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20th May 2010

Cambridge Consultants Reaches New Milestone in Iridium Innovation

• Iridium 9602™ Data Transceiver is Latest Development in Longstanding Business Relationship

Cambridge Consultants, a leading technology product development firm known for designing breakthrough products, has achieved another milestone in its collaborative relationship with Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:IRDM).
In coordination with Iridium's engineering team, Cambridge Consultants led the design process of the new Iridium 9602™ short burst data (SBD) transceiver, which is nearly 70% smaller than the previous model, contains approximately half the number of parts and is now commercially available. 

The Iridium 9602 is smaller, lighter and costs less to manufacture than the previous model, the Iridium 9601™ transceiver. The core technology will have a significant impact on Iridium's future product roadmap with new opportunities for Iridium-integrated devices and solutions. The Iridium 9602 revolutionises global two-way data communications, opening up new opportunities for Iridium development and distribution partners in global machine-to-machine (M2M) and asset tracking markets. 

Cambridge Consultants, which has a longstanding collaborative relationship with Iridium, was also involved in the strategy and creation of the Iridium 9555™ and 9505A™ satellite phones, the Iridium 9522B™ L-band transceiver (LBT), the Iridium OpenPort® maritime voice and data service, and the Iridium 9601.

"The Iridium 9602 is the latest achievement from our eight year collaborative relationship with Iridium and we are extremely proud of our contributions to the company's success," said Richard Traherne, head of wireless at Cambridge Consultants. "The Iridium 9602 utilises two customised, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), greatly reducing the number of parts from 769 in the previous device to 384."

The use of the two ASICs makes the Iridium 9602 approximately 70% smaller in size and 74% lighter in weight than its predecessor. The customised ASICs also improve the lifecycle of the Iridium 9602 compared to devices created with ready-made, commercial-off-the-shelf parts.

"The Iridium 9602 offers a more efficient design, coupled with global real-time service, making it the best value in the industry," said David Schoen, vice president, product development and chief technology officer, Iridium. "Cambridge Consultants is a valuable, long-term partner and provides Iridium flexible access to one of the largest wireless contract development teams in the world.  Cambridge Consultants' expertise minimises our R&D cost, allowing us to quickly bring to market innovative, game-changing products such as the Iridium 9602. Our design partnership with Cambridge Consultants is a key component of our successful product innovation."

The Iridium 9602 provides greater flexibility for companies looking to integrate satellite communications into a diverse range of remote M2M applications, whether they are fleet management and monitoring, personnel tracking, remote sensor telemetry or enterprise logistics. Organisations are now able to greatly increase their efficiency in monitoring assets wherever they are in the world. 

After a two-year R&D program, the Iridium 9602 has completed system testing and is now shipping. More than 90 companies are already working on plans to embed the new model into their next-generation products.

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