Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Sirf releases new GPS tech., chips

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 14:11:35 -0500

Sirf releases new GPS tech., chips
February 17 13:24:00, 2004

SAN JOSE, Calif.—“My expectation is that over time you’ll see GPS become a part
of the overall phone platform,” said Kanwar
Chadha, founder of GPS technology provider Sirf Technology Inc. Chadha’s beliefs
are at the core of Sirf’s new product releases,
technologies the company hopes will improve the location functions for its
current customers as well as entice new customers.
Today Sirf announced several new GPS technologies and chipsets for wireless
devices as well as a server product the company said
will improve wireless carriers’ location-based services. The moves represent an
effort to spur the use of location-based applications
beyond E911 locating services.

“Location-based services can generate ARPU,” Chadha said. “When you look to LBS,
you have to do much more than E911.”
The Federal Communications Commission set mandates for wireless carriers to be
able to locate callers dialing 911. Although there
are a variety of location technologies, most carriers appear to be moving toward
products that incorporate location-finding technology into both the phone and
the network. Sirf hopes to play in both areas.

Sirf has long provided GPS chipsets to device makers; Motorola Inc. uses Sirf
chips in its mobile phones, as do several personal
digital assistant vendors. Today the company released its new SiRFstarIII
lineup, which includes technology that improves the GPS
reception on phones and also eliminates the need for a specialized GPS chipset.
Chadha said Sirf’s new products improve GPS reception inside buildings, but they
cannot guarantee a signal.

On the server side, Sirf released its new SiRFLoc Server, which Chadha said
supports a high volume of location calculations and
thereby can improve location accuracy. Chadha said E911 calls do not necessarily
generate high LBS traffic but that location-based
applications like restaurant finders will, and carriers will need a high-volume
server to deal with the increased traffic.
Although Sirf plays in a variety of GPS areas, Chadha said wireless will be the
segment with the most growth.

Most GSM carriers today rely on cell-site information for location services,
while most CDMA carriers use GPS technologies from
Qualcomm Inc. Sirf hopes to increase sales of GPS chipsets to handset makers
like Motorola, which includes Sirf GPS chips in all of
its Nextel Communications Inc. phones.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=16932

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