So whats the big deal...
about this D-VIP thing? Not much unless you consider the following to be important!
Frequency - In most areas, there are no 800 MHz frequencies available. Even where they are available, the chances are good that they will be taken away by a pending proposal by Nextel to the FCC. 700 MHz can not be used within the coverage area of TV stations located on channels 60-69 unless the station has voluntarily agreed to vacate the channel. Would you care to guess how many stations have made such a voluntary agreement? 220 MHz has long promised superior performance, especially for data users. This promise started in 1976 and has yet to be fulfilled. All that we can see is wasted money and the littered remains and a never-ending succession of manufacturers and service providers who are going to make it work this time. Guess who uses readily available UHF 450-470 MHz channels in full compliance with 12.5 KHz channel spacing requirements? We will give you a clue. It is D-VIP!
Channel Utilization Conventional radios can handle only a single function per channel. The radio can be allocated for voice or for data, but not both (at least, not without expensive modems and slow data speeds). If the radio is used for voice, only one talk path can be used. D-VIP can handle up to 256 talk groups per channel! Unlike single function communications devices such as Data Radio (data only no voice), or add-on devices such as CES or Command Data, D-VIP can provide secure voice, data, status messaging, and GPS location SIMULTANEOUSLY for multiple work groups on a single channel in different zones at a cost of less than a thousand dollars per unit!
Technology The traditional thought is that trunking (actually a telephone term) is high tech and modern and that would have been true, more or less in 1980! The most popular commercial version of multi-channel dynamically assigned channel allocation is known as LTR, and more recently, the Passport upgrade that allows roaming between systems. This is an analog system, not designed for data and typically configured in a five channel configuration (when frequencies can be found and compliance with FCC trunking assignments can be met). D-VIP handles up to 256 talk groups WITH HIGH SPEED DATA CAPABILITY, MESSAGING, AND GPS ON A SINGLE CHANNEL!
There are other trunking technologies such as ESAS developed by Uniden, and now sold by Relm; EDACS by M/A-COM, or General Electric, or Com-Net, or Com-Net Ericsson as you prefer. This technology is over a decade old and very expensive. Ditto for Motorola Astro Digital. Then there are the European systems such as MPT-1327, actually developed by Motorola, and TETRA, neither of which has made in inroads in the USA.
APCO (Associated Police Communications Officers) developed a master plan known as Project 25 or P25 by insiders. This was the first radio technology designed by a committee! The major participants were Motorola, and at the time General Electric, now M/A-COM, later joined by EF Johnson, Racal and a handful of smaller providers. The plan has been evolving for the better part of a decade with the original promise of open architecture or in lay terms, a uniform standard. The technology, developed around 800 MHz and later including 700 MHz, met the task of a more or less uniform standard, unless you got into the terms of backward compatibility, migration, and other needs to make the transition to this new 10 year old technology. Unfortunately, the cost is about three times that of other radios and the compatibility issue does not quite appear to be resolved. At a recent compatibility test in Mesa, AZ, less than half the manufacturers claiming compliance even showed up!
The newest technology is pure digital using either circuit switched (similar to Nextel) or packet switched (Nextel without central switching) with Internet Protocol (IP) addressing. The major players, or wantabes, currently include OpenSky, a division of M/A-COM, IP-Mobile, and Digital Wireless Corporation. To our knowledge, OpenSky has never completed a project, and IP-Mobile has never delivered a system in the USA. Who does that leave? Digital Wireless, a proven supplier with patented technology and a worldwide user base. Is it any wonder that this is the company we have chosen as best suited to serve YOUR needs?
Cost - The price of a complete D-VIP system is comparable to a good quality 2-way radio system and typically LESS THAN A THIRD of systems capable or performing just a portion of D-VIPs capability.
