BELLEVUE, Wash., March 13, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- Unity Wireless Corporation (a dba of Sonic Systems Corporation) of Delaware (NQB:ZSON) is pleased to announce that the City of Los Angeles has placed an initial order for 15 of the Company's MPIC (Multi-Purpose Interface Controller) wireless communication cards through Unity's distribution partner, Safetran Traffic Systems Inc. This order is to expand field trials, based on the previous success of trials conducted by Unity Wireless, Safetran and AT&T Wireless in August and November of last year.
Unity's MPIC wireless communication cards are installed in traffic controllers (which control the timing and operation of the traffic signal lights at intersections) and will allow the City of Los Angeles to communicate with its remote intersections to coordinate the flow of traffic and monitor for problems.
"We've had two of Unity's MPIC wireless communication cards operating in intersections for the past several months and have been very impressed and satisfied with their performance," said Bob Blackmer, Sr. Signal Supervisor, City of Los Angeles. "Improving the flow of traffic is very important to us, for both convenience and environmental reasons. This link gives us real time information and flexibility that previously was unavailable without the expense of installing a private or leased fiber system, or our own underground copper facilities. We have approximately 1000 more intersections that could use this product," said Blackmer.
"This sale marks the Company's first order of our recently commercialized MPIC wireless communication card through our distribution partner, Safetran Traffic Systems," said Unity's president and chief operating officer, Tom Dodd. "We are very excited to showcase our latest technology for the traffic market in Los Angeles as the city is a true leader in advanced traffic management."
"Unity has been able to deliver a great, economical solution to a problem facing most medium to large size cities - how to move more traffic through existing roadways," said Safetran's business development manager Richard D'Alessandro. "Not only does Unity's MPIC wireless communication card fill a void in the traffic control market, we are looking at additional applications including transit signs, freeway ramp meters and advanced traffic control technologies"
The purchase order was announced just prior to Safetran's national distributor conference to be held in Colorado Springs, Colo. where Unity's MPIC wireless communication card will be launched to the Safetran distribution channel.
Dodd further stated, "This sale was the result of a real team effort: Unity Wireless provided the technology, Safetran Traffic Systems provided the customer, and AT&T Wireless provides the CDPD (cellular digital packet data) wireless network. Each are total quality organizations to work with and we are excited about our collective ability to replicate this success elsewhere."
About Safetran Traffic Systems Inc.
Safetran Traffic Systems Inc. of Colorado is a leading manufacturer of traffic control equipment and master distributor of Unity's MPIC product for Caltrans style traffic control applications through their network of 22 traffic control products distributors.
About Unity Wireless Corporation
Unity Wireless Corporation (a dba of Sonic Systems Corporation) of Delaware is a multi-faceted provider of wireless and acoustic technologies to the computing, communications, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industries in support of enhanced communication and safety applications.
Certain information included in this news release, as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by Unity Wireless, contain statements that are forward-looking. Such statements relate to the future anticipated direction of the wireless industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, anticipated sales growth and potential contracts. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual operations or results to differ materially from those anticipated.
Note: Sonic Systems, a Delaware corporation with offices in Bellevue, WA, dba Unity Wireless Corporation, is in no way affiliated with SonicWall, Inc. (formerly Sonic Systems, Inc.), a California corporation with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, which provides Internet security solutions.