NEW YORK-Clariti Wireless Messaging, Fort Washington, Pa., said it plans to introduce commercially a voice-mail service delivered over FM subcarrier channels by the end of this year.
In the United States, the company will be the exclusive operator of its Clariti Wireless Voicemail service. Because FM radio standards are universal, the company also plans to partner with overseas carriers to deploy the service. In late March, it announced the first agreement of this kind, with Albacom SpA, Milan, Italy.
Clariti Wireless Voicemail has several proprietary components developed by a team of emigres from companies like Motorola Inc., Mobilemedia Communications Inc. and General Atronics Corp. GAC designs and manufactures military radio-frequency communications systems and products.
The patented ClariCast Digital Wireless Messaging System uses military RF telecommunications technology to provide a wireless information transmission network.
ClariCast comprises a unified messaging terminal and an SCA encoder, said Mike McAndrews, president of Clariti Wireless Messaging, a wholly owned subsidiary of Clariti Telecommunications International Inc., Philadelphia.
“The SCA encoder combines digital voice messages with FM radio’s analog programming,” added McAndrews, formerly Motorola’s team manager for development of the StarTac cellular phone and the PageWriter two-way pager.
SCA is the abbreviation for Subsidiary Communications Authority. FM-SCA channels are better known as FM subcarrier channels. These comprise the guard band in the 100 kilohertz of spectrum assigned to each FM radio station. The stations rarely use the subcarrier channels themselves and are authorized to lease them to outside parties. So far, Clariti Wireless Messaging has signed six leases for testing, McAndrews said.
“Unified messaging is a key part of where we’ll take our technology-e-mail, text-to-voice, audible weather and news reports, which we’ll push out over our FM subcarrier channels,” McAndrews said.
Earlier this year, Clariti Wireless Messaging announced a collaboration to develop a seamless, fully integrated, wireless extension to the voice-mail systems for small and medium-sized businesses that AltiGen Communications Inc., Fremont, Calif., offers.
“We can (also) treat [ClariCast] as a stand-alone with a dedicated number attached to the mailbox, like a cell phone or a pager,” McAndrews said.
In addition, Clariti Wireless Messaging developed the proprietary Voca Player, the pager-sized receiver and playback device that customers of its Wireless Voice Messaging service can buy for about $100. Like a pager, it runs on three AAA batteries and provides immediate notification by beep or vibration. The Voca can store up to 20 minutes of spoken messages.
The Voca receives messages directly from the senders, rather than routing them through operators. Messages are digitally encoded during transmission to prevent eavesdropping.
Although pricing for the device and the service are not yet final, the company expects to charge customers about $10-$15 per month for Clariti Wireless Voicemail, McAndrews said. Those paying the higher monthly fees would receive augmentations, like hard-drive storage on Clariti’s mail terminal for messages they can retrieve when they are out of its coverage area.
