NEW YORK-Geotek Communications Inc. inaugurated commercial service in the New York City metropolitan area March 28, for its wireless communications network geared toward mobile blue collar workers.
Earlier this year, Geotek went into commercial operation in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Its next stop is Boston, followed by Miami and Dallas. The company’s plan is to go commercial by year-end 1997 in all 36 cities around the country where it owns 900 MHz radio licenses.
Its networks are targeted at a work force that travels primarily within a 50-mile radius of center cities. Meanwhile, Geotek is bidding on additional spectrum with the goal of permitting its customers in these cities to roam outside their immediate area and still retain coverage.
Based on patents licensed to it by the commercial arm of the Israeli Army, Geotek’s proprietary system employs digital, spread-spectrum Frequency Hopping Multiple Access technology. The Geotek Mobile Workstation is a single unit that combines the functions of a cellular phone, two-way radio, pager and laptop computer.
“The challenges of conversion from military to commercial use were: first, integrating dispatch on top of telephony while also providing superior voice quality; second, putting the subscriber set into a mode where it can access the network,” said Jonathan C. Crane, president of U.S. Business, at a press conference held to announce the New York City roll out.
“The radio link is secure because it hops constantly between a large number of frequencies so that sophisticated, expensive equipment would be required to tap in,” added Yaron Eitan, president and chief operating officer.
In development for upcoming offerings as part of the mobile workstation package are features that include automatic vehicle location, two-way messaging, credit card verification, bar code scanning, point-to-point travel directions and access to customer databases for purposes such as checking on bills in arrears before delivery of new merchandise.
Geotek already has begun to sell its services to fuel oil dealers, courier and limousine services, automobile clubs, tow and short haul trucking companies and plumbers, said Jan Zwaik, New York market director. Geotek is headquartered in Montvale, N.J.
“To help us effectively reach this market, we’ve already enlisted*…*28 distribution partners with 161 sales representatives in 51 locations throughout the five boroughs (of New York City), on Long Island, in northern and central New Jersey, in southern Westchester County (New York), and in Fairfield County (Connecticut), Zwaik said.
