Palo Alto, California. March 5, 1996
In Colombia, South America, two companies -- Hewlett-Packard Company and Technology for Communications International (TCI) of Sunnyvale, Calif. -- will play a critical role in meeting the country's spectrum monitoring needs for detecting and identifying unlicensed users of its airwaves.
TCI has been awarded a $17 million contract from the Colombian Ministry of Communications for an ITU(1)-compliant spectrum monitoring and management system. TCI will provide the operating software for the license database, administrative processing, engineering analysis tools and geographic map display, direction-finding equipment, overall system integration and turnkey installation, and commissioning of the system in Colombia. HP will act as a subcontractor to TCI, supplying computers and networking hardware, test and measurement equipment and a portion of the operating software for the system.
Under terms of the contract, the system is scheduled to be operational in Colombia by 1997.
The spectrum monitoring and management system automatically detects and identifies unlicensed users, ensuring that a country's limited radio spectrum is available to authorized users. The system improves the overall quality of communications for customers such as cell-phone users, who experience static and loss of transmission from interference. The operation of radio and television broadcast stations, wireless-telephone communications, pagers, trunking and microwave networks are controlled with this system.
"Consistent and reliable management of the electromagnetic spectrum and effective enforcement of spectrum utilization regulations have become a worldwide necessity, brought about by the rapid expansion in the number of users of cellular telephones, pagers and other personal communication devices," said John W. Ballard, TCI's president and chief executive officer. "The system to be provided to the Colombians will help them manage their spectral assets well into the 21st century."
The system also helps streamline the process of administering channel assignments and radio-communication licenses and reduces delays when resolving interference problems. In addition, because it provides an efficient accounting system for tracking, measuring and billing usage, it captures revenue from licensed users that is lost with inadequate accounting systems.
"This technology is used by countries that are expanding their wireless-communication infrastructures to strengthen their economies," said Scott Wright, general manager of HP's Santa Rosa (Calif.) Systems Division. "Our expertise in measurement, communication and computation allows us to provide fully integrated, automated, nationwide networked solutions for applications such as regulatory compliance, interference detection and spectrum occupancy -- all of which are critical to the success of an economically viable network."
TCI/BR (TCI, NASDAQ symbol TCII) is a specialized radio systems company supplying MF/HF systems operating in the 0.5 to 30 MHz band. TCI offers high quality MF/HF antenna systems, turnkey broadcasting stations, sophisticated HF communication, signal collection, and direction finding systems. TCI manufactures the BR Communications Chirpsounders for ionospheric sounding, and automated HF radio systems providing exceptional communications reliability.
Information about TCI and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.tcibr.com.
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 105,200 employees and had revenue of $31.5 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.
Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.
(1) ITU stands for International Telecommunications Union.
