newsbytes@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JAN 30 (NB) -- A network based on radio waves was announced by Motorola and IBM through a joint venture called ARDIS. Motorola, which dominates the market for radio-controlled pagers, is making the terminals, and IBM is providing the service, for a wireless transmission system now covering 90% of the country using IBM antennas and the IBM Information Network. Data will move over the network at 4,800 bits/second. Repairmen and truckers are the main markets for the system that will compete with a satellite-based scheme put out by Geostar of Washington, D.C. The Geostar system offers nationwide coverage and a vehicle locator service, but doesn't offer as much transmission bandwidth. The system will also be competing with cellular modems from companies like Spectrum Cellular of Dallas, which can be used with any cellular phone system in the country. Those systems, however, are expensive and cost 33-38 cents per minute to operate. ARDIS will begin full commercial operation in early April, in more than 8,000 U.S. cities and towns in all 50 states. The joint venture will be headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, a suburb of Chicago. Motorola designed, manufactured and installed IBM's radio data network in 1983. It is already used by 16,000 IBM and 2,000 ROLM service personnel. The technology involved is similar to that used by radio amateurs across the world who have coined the term "packet radio" to describe the switching systems used. The packet radio system was originally developed in 1978 by Doug Lockhart of Vancouver, Canada, for use when conventional data links failed. Since then, the technology has been used around the world by amateurs and commercial organizations alike. ARDIS is being designed to support most common computer protocols. Users should will be able to employ their existing equipment and applications software, or select almost any supplier's computers and data terminals for use on ARDIS. (Dana Blankenhorn & Peter Vekinis/19900130/Press Contact: Bob Walz, Motorola, 708-576-6609)