John, what are your thoughts on CSATNET?

Misesian raised this point in a comment. Thanks Misesian. I have two photos for you:
xG's "special" vehicle featured from their Fort Brag debacle deployment;

..and Carolina Sat's own "special" vehicle featured in their website...

Hmmm! Does that Hummer look familiar? What was "special" about xG's vehicle was that it wasn't theirs..! It suggests there's some "special" relationship going on behind the scenes. Maybe involving a vehicle rental + press release scheme..?!

Also note that this transaction is termed a "12-month sales order",  not just a "sale". No money received as yet and is dependent on delivery of equipment in Q2 2012. Still leaves plenty of wriggle room. We've heard stuff like this before: sales orders (PC3 and Liketone), letters of intent, trial agreements, etc. No money ever changed hands.


Also note that, just like Force 3, liketone and the rest CSATNET conspicuously fail to mention their relationship with xG as a "Partner" on their partner pages. Oversight? Maybe, but it hardly seems like they are pinning their hopes to the xMax bandwaggon. 


Maybe this is because their system isn't even ready yet, after for years saying it was! Today's announcement is a doosie:

John Coleman, CEO, xG Technology. [said]"Our next challenge will be to make a system of affordable devices for volume production. Given the milestone we have achieved, I have every confidence that our team at xG will make this happen." ... Scott Garlington, Vice President of Engineering at xG Technology. [said it was] "the aim of making the xMax system commercially available later this year."

Ohh, Scotttt, ohh Johhhn! xG said this years ago! You ordered 10,000 phones years ago...! Before you switched xMax to newMax. Now it's back to the drawing board - again..! NewNewMax. Mooohahaha!. 

Late and Probably Never

Hilarious press release this morning. Remind me never to use the same courier service that xG use: Finally we have delivery of the Army trial equipment... 140 days into a 180 day trial. And that, according to xG, is a "timely delivery"!

Now, I'm a big fan of the armed forces, but this press release took it a little far in its praise dontcha think: "dedicated", " resourceful", " leadership", "exceptional" soldiers. Maybe Marc's fellatio fantasies are more common than I thought.

The last of the quote is pretty telling. Basically it says, even though we've only given you 40 days to test it - it doesn't currently work : "[xG will] listen to them, to learn from them, and then revise our trial product to reflect their recommendations and better meet their needs."  

Edit:
and the last line of the 'about xG' is also notable. Nothing new, but in this context boasting about the number of your patents isn't a great idea. Some inconvenient person may compare yours to, say, Harris communications who is the current vendor of most Army radio systems. Have a look HERE at the US Patent Office filings for Florida. Harris are near the top. Scroll down to see where xG are.....

Docket 03-201

The FCC are considering 'Spectrum Etiquette' regulations that would severely degrade xG's proposals to use the 902-928 Mhz band. Docket 03-201 is supported by Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) and others. In their webpage they state:

"[spectrum etiquette] may promote more efficient spectrum utilization by reducing interference between different license-free and licensed operators and should be considered for newly-certified devices"

Big Problem for xG. Big BIG problem. They via their lawyer plead (see addendum):

xG is concerned that adoption of the spectrum etiquette proposal, in its present form, will have an adverse effect on the deployment of its xMax technology.

xMax employs what can best be described as frequency agility. In the 902-928 MHz band in
which xMax operates, the band is divided into 18 discrete channels. When potential interference is detected on a channel on which the xMax device is operating, due to the presence of another low power device in close proximity operating in the 902-928 MHz band, the xMax device is capable, in milliseconds, of jumping to one of the other 18 channels, hence the term "frequency agility." The likelihood of encountering other devices operating on all 18 channels in a mobile environment at the same time is probably close to zero statistically. Thus, xMax has been designed to greatly minimize, if not eliminate entirely, the prospect of causing interference to other users of the 902-928 MHz band.

There is accordingly no need for a duty cycle, insofar as xMax is concerned, to allow other users access to the unlicensed 900 MHz band, despite the fact that xMax is designed to operate
continuously.

While adoption of the spectrum etiquette proposal would not be fatal to the deployment of the
xMax technology, it would require extensive redesign and development with the attendant additional costs, further delays in deploying the technology and reduction in system capacity.

If docket 03-201 is adopted, can you see Bohman putting his hand in his pocket to pay for 'extensive redesign and development'? Especially now that he's made Rick cough up some of his own cash, and now that Rick is passing the hat round for $10m? Me neither.

If docket 03-201 is adopted then newMax is dead.

Its father, xMax, died a few years ago. For the technically minded it's instructive to compare the system outlines in the FCC link above with the one xG made to the FCC back in 2003. They are two very different systems. Funny. I missed the stock-market announcement about the change...