Island with a host of applications.

Widanet, a radio-based data communications system, now being installed by Telecommunications (Bermuda & West Indies) Ltd. (Telecom), is proving to have a wide variety of uses in the public and private sectors. In future, the system could also use microwave technology to widen the scope of services.

The product is widely known in the UK under the brand name, Paknet, and has been made available here through UK company, Racal, as a result of the new telecommunications Wireless CT2 licence made available to Telecom.

Telecom's sales and marketing manager, Mr. Bob Legere, said that Widanet is a data communications system targeted toward the security industry, the retail industry, Government departments, banks and utility companies and even for mobile services, such as taxis or truck delivery vehicles.

Mr. Legere said: "Wednesday, Telecom signed an agreement with Racal in the UK to bring the product to Bermuda. We have been considering bringing it here for two years and have basically spent time doing research on it.

"It enables the customer to very securely transmit data anywhere in Bermuda, without the use of telephone lines. In fact, it is more secure then the current telephone lines and faster.

"It is a Racal product that has several applications. If a customer was to walk into a retail store and buy something with a credit card, that transaction is swiped on a register and the information goes down the 'phone line to the 'phone company, goes through their switch gear, down another 'phone line to the bank's computer, which makes a determination whether or not to give authorisation, and then sends that information back.

"Our device hooked up at the retail store, will send the information wireless, directly to the bank computer and receive the information back in less time, with more security.'' How much less time? Retailers in the UK have found the time cut from 45 seconds a transaction to six seconds, usually with an authorisation from the bank for the card occurring before the paper sales voucher has left the printer.

Security device is useful in many areas Mr. Richard Scott, Racal's international sales manager, is here assisting with the explanations of the systems applicability in a number of areas. While there is yet to be a determination on exact costing, it is being suggested that installation services would be less expensive than installing a telephone service.

Mr. Scott was recently in Moscow, overseeing the installation of a system there. The Racal Electronics group has about 100 operations around the world and an annual turn over of about $900 million, of which over 50 percent is in voice and data communications.

Mr. Legere said: "A taxi cab can now take a credit card and swipe it, and know immediately whether or not that card is good. A delivery truck driver can go to a merchant and using a scanning device, do inventory of products on the rack and immediately send the results to the warehouse, so that the replacement product on the same day can be picked from the wholesaler and be ready for distribution.

"Belco can with the flip of a switch, send a signal out to a unit anywhere in Bermuda, even out to one of the islands, to get a reading on an electrical meter, to send them a bill, or even turn off the electricity.

"They can monitor and control power usage, as opposed to now, when they have to pay someone to go out there.

"There are security applications too, because you are no longer using wires to communicate the message that someone is trying to get in through a window.

Wires can be finagled with.

"If Marine and Ports wanted to know if the light out at North Rock is functioning, we could have a unit out at North Rock, where should the light burn out, a message would automatically be sent to the Department notifying them that someone needs to go out and change the light bulb.'' The company has been demonstrating the product to various industries in the Island, showing the variety of applications. The company believes that more and more applications will eventually be determined. There are some 40,000 of the products in use in the UK.

Mr. Legere said: "One application that Government is very interested in is the monitoring of the levels of fresh water in the water lens. We are showing officials in the water department how they can put a radio pad at various wells and at anytime, punch into the computer and get a read back as to how high or low the fresh water levels are throughout the Island.

"We had a meeting with the two largest insurers of water craft here, who have shown interest in the product, because it can send out a signal for vessels in distress. And each signal has its own identification number.

"They are possibly interested in offering premium reductions for the installation of this product. There are also products that could have it hooked to an electronic monitor, using satellite technology, that would pinpoint the location of a vessel in distress.

"One of the most bizarre applications is for European travellers going through the new Tunnel into the United Kingdom. There are TV monitors that are actually recording licence plate numbers of the motorists coming into the country. Those licence plate numbers are being fed into a main computer to identify possible terrorists, or other unwanted individuals. It's all being done wireless by this product.'' The basic product consists of a radio pad that communicates wireless to the main antenna on the Island and then to whatever host it is hooked to. The main antenna in Bermuda can potentially provide a microwave link.

SECURITY LINK -- Telecommunications (Bermuda & West Indies) Ltd. (Telecom) sales and marketing manager, Mr. Bob Legere (left), and Racal international sales manager, Mr. Richard Scott, display a radio pad, which can be a user's link to better security and a more secure information link.