QUALCOMM Inc., San Diego, Calif., is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its OmniTRACS satellite mobile communications system.

In the 15 years since OmniTRACS was introduced, QUALCOMM has shipped nearly 480,000 commercial units to 39 countries. According to QUALCOMM, OmniTRACS revolutionized transportation logistics and provided the basis for QUALCOMM's growth and expansion into other wireless products and services.
"The OmniTRACS mobile communications system was commercially introduced on this very day in 1988, but its development goes back to the birth of QUALCOMM in 1985," said Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of QUALCOMM. "It has been very exciting to witness OmniTRACS' contribution to the increased performance and improved efficiency of the transportation industry. The success of the OmniTRACS mobile communications system, which makes use of both direct sequence and frequency-hopped spread spectrum technology, provided a foundation for the Company's development and commercialization of CDMA wireless technology. QUALCOMM remains focused on continuing the OmniTRACS model of stressing innovations in wireless digital communications that can have major impact on living standards and quality of life worldwide."
More than 1,600 U.S. truckload fleets and 2,000 NAFTA truckload fleets depend on the OmniTRACS satellite mobile communications system and QUALCOMM's Network Management Center to communicate with drivers, monitor vehicle location and provide customer service. Fleet messages and vehicle positioning are sent via satellite to dispatch centers throughout the United States. The QUALCOMM center processes more than seven million data transactions daily.