CDPD allows New Yorkers to send data "packets" directly over cellular network

ORANGEBURG, NY -- BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile (BANM) today introduced in New York City its new mobile data service that is revolutionizing business communications. BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile AirBridge(SM) Packet service is the first Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) system available for commercial use in New York City.

"Whether it results in a taxi company equipping its cabs with credit card devices, or a commuter checking for e-mail messages on the way into Grand Central Station, CDPD is a suitable mode of data communication," said Rick Conrad, BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile President-New York metro region. "With CDPD, our customers have a variety of cellular services that let them communicate as they prefer -- by voice, facsimile, e-mail, and now the leading edge packet data service. Cellular is the one platform that can already support all these services."

BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile is making the service available across all of Manhattan. Coverage in the New York area is also available in parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, Rockland and Northern New Jersey. The company is continuing to build coverage in the remaining New York City boroughs and on Long Island.

CDPD is a technology that efficiently transmits short bursts or "packets" of data over the cellular infrastructure. Its completely open and widely supported standard offers inherent encryption to protect the user's data, and its specification is based on the widely used Internet protocol (TCP/IP) for ease of implementation by customers.

CDPD enables a wide variety of applications in healthcare, field service, finance, alarm service and other fields. For example, CDPD today can allow a taxicab company in New York to equip its vehicles with devices designed to accept credit card "swipes." This type of wireless credit card transaction allows the authorization process to be completed in as little as four seconds and costs just a few pennies. The fare is charged automatically, eliminating the need to pay with cash.

In the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area, Groton, CT, and Bridgewater, NJ, police use CDPD to connect their cruisers to a variety of law enforcement databases. This week, New Jersey-based Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) announced plans to equip 750 field service technicians with CDPD-enabled computers to serve its customers more efficiently.

"CDPD technology lets us augment our existing, highly developed wireless network so we can give service to customers quickly and economically," said Conrad.

New York City's mobile workers can now regain much of the productivity they lose while away from their desks by using CDPD to send and receive e-mail with portable computers or personal digital assistants. Public and private service providers can use CDPD to monitor and control devices such as traffic lights, meters, alarm systems, or vending machines.

"The New York metro area contains the greatest concentration of business in the country, and those businesses need the productivity gains wireless data can provide. Our AirBridge services fill those customers' needs," said Conrad.

The new AirBridge Packet (CDPD) service joins the other wireless data services presently offered by BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile: AirBridge Fax, AirBridge Circuit-switched Solutions, and AirBridge Gateway.

In April 1994, Bell Atlantic Mobile launched the nation's first large scale CDPD data networks, in Washington, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. Since then, service has been introduced in Connecticut, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Charlotte. Commercial service is planned for Boston by year end. BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile is also a founding member of the CDPD Forum, Inc., a trade association dedicated to improving and promoting the technology and furthering a nationwide system of interconnected networks.

With more than three million customers, BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest provider in the United States. Headquartered in Bedminster, N.J., the company offers a full range of wireless voice, data and paging communications solutions to customers in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. Formed in July 1995 through a combination of Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations, the company has more than 5,000 employees. The company's NY/NJ metro region is based in Orangeburg, NY, and employs more than 600 area residents.

NYNEX is a global communications and media company that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.