Sept. 18, 2006
Telit Communications last week
launched Telit Wireless Solutions, Inc. at the CTIA Wireless IT
& Entertainment Expo. This new company, based in Raleigh, will
bring Telit's acclaimed machine-to-machine (m2m) technologies to
the Americas.
Under the leadership of
internationally recognized m2m expert and new President & CEO
of Telit's Americas subsidiary Roger Dewey, Telit Wireless
Solutions will initially address the telematics, fleet management,
and automatic meter reading industry sectors. Their technology
provides the basis for machines, equipment or vehicles to
interface with each other via mobile communications networks.
In 2005, Roger Dewey was honored
with the prestigious Telematics Leadership Award presented by
Telematics Update Magazine for his outstanding performance and
achievements in the field. Named an industry pioneer by M2M
Magazine, Dewey most recently served as Vice President of Product
and Business Strategy at Sony Ericsson, where he was charged with
strategically guiding development of marketing and sales of
wireless connectivity products and solutions to commercial and
industrial businesses, as well as to consumers.
According to ABI Research, the m2m
market in North America is expected to generate sales of over ten
million units in 2007 and have an annual growth of 32% through
2011.
Telit has expanded its GSM/GPRS
products which enable machine-to-machine communication with new
CDMA modules. Offering four different product families, the
company is focused on exceeding the industry's need for maximum
functionality with uniform design at the best price. This past
spring, Telit became the only company to offer a GSM/GPRS module
with a BGA (ball grid array) assembly concept in introducing its
GE864 product, the world's smallest quad-band module.
Telit's approach is unique -- their
products are divided into families, each tailored to different
levels of integration and volumes according to application size
and production scale, and each addressing distinct application
groups such as telematics, fleet management and automatic meter
reading. Within these families, products have the same form factor
and functionality irrespective of their wireless technology (GSM,
CDMA). The advantage for customers is immediately apparent because
all modules within a family are interchangeable, due to uniformity
in size, shape, connectors and software interface. Customers can
easily replace any module with its successor because there is
little or no change required to the application.
Across families, all Telit products
share the same Application Program Interface (API) which provides
customers with the unique flexibility to continue reusing the
application software developed for one product family even when
they move to another. This is typically what happens when a
customer needs to quickly test a concept in a limited market and
therefore cannot start using a high-volume form factor such as the
BGA. Instead, that proof of concept is designed around a terminal
or connectorized product family, but then easily moved to
higher-scale friendly formats with little or no need to re-work
the application program.
"I have been tracking Telit
for years and have been highly impressed with their
customer-focused product design and execution. When they asked me
to help them enter the North and South American markets, I jumped
at the chance," said Roger Dewey. "I am going to ensure
that our customers' success is our number one priority."
Roger Dewey will be responsible for
establishing United States-based operations focused on sales,
marketing, business development, customer support and services,
and regulatory certifications for Telit in the Americas.
Joining Dewey's management team are
several internationally recognized former executives from Sony
Ericsson:
Stefan Gudmundsson, who brings an
internationally recognized dedication and focus to the industry,
serves as Director of Product Management and was recently the
subject of the cover story for Automotive Industries Magazine.
Former Motorola executive Mike
Ueland now serves as Vice President of Sales. At Motorola, Mike
was responsible for developing and marketing innovative,
first-of-their-kind wireless products to new markets.
Mark J. Maresca, who serves as
Director of Major Accounts, championed m2m development in the
fleet tracking and telematics industry. At Sony Ericsson, he was
responsible for taking sales from zero to nearly one million units
per year in the fleet and telematics segments.
Brian Tucker, who takes on the role
of Vice President, Quality & Product Management, also comes
over from Sony Ericsson where he served as manager of Automotive
Business Development. His responsibilities encompassed everything
from automotive sales, project management and development to
quality and operations.
Rounding out the team are other
former Sony Ericsson employees including Joe Braga, Vice President
of Marketing; Leigh Ann Warren, Director of Portfolio Marketing;
Ken Bednasz, Head Field Applications Engineer; and Laurie
Ferguson, Administrator.
There are at least ten times more
machines, equipment, vehicles and robots than there are humans in
the world, creating a critical need to transfer information
efficiently between machines or from machines to humans. The
relatively new m2m industry delivers increased efficiency, time
savings, improved customer orientation and greater flexibility.
