Andrew Corporation has expanded its market leading Geometrix(R) mobile
location system product line with the acquisition of certain assets of
Nortel's wireless location business, augmenting a worldwide offering
that supports innovative location-based services for commercial,
consumer, and public safety uses.
Andrew intends to integrate Nortel's mobile location products, services,
and associated research and development resources into its Geometrix
business, part of Andrew's Network Solutions Group. The transaction
includes the hiring by Andrew of approximately 40 employees located at
Nortel's R&D center in Wollongong, Australia. The products of Nortel's
wireless location business that Andrew has acquired include serving
mobile location center (SMLC), stand-alone SMLC, and gateway mobile
location center (GMLC) systems, which process and calculate the position
of mobile devices.
Andrew will manufacture and market the mobile location center products
worldwide to Nortel customers who use GSM (global system for mobile
communications) and UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system)
wireless network technology. Andrew also will provide warranty and
maintenance support for Nortel's installed base of SMLC and GMLC
products. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"Andrew's Geometrix provides an extensive selection of mobile-locating
technologies in one system, giving wireless operators unprecedented
flexibility to offer services that meet the needs of their businesses
and subscribers," said Terry Garner, group president, Andrew Network
Solutions. "With the addition of Nortel's employees and products,
Geometrix is ideal for operators everywhere in the world who need a
versatile, cost-effective way to introduce and support location-based
services for a variety of applications."
The Geometrix system enables networks to locate mobile devices. It
applies the most effective combination of technologies to support the
full range of location-enhanced services available from operators today
and in the future. Operators and third-parties can use Geometrix's
locating capabilities to offer their customers location-sensitive
services such as:
-- Location-based services (LBS) that help businesses and consumers
track people and items such as valuable packages, stranded motorists,
children or pets, stolen vehicles, and delayed shipments;
-- Enterprise-oriented services to enhance vehicle and service dispatch,
track fleet movement, and track valuable assets; and
-- Public safety services that help locate callers to emergency service
centers.
LBS are a new and growing set of innovative value-added applications
that are enabled or enhanced with location information. Geometrix offers
a wide range of mobile location technologies to precisely meet LBS
performance, deployment, and cost requirements.
The Geometrix architecture is expandable to serve very large geographic
areas and populations, scalable to support very high volume
location-enhanced applications, and upgradeable to accommodate
additional future location technologies. Geometrix can support
network-based, handset-based, and hybrid mobile location technologies.
Andrew's state-of-the-art Serving Mobile Location Centers form the heart
of its location systems for GSM networks.
Andrew is the world's most experienced supplier of high-accuracy mobile
location systems and its Geometrix location systems have been installed
by more operators than any competing system. Since the first Geometrix
systems entered service in 2001, cellular network operators covering
hundreds of millions of people have installed Andrew Geometrix systems
to provide accurate location of mobile users who call police, fire, and
medical emergency services from wireless devices.
About Andrew Corporation
Andrew Corporation (NASDAQ: ANDW) designs, manufactures, and delivers
innovative and essential equipment and solutions for the global
communications infrastructure market. The company serves operators and
original equipment manufacturers from facilities in 35 countries. Andrew
(http://www.andrew.com/),
headquartered in Orland Park, IL, is an S&P 500 company founded in 1937.
Geometrix is a registered trademark of Andrew Corporation.
Forward Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this news release are forward looking
statements and we caution our stockholders and others that these
statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. Factors that may
cause actual results to differ from expected results include
fluctuations in commodity costs, the company's ability to integrate
acquisitions and to realize the anticipated synergies and cost savings,
the effects of competitive products and pricing, economic and political
conditions that may impact customers' ability to fund purchases of our
products and services, the company's ability to achieve the cost savings
anticipated from cost reduction programs, fluctuations in foreign
currency exchange rates, the timing of cash payments and receipts, end
use demands for wireless communication services, the loss of one or more
significant customers, and other business factors. Investors should also
review other risks and uncertainties discussed in company documents
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
