February
2001
Los
Angeles, CA - February 1, 2001 - Platforms Wireless International Corporation,
(OTC: PLFM), the developer of the revolutionary Airborne Relay
Communications "ARC System"
for wireless voice and data communications, announced today it has entered into
a Strategic Partnership Contract with Worldwide AEROS Corp., one of the world's
leading manufacturers of lighter-than-air aircraft.
Under
the terms of the Strategic Partnership Contract, AEROS will manufacture,
integrate, deliver, and operate the ARC System Aerostat Host Infrastructure that
will house and fly the ARC System Airborne Communications Payload in the
AMERICEL System demonstration scheduled to take place in Brazil in the second
quarter of 2001.
William C. Martin,
Platforms Chairman and CEO stated: "We are very pleased to welcome Worldwide
AEROS Corp. to the ARC System team. The
significant Agreement we have structured with AEROS completes the final,
critical product element of the ARC System:
the airborne host infrastructure that carries the ARC System wireless
communications payload."
Francois
Draper, Platforms Chief Operations and Technical Officer stated:
"We selected AEROS after a comprehensive review and
evaluation of industry alternatives. Our
conclusion is that AEROS' efficient use of the latest scientific
achievements and manufacturing techniques in the LTA industry enable them to
deliver one of the most advanced and cost-effective aerostat platforms on the
market.
"Furthermore,"
continued Mr. Draper, "AEROS" helpful and cooperative attitude, and
their willingness to work with us as a technology partner, assured them a place
in the ARC System team. We're
delighted to have them on board."
Worldwide AEROS Corp., headquartered in Canoga
Park, California, is one of the world's leading producers of lighter-than-air
vehicles. AEROS has more than 20
years of LTA aircraft manufacturing experience, and it has designed and
constructed numerous airship platforms, as well as pioneering many of the most
recent breakthroughs in lighter-than-air aircraft technology.
Mr.
Igor Pasternak, AEROS President & CEO stated:
"We are very pleased to join the Platforms ARC System team.
Our 20 years of experience in the LTA industry qualifies us well to make
a significant contribution to the ARC System project.
We look forward to the challenges ahead and to helping Platforms deploy
the ARC System around the world."
Mr.
Fred Edworthy, AEROS Vice President and General Manager stated:
"The ARC System project is already under way.
Once we arrived at a basic agreement with Platforms, we launched the
project, began formalizing designs and ordering long-lead parts.
This is an exciting project, and we’re committing the resources
necessary to help make it a major success."
"Under
the terms of the Strategic Partnership Contract, which includes favorable
financing terms," Mr. Martin explained, "AEROS will work with
Platforms, Composite Optics, and AMERICEL, under an exclusive telecommunications
service agreement, to optimize the design, cost-effectiveness, structural
reliability and performance efficiency of the ARC System LTA AeroStructure.
Following quality assurance tests in the U.S.A.," Mr. Martin
concluded, "AEROS will deliver the AeroStructure to Brazil, integrate and
assemble the aerostat, and operate it throughout the ARC System demonstration
tests."
About
Worldwide Aeros Corporation
AEROS
is one of the world's leading lighter-than-air, FAA-certified aircraft
manufacturing companies. The company's
operations involve research, development, and marketing of a wide variety of
airships. These include rigid airships, commercial non-rigid
airships, and advanced manned and unmanned tethered aerostatic
systems. The airships are available for use in a variety of civil and
military missions. AEROS
successfully completed the FAA Type Certification of its 4-passenger, Aeros 40B
multi-commercial use airship, and FAA applications are filed for its 30 to 50
passenger ML Transport Airship to serve the upscale international tourist and
inter-city transportation markets. AEROS
offers a state-of-the-art family of commercial airships designed to meet a broad
spectrum of requirements for domestic and foreign clients, primarily suited to
environmental monitoring, surveillance, advertising, tourism, and
transportation. AEROS has affiliates
in eight European and Asian countries, and the company's industry-leading
expertise is based on more than 20 years of operations and research in
lighter-than-air technologies. AEROS
can be found on the Web at www.aerosml.com.
About
Platforms Wireless International Corporation
Platforms Wireless International Corporation,
headquartered in Los Angeles,
California, is the developer and marketer of the revolutionary wireless
communications technology known as the Airborne Relay Communications "ARC"
System, and its family of Airborne, LTA host infrastructures, the ZerGravity
AeroStructures. Management believes
that these significant advances in the field of Airborne wireless communications
technology, together with continuing technology improvements and new
developments, will provide an efficient, cost-effective, all-broadband, voice
and data communications alternative for augmenting, replacing, and supplementing
terrestrial wireless and cellular telecommunications infrastructures, as well as
high and low-earth orbiting satellites – at a savings in both cost and
deployment time, as compared to conventional systems.
Platforms has already announced its first ARC System Conditional Contract
with AMERICEL S.A., one of the leading cellular telecommunications service
providers in Brazil.
Platforms can be found on the Web, at: www.plfm.net.
