LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 8, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- EMS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ELMG) announced today at the Emergency Response 2003 Exhibition & Conference, the recent installation of 3 Geostationary Local User Terminals (GEOLUT's) and 9 Low Earth Orbit Local User Terminals (LEOLUT's), at several locations in the United States of America. Two LEOLUT's each were installed at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; Fairbanks, Alaska; Miami, Florida; and Wahiawa, Hawaii; and one LEOLUT and three GEOLUT's were installed at Suitland, Maryland.
The Maryland installation took place in late November 2003 and the units are currently undergoing commissioning tests. The remaining units are the newest generation of LUT's and have been fully operational for several months. "The LUT's in Alaska are fully up and running and have been used in saving 10 lives already," said Lt. Daniel Karlson, NOAA -- SARSAT Operations Support Officer.
The GEOLUT 600 Geostationary Local User Terminal provides early notification of a potential distress where a 406 MHz beacon is used. The LEOLUT 600 Advanced Technology Local User Terminal is a fully-automated, high-performance, satellite ground-earth station that processes distress alerts from SARSAT and COSPAS satellites.
The United States, Russia, Canada and France jointly operate the Cospas-Sarsat system, which provides distress alerts and location data to assist search-and-rescue operations. NOAA / NESDIS manages the U.S. operational geostationary, and polar-orbiting environmental satellites, and is responsible for the collection of search-and-rescue data over a region extending from the mid-Atlantic in the East to the far Western Pacific, and from the Arctic in the North to the equator in the South.
Other countries using EMS ground terminals include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
EMS has provided ground equipment and management systems for use with the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system since the system's launch in 1981. Since that time, the system has been credited with saving more than 14,000 lives by using spacecraft and ground facilities to detect and locate signals from distress beacons.
About EMS Technologies, Inc.
EMS Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of technology solutions to wireless and satellite markets. The Company focuses on mobile information users, and increasingly on broadband applications. The Company is headquartered in Atlanta, employs approximately 1,700 people worldwide, and has manufacturing facilities in Atlanta, Montreal, Ottawa and Brazil.
The SATCOM Division of EMS Technologies, based in Ottawa, Canada, is part of EMS Technologies Canada, Ltd. The Division specializes in the design and development of satellite-based terminals and antennas for the aeronautical and land-mobile markets, and is a leader in the development and supply of high-speed data communications equipment for the supply of e-mail and Internet capability to the aircraft cabin. The Emergency Management Products Group provides products and services to search and rescue agencies around the world.
For more information, visit EMS on the World Wide Web at www.ems-t.com.
Note to Editors: See EMS SATCOM at the Emergency Response 2003 Exhibition and Conference in Long Beach, California in Booth 609 or visit the online pressroom at www.ems-t.com/emspressroom/satcom/er2003