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BellSouth Mobility DCS to Trial SnapTrack's Wireless Location System

14 December 1999

BellSouth Mobility DCS to Trial SnapTrack's Wireless Location System; Handset-Based Tests First of Their Kind for GSM in North America

    ATLANTA--Dec. 13, 1999--BellSouth Mobility DCS and SnapTrack announced today that they will conduct technology trials of SnapTrack's Personal Location System(TM) for wireless phones.
    The trials are designed to test the performance of SnapTrack's Wireless Assisted GPS(TM) in a wide range of calling environments on BellSouth's commercial 1900 MHz GSM network in Charlotte, N.C., and evaluate its ability to meet the FCC's E9-1-1 implementation mandate.
    "BellSouth is eager to test wireless location technology, with the ultimate goal of being able to locate our customers in the event of an emergency," said David Herndon, vice president of Technology for BellSouth Cellular Corp.
    BellSouth Mobility DCS is a member of the SnapTrack GSM Test Group. Comprised of 14 major carriers and manufacturers, the GSM Test Group collectively supports more than 30 million subscribers and is auditing GSM tests of SnapTrack's technology in cities across Europe.
    "We're very excited to be working with Bell South Mobility DCS to trial the E9-1-1 application of our wireless location system on their network," said Steve Poizner, president and CEO of SnapTrack.
    "SnapTrack's system has been demonstrated the world over to be the most accurate, sensitive and cost-effective wireless location system on the market. Not only will it meet the demands of the E9-1-1 mandate and enhance public safety for people placing emergency calls on their cellular phones, it will also enable a whole range of new personalized Internet-enabled location-based services like improved roadside assistance, personal direction finding, improved taxi dispatch and vehicle fleet management, and mobile directory assistance."
    SnapTrack's Personal Location System is based upon its thin-client Wireless Assisted GPS SmartServer(TM) system that combines the power and accuracy of Global Positioning System with information from wireless networks to pinpoint mobile phones, PDAs, pagers, and other wireless devices.
    It may function in multiple modes of operation, and permits the design of wireless devices with on-demand location features. In trials held around the world on major cellular standards (analog, GSM, TDMA, CDMA, PDC, etc.), SnapTrack's high performance system typically located and tracked callers from within 3-20 meters, even in challenging places where other location systems failed to perform, like dense urban canyons, the interiors of buildings and inside automobiles.
    SnapTrack's technology products permit the design of wireless devices that operate in multiple GPS navigation modes: SmartServer, Semi-Autonomous SmartServer, and conventional GPS; allowing out-of-network location coverage and a variety of thin-client, thin-data location applications.
    SnapTrack's Multimode Location System(TM) combines several GPS modes into a single package, and uses a dynamic smart-location feature that enables a device to choose the appropriate location mode for a user at any given time. SnapTrack's Wireless Assisted GPS products require no additional cell sites or modification to existing network equipment and are designed to have minimal impact on cost and handset form factor.
    SnapTrack's system has been commercially adopted by NTT DoCoMo (the world's largest wireless operator), and will soon be on the market in Japan. SnapTrack also recently completed more than 18 months of testing on commercial CDMA networks, and the company expects SnapTrack-enabled handsets and two-way pagers to appear on store shelves next year.

    About SnapTrack

    Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SnapTrack is focused on integrating GPS and two-way wireless technologies. SnapTrack's patented architecture offers anytime, anywhere, accurate, high-speed location of a wireless caller -- even inside buildings where conventional GPS does not operate.
    SnapTrack's backing includes equity investments by Motorola and Texas Instruments. SnapTrack has commercial agreements with Motorola, Texas Instruments, NTT DoCoMo, Denso, NEC, Loc8.net and DSPC. For more information, please visit http://www.snaptrack.com.

    About BellSouth Mobility DCS

    BellSouth Mobility DCS launched service in 1996 and became the first company in the Southeast and the third company in the United States to introduce the latest in PCS technology. The company provides GSM-based digital wireless service in North Carolina, South Carolina, East Tennessee and eastern Georgia, an area of more than 13 million people.
    GSM is the world's leading wireless technology, with more than 215 million subscribers in 140 countries. BellSouth Mobility DCS is a subsidiary of BellSouth Corp. . Visit us on the Web at www.bellsouthdcs.com.