TETRA, DMR (Tier I/ II/III), pDMR, eDMR, NXDN, IDAS, P25 …And now CAPMAX/ DMR Tier III, now I know my abc’s what can all this stuff do for me…???
Two years ago, (it seems like just yesterday!), Our company saw the handwriting on the wall, just like the scores of, and waves of, other analog to digital technology conversions. LP records (vinyl for you kids) to CD, VHS, to DVD, iPods, iPhones, to now some of the coolest digital electronic devices ever seen. Our little slice of heaven known as Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR), also known as Private Mobile Radio (PMR) in other countries, was being pushed in the same direction, so we started down the analog to digital migration pathway with much trepidation.
For a full year, I did hundreds and hundreds of hours of due diligence, as to what was going to be the best technology for our company, a small wireless carrier in Texas??? What technology would allow for lowest CapEx on build-out and future expansions and deployment efforts, and what technology gave us the best return on investment for ongoing network operations with the best and minimal OpEx for a long term operational basis? What fun that was. I heard a lot of promises of what would be and could be from many technology vendors.
So, What technology did we finally chose?
TETRA was our/ my first choice.
TETRA met all the criteria, it is well established technology, it offered us a good selection of vendors to choose from, albeit several of the prime companies we desired, were not in participation here in the USA with that technology. Regardless, we made a decision to go forward with TETRA, with a very established technology, with an established vendor that offered us what we thought would be a good plan for us to build on, and operate a viable network like others had done in Europe.
As I have told this story before I will stop here, if you want to find out what happened with our TETRA deployment, you can read my previous posts here on LinkedIn. At last post I promised a follow-up to our deployment story.
Now, The story now has a new direction.
And, A Very Happy New Beginning...
There is an old gambling saying “the cards are against you”, I personally have never believed that, but after experiencing it… The proof was in the pudding! First we were thwarted by our choice in technology choice. We/I thought TETRA alone would drive the boat, and help take our business to the level we desired. WRONG!
So anyone that has ever been in any technology based business, well sometimes we make mistakes based upon promises, from their technology partners. I am not afraid to make the admission we did the same. It all looked so good on paper, so to speak… But in the end, We chose partners badly. Very Badly, Our BAD! We lost about two full years getting screwed around by the wrong business partner.
So choose wisely when you do, is our only advice. Choose wisely…
Personally, I still am a very strong proponent for the TETRA technology and its deployment here in the USA. It has great potential in many sectors including large private and public systems. We have ongoing & future plans to work with some of the TETRA manufacturers consultants to help further and promote the technology, TETRA needs educated users with good technical vision coupled with a strong technology partners to bring it to full acceptance in the USA.
When one becomes available in the USA we will post it right here on LinkedIN
The good news is, life goes on.
SO, for now we need to concentrate on building a new type of wireless company and building our new digital wireless carrier to its maximum potentials. To that end we have re-branded our company:
In my previous post. I said “we were re-evaluating our business direction and technology partners” and with many thanks to the world’s leading wireless technology manufacturer we have found a new and improved pathway forward, one that will get us to the Promised Land.
G-d willing, and hopefully, it will not take us 40 years to get there!
Our new found direction and vigor for the business is inspired by a new and truly vibrant digital technology called CAPACITY MAX, developed by the true industry leaders at MOTOROLA.
CAPACITY MAX is an improved variant of the popular MOTOTRBO format coupled with features of the DMR Tier III. This new variant has poised CAPACITY MAX to be one of the worlds’ fasted technology acceptances, and system deployments in history.
NOW, that’s seemed a little too good to be true, and especially for a diehard TETRA fan like me. I had to ask myself, And others too, So, How could this be???
Our TETRA deployment was scheduled to initially build-out 6 sites, going to 11 or 12 over a period of 3 years. Our new found pathway is similar in system size but because the uplink and downlink budgets are better with CAPMAX, We now will be able to offer our users almost double the physical coverage area contemplated with TETRA. Factor in a lower per mobile unit cost and even better for us, a significantly lower CapEx for initial network buildout. The technology further allows us to continue to use some of our older analog equipment (MTR2000 repeaters with a modification kit) as a transition element, further reducing the CapEx numbers. HOW wonderful is that? What a bonus! Factoring all that into our overall plan we will be able to cover almost 25% of the great State of Texas! WOW! So now they had us really looking hard at this new thing called CAPMAX. But we/I didn’t want to get hooked into a new set of problems either. I am personally not very fond of proprietary systems, but CAPMAX can also run straight DMR Tier III with limitations on the enhanced features sets included with CAPMAX advantage operating mode.
Since we were sufficiently burnt from our previous experience/ technology partner, I insisted on an initial pilot system of only 3 sites to further evaluate this very circumspect offering presented to us by MOTOROLA. I was still skeptical and wanted to prove it bad technology, So I could go back and eat my good TETRA cake! But as CTO, and business partner I have a responsibility to lead the technology in the right direction always, so I conceded, we had to give the world’s largest wireless solution provider the chance to fail, so I thought… I have put in a lot of new technologies in almost 40 years in the industry, and none of them ever worked out of the box the first time. None of them…Boy, I couldn’t wait for it not work right…The fun I would have proving them wrong…Right? (LOL).
So, now after a full week of testing and playing with CAPACITY MAX
MOTOROLA met and exceed all the technical challenges, far beyond our/ my wildest dreams, desires.
MOTOROLA overcame the hesitations I personally had, about the offering and the company. My sincerest apologies are herein offered.
MOTOROLA came thru with what they promised 110%.
They came to our rescue and have now made our company a formidable player in the 4th largest wireless market in the country.
"MOTOROLA to the RESCUE”, is now our new motto.
The MOTOROLA CAPMAX roadmap will allow us to expand beyond the current system limitations 15, to over 150+ later this year, ahead of our business plans, and allow us to further facilitate the linking of similar operations with other MOTOROLA CAPMAX carriers to provide all our users of the network. A true state-wide and regional roaming network will be formed. Maybe even nationwide, if other carriers can see the value in this new technology, and partnering up with MOTOROLA , to secure their futures, like we have.
So, once again, We are the first to deploy a new technology.
Been there, done that!
We will always lead the technology revolution to offer our clients the state of the art technologies to meet their business needs.
Now that we have partnered with the world’s best MOTOROLA, and in our re-evaluated opinion, the only world class organization in the wireless communications solutions marketplace. We will reach our business goals with CAPMAX technology & with the industries only technology leader who understands and further knows how to provide real support & bring true value to a business relationship.
We want to recognize the following MOTOROLA employees who helped us to get to this wonderful place in life:
Andy Bryrne, Eileen Clary, and “Special Kudos & Many Thanks to Marty Tindel, and his team of brilliant IT Gurus and RF System Engineers: Rohit Kartikeyan, Troy McLucas, Tim Auch.
We sincerely ask “G-D to bless these people at MOTOROLA and all its other employees with the greatest of success, and to further bless our new venture together”.-AMEN-
Thank You all, from us both, all our employees, and all our current and future customers.
Richard P. Cogar, President & Jeffrey Scott Cofsky, VP
