GPRS dispatch system developed by ex-Tality start-up

GPRS dispatch system developed by ex-Tality start-up
LONDON — Cordic Ltd, another start-up established by ex-Tality engineers who left last year, has raised additional funding from U.K. investors The Bruce Group, to complete development of a mobile data dispatch system for taxis and couriers that uses the public GPRS network.

Cordic (Cambridge, England) said its data dispatch technology is more flexible than traditional public mobile radio (PMR) systems.

"We are starting trials with a taxi operator in Sheffield next week that will prove the reliability and flexibility of our first product, which was developed using money from the founders. But to move to the next stage, that is to prove commercial viability of the system and begin a sales and marketing push to taxi and courier companies, we needed further financing", said Fara Arani, director of sales and marketing and one of the co-founders.

Arani said the system, which has built-in street navigator and GPS vehicle tracking, is the first of its kind in the industry. Using GPRS, the terminal can send time-sensitive data to standard PDAs or smart phones via the short messaging service.

The handheld terminal allows drivers to be in touch with their control center even when they are out of their vehicles, and can help drivers navigate using a built-in, voice-guided street navigator on the PDA.

Arani said the always-on data connection will be far more flexible than the traditional low-data rate PMR network, and also makes the system affordable for any size of taxi, private hire or courier fleet.

The technology is also said to be suitable for international radio coverage for companies who could not previously afford their own private mobile radio networks.

The next stage of product development, according to Arani, is to add additional functionality to the data terminal, including digital cameras for video streaming, security for drivers and development of more sophisticated and flexible billing system.

Cordic currently employs 8 people, most of who came from Tality and who worked there on projects dealing with wireless systems. Tality, the design services subsidiary of EDA leader Cadence Design Systems Inc., bought Symbionics in the late 1990s. In the middle of 2002, Cadence merged Tality back into itself and laid off about 250 of the Cambridge group's 625 engineers.

Other start-ups resulting from the break up and all operating in the Cambridge area include Nujira Ltd, which is developing power amplifiers for mobile phone basestations, and Fen Technology Ltd, which operates as a design consultancy for wireless projects.