Furuno and eRide Enter Partnership Agreement to Develop and Distribute the World’s Most Sensitive GPS Receiver

FORT WORTH, Texas-- Furuno, the world renowned leader in GPS marine technology, and eRide, a leader in Global Positioning System (GPS) and Satellite Navigation Technology, announced at the ION GPS 2006 show that they have entered a multilateral partnership agreement. This strategic partnership covers existing and future products, as well as, research and development and financial investment. The distribution agreement targets both Furuno’s existing markets and entry in new segments such as Mobile Phones.

"This collaboration with eRide reflects our commitment to providing customers with the most efficient path possible to integrate highly sensitive GPS functionality within their products," said Hidetoshi Tanigaki, Managing Director with Furuno. "eRide’s solutions enable the advanced performance consumers are looking for in many Location-based services products, including cellular handsets, making them a strong complement to our existing GPS products."

"eRide is pleased to be working closely with Furuno to deliver best-in-class GPS performance" said Arthur Woo, Co-Founder and CEO of eRide. “This important and close partnership with a GPS industry leader is a clear endorsement of our Satellite Navigation Technology and allows us to deliver a new level of customer experience for Location-based services.”

The first evidence to success of this strategic partnership is the introduction of the “GM-83” module, an ultra-slim compact GPS receiver achieving a sensitivity of -161 dBm. With its 63 mm2 footprint, low power consumption and low cost, the GM-83 module is ideal for mobile handsets and significantly exceeds the US-Based E911 specifications. In Japan, GPS is now being deployed in all third generation cellular phones to be sold in 2007 and the GM-83 performance extends positioning coverage to in-door locations and deep urban canyons required of many Location-based services.

In addition to the conventional autonomous performance of the receiver, the GM-83 is also an Assisted GPS receiver, which enhances the receiver’s performance by using server based data received over communication networks.

FEATURES

-161dBm sensitivity
Single package module includes, RF IC, SAW filter, matching components and the baseband IC
Better than 1 sec TTFF achieved
8.7mm × 5.8mm × 1.2mm Miniaturized size
The Opus Technology is a hosted solution, so it reduces system power consumption, eliminates redundant resources, and lowers costs.
About Furuno:

For over 60 years, Furuno’s core business has been designing and manufacturing marine electronics utilizing the latest breakthroughs in advanced technology. This same technology and expertise has been used for over 14 years to bring GPS (Global Positioning System) products to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Furuno's GPS products can be used for a variety of applications including: Timing and Synchronization, Telematics, Communications, Vehicle Location and Tracking, Handheld Devices and Embedded Solutions.

www.furunogps.com

About eRide:

eRide is a fabless semiconductor company that develops and markets high sensitivity GPS and assisted GPS (A-GPS) solutions for location based services. eRide combines its GPS system expertise with RF and digital semiconductor technology to offer GPS chipsets, software, aiding servers and a GPS global reference network. eRide’s technology has been adopted by a number of world-class semiconductor companies, navigation companies, and cellular network operators. Founded in 1999, eRide is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has offices in North America, Asia and Europe.

www.eRide.com