Ericsson Private Radio Systems ordered 150 PCMobile units from XL Computing Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cycomm International Inc. XL Computing values the order at more than $1 million. Delivery is scheduled for the first half of the year. The PCMobile units will be deployed in police vehicles in Genesee County, Mich.
Smart Modular Technologies Inc.’s Apex Data Products division is participating in a co-branding marketing campaign with AirTouch Cellular. The Apex Data Mobile Plus PC card modem is packaged in AirTouch Cellular-branded boxes for sale in AirTouch stores in Los Angeles. The “Wireless Office Kit” contains a cellular phone cable and the Apex modem, as well as fax, America OnLine and CompuServe software and information. The kit is priced at $300.
McLeod Inc. chose Glenayre Technologies Inc.’s Modular Voice Processing System to provide enhanced voice messaging services as part of a bundled offering to business and residential customers in the Midwest. The MVP system will be used in McLeod’s PrimeLine product, which gives customers local and long-distance service, voice mail, paging, Internet access and e-mail. MVP offers voice messaging, fax messaging, automatic callback and outbound calling directly from the voice mailbox.
United States Cellular Corp. signed on with Cibernet Corp.’s online roaming database (CORD). The database allows carriers to exchange real-time information with other carriers concerning roaming. United States Cellular joins AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which recently began using the system. “United States Cellular believes that CORD will be the new means to exchange this type of data,” said H. Donald Nelson, president and chief executive officer of United States Cellular.
Comsat Corp. reduced its direct investment in ICO Global Communications Ltd. When ICO was founded in 1995, Comsat bought more than 1.1 million shares, or 8 percent. The company said it sold more than half of those shares and now owns 3 percent of ICO. Comsat’s direct investment obligation now is $40 million, nearly $15 million of which is already paid and $25 million is committed to future investments. Other ICO shareholders paid $28 million for Comsat’s shares and assumed $48 million in future investment commitments.
Motorola Inc.’s Derivative Technologies Division announced it is now offering its RSVP pager product directly to paging resellers. The RSVP pager is built into a cellular phone battery and placed on the back of any Motorola Flip Phone. Allan Spiro, business manager of Motorola, said the company is selling RSVP to resellers because “our potential customers are cellular phone users. Many resellers sell both pagers and cellular phones, significantly increasing the exposure of the product in the marketplace.”
