SmartLink Development L.P. and Transcrypt International Inc., which recently acquired E.F. Johnson Co., reached an agreement allowing SmartLink to implement Transcrypt’s enhanced LTR-Net protocol into its SMRLink multi-protocol trunking and networking system.
The SmartLink/Transcrypt solution is an enhancement to the existing LTR protocol, said Craig Johnson, vice president of sales and distribution for SmartLink. The combined protocol will be completely compatible with existing LTR systems, he said.
In November, five specialized mobile radio vendors adopted the PassPort protocol manufactured by Trident Micro Systems. The LTR-Net protocol for analog networks will compete with the PassPort protocol to become the common enhanced trunking protocol for the analog SMR industry.
“There is no standard as it is now,” said Alan Shark, president and chief executive officer of the American Mobile Telecommunications Association. “From day one there was never a vision to have one standard.
“It sure would be nice if there was one standard for the remaining parts of our industry, but that will only happen if the government imposes a standard,” he continued. “This is good for E.F. Johnson and it’s good for SmartLink. In the end radio operators will have more choices, and competition will keep prices down and foster new enhancements.”
“The winner of this race is going to be the one who can gather a significant amount of mobile operators,” said Rick Stafford, managing director of Wireless Professional Communication Service Inc., a group of independent operators working toward advancing a common analog protocol for the SMR industry. “No operator is going to be comfortable going with a protocol that has only been adopted by one manufacturer.”
The LTR-Net protocol would not require operators to relocate existing LTR users onto different channels when adding radios with the new LTR-Net protocol on them, said SmartLink. Other protocols require substantial reorganization of channel priorities and reprogramming existing radios when new radios are added, noted the company.
The LTR-Net protocol provides wide-area dispatching, Unique Identification calling capabilities, system security, over-the-air management and graphical subscriber and system management.
The agreement brings together two traditional industry rivals. “They were able to set aside past company differences, see the upside business potential of a relationship with SmartLink and quickly work with our people to close this license agreement,” said Mark Hatten, president of SmartLink.
