Wireless: Corsair Announces Development of New Wireless Location System; PhoneTrack Will Provide Commercial Location-Based Services and Support Wireless E-911 Service
Corsair Communications Inc. Wednesday announced that it is developing a network-based system for wireless location services.
The PhoneTrack system will use elements of time difference of arrival (TDOA) and angle of arrival (AOA) technologies to locate wireless phones and other devices for commercial applications such as location-sensitive billing, roadside assistance and enhanced information services, as well as E-911 calls. The system is being designed initially for the AMPS and TDMA (IS-136) protocols, with later migration to other digital protocols.
Corsair began development on PhoneTrack in early 1997 and is currently conducting field trials of the system with a major U.S. cellular carrier. PhoneTrack’s commercial availability is scheduled for 1999, when the company expects carriers to begin deploying commercial location applications. Corsair’s development team includes engineers and scientists who have designed over fourteen location systems in use today for defense and intelligence applications.
According to Mary Ann Byrnes, president and chief executive officer of Corsair, the company enjoys a major advantage in the location business by having already built a large base of carrier relationships around its PhonePrint fraud prevention and PhoneCheck performance monitoring systems. Many of the technologists working on PhoneTrack developed the PhonePrint system, which is installed in over 160 markets around the world and has played a major role in reducing wireless fraud in the U.S.
“At this moment, Corsair has equipment in thousands of cell sites protecting tens of millions of subscribers around the globe,” said Byrnes. “Just as important, Corsair’s proven operational experience in developing, selling, installing, and supporting network solutions is exactly the kind of system experience that wireless location requires. Corsair intends to offer carriers a complete solution — from a full-featured, reliable product to comprehensive support and service — which is what they need for competitive advantage over the long term.”
David Thompson, Corsair’s vice president for marketing, stated that the PhoneTrack system objectives are the same for all protocols. “The keys to a successful system are ubiquitous coverage and high accuracy,” said Thompson. “It’s essential that any location system be able to locate any subscriber, anytime, anywhere, no matter what kind of phone that subscriber may use. And it must do so with great accuracy.”
Corsair is a leading provider of software and system solutions for the wireless industry. The company’s products include systems for fraud prevention and churn reduction, customer care and billing, and wireless location.
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