BELLEVUE, Wash., April 19, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- Unity Wireless (a dba of Sonic Systems Corporation of Delaware) (NQB:ZSON) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Unity Wireless Integration Corporation, has signed a contract and letter of intent with Orbital's Transportation Management Systems (TMS) Division to provide systems integration support, software development, warranty, and maintenance services for the Automatic Vehicle Management System (AVMS) to be delivered by Orbital TMS and Sanyo Trading Company (Sanyo) to Singapore Bus Services Ltd (SBS). Unity Wireless Integration represents Orbital TMS in Asia and played a key role in all stages of the project leading to the award.
Orbital TMS has agreed to award Unity Wireless Integration contracts with potential revenue totaling over US$16 million. The AVMS project will take three years to deploy and Unity Wireless Integration will earn approximately US$3 million by providing custom software development and project management support of Orbital's portion of the system. The balance of US$13 million would be earned over an optional 10-year maintenance and service contract to be implemented once the AVMS system is fully deployed.
The SBS AVMS uses a satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) to track the movement of 2,700 buses on the roads. The project, which is the largest AVMS project in the world, aims to bring about a fundamental shift in bus services management, schedule adherence, and bus scheduling, that will bring tangible benefits to SBS customers.
Mr. Sia Vojdani, president and chief executive officer of Unity Wireless Integration stated, "I am delighted that our company has been able to team up with Orbital TMS and Sanyo, to work on such a large and technologically advanced project. Singapore is the showcase in Asia for the application of advanced technologies and the award of this contract increases our ability to pursue other similar business opportunities in the region."
Speaking for Orbital, Mr. David L. Mathisen, Vice President and General Manager of the company's TMS division, said, "We are obviously very pleased and excited to have won this very hard-fought and extremely competitive tender. Unity's experience and qualifications were instrumental in helping secure this win. The SBS team looks forward to validating that our advanced vehicle management technology is the proper solution for the stringent demands of international public transportation systems."
Orbital TMS is a leader in the field of Global Positioning System and Automatic Vehicle Location applications. It has delivered similar transit management systems in United States cities including Denver, Portland and Chicago. Orbital TMS will provide the software and systems architecture along with a computer-aided dispatch module that effectively controls and monitors the entire AVMS system.
Sanyo Trading Company of Japan is a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric Works, Limited which has the highest market share in Japan's stored value, or "electronic," fare systems. Sanyo provides the on-board bus computer and integrated GPS tracking and communications hardware, allowing pertinent data to reach a centralized transit management center.
SBS is the largest bus operator in Singapore and a publicly traded subsidiary of Delgro Corporation Limited which also operates bus services in Guangdong and Shanghai in China and has recently acquired Metroline plc. of the United Kingdom.
"I am excited with the result because it reflects well upon the ability and commitment of our management team to succeed in today's very competitive international environment," said Unity Wireless chairman and chief executive officer Mark Godsy. "I'm also delighted for our shareholders as our team's achievement should provide a solid base to expand our business in Asia."
About Unity Wireless Integration
Unity Wireless Integration Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Unity Wireless, is a hardware and software systems integrator providing marketing and technical support for large-scale projects in Asia.
About Unity Wireless
Unity Wireless (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 Sonic Systems Corporation (dba Unity Wireless) and its subsidiaries, 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 Corporation dba Unity Wireless, a Delaware corporation with offices in Bellevue, WA, 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.