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Your advert here!!! Technical Editors:
Last modified: |
SiRF powers world’s 1st family of GPS dual-band
GSM hones
[July
30, 2001] SiRF
Technology and Benefon have announced that SiRF’s GPS technology is behind the
world’s first GPS-enabled dual-band GSM 900/1800 cellular phones from Benefon.
The new Benefon Esc! and Track cell phones leverage SiRF’s proven
SiRFstar GPS architecture to offer, for the first time, advanced location
awareness and personal navigation capabilities in phones that use the worldwide
digital cellular network standard, GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communications). With support for
the open Mobile Phone Telematics Protocol (MPTP), these phones will enable
carriers and service providers to offer a range of location-enhanced services
like geo-messaging, location-aware communities, sports, healthcare, safety,
security, fleet and staff management and location-enhanced yellow pages and
advertising. The SiRFstar architecture, integrated in a
very compact package by µ-blox AG (Thalwil, Switzerland), enables a complete
GPS-based location intelligence solution delivering high performance to both
Benefon Esc!, a cellular phone with mapping and personal navigation
capabilities, and Benefon Track, a telematics phone for professional use.
With the integration of SiRFstar GPS technology into its advanced,
dual-band GSM mobile phones, Benefon is providing both consumer and professional
platforms with state-of-the-art location awareness to its customers. “SiRF is a natural partner for us
because we require a GPS architecture that is both extremely high performance,
but also compact and flexible, to meet the needs of the Esc! and Track
designs,” said Jani Järvinen, business unit manager of Benefon Wireless
Solutions. “SiRFstar
technology is extremely accurate, has a very small footprint, and we believe
that with SiRF we have a technology advantage that will help Esc! and Track
become the most popular location phones on the market.” Benefon Esc! is also designed and
engineered for the great outdoors. It
is splash and shock resistant, with stainless steel reinforced casing. The Benefon Track is a professional
dual-band GSM phone with a built-in GPS receiver designed for various telematic
applications. With MPTP support and
BeneGuard, a unique, easily programmable multifunction button, the Benefon Track
can be configured for several different purposes, from an easy-to-use safety
device to a mobile unit for resource management applications by linking to a
server application like an emergency center or resource management system.
Benefon Track is a fully functional phone designed for mobile
professionals with features such as a built-in personal organizer, data/fax
modem and clear speake The Benefon Esc! and Track cellular phones
are now available in Europe through Benefon distributors, service providers and
selected mobile phone and sporting goods outlets. SiRF Technology, Inc. develops and markets
semiconductor and software products that are designed to enable location
awareness in high-volume mobile consumer devices and commercial applications.
Location awareness refers to the ability of a device to determine and
make use of the information regarding its location. SiRF’s products enable a range of devices to utilize GPS to
detect location and have been integrated into mobile consumer devices, such as
automobile navigation systems, GPS-based portable computing peripherals and
handheld GPS navigation devices, and into commercial applications, such as
property tracking devices and fleet management systems.
SiRF markets and sells its products in four target markets: wireless
handheld, automotive, portable computing and embedded consumer applications.
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