Press Review

Tetrapol wins Swiss Contract

Confirming that Tetrapol still has a voice in Europe, the Swiss border guards have signed up to a Tetrapol digital voice and data radio system supplied by Siemens to aid the fight against illegal immigration, organised crime and drug trafficking.

Siemens will provide and implement the system to cover the whole of the 1881 km Swiss border as part of a EURO 30 million deal.

The decision of the border guards is part of the wider development of the POLYCOM digital PMR network for the security and emergency services in Switzerland. POLYCOM's goal is to create a multi-user infrastructure to serve the needs of users such as the army, civil protection, border guards, police and fire service.

Coordinated by the federal government, each sector of the security and emergency service has the budgetary autonomy to make its own decision on service provider. Other contracts are still in negotiation. However, the need for interoperability in emergency situations means the closing of the deal between the border guards and Siemens is significant for Tetrapol.

The impact of the contract may also be felt in other key European digital PMR markets. Lothar Pauly, communication on air group manager at Siemens information and communication networks in Germany, says, "With an eye to smooth cooperation between neighbouring states, the Swiss decision to opt for the Tetrapol trunked radio standard is also of significance in the Federal Republic of Germany.

"As well as Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France and Slovakia have already opted for Tetrapol, so this technology will be operated by neighbouring countries along almost half of the length of the German border. Decisions currently being taken in Germany will have to take this into account".

At the November Tetrapol Users' Conference in Montreux Reynold Platt, speaking on behalf of Siemens, explained that Tetrapol was the only system able to meet POLYCOM's requirements. End-to-end encryption offered the required security, while Tetrapol's FDMA technology supplied an economical solution.

Tetrapol now has contracts for 31 networks in 15 countries, including eight European countries.

Extract from Mobile Europe - December 1999,