07.30.02
Wireless Review
by Kelly Carroll
Appearing in Wireless Review, May 1, 2002
The Data Also Rises
Jerry Knoblach and Eric Frische were next-door neighbors and friends at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And for a long time, the comparisons ended there.
After MIT, Knoblach continued hitting the books at Harvard Business School. He later took a job at space system manufacturer Orbital around the time it launched its low-Earth orbit satellite system, where he gained more knowledge about global positioning systems.
Meanwhile, after leaving MIT, Frische joined toy manufacturer Mattel as a designer and part of the company's think tank. From there he joined the Air Force, then the National Security Agency, where he researched microwave satellite technology. Returning to his design and innovation roots, Frische then started his own inventions business, Applied Solutions, and devoted his time to product development.
But when Knoblach and Frische reunited in 1998 to form Chandler, Ariz.-based Space Data Corp., a carrier's carrier aiming to offer two-way messaging, they concluded that their combined life experiences could help them successfully bring an unusual technological solution — relaying wireless voice and data signals to remote areas by attaching their SkySite system to weather balloons — to a skeptical market.
“We had my prototype background and Jerry's business background,” Frische said. “It was a good mix when we decided to get together. What we've tried to do with Space Data is make sure we pull in people with a wide range of experience.”
Although that experience provided a strong foundation, Space Data must now prove its concept to the market. While the notion of transmitting data via high-altitude platforms is not revolutionary, combining such efforts with those of the National Weather Service just might be.
The NWS currently has 70 ground station sites across the country. Every 12 hours, each location launches a balloon to altitudes up to 100 feet, where it stays aloft for 24 to 48 hours. Space Data wants to hitch a ride on those balloons.
Indeed, Frische argued it would be beneficial for both parties if they worked out a deal. NWS is already planning to upgrade the technology aboard its balloons to include GPS, which would cost about $100 more for each balloon launched. On the other hand, if it were to strike a partnership with Space Data, NWS could get the data it needs for free.
NWS refused to comment for this story regarding a potential contract with Space Data.
If NWS does not agree to a deal, Knoblach and Frische are confident they can make the idea float on their own. Frische said it would be as easy as taking small balloons, filling them with helium and tying on the six-pound GPS-based SkySite repeaters. Space Data could then set up its own ground stations across the U.S., enabling Knoblach and Frische to remain in constant communication with the balloons from the company's Phoenix network operations center.
Space Data maintains this plan would still be cheaper than if carriers were to provide additional coverage themselves — for example, where a carrier might have to launch 15,000 cell sites, Space Data's plan involves only 70 ground sites.
“Our model works because 80% of the population lives on 10% of the country's land,” Frische said. “No one will build 10 times the number of towers just to cover 20% of the nation's people. And our sites cost $400, which is one-third of the price of towers.”
In September the FCC approved the SkySite system, and Space Data was awarded more than 1.5 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz PCS band for a little more than $8 million. SkySite is currently compatible with Motorola's Reflex protocol, which Skytel, Arch Wireless, Weblink Wireless and Verizon Wireless use for messaging. Going forward, the company hopes to collaborate with solutions such as BlackBerry. Once Space Data has mastered the delivery of wireless e-mail, it plans to transmit voice service as well.
“[900 MHz] is a multifunctional band, which gives us a lot of flexibility because we can deploy messaging and voice service across various protocols,” Knoblach said. “Our system would not be challenged because all wireless carriers are converging to GSM or CDMA.”
As with anything that challenges the mainstream, Space Data has its share of naysayers. Alternative solutions, whether via balloon or satellite, could be very difficult to maintain because there is no core business or subscribers to fall back on if the strategy doesn't work, said Robin Hearn, a senior analyst for Ovum.
“To be successful, the service must be cheap enough, and it must be able to attract a bunch of users,” Hearn said. “I haven't seen anything like this in a few years, and my gut feeling is that history has shown such an alternative will not work.”
Despite its critics, Space Data will begin alpha testing the system this summer with the Phoenix forecast office, one of the local arms of NWS. If the initial trial goes well, beta testing will follow in the fall. Knoblach and Frische hope to launch the system in Flagstaff and Tucson, Ariz., by 2003. The next step is a regional system that would cover all of Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Space Data also believes there is a huge international market for its technology, and it has already filed for patents in other countries to fend off any potential competition. “Just by tying our technology to balloons,” Knoblach said, “we can provide wireless messaging to all landmasses around the world.”