001. Marketing will be through direct contacts in the propane industry and through ORBCOMM's international service distribution partners.
``We are excited to work with DecisionLink and Cornerstone to make the ubiquity and versatility of satellite monitoring available to the global propane community,'' said Scott L. Webster, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ORBCOMM. ``This solution is a highly functional, cost-effective reporting and dispatch system that will keep propane managers in touch with their assets.
``Cornerstone is one of the largest and most well respected leaders in the propane industry, and their knowledge and industry contacts will be vital to the success of this venture,'' Webster continued. ``We view this as both a testament to the value of ORBCOMM satellite communications and an invaluable new communications tool for propane managers the world over.''
About ORBCOMM
ORBCOMM provides two-way monitoring, tracking and messaging services through the world's first commercial low-Earth orbit satellite-based data communication system. ORBCOMM applications include tracking of mobile assets such as trailers, containers, locomotives, rail cars, heavy equipment, fishing vessels, barges and government assets; monitoring of fixed assets such as electric utility meters, oil and gas storage tanks, wells and pipelines and environmental projects; and messaging services for consumers and commercial and government entities.
ORBCOMM is owned by Teleglobe Inc. (NYSE: TGO; Toronto) and Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB - news). Teleglobe Inc. is a leading global provider of broadband services with the most extensive global Internet network. Delivering advanced broadband applications to customers in more than 100 countries, Teleglobe is the premier communications architecture for the digital economy. Orbital is a space technology company that designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of space products and satellite-based services.
About Cornerstone
Cornerstone Propane Partners, L.P. is a master limited partnership with annual sales of over $2 billion. The Partnership is the nation's fourth largest retail propane marketer serving over 460,000 customers with annual sales of approximately 300 million retail gallons, doing business in 34 states through 299 customer service centers. Its North American energy solutions service division, Coast Energy Group (CEG), supplies, purchases, processes and markets over 48,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids to resellers and major end users. CEG also sells approximately 1.0 Bcf per day of natural gas and 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil in the United States and Canada.
About Intrex
Intrex is a private company that provides business-to-business proprietary Internet and communications technology for sending data to or from remote or mobile assets on a real-time basis using ORBCOMM low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite data communication services. Data is routed through Intrex's global network, which acts as a data gateway and applications service provider that allows customers to monitor and control remote or mobile assets such as gas wells, pipelines, compressors, storage tanks, offshore platforms, or service vehicles directly from a desktop PC.
About FiberChem
FiberChem Inc. develops, manufactures, markets and licenses fiber optic chemical sensors that produce continuous, real-time information of environmental pollutants in the air, water and soil. These technologies are currently used in applications such as pipeline leak detection, aboveground storage tank monitoring, oil production, water quality monitoring and industrial wastewater compliance monitoring and control.
This release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding ORBCOMM's expected commercial operations. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and ORBCOMM's actual results and operations may be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. For a description of factors that may cause ORBCOMM's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements, please consult the Securities and Exchange Act filings of ORBCOMM Global, L.P.
For more information on ORBCOMM services, please call 800-ORBCOMM, or visit the ORBCOMM Web site at orbcomm.com.
SOURCE: ORBCOMM Global, L.P. |
