PROXIMETRY TO OFFER WIMAX IN COMMERCIAL AVIATION USING PINYON SMART ANTENNAS

Proximetry’s AirSync™ Intelligent Provisioning and Management System Controls Pinyon’s AirWire® Smart Antennas for Electronic Delivery of Entertainment, Vital Data

SAN DIEGO, CA AND RENO, NV (PRWEB) March 25, 2008 – Proximetry Inc., the technology leader in real-time wireless network and performance management solutions, announced today that it will offer WiMAX to the commercial aviation industry using smart antennas from Pinyon Technologies. Proximetry’s AirSync intelligent provisioning and management system is being used to control Pinyon’s AirWire® advanced smart antennas to enable the electronic delivery of movies and other entertainment to airplanes while on the ground, while also supporting the download of passenger manifests, electronic charts, and other vital aircraft specific content. Systems integrator for the project is leading international electronics and systems group Thales.

Combining Proximetry’s AirSync intelligent provisioning and management software with Pinyon’s next generation AirWire® smart antennas makes WiMAX ideal for vertical markets where user types, applications, and devices each have specific requirements for operation and need varying degrees of guaranteed quality of service (QoS). AirSync enables the Pinyon AirWire® antennas to be managed in real time according to priorities, network policies and the real-time use and behavior of the network. Such real-time beam steering could enable base stations to adapt to environmental conditions, while portable devices can dynamically reorient a handheld device's antenna.

"Pinyon is an innovative producer of simplified smart antennas for WiMAX,” said Tracy Trent, Proximetry’s chief executive officer. “And their unique design means that WiMAX can be optimized to deliver much higher throughput for little additional cost. Combining that with AirSync to manage the antennas and bandwidth allocations means we can support demanding applications such as multigigabytes to numerous aircraft in a limited time window.”

The unique shorted-slot design of the Airwire antenna has enabled gains of up to 13 dBi to be realized extending the range of services and devices while simultaneously increasing throughput. For WiMAX, Pinyon has demonstrated very high bandwidth performance in the difficult operating environment of an airport with point to multipoint service to numerous aircraft simultaneously. And this is all done with low-cost AirWire® components--basically just the cost of etching a shorted-slot into the backside of the printed circuit board already designed into a device (plus a few resistors, diodes and capacitors), for a low cost bill-of-materials.

"Pinyon’s current driven shorted slot antenna technology, AirWire®, is an unique patented advance over the traditional voltage driven slot antenna that only get’s about 60 percent matching efficiency," said Pinyon chief executive officer Debashis Bagchi. "Pinyon has completely changed the way a slot antenna operates. What we do is bring in the RF through a microstrip line--the length of which is a quarter wave--then short the line across the slot, thereby converting the voltage into a current, which give us 90 percent matching efficiency. Our electronically steerable designs enable a microcontroller to dynamically change the directionality of the antenna to maintain the maximum signal in real time without physically moving the antenna. We have been working with Proximetry to bring the AirWire® smart antenna technology into this unique WiMAX application," said Bagchi.

In addition to working with Proximetry, Pinyon is working with multiple other original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Siemens, that are using its antenna for Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMAX, and Wireless USB devices, and soon for both 3G and 4G mobile phones.

About Proximetry
Proximetry provides real-time network and performance management solutions for wireless networks to enable operators to visualize, provision, and optimally manage their networks. AirSync, the company’s carrier-class software, gives municipal, public safety, energy, transportation, and enterprise network operators as well as carriers and other service providers the ability to dynamically monitor and manage multi-network, multi-frequency, multi-protocol traffic, devices, users, applications and services. Powered by patent-pending technology, AirSync offers network-wide visualization and control from a single system to ensure reliable and predictable wireless network performance. Founded in January 2005, Proximetry is a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit www.proximetry.com.

About Thales
Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, serving defense, aerospace, security and services markets worldwide. The Group employs 60,000 people throughout the world and generated revenues of 10.3 billion euros in 2005. Selected as the IFE product of choice for Product Differentiation and Innovation, Thales has received the 2005 Frost and Sullivan award in the field of In-flight Entertainment and Connectivity. www.thalesgroup.com

About Pinyon Technologies
Pinyon Technologies develops designs and commercially sells antenna solutions based on a unique, patented AirWire® technology. Pinyon’s unique AirWire® technology is designed for WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, UWB and mobile applications. Pinyon’s robust AirWireTM technology is adaptable to other wireless applications as the technology is scalable to multiple frequencies from 20MHz to 60 GHz. AirWire® is well suited for applications that require high gain in a noisy multipath environment. Pinyon’s business model consists of licensing as well as manufacturing and selling antennas as end products based on the application. AirWire® enhances applications that require the following features: high efficiency to maximize gain, customizable for precise radiation pattern control, real-time control for beam steering, current driven for scalability, and intrinsic band pass filtering to minimize noise. For more information on how Pinyon's AirWire® technology can solve your wireless transmission challenges, please call (775) 786-6003 or see our website at www.pinyontech.com.

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