Redlands, California—The sixth annual ESRI Telecommunications and Location-Based Services Summit will be held July 24, 2005, at the Convention Center in San Diego, California.

      Since 2000, professionals have been gathering annually with ESRI, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) and geospatial technology, to share knowledge about the broad uses of GIS in telecom network operations and discuss wireless, location-based services (LBS) business models, trends, and applications in enterprise and consumer markets. The summit will begin with a brief welcome session and continue with focused breakout presentation sessions for telecom and LBS.
      Building upon the growing availability and diversification of wireless LBS applications across various industry vertical markets, ESRI and its business partners have designed special-focus presentations for LBS in local government, emergency services, and small- to medium-sized businesses. Sponsor speakers for this special-focus session include Nextel and Sprint, joined by business partners Air-Trak, Aligo, Vettro, and Wallace Wireless as well as a joint presentation from Bell Mobility and Binspy Systems. A special, consumer-focused afternoon session will include speakers from Bones in Motion, LOC-AID, NAVTEQ, and Trimble. This session will provide attendees with a detailed review of usage trends occurring in consumer markets and provide wireless carriers, consumer brands, press, and analysts with an opportunity to learn about these cutting-edge, mass-market applications.   

      “The 2005 LBS track presentations offer ample opportunities to learn how ESRI and our wireless carrier and developer-partners can help businesses and governments extend their ESRI purchases to location-enabled mobile devices over commercial wireless networks,” says Jonathan Spinney, ESRI industry manager for LBS. “Speakers providing enabling technology will present their insights into the fast-growing wireless location marketplace—a must-see for any ESRI business or government customer interested in extending geospatial technology and IT to mobile devices.”  

      In wireline and wireless telecom network operations, ESRI technology enables GIS professionals to integrate geographic data into analysis and management processes for network planning and operations, marketing and sales, customer care, data management, and many other planning and problem-solving tasks for network operation activities. The Telecom track of the summit will focus on these application areas and highlight how new ESRI GIS tools help streamline common administrative tasks in a telecom network operations environment.   

      “The 2004 summit had an impressive selection of papers from a roster of speakers from many different countries,” says Kees van Loo, ESRI telecommunications industry manager. “From SBC to Verizon, telecom GIS professionals came from around the world to discuss their GIS implementations at the summit. 2005 will welcome a similar lineup of GIS professionals to discuss their implementations of GIS technology within telecom.”

     The summit will be held the day before the Twenty-fifth Annual ESRI International User Conference begins. Attendance at the summit costs $150. For more information about the summit, send an e-mail to . Additional information, including an abstract submission form, is also available at www.esri.com/lbssummit.
 

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About ESRI

Founded in 1969, ESRI is the leading developer of GIS software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. Headquartered in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,700 business partners. ESRI’s goal is to develop comprehensive geospatial software tools and Web services that enable users or developers to efficiently manage, use, and serve geographic information to make a difference in their business and in the world around them. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. ESRI can be found on the Web at www.esri.com.

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