Cell-Loc Inc. will develop and market Cellocate, a network-based call location technology for cellular equipment providers and wireless carriers in the United States.
The company, made up of several wireless communications veterans, formed in 1995 to create a patented automatic location identification technology in response to the demand for wireless location products and services created by the Federal Communications Commission’s E911 Phase II mandate. Cellular equipment providers and wireless carriers in the United States will be the first required to comply with the regulation, which requires that all wireless communications carriers have the ability to locate 911 callers within a half-mile radius of a cell site, 67 percent of the time.
“The wireless location market is still in its infancy, but the potential for growth over the next three to five years is enormous,” said Dr. Michel Fattouche, president and co-founder of Cell-Loc.
Of the three types of automatic location identification technologies, Cell-Loc defines network-based as the most attractive to wireless carriers. According to the company, “network-based technologies do not require modification to subscriber headsets nor the construction of a separate terrestrial network, hence, they are easier to implement and less expensive. Additionally, neither dedicated radio location networks nor global positioning systems can fully meet the E911 requirements at this time.”
Cellocate’s time difference of arrival network-based technology currently is being tested by Mobility Personacom Canada. Production shipments are planned for later this year.
The Strategis Group of Washington, D.C., has projected location technology could see a market value of $2.6 billion during the next seven years.
