Trade news from April 22 GP & NN . . . .
* SnapTrack, a 20 employee startup, has an E911 system being looked at by AirTouch Communications, GTE Wireless, Bell Mobility, Sprint PCS, Ameritech Cellular, PrimeCo Personal Communications and US West Wireless. It is handset-based GPS, but seems to avoid a "cold start" situation by having the handset communicate with the base site and back to determine "warm start" preliminary location for first fix. SnapTrack claims low cost of $5-10 per handset. Says TDOA systems are at least $30-50K per cell site and overstate accuracy.
* NovAtel predicts the high-end GPS market will grow at an annual rate of 25-30%, based on GIS infrastructure growth. (Trimble also predicts this growth rate for itself.)
* Orbi's Magellan has come out with a $999 two-way global pager, using text only, that is keyed into the Orbcomm satellite system. The product is called the "GSC-100."
No new Trimble news. |
