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Trimble Navigation [TRMB] recently won a contract from the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Department in Florida to equipment 70 fire and rescue vehicles with its GPS/AVL Subsystem. In addition, the company sold 1,000 handheld GPS receivers to the British Army. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed. Trimble also put on the market its...

ICO Global Communications Ltd. appointed the WPP Group, the London-based international marketing communications conglomerate, to head up its worldwide public relations effort. WPP Group and its subsidiaries also will assist internal communications between ICO’s 47 investors, create an ICO website and intranet for internal exchanges, and help define ICO’s “corporate identity.” WPP Group, with annual...

The first of five Inmarsat 3 satellites entered commercial service on schedule Saturday, May 11. The satellite–eight times more powerful than its predecessor–will serve the Indian Ocean Region from the 65 degrees E slot. The satellite has taken over the region’s Inmarsat 2 traffic; the 2-series bird is now a spare and has been relocated...

TRW Inc. followed up months of threats regarding infringement of its Odyssey system design patents by filing a lawsuit against ICO Global Communications Ltd. in federal court in California last Friday, May 10. The suit seeks an injunction to halt ICO’s development of its MSS system on grounds that it infringes the Odyssey patents, and...

The Gorca Group announced it acquired a majority stake in The Fountain Group, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting and engineering services company. The company (renamed Fountain Integrated Systems Inc.), will serve the motor carrier and intermodal industry, Gorca said, with an initial focus on low-cost mobile communications and fleet management systems. Gorca Group is a small...

American Mobile Satellite Corp. said it lost $29.9 million for the first quarter, compared with a first quarter 1995 loss of $6.3 million. Service revenue growth for the first quarter remained flat compared with the year-ago period, at $1.8 million. However, revenue from equipment sales jumped to $2.6 million from $46,000 a year ago. While...

Qualcomm Inc. signed a value-added reseller agreement with Ragsdell Group Inc. to incorporate Ragsdell’s geographical database with its OmniTracs fleet management system. Ragsdell’s database, dubbed GeoMaster, enhances OmniTracs’ vehicle location applications. Other software available with Qualcomm’s OmniTracs system handles customer service, dispatch, payroll, general ledger functions and fuel purchasing. (Qualcomm, 619/587-1121.)

Teledesic Corp., the prospective broadband LEO operator, named Jeffrey Finan manager of its launch operations. Finan most recently handled the procurement of launch vehicles for Iridium Inc.; he previously led a team developing launch site manufacturing processes for Motorola Inc.’s satellite communications division. Finan also has 11 years experience with the U.S. Air Force’s satellite...

Rand Corp.’s Critical Technologies Institute will be releasing its “The Global Positioning System: Assessing National Policies” report on Jan. 31. Topics will include discussion on how GPS should be governed, how should the U.S. balance national security and commercial interests and should the GPS system continued to be funded by U.S. taxpayers. The study, authored...

Tech-Syn said it would post lower than expected earnings because of technical problems that delayed shipments, the company said. The announcement dropped the company’s stock $3.25 to $28.62. Tech-Sym makes GPS equipment and control units for U.S. military training areas. During the quarter, the company bought Berlin-based Telefunken Sendertechnik for an undisclosed figure. (Wendell Gamel,...