Partner News: Airbiquity technology used by Ford SYNC

Date: 12 March 2008

ERTICO Partner agrees on major OEM deal for VIAaq service.

ERTICO – ITS Europe Partner Airbiquity has announced a contract with Ford Motor Company to provide its VIAaq software as a service offering to the automaker’s SYNC in-vehicle communications system.

Ford SYNC – developed with Microsoft – connects people and their portable devices in the vehicle, including media players and Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. The technology is available today on 12 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles and is on track to reach one million sales in early 2009. Later this year, SYNC will be offered exclusively on nearly every new Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicle.

According to Airbiquity, Ford selected their aqLink product and VIAaq service because of Airbiquity’s proven reliability in the global telematics market. “Our partnership with Ford represents a key milestone for Airbiquity’s VIAaq communication service,” says Kamyar Moinzadeh, President and CEO for Airbiquity. “Ford's use of our software with SYNC further demonstrates our ability to provide reliable, practical communications solutions that address needs of today’s drivers and provide the infrastructure necessary to respond to technology needs in the future.”

Using Airbiquity's patented aqLink wireless data communications technology, VIAaq provides an end-to-end communication system for the automotive and portable navigation device (PND) industries. The technology allows for seamless data transfer, including vehicle diagnostics, between telematics service providers and the vehicle using cellular voice networks and Bluetooth connections to the driver’s own cell phone rather than relying on conventional data channels. This approach to data transfer translates into broader coverage areas and a reduced overall cost of entry for automakers and PND suppliers that offer products enabled with Bluetooth technology.

VIAaq also provides access to a variety of telematics service providers and hosts support for those services. In this way, VIAaq eliminates operations and maintenance expenses associated with hosting or managing an independent data center, lowering the overall cost of entry into the telematics arena. VIAaq’s adaptive service also provides a flexible architecture to allow for expanded service offerings as mobile technologies grow and change over time.

For further information, please visit the Airbiquity website at www.airbiquity.com