This letter appeared in the March 2008 JAVAD GNSS ad in The American Surveyor:
Staying Connected with www.javad.com
A lot has happened since the last issue. First, we listened to your input regarding our OEM boards and added Duo to the portfolio. We also improved and simplified Quattro: The addition of L1/L2 GLONASS to all four units of Quattro adds eight extra RF circuits without contributing much to heading and attitude results because A) the baselines are very short about one meter; and B) they are typically used in open areas. In applications where Quattro is also used to obtain RTK positions, only one of the four units needs to work with a base receiver (usually tens of kilometers away). Therefore, we kept only one of the four Quattro units with GPS L1/L2, Galileo E1, and GLONASS L1/L2 and the other three units with GPS L1/L2 and Galileo E1. We also optimized the other three units for better attitude performance. This modification did not change our production schedule because it involved only removing some parts and restarting the manufacturing process. I’ll stop here because I have been warned to cut down on technical discussions! We know that many surveyors are not so interested in the detailed technical aspects, but rather just expect the equipment to work!
We also received questions regarding our plans for Galileo and Compass/Beidou. Regarding Galileo, we may extend the one year free Galileo option plan until our customers can experience the benefits of Galileo. Regarding Compass, we tracked Compass on September of last year but did not even mention it because it was a trivial task after our friends at Stanford University published the Compass signal structure. Our TRIUMPH Chip is Compass-capable, but we need to know more about the Compass deployment plan and schedule before we offer any Compass-capable products.
Our focus now is to put our products in the hands of our dealers and customers. Our manufacturing is progressing nicely and is on schedule. As stated earlier, we plan to accept orders in March and start shipment in April.
Also, we have built in a lot of flexibility and expansion capabilities for every product. We will ensure that each product that we ship will perform reliably according to our specifications. But we will not stop there. We will continue to provide improvements as new features become available. For example, as Galileo improves we will follow by providing you firmware updates and upgrades AUTOMATICALLY! While this idea is not new, it is the first time it has been brought to the GNSS community. GNSS is a very dynamic technology, and we are dedicated to bringing you the latest quickly without interrupting your business and continuous usage of equipment and software. Get ready and sharpen up your Internet skills!
Since the last issue we have attracted over 70 dealers in 43 countries, and the list is growing. We will continue our effort to build the best support structure worldwide to complement our state-of-the-art Internet-based support. We expect the combination of the two to provide the most efficient and speedy support system in the world. Any competition among our dealers will be based solely on support. Our prices are universal and we will provide the best support to all of our dealers worldwide.
We will continue to allow customers to buy directly from us via our website Online Order. However, the direct prices are exactly the same as those offered by our local dealers. Given the local support that customers receive from dealers, there should be no reason for a customer to bypass their favorite local dealers. And although there is no restriction, we anticipate that our direct sales will be from areas where a local dealer is currently not available, or from specialty and research oriented customers who need special direct support, cooperation and co-development outside the scope of standard dealer activity.
As I have said before, GNSS is a very dynamic technology, and JAVAD GNSS is a very dynamic company. We will be summarizing our progress and news in every issue of this monthly magazine, and will also use the magazine’s website for news and press releases. But a monthly publication is by no means enough to convey our messages and update you on our many developments in a timely fashion. Please also stay connected by visiting our website, www.javad.com, on a daily basis so you can stay up with our latest developments.
Until the next issue,
Regards,
Javad