Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FAA Testing Wireless Technology at Boston Airport

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 03:18:27 -0400

FAA Testing Wireless Technology at Boston Airport
Source: The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)
Publication date: 2003-06-27
Arrival time: 2003-06-26

Jun. 27--LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla.--The Federal Aviation Administration
is testing Speedcom Wireless Corp. technology at Boston's Logan
Airport. Company officials say the technology could ultimately decrease
the number of delayed flights nationwide.

Under testing is Speedcom's Wave Wireless Networking Division's
Lighting IP Camera System, a high-speed wireless link connecting a video
surveillance camera to the airport's air traffic control tower.

The camera monitors runway lights that aid safe landings -- especially at
night and in inclement weather.

Airport workers regularly monitor the intensity of runway lights to ensure
they meet FAA standards. Defective lighting causes delays, especially
during winter months when lights are impaired by bulldozers clearing snow
and ice off of runways, said Christine Taylor, a strategic account manager
for Speedcom.

Furthermore, Taylor said, high-level encryption technology makes the
Lighting IP Camera System, or LIPCS, virtually impossible to hack into.

"They need that security in the field because there's hackers that try to do
it all day long," she said.

A selling point for Speedcom is that the price of running underground cable
or stringing wires for this type of monitoring equipment would be
cost-prohibitive.

One FAA official is already sold on the Speedcom product.

"First, it helps reduce delays," said Peter Ng, an air traffic information
systems manager in the FAA's New England region. "If you don't have to
shut down the runway, there are no delays. Multiply that across the
country . . . if all the airports have LIPCS deployed, then none of the
runways would need to be shut down for routine visual maintenance
checks.

"LIPCS has the potential to enhance safety and productivity for many
facets of the FAA's administration and operations such as air traffic,
safety, and maintenance."

Right now, Speedcom's in a holding pattern waiting to see what the FAA
decides.

"It works, and it's cost-effective," Taylor said. "It's just going to boost
on-time arrivals. It's a real nice project."

P-COM Inc., a California-based wireless company, will acquire
Speedcom if it successfully completes a recapitalization and gets the
go-ahead from its shareholders. The two companies announced the deal
earlier this month.

That acquisition will enable Speedcom to pursue larger government and
high-end business contracts like the deal the company is trying to close
with the FAA, said Gil Sharell, Speedcom's investor relations manager.
Speedcom officials are hopeful that large, lucrative contracts could pull
them out of recent financial troubles.

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=39771218&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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