G S Kok, Hytera's vice-president for subscriber terminals, talks to ...

ForewordFocus on innovationG S Kok, Hytera’s vice-president for subscriber terminals, talks to Land Mobileabout digital migration, trunking and other developments in mobile radioDigital reality is coming to PMR. Forthose customers who are still undecidedwhether digital is going to stay,I think it’s very obvious this year that there hasbeen tremendous growth, with all the players indigital PMR already putting out their systems.And of course at Hytera, having invested forthe past five years heavily in digital, our currentproduct platform has matured. The PD series[DMR handportables] is already fully loaded interms of features, in terms of bands, in terms ofcapabilities. We’ve got the base station out andwe are still working on the conventional trunking,which is lower-cost compared with the systemtrunking that we have.Our digital Tier III trunking was launchedin March of last year. The first system went toGuatemala and then subsequently this year wehave got multi-system setups going to Harrisand to some of our East Coast customers. Andwe’re seeing good growth in the UK in terms ofconventional, DMR and of course Tetra.With Tetra, because we’re new to this game,we are still learning and at the same timeimplementing new features. Don’t forget, Tetrawas first released in 1999 and the first terminalwas available probably in 2001. So we’ve got 11years to catch up and there are a lot of featuresthat we still need to put into our terminals. Soin terms of Tetra we are a little bit behind, butwe are not sitting down. We are trying to do aneight-second 100-metre dash!User-friendlyWe do pay a lot of attention to make sure thatthe UI [user interface] in the DMR and Tetraare similar, so that when users are familiar withour DMR and they migrate to our Tetra, theyknow how to operate the radio straight away.The features may be slightly different, but theway you use the terminals will feel the same, sowe focus on those points. It’s very importantthat when the user picks up the radio, he is ableto operate it immediately without looking at themanual.The fundamental thing about DMR wasto assist with the migration from analogue todigital. MPT has been a very good solution formany, many years but it is becoming a little bitout of date. Just to get clearer voice, digital is theway to go.What we try to encourage is to have a systemthat is able to function as an MPT trunkedsystem, and that vision is still true. We neverclaimed that we will be able to do everythingthat MPT does, because, really, is there such abig need? What you want is the important part,which is the voice call. When you want to makea call on your MPT system to go into a DMRTier III trunking system, it will accept your calland then translate it to DMR and then radiatedown to another DMR Tier III radio and facilitatethat conversation.In the same way as the terminals, when itcomes to an MPT base station, all the user hasto do is to select MPT mode and then the terminalwill register on to the MPT system. Thenhe can talk to the MPT radios. So that will allowcustomers to slowly migrate.Time for changeFor any customer, the way they change will differ,but the most important thing is when thereis a need to have more capacity. That’s the placethat you should target first. It’s cheaper to do itnow, because you don’t need to invest any moreon equipment that you know is going to beobsolete.We think we have very effective and affordableproducts – but it seems that the market islooking for even more affordable products. I’vebeen very busy for the past few years lookingat the new generation of DMR and at futuregenerations of DMR with broadband facilities,and also looking at low-end DMR. How are wegoing to solve the market problem? That has occupiedthe bulk of my time.Hytera is now very focused on innovations,on customer satisfaction. So we listen to ourcustomers and try to implement solutions forthem so that they can go to market and theycan solve their problems. That’s in line with ourcompany objectives of Respond and Achieve.We respond to customers’ requests andachieve our goal of getting the best terminalsout to the world.Hytera’s X1e, the smallest full-powerDMR handportable radio, is designedfor covert applications but is suitablealso for managerial users who do notwant to carry a full-size handportable.The radio is comparable in size with theiPhone seen on the right. By the endof 2012, Hytera will also introduce fullkeypad and limited keypad versionsThis compact TETRA handset was shownby Hytera at the Tetra World Congressearlier this year. The antenna integratesGPS reception for improved positionfindingperformance, and the controlknobs are deliberately made differentin size for easy operation by touchSponsored by3