ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 5, 1997 TAG: 9701070011
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: ECONOMIC FORECAST
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
Part of the excitement in the technology business is created by the speed at which it moves and the challenge it means for companies competing for business.
Two Western Virginia companies, Wireless Valley Communications of Blacksburg and ITT Night-Vision of Roanoke, are examples. Wireless Valley was a response to the trend toward digital personal communication systems, a technology so new it isn't yet widely available.
The year-old Night Quest of ITT Night-Vision was a sink or swim reaction when military cutbacks forced the company to seek commercial markets for its infrared vision equipment.
Cellular communications are no longer a mystery what with all the wireless telephones held to ears of Western Virginia commuters. But now along comes the personal communication system.
The PCS runs on a similar concept as cellular except it uses a higher radio frequency, according to Virginia Tech electrical engineering professor Ted Rappoport. It promises a lot more than cellular down the road, though, because it's smaller than the cellular phone and allows a more personalized system of FAX and E-mail, he said.
With a PCS, a user can transmit data from a pocket organizer, Rappoport said.
Initially, PCS offerings in this area won't be as good as what's available with cellular, though, because cellular has broader operating regions, he said. However, the competition will begin to lower prices for consumers.
The digital PCS system should become available in this area this year from CFW Communications in the Shenandoah Valley, said Rappoport who started Wireless Valley Communications in response to the trend.
His company wants to help cellular and personal communication systems providers design their systems and understand their equipment needs, he said.
Right now, Wireless Valley is so "fresh out of the box" that it's doing "small training missions" only, he said.
But watch out for the last quarter of 1997, he said.
In addition to his teaching duties, Rappoport is director of Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group, a Virginia Tech group focusing on wireless communications. He said Tech is well positioned in the wireless market having produced more than 150 engineers who have leadership roles with wireless companies throughout the world. This also helps the position of Western Virginia in this type of technology.
Another exciting development in technology is in direct TV and direct PC, Rappoport said. This technology provides a direct connection between a satellite and homes and offers a way to bypass an installed infrastructure and get higher speed Internet data transfer.
A similar service through the personal communication systems could bypass a traditional telephone system, Rappoport said.
"Around the world, wireless telephone systems are the norm for countries where people have to wait months for a hookup," he said.
* * *
A year ago, ITT Night Vision was born through the renaming of ITT's Electro-Optical products division. The new name was a response to the need to find new markets for the company's vision products that electronically magnify in even very low levels of available light.
ITT Night Vision has had a good year marketing to sportsmen and the security industry, said Sandra Coan, head of marketing and communications.
In the year, the company transferred its advertising business to a Roanoke agency, The Packett Group, met its sales goal and is ready to "step back and look at what's worked and what hasn't," Coan said.
The company's retail product is Night Quest and ads have targeted it to sportsmen. The company has also hit the trade show circuit, Coan said.
On the military side of the Night Vision business, ITT won 100 percent of the Army's most recent purchase of night vision devices, said spokesman Laurel Holder. In the past few Army contracts, ITT only got 60 percent of the business.
The company started deliveries in September on the $239 million three-year contract, she said.
As the U.S. military downsizes, though, international military orders make up a greater portion of the company's business, she said. ITT has sales people in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East areas, she said.
When ITT lost part of its business because of military cutbacks, it decided to market its night-vision products to sportsmen and the security industry.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Advertisement by The Packett Group. color.by CNB