Finishing touches: IBM aids Geotek in network enhancement

Geotek Communications has enlisted IBM's help in upgrading its growing footprint of integrated wireless voice and data networks.

Under a recent agreement, IBM will upgrade Geotek's mobile switching centers and switching control systems to provide additional capacity, improved transmission speed, enhanced features and the ability to interface with wireless networks based on various air interface and protocol standards. The contract has a potential value of $50 million in the U.S. and $150 million worldwide.

Geotek currently operates trunked mobile radio networks based on frequency hopping multiple access (FHMA), a spread spectrum technology, in nine U.S. cities and Korea. The company offers customers bundled services that include wireless voice, vehicle tracking and data exchange.

When Geotek first began building out its networks, the company chose to concentrate its resources on the radio portion because the air interface technology was unproven.

"It's a two-step strategy," said Yaron Eitan, chairman and chief executive officer of Geotek. "It would have been too complicated and too risky to do the radio and switching at the same time."

Now, with IBM's help, Geotek hopes to provide significantly improved features and capacity and allow for smooth interfaces with IS-41, SS7 and Internet protocol networks.

"IBM is going to upgrade what we already have significantly," Eitan said. "We want to create for our customers as much of a flexible environment as possible."

IBM will help Geotek do that by providing a combination of infrastructure solutions and data applications that can be put to use on Geotek's networks and transferred to other networks, said Randall McComas, segment executive for emerging markets at IBM's Global Telecommunications and Media Industries business unit.

"We're a good company to do that because we've been working across CDMA, TDMA and GSM to do data," he said. "You have to be able to do the interfaces to the other networks."

The Geotek/IBM agreement also includes provisions for joint marketing, under which IBM will market and resell Geotek's offering as part of its suite of business services and products. The two companies have identified a potential customer base in the Northeastern U.S. of more than 30,000. IBM's intention is to give its business customers a tool for accessing office systems remotely as part of an integrated communications solution. "They will offer us as the mobile component of their office solution," Eitan said.

"We have a lot of clients who are starting to understand the value of an integrated wireless voice and data system," said McComas. "It's a very natural blend."

Motorola has unveiled a network traffic management tool and mobile handset for seamless handoff between 900 and 1800 MHz GSM systems operating in European markets.

The capability, which was a joint effort between the company's Cellular Infrastructure Group and Cellular Subscriber Sector, was demonstrated recently at the DCS 1800 Summit held in Rome. Motorola introduced a dual-band 900/1800 MHz handset earlier this year at the GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, that could be manually switched between frequencies.

The new solution--which Motorola dubs "band-aware"--automates the handset handoff and provides Motorola CIG's Advanced Load Management feature. The infrastructure component allows wireless carriers operating networks in both bands to better control capacity and network loading by designating certain customers to certain frequencies and allowing for seamless crossover between bands.

"It's a network software set that allows the network operator to control how the user will be transferred from one frequency to another," said Ted Hally, director of product management for Motorola CIG's GSM Products Division. "The user doesn't know which band he's on."

Providing more control over band allocation helps dual-band operators ensure that they are achieving optimum capacity. The system can also help facilitate roaming between carriers operating in different bands. The Advanced Load Management feature is available on Motorola CIG's M-Cell family of base transceiver stations.