interview
The road ahead ‘
What challenges does TETRA face in the next 12 months? We are seeing more and more suppliers delivering other standards based systems into the market. However, as TETRA is a mature, well-defined open standard we are finding that it continues to be well positioned against all of them. DMR, dPMR, P25 etc. are all competing standards to
TETRA, they all have a high level of proprietary content and are dominated by one or two IP owners. Couple with this the poor level of interoperability and you will find that many products, even with IOP certificates, won’t communicate with each other in anything other than basic voice calls. TETRA is fully interoperable, that’s the beauty of the standard.
Gordon Watling is chief executive officer of Sepura
Is the development of TETRA applications meeting the needs of users? Absolutely. Over 90 per cent of demanded solutions from customers are satisfied with TETRA as it stands now. Te most important aspect is understanding end-user processes and then automating or simplifying this through the use of TETRA technology, but also easy- to-use applications on the radio and at the control centre. Te open standard of TETRA has pushed innovation way beyond that of other standards. When combining this with the data capability provided by TETRA, WAP and SD cards and the ability to develop apps onto TETRA radios, we have a compelling set of tools that deliver operational efficiency to end-user organizations.
What emerging markets have you identified and what barriers does TETRA face in those markets? Obviously, the North American market is an exciting opportunity for most TETRA suppliers, as it accounts for approximately one third of the world’s PMR market.
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TETRA Today talks to Gordon Watling, chief executive officer of Sepura, about the current position of the market and the challenges ahead for the technology
The open standard of TETRA has pushed innovation way beyond that of other standards
Te main barrier to access this market over the years has
been IP licensing restrictions controlled by one dominant US vendor. Now that most of this IP has expired we have been able to work with the FCC and IC [Federal Communications Commission and Industry Canada] to get TETRA products approved and shipped to North American customers who, up until recently, were paying a higher price for less sophisticated technology with significantly less innovation. Te extraction market, predominantly oil, gas and mining has considerably grown over the last few years, mainly due to the advancements we have seen in products addressing the needs of these users. From high specification ATEX products, introduction of Bluetooth wireless connectivity and user applications based on the efficient messaging service provided by SDS, we have seen these features stimulate a high growth in shipments to this market sector.
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How well can TETRA meet the growing demand for mobile data and how do you see the prospects for a TEDS rollout? TETRA already meets the growing demand for data and with the introduction of broadband data overlay systems over the coming years we will see customers having the choice of bearers to complement their TETRA voice and data services – depending upon how critical their communications requirements are. Sepura has supported TEDS from the start and
continues to invest in its standardization. Lack of spectrum harmonization, an increase in network costs to cope with capacity and a lack of TEDS products has meant that the standard is only applicable to a small minority of users. TEDS only offers slightly better data rates than TETRA and has taken a long time to reach the market. Te introduction of LTE data systems provide so much more capacity and capability than TEDS and it is clear that the majority of users will utilize TETRA and LTE for their requirements. Unfortunately TEDS now has very limited appeal.
What are the most significant terminal innovations in recent years and how do you see this area developing? Some of the most important terminal innovations are around technology to assist day-to-day operations and secure the
TE TRA TODAY Issue 14 2013
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