Corsair Communications Inc. joined the ranks of companies hoping to capitalize on the Federal Communications Commission’s mandate on wireless 911.
The company, whose product history is in the fraud-prevention arena, is developing a network-based system for wireless location. Phase II of the FCC’s mandate requires carriers by Oct. 1, 2001, to be able to identify the location of wireless callers to within a radius of no more than 125 meters 67 percent of the time.
Called PhoneTrack, Corsair’s contribution to the wireless location market takes advantage of both time difference of arrival and angle of arrival technologies to locate wireless phones and other devices for commercial applications, such as location-sensitive billing, roadside assistance and enhanced information services.
The system’s initial design will be for the Advanced Mobile Phone Service and Time Division Multiple Access protocols, with later migration to other digital protocols, said the company.
Corsair likes its chances in the wireless location arena, in large part because of the carrier relationships it has built with its PhonePrint fraud prevention and PhoneCheck performance monitoring systems. The company said its proven track record of being able to support a product after it hits the market will help it in marketing its location system.
PhoneTrack development began early last year and now is in field trials. Commercial availability is scheduled for next year.
