Notas de Imprensa

Thieves Foiled by Utah Police using Alvarion’s Mobile Broadband Solution

Broadband Wireless Access Technology Produces Speedy Arrest of Felons for Both Larceny and Drug Possession  
 
Carlsbad, California, February 26, 2003 – Alvarion, Inc., a leading provider of wireless broadband solutions worldwide, today announced that its mobile broadband solution brought about the quick recovery of stolen property and the speedy arrest of the three suspects in a theft case in Utah. The mobile broadband system, leveraging Alvarion’s market leading BreezeACCESS solution, provides patrol officers in Helper, Utah, with real-time, squad-car access to mug shots and other data, enabled a robbery victim to positively identify one of the perpetrators within minutes of the commission of a crime. Once identified, police obtained the suspect’s current address from the same database, and then easily captured him at his house, along with two other perpetrators. All stolen items were retrieved undamaged, and the officer also arrested the suspects for illegal possession of methamphetamines, which were found at the site.

Helper Chief of Police George Zamantakis said: “Having broadband available in our patrol cars represents a significant leap forward in how we investigate crime, apprehend suspects, and even prevent crimes from occurring in the first place. The theft recovery case is just one example of how Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS system is making a major difference in the lives of our citizens and our officers.”

Helper adopted the Alvarion solution shortly after the Chief of Police in the neighboring city of Price, Alex Shilaos, had performed extensive research and selected BreezeACCESS for use by his own department for mobile broadband. Now, both cities are finding that use of the system increases officer time on the street fighting crime.“The Alvarion system has increased officer effectiveness considerably,” said Chief Shilaos. “By allowing our officers to stay on the streets for longer periods of time while still completing administrative tasks, our department is adding patrol time to each officer’s schedule, making us better equipped to successfully investigate and solve crimes.”

The Alvarion broadband wireless access (BWA) system for public safety uses the BreezeACCESSÔ SU-M, a rugged mobile data radio designed for the rigors of field use. It features Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology to increase network security, overcome interference from other wireless devices, and prevent eavesdropping. Installed in all police department vehicles in the city, the system operates at T-1 speeds, or 1.544 Mbps and higher. As a result, it is capable of delivering content-rich data such as suspect pictures and other investigative information to police vehicles whether they are moving or stationary. The result is that positive identification of suspects based on human features, such as hair and eye color, scars, and even tattoos, can be made based on downloaded pictures available within seconds of a query to the police department’s profiling database. Additional features, such as Voice over IP (VoIP) for secure voice communications and real-time video for surveillance or “virtual back up,” are also supported by the system.

Using existing high spots in town (such as water towers) to install the network, the Price and Helper police both enjoy citywide broadband access in their vehicles with no recurring telecommunications costs. As a result, the Alvarion system, which interfaces seamlessly with officers’ existing Mobile Data Computers, reduces city-operating costs in addition to enabling the police to enjoy much greater efficiency in processing their reports and paperwork. For example, to accommodate the slow baud rates of existing mobile data system, the cities’ records management systems had mobile modules that required officers to save all records and reports to one or more floppy disks, and then hand-carry the disks to headquarters. With the deployment of BreezeACCESS, officers can process paperwork in real time from their vehicles, increasing their time on duty by eliminating the hand delivery of records.

“The Price and Helper Police represent a new generation of public safety officials who are wisely employing the latest technologies, including broadband, to secure their cities and the general public,” said Amir Rosenzweig, President of Alvarion, Inc. “Given all of the uncertainty in today’s world, BreezeACCESS and wireless broadband overall are the best methods for widespread improvement in public safety, including homeland defense.”

Price and Helper are now in the final stages of negotiating an agreement between both departments to allow cross-jurisdictional access for greater information sharing and collaboration. Since Helper utilizes the Price courthouse and court system for its legal proceedings, the possible shared use of the network could further improve officer performance and access to common resources.

Similarly, the County Drug Task Force is planning to equip their vehicles with BreezeACCESS SU-Ms, which will provide network access in both Price and Helper. And because the BreezeACCESS implementation has been so well received, the County is considering putting SU-M’s in their Sheriff Department’s cruisers so they can ad high-speed, wide area data networking to their arsenal of crime fighting weapons, and utilize the existing common network to further share and reduce operation costs.

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About Alvarion

Alvarion is a premier provider of solutions based on Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) used by telecom carriers, service providers, and enterprises worldwide. Alvarion systems provide Internet access and voice and data services in the last mile, cellular network feeding, building-to-building and wireless local area network (LAN) connectivity.

Alvarion offers the broadest range of BWA solutions by market segment and frequency band, designed to address all carrier’s and service provider’s business models. With its combined market experience, strong customer base, diversified distribution channels and field-proven deployments, Alvarion is a leading BWA pure play provider for every end user profile, from residential subscribers to business customers.

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This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the current expectations or beliefs of Alvarion’s management and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: inability to further identify, develop and achieve success for new products, services and technologies; increased competition and its effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships and revenues; as well as the inability to establish and maintain relationships with commerce, advertising, marketing, and technology providers and other risks detailed from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

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