Paradigm Advanced Technologies offers low-cost wireless data through LSP model

Paradigm Advanced Technologies Inc has introduced a new business model that gives customers access to location sensitive data for as little as $1 per month. The approach is similar to one used by application service providers, whereby users pay a fee to use applications on remote servers. Paradigm president and CEO, Eduardo Guendelman says "as a result, there’s (virtually) no cost to the data. Our information is extremely inexpensive to get." Toronto-based Paradigm inherited the business model from Power-LOC Technologies Inc, which it acquired five months ago. Guendelman says the location service provider (LSPs) model is unique in that it gives companies that become LSPs control and ownership over the data, as opposed to the Cell-Loc Inc model where the carrier will ultimately own the information. Paradigm has pushed through some significant marketing and technology changes this year, and it appears to be paying off. The company, which holds an exclusive global patent for its wireless location technology, is expected to generate about $600 million in revenue over the next four to five years, just from orders signed during the past six weeks. Telematics, fleet management, asset and pet tracking are the company’s primary target markets. Guendelman describes the changes, which included eliminating non-core activities, as more than cosmetic. "A facelift is when you take somebody who requires a change in the way they look from the outside," he told Report on Wireless. "We did something more (along the lines) of an organ transplant." The company’s new market focus began earlier this year with the PowerLOC acquisition. Guendelman was brought on board to engineer the retooling. The March acquisition provided Paradigm with access to the three components of the L-biz architecture: GPS-enabled mobile devices, the servers and the client software. These products provide the basis for the LSP business model which is the company’s primary source of revenue. It sells complete systems to companies that want to become LSPs. Paradigm also inherited an experienced team which has since been supplemented by hires from around the world. These elements combined to give the company a marketable wireless location product. Guendelman says the payoff began in July with a rush of orders, even without the help of an extensive sales force canvassing door to door. "So as of today, our orders are (potentially) worth more than $600 million," he told RoW, and that was achieved in about a month and a half without even having to send out on the road the lone salesman the company currently employs. "I’ve been involved in many start-ups, but I’ve never been in any business where the growth has been so fast and where the market has been so ready to absorb (this technology and business model)." He adds that a new deal is being closed every week. Another advantage of the company’s turnkey location services system is that it is carrier-grade and supports not only GPS location technologies, but alternative technologies as well. For example, he says, in fleet management operations, not all cars in a given area will be tracked by GPS. This, he adds, is where the versatility of the L-Biz architecture has its advantages. The system also supports various radio technologies like GSM, CDMA, TDMA and AMPS. "That gives us, a) access to different countries in the world and, b) access to different carriers that aren’t sure who will have the winning technology a year from now," he says. Paradigm recently licensed its L-Biz architecture to Guardian Location Corp, Chesapeake VA, and Special Circuit Inc of Altanta GA. Guardian will use a specialized version of the L-Biz advanced location technology to provide a new generation of financial asset recovery services to financial institutions that handle consumer and business loans and leases secured by mobile assets. The initial part of this agreement is valued at (US)$1.7 million. The five-year deal is potentially worth US$85 million. Special Circuits’ has agreed to an initial order of US$1.7 million for equipment and software to become an LSP providing location services in the transportation and personal tracking industries. The five-year agreement is worth about US$60 million. "We implement a system that can be scalable and have virtually millions of devices controlled by a single (server) in a single carrier space without bringing the traffic to saturate the network," he says. Paradigm employs 25 in Canada, and plans to hire another 10 before the end of the year, growing to 50 staff by about this time next year. The mobile devices are subcontracted for manufacturing by various companies around the world, and Paradigm will decide soon which company will become its primary supplier.

Paradigm Advanced Technologies offers low-cost wireless data through LSP model

News | 09/05/2000 4:00 am EDT

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