Fastrax Announces Executive Appointments
Share:
Helsinki, Finland - May 14, 2007 - Fastrax Ltd., the provider of programmable iTrax GPS receivers as well as open and portable iSuite OEM GPS Software Development Kit environments, today announced new appointments in the company's executive team.
Taneli Tuurnala, M.Sc (Eng) has been appointed President and CEO of Fastrax starting April 23rd, 2007. Previously, Mr. Tuurnala served as Vice President, Sales & Marketing at Fastrax.
Fredrik Borgström, M.Sc (Econ) has been appointed Director, Sales & Marketing. Mr. Borgström previously served as EMEA Sales Director at Fastrax.
Fastrax's programmable iTrax GPS receivers feature very small form factors and low power consumption, and are ideally suited for both industrial navigation systems and battery-operated consumer products. Application areas include handheld computers, vehicle navigation devices, sports accessories and mobile phones. The iSuite SDK development environment provides GPS device manufacturers with a versatile platform for embedded applications.
Fastrax has grown significantly during the last five years. The company has regularly numbered among Finland's ten fastest-growing IT companies and has been featured on the Deloitte Technology Fast500 EMEA list.
"Fastrax has established a strong presence in the globally competitive market for OEM GPS technology. The company has grown its sales significantly faster than the industry. In the near future, we will unveil several new product versions and strengthen our sales and product development teams," said Taneli Tuurnala, President and CEO, Fastrax.
Fastrax's iSuite Software Development Kit can be used to rapidly modify receiver features and functionality and to add user application code to run onboard Fastrax iTrax receivers. By eliminating the need for a separate CPU for embedded GPS applications, the Fastrax iSuite SDK reduces the time to market and bill of materials cost in location-aware devices. The iSuite SDK also serves as the ideal platform for next-generation software-based GPS solutions.
Fastrax's unique iTrax Multiplatform approach is the first in the industry to provide a common form factor between multiple OEM GPS receiver models with different chipsets. This allows consumer electronics manufacturers and OEMs to select the optimum receiver for each application, each product and each market segment with minimum development effort and hardware design cost.
Location-based services are one of the fastest-growing areas of mobile technology. For example, Gartner estimates that almost 40% of handsets will support GPS by the end of 2010. (Forecast: GPS in Mobile Devices, Worldwide, 2004-2010)
Fastrax contact:
Mr. Fredrik Borgstrom
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Tel. +358 424 733 211
fredrik.borgstrom@fastrax.fi
Fastrax agency contact:
Netprofile Tech PR
Mr. Juha Rantanen
Tel. +358 9 6812 080
juha@netprofiletechpr.com
About Fastrax Ltd
Fastrax provides industry-leading receivers and software solutions for optimal utilization of GPS (Global Positioning System) and other GNSS location services (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). Fastrax transforms GPS technologies into highly scalable iTrax and iSuite solutions with open interfaces, combined with ultra low power consumption and miniature hardware design. With industry-leading performance, Fastrax GPS receivers navigate continuously even in extreme conditions. Receivers are ideally suited to both industrial location applications and high-volume consumer products such as cell phones and sports accessories. Fastrax Engineering Services provide expert services in application design. Headquartered in Finland and founded in 1999, the company is privately owned and backed by leading venture capital investors CapMan, Eqvitec, Startupfactory and Innocap, with a strategic investment by Suunto Corporation, a subsidiary of Amer Sports, a leading global supplier of sporting goods equipment. More information: www.fastrax.fi.
Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide satellite navigation infrastructure funded and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense, originally developed for U.S. military purposes. GPS provides satellite signals that enable GPS receivers to calculate their exact position and velocity. The GPS infrastructure has three segments. The space segment consists of 24 satellites that orbit the earth every 12 hours. The control segment consists of tracking stations located around the world, with the master control station located at Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado. The user segment consists of GPS receivers and users utilizing the information provided by the system. GPS is widely used in applications such as marine navigation.
