Any significance to this??..........
Datum Products Excel with U.S. Decision to Eliminate Degradation of GPS Signals
Business Wire - June 23, 2000 07:16
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IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 2000--
Leading Global Provider of Synchronization, Timing and Frequency Solutions Views Temporary Removal Of Selective Availability (SA) From GPS As Performance Improvement for Existing Customers and Increased Market Opportunity; Effects of Recent Solar Storm Underscore the Need for Inherent Stability
Datum Inc. (Nasdaq: DATM) The U.S. Government has temporarily removed one of the four major sources of error experienced by the commercial GPS user.
Selective Availability (SA) was a deliberate degradation of the GPS signal that limited geographic location determination and precision timing. Although SA has been temporarily turned off, GPS systems still suffer impairment from interruption, interference, and from Ionospheric variations.
Without SA, Datum customers with existing GPS-based synchronization, time and frequency reference products, now have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of increased accuracy and faster recovery from interruptions in GPS signals caused by interference or interruption. For wireless operators in the CDMA and PCS world, this translates to less risk of dropped calls in the handoff between cellular sites, for those sites with limited GPS visibility. For wireline operators, this means reduced risk of disturbances to voice, video and IP traffic.
Datum has provided almost 100,000 reference, timing, and synchronization systems to hundreds of customers the telecommunications, scientific, and aerospace industries. All Datum's existing systems can continue to be used without modification and are ready to handle SA should it be restored.
Over the past month, Datum has observed the performance of GPS signals received at several sites and has confirmed the existence of residual error elements that degrade GPS accuracy. The solar storm and solar flares of June 12 caused warnings to be issued by NOAA and affected the Ionosphere and degraded GPS reception around the world -- reaching its maximum on June 13. The effects of the solar storm will have impact not only on GPS reception but also on various radio and electrical power systems and are felt for up to 72 hours after the event.
The other error sources such as shadowing (GPS signal blockage), multipath (GPS signal reflection), interference (UHF Television transmitters, pager transmitters etc.) and Ionospheric variability (affected by the sunspot cycles) still contribute to location and timing errors. Datum's high-quality quartz and atomic oscillators are still needed to provide "flywheeling" while GPS signals are absent or degraded by these other sources of error. Conversely, GPS provides correction for the aging and temperature sensitivity of quartz systems.
However, where accuracy requirements can tolerate both interruptions and tolerate the smaller disturbances in accuracy from other error effects, less costly Datum solutions are available. Datum's "antenna-less" timing products that derive wireline accuracy from CDMA base stations will achieve higher levels of accuracy than previously possible.
Operators of emerging wireless technologies such as EDGE, Wideband CDMA, Voice over IP, and Geo-Location still require high levels of accuracy in order to maintain optimum performance and provide best Quality of Service on their networks under all operating conditions of GPS. Datum sees continued opportunity in providing high-quality, high-performance, robust systems for both wireline and wireless synchronization with products such as RFTG, StarLoc II, ExacTime, PRR and PRS, OfficeTime and recently announced TimePieces and X72 technologies.
Datum also sees new market opportunities emerging for those applications that require a much faster startup time and much faster recovery from GPS interference or interruption to achieve high accuracy. Removal of SA allows these precision systems to become accurate very quickly. GPS-disciplined quartz-based systems can now achieve higher precision with faster correction of their aging and temperature sensitivity characteristics, GPS-disciplined rubidium atomic oscillators can now achieve across-the-board the accuracy of cesium primary references.
Datum's existing systems will continue to provide outstanding performance in the absence of SA and Datum's new products contain automatic dual-mode tracking algorithms that achieve excellent performance in the presence of SA degradation and provide outstanding performance when SA is not present.
Datum designs, manufactures and markets a wide variety of high-performance time and frequency products used to synchronize the flow of information in telecommunications networks. The company is also a leading supplier of precision hydrogen, cesium, and rubidium atomic and quartz references, timing products for computing networks, satellite systems, test and measurement applications and time-based authentication and security systems for electronic commerce. Datum is presented globally through representatives with sales offices located worldwide. Additional information about Datum and its GPS-based reference products is available at www.datum.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements, which reflect management's best judgment based on factors currently known, involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the following: customer concentration, competition, availability of supplies and components, fluctuations in demand for wireless and wireline communication services and products, and acceptance of the company's products and technology. These factors and other risks inherent in the company's business are described from time to time in the company's SEC filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 1999 and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2000. Actual results may vary materially. The company undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
For more information on the technology contact: Ed Fudurich or Doug Baker at Datum -- Irvine, 949/598-7600.
For more information on Datum, contact: Dave Young, chief financial officer, Datum Inc. 949/598-7575.
CONTACT: Datum Inc., Irvine
Ed Fudurich and Doug Baker, 949/598-7600
or
Dave Young, 949/598-7575
or
AMR
Jeremy Zimmerman, 714/992-2900
jaz@amradvertising.com
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