COM DEV AWARDED DEFINITION PHASE OF CANADIAN MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
 COM DEV Beam*LinkTM processor to be key element of advanced Ka band payload --
CAMBRIDGE, ON - January 6, 2000 - COM DEV International Ltd. (TSE/ME:CDV) today announced that its Space Group has been awarded a definition phase contract for a program to provide satellite-based multimedia services to Canadians. This program will draw on COM DEV's Beam*LinkTM processor technology.
COM DEV's Beam*LinkTM is an electronic subsystem technology that divides transponders into multiple subchannels and is used on satellites to efficiently manage the routing of traffic. This technology offers vastly increased traffic management flexibility for multi-beam satellites and enables the introduction of new services such as regional programming on DBS satellites. COM DEV has received significant interest in this technology from major satellite prime contractors for a variety of commercial and military communication satellite programs.
The Beam*LinkTM technology is part of a proposal submitted by a Canadian industrial team in response to a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Communications Research Centre (CRC) request for proposal for satellite-based multimedia technologies issued in August 1999. The industrial team, which includes COM DEV, has proposed a Ka band multimedia satellite payload and associated services. COM DEV's role in the proposal is to provide on board processors for the satellite payloads based on the company's Beam*LinkTM technology. Upon completion of negotiations with the industrial team, COM DEV could potentially receive in excess of $30 million in development and production contracts. Negotiations are expected to conclude in the coming months.
Canadian-based COM DEV International is the largest Canadian-owned designer, manufacturer and distributor of space and ground-based wireless products and subsystems through its two divisions: the Space Group and the Wireless Group. COM DEV employs more than 1,100 people in facilities in Ontario, New Brunswick, the United States, the United Kingdom and China.
The Space Group manufactures advanced products that are sold to the major satellite prime contractors for use in earth science and commercial communications satellites. The Wireless Group manufactures ground-based infrastructure subsystems used in microwave and radio frequency systems, such as GSM and CDMA-based digital telephone systems, and wireless local loop networks. These products are sold primarily to major PCS wireless equipment vendors. |
