7.0. SR 08-25-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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earlier as a money savings. Thus our current yearly cost for CDPD is $20,394 a year. We get back $5,700 a year by leasing space out on our switch to other departments. The change away form CDPD is a national program, involving all carriers and all users. Europe discontinued CDPD over five years ago and the USA is just now getting ready to disband the service and migrate to the new technology. CDPD connects between devices at 19.2k. A home computer connects via a phone line between 26K and 56K. Thus CDPD was way below the norm for connectivity speed. Although this speed worked for our data application, it did not work for those who need Internet speed or the ability to transmit photos or larger data packets. The market drives the speed, thus a decision was made to upgrade the nation to either CDMA or GSM/GPRS. These devices connect at a speed of 64K, over three times as fast as CDPD. In the early part of 2004, all CDPD networks will be shutting down and users will have to migrate to one of the new networks. The good news is that now AT&T is not the sole vendor and pricing is getting very competitive between the major companies including Verizon, Sprint and many others. The change will require two things from us. First, we have to fmd a provider and establish monthly pricing and pricing for the frame relay. Second, we have to locate a new modem for each device and install those in our vehicles. AT&T has already approached us with a deal. Migrate to their system and they will provide at no cost to us, modems for each car. That is a savings of $11,000. I have been told though that our yearly costs will remain about the same. This deal seems too good to be true and a definite attempt at keeping our business. Other vendors have indicated that although their monthly per car charge might be as high as $70.00, they were not anticipating any frame charges. That is a potential savings of $20,000 which over time would be a tremendous annual savings to our department. We would most likely have to purchase modems, but the overall savings is well worth that start up cost. I must caution us though by stating that these initial offers from the non-AT&T vendors are very sketchy and prone to change. They are very new to this market and have not completed an install yet, so their pricing is neither firm nor informed. I do suspect though that they will be giving AT&T a run for their money - a potential reason that AT&T is trying to lock in contracts now. I am in contact with the major providers and will be formalizing numbers over the next few weeks. As I do so I will continue to provide you with updated information. Please contact me if you have any questions concerning this change. JAB