terminals
Devices for data W
A growing range of TETRA-enabled computers and other devices is creating the tools to exploit new opportunities for wireless data applications. Rob Lovelace, of the specialist developer TETRAtab, talked to Richard Lambley about users’ differing needs
hile TETRA systems have been spreading steadily worldwide, their potential for data applications has been overshadowed by the
explosive growth of 3G cellular networks, driven by cheap mobile devices and applications. Many mission-critical data applications do not require a
broadband connection, yet users have often been driven to rely on the public networks as a radio bearer because of a lack of TETRA-enabled data devices. A company which has been working to change this is
TETRAtab, which was formed four years ago to produce the Data Companion, a PDA-style handheld terminal which it developed in partnership with the UK public safety service provider Airwave. Today, the company retains its unique specialism in TETRA data, but users are now offered a much broader range of device types to choose from. “TETRAtab’s strategy following the Data Companion was
to take the best of what the commercial market had in terms of computing devices and to TETRA-enable them”, said Rob Lovelace, a founder of the company. “And the reason why we’ve been doing that is because we were at the cusp of the revolution which was about to happen in terms of tablet devices – which is all history now, in terms of Ultra-Mobile PC all the way through to the iPad-style, slate-type devices that are fashionable today. “Te development cost of those types of devices is
extremely high – but that is what people are expecting in terms of the quality and market usability.”
A choice of forms Progressing by way of TETRA versions of popular Samsung compact PCs, TETRAtab has now assembled a range of TETRA- ready devices in variety of formats. Tese it identifies by codes modelled on the
numbering used by BMW for its luxury car ranges. For example, the T-series denotes a tablet device. “We realized that, being the only person in the sector at the moment, that if we do not give clients a choice of
form factors to use, then it’s like, ‘have this or nothing’”, Mr Lovelace explained. “Our next generation T-series is based on a seven-inch
With this convertible wireless PC is TETRAtab’s Rob Lovelace. “Even though a laptop-cum-tablet may not be the most high sex-appeal sort of device compared to some of the other ones that we have got, when somebody is looking at the series from a police process point of view, that is the outright winner”, he says. Behind him are some of the company’s other TETRA-enabled wireless data devices
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slate-type device”, he went on. “Most of the European agencies that run national TETRA networks require Windows as an operating system for the security element. So we are working with a very specialist supplier to be able to provide us with a Windows 7 slate in a seven-inch form factor.”
TE TRA TODAY Issue 4 2011
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