GPS Inside, October 2004

October 1, 2004 GPS World

Honeywell Acquires ERI for AJ

Honeywell International of Plymouth, Minnesota, has acquired Electro-Radiation Inc. (ERI), a Fairfield, New Jersey-based developer of anti-jam (AJ) technology for GPS and other applications, for an undisclosed amount.

The purchase included ERI's technology and related intellectual property rights, customer lists, and the assumption of existing contracts and limited assets. Honeywell plans to retain ERI's 15 employees.

Honeywell plans to transition ERI products into the Honeywell line, and has appointed Mario Casabona, former ERI president and CEO, director of Honeywell's interference supression programs.

Currently, Honeywell integrates interference suppression technology into its INS/GPS-aided missiles, projectiles, and other platforms on aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and land and surface vehicles.

The company also partners with Rockwell Collins of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to co-develop integrated interference suppression products for tactile missiles, munitions, and projectiles.

Allen Osborne Bought by ITT

Two longtime GPS industry companies are now one. White Plains, New York-based ITT Industries purchased Allen Osborne Associates (AOA), a Westlake Village, California, manufacturer of GPS systems for precise time and frequency transfer, surveying, ionospheric calibration, and military use.

ITT has provided payload systems for every GPS satellite launched since 1978. AOA has supplied GPS time transfer systems for 22 years, and today has more than 3,000 installations worldwide.

AOA will become part of ITT's Aerospace/Communications Division. continuing to produce selective availability anti-spoofing modules (SAASMs), BenchMark surveying receivers, Rascal geodetic receivers, time and transfer station receivers, antennas, and TurboSurvey software.

By integrating SAASMs into its tactical radios, ITT Industries plans to deliver expanded services to military customers. ITT expects the acquisition to also help it broaden its tactical network systems designed to distribute positioning systems worldwide.

SiRF Partners with Korean Telecom, Galileo Consortium

SiRF Technology has had a busy couple of months.

The San Jose, California-based GPS manufacturer, which went public earlier this year, has seen its technology embedded in a popular Microsoft consumer product, entered a licensing and comarketing agreement with South Korean wireless communications giant SK Telecom for location-based services (LBS), and joined a consortium of European aerospace companies competing for the Galileo concession.

The GPS Locator manufactured by Torrance, California-headquartered Pharos Science & Applications Inc. for the latest version of Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 travel and mapping software incorporates SiRF's SiRFstarIIe/LP GPS chipset. Using Pharos' convertible GPS-360 receiver, the GPS Locator adds real-time positioning and navigation capabilities to Streets & Trips.

"Microsoft's decision to include a GPS receiver with its software is evidence that demand for GPS functionality is in the mainstream," says Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice-president of marketing for SiRF Technology.

Earlier in August, SiRF and SK Telecom announced their plans to create and jointly market to operators worldwide a new LBS platform based on SiRF's patented, multimode A-GPS SiRFLoc Server Engine and SiRFLoc Client software introduced earlier this year. As part of the agreement to support the next generation of LBS applications, SK Telecom will introduce multiple handsets using SiRF's landmark SiRFstarIII architecture.

Finally, in mid-September the iNavsat Consortium welcomed SiRF into its ranks as part of the effort to deploy and operate Europe's counterpart to GPS. Chosen by the three principal iNavSat partners -- Inmarsat Ventures plc, the Thales Group, and EADS Space -- SiRF will bring its engineering and business experience in developing GPS technology for consumer markets.

"SiRF is a strong supporter of the Galileo system, and will continue to be proactively involved in its technical development and market rollout," says Chadha. "We believe the combination of Galileo and GPS systems represents a major market opportunity for enhancing location-based services, and we look forward to driving its rapid deployment into the mass market."

"SiRF's market leadership and vision for mass market adoption of location technology were key factors in our invitation to SiRF to join the consortium," says Jean-Fran

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