Airbiquity’s top management team, L-R: Meredith Green, CFO; President & CEO Kamyar Moinzadeh, and VP of Product Development, Leon Hong.

Telematics is a term most people — even those who are fairly tech-savvy — probably haven’t heard. Yet it’s something millions of us hold in our hands daily if we drive an automobile. Telematics is a combination of wireless communications software, vehicle monitoring systems and location-based services aimed at providing drivers with safety and information. Today, telematics systems can utilize wireless data transport technology patented by a Bainbridge Island firm, Airbiquity, originally utilized for the E-911 function in cellular phones. It delivers mission-critical data for safety and security applications over the voice channel of either analog or digital cellular networks, and is recognized as the fastest and most reliable technology available today.

One company understanding this, and licensing Airbiquity’s technology is OnStar. OnStar is an in-vehicle safety and security system installed in more than 50 models of vehicles (Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, Saturn, Saab, Hummer and GMC Trucks) built by General Motors, as well as by the Acura division of Honda. The one millionth OnStar equipped vehicle using Airbiquity’s technology has already rolled off the assembly line.

Utilizing an innovative three-button system, OnStar gives the user access to expertly trained Advisors located in the OnStar Call Centers (OCC). In the event an airbag is deployed, the connection is automatic. In either case, an Advisor is on the line usually within seconds.

When a moderate to severe crash occurs, the OnStar module, powered by Airbiquity’s wireless date transport technology, sends a message through a cellular connection to the OCC. A voice connection between the Advisor and the vehicle occupants is established. The Advisor can conference in the local 911 emergency dispatcher to determine which, if any, emergency services are necessary.

If there is no response from the vehicle occupants, the Advisor can provide the 911 dispatcher with crash information from a sensing and diagnostic module installed in the vehicle that details the severity of the crash. The 911 dispatcher can then identify what emergency services are appropriate. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, OnStar advisors are able to pinpoint the exact location of the vehicle for emergency responders.

OnStar, which literally handles thousands of emergency calls per day, can also be used for a number of other functions like remotely unlocking car doors, as well as for social uses like finding a restaurant in a strange town, just getting directions, or a host of other services. But the whole operation depends on Airbiquity’s solution.

Airbiquity’s story in an interesting one, and the road to success has been anything but smooth, according to current President and CEO Kamyar Moinzadeh.

The company, which was founded in 1997 as IDC, changed its name to Airbiquity in 2000. It holds nine patents for wireless technology, and has 10 more winding their way through the patent process. Airbiquity currently has 13 employees, and expects to grow to 20 by the end of this year. However, that is a far cry from the 80 it had at the height of the Internet boom in 2001.

“We had to make some hard choices when the dot com boom came to an end,” said Moinzadeh. “But we survived, and that’s what counts.” Moinzadeh was brought in from AT&T Wireless by the board of directors, which is made up primarily of a group of investors with extensive experience in wireless product and service companies, to restructure the firm.

Moinzadeh has put his own top management team in place, which includes CFO Meredith Green, formerly with Boxlight, and Leon Hong, who serves as the vice president of product development.

With Moinzadeh busy reducing staff and slashing costs at every opportunity, the turning point came in 2004 when OnStar launched its system with Airbiquity’s wireless data transport technology. In 2004, it also signed an agreement to supply digital Telematics to LG Electronics, a major manufacturer of cell phones and other consumer products.

Airbiquity receives a royalty for each OnStar unit put into service, so it has no real manufacturing costs. As the demand for the service has grown, so have the firm’s revenues. Airbiquity moved into the positive cash flow mode in 2004.

In 2004, General Motors (GM), which owns OnStar, also made a decision to double the production of OnStar equipped vehicles. In the 2006 model year, more than 3 million vehicles sold in North America will feature the popular service. That’s up from 1.4 million last year, and an anticipated 2.2 million this year. By model year 2008, OnStar will be standard on all GM vehicles. It’s expected that GM’s announcement will put pressure on its competitors worldwide to offer a monitored Telematics product, be it OnStar or something similar. This bodes well for Airbiquity, since it holds the patent on the technology and has no non-compete agreement with OnStar or any other original equipment manufacturer.

The firm is also positioned well against its competition, basically Short Message Services (SMS) and packet data services provided by carriers, because neither technology can provide the ubiquity and reliability of the voice channel, so they generally aren’t used for safety and security applications. However, Airbiquity’s technology can also be used in tandem with SMS and packet data services to deliver universal communication.

“We believe our technology is well-suited for mission-critical applications,” Moinzadeh stated. “We have the ability to send data reliably anywhere across the country. If you need to send data in real time, we have the absolute best solution. It’s just that simple.”

So what’s in Airbiquity’s future? Moinzadeh said that he is exploring moving the company into new markets, and strongly believes its patented technology can be employed quite successfully in such areas as medical monitoring, fleet tracking and management, asset tracking, hazardous waste tracking, and certain types of environmental monitoring. He also sees homeland security as a potentially viable market for the company because it owns technology capable of tracking cargo shipments from various ports around the world

Moinzadeh summed up Airbiquity’s success in one simple sentence: “We are a small, nimble company with the ability to generate cash because we have a proven technology that works.” Then in reference to OnStar, almost in wonderment he asks, “Isn’t it amazing that a small company on Bainbridge Island is helping to save lives every day?” It is indeed.