Posted on 01/21/2010 9:41:13 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Iridium Communications Inc. today unveiled its next-generation “Iridium 9602” satellite data transceiver at its annual Partners Conference in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Iridium 9602 is a full-duplex short-burst data (SBD) transceiver designed for embedded applications in the rapidly growing market for remote asset tracking and monitoring solutions. The product, which is the culmination of a two-year R&D program, has completed prototype testing, and Iridium expects to begin commercial deliveries in June.
“The smaller, lower-cost Iridium 9602 will serve as the data communication engine for a wide range of portable tracking and monitoring devices, leveraging Iridium’s global coverage and low-latency, two-way data links,” said Don Thoma, executive vice president for marketing at Iridium. “Our service partners are already testing prototypes in their Iridium 9602-based solutions for applications such as tracking soldiers and military vehicles in the field, telemetry from unattended sensors, fleet management, enterprise logistics and supply-chain visibility, as well as personal two-way navigation and mapping devices.”
“The matchbox-sized Iridium 9602 is 69 percent smaller, 74 percent lighter and considerably less expensive than the first-generation Iridium 9601 SBD modem, which we designed the Iridium 9602 to replace,” said Thoma. “The very small form factor and low power consumption will offer greater flexibility to value-added manufacturers (VAM) and resellers (VAR) embedding the Iridium 9602 into their products.”
(Excerpt) Read more at defpro.com ...
Well I’ll be! I thought they were on history’s ash heap.
I don’t remember who bought the assets ?
I would stick with pre-Patriot Act units.
bump for later read
Iridium LLC. They've been profitable for several years and continue to improve the quality and number of service offerings.
It's the only "anywhere, anytime" phone service on the planet.
Did Motorola own it at one time?
I believe the military was involved in some way.
They were about to start de-orbiting the satellites. A company nobody ever heard of came out of nowhere and bought Iridium for a fire-sale price.
It's generally assumed that the company is a front for some unnamed three-letter US government agency.
Iridium is profitable only because the bankruptcy allowed them to dispose of the billion-dollar debt they accumulated to design, build and launch the system.
Bingo! that rings the bell that is getting harder and harder to hear but I sill think Motorola was the originator of the system?
An entirely different consortium owns Iridium.
I've seen one them. He chain smokes and his little finger is bent.
Those lights over South Mountain...the new Iridium owners when the swooped in to take over.
The truth is out there...
Yes, that's my point. They went into liquidation, and a company materialized out of nowhere to buy the remaining assets. If I remember correctly, this new company had already "negotiated a long-term DoD contract" that was sufficient to operate it at a profit, even with no other subscribers.
Until then, no one even wanted to buy the system because they didn't want to be saddled with the operating costs. The satellites were about to be de-orbited so they wouldn't become more space junk cluttering up low-earth orbit.
The original company (and the 1+ billion dollars of debt) is no more, because they couldn't even afford to make the interest payments. The market for a "cell phone that worked anywhere in the world" wasn't as big as they thought.
They developed the system and launched it. The original Iridium was a separate venture controlled by Motorola, but not wholly owned by it (it was listed separately).
A bit of trivia: the name "Iridium" came from the original plan to launch 77 satellites -- 77 is the atomic number of Iridium. The system was subsequently reduced to 66 satellites, but they didn't change the name to "Dysprosium".
Yes, it is:
http://www.spaceandtech.com/digest/sd2001-01/sd2001-01-009.shtml
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) is investigating the Department of Defense’s recently signed contract for satellite telephone services from Iridium Satellite LLC. Globalstar LP filed a protest with GAO shortly after the Pentagon announced the agreement with Iridium, because no competition was held for the telecommunications contract. GAO placed a hold on the Iridium contract pending its investigation, but the Pentagon was able to have the hold lifted by citing national security reasons. The GAO investigation has a 100-day limit.
What was the source of this info? Insiders?
The DoD may be a big customer, but without other customers (a lot) Iridium would not be profitable today, a position which has only been the case the last few years.
The market for a "cell phone that worked anywhere in the world" wasn't as big as they thought.
Motorola and their partners sure misjudged who their market would be. The simple truth is there is very much a market for a cell phone that worked anywhere. It's just not the demographic or type of market they had originally identified.
As I recall the offers to buy Iridium were few. Very few wanted to assume the risk (even at a bargain price).
Globalstar isn't "global." Iridium is. Oops.
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