New Hi-Tech PDA with Sarantel GPS Antenna Prepares Indian Soldiers for the 21st Century Battlefield

Sarantel, a leading innovator in the design and manufacture ofminiature antennas for portable and mobile wireless devices, announcestoday that Encore Software of Bangalore, India will use Sarantel'sGeoHelix GPS antenna in its new Saathi PDA for the Indian Army. TheSarantel GPS antenna ensures that every Indian soldier with a Saathihas optimum GPS reception across all environments and locations.

The Saathi, which means 'friend' in Hindi, is a robust tacticalGPS enabled PDA with integrated radio and a customised GIS applicationfor displaying military maps and location of other devices. Weighing875 grams, the Saathi can easily fit into a soldier's palm and alsohas a remotely operated self-destruction and activation feature forpreventing misuse by unauthorised persons.

Encore Software integrated Sarantel's high performance miniatureGPS antenna in the Saathi to ensure soldiers have stable GPS receptionin unstable conditions i.e near people or other electronics in theradio. While conventional antennas de-tune and become inefficient whenin contact with RF-absorbing materials like the soldier's hand orhead, Sarantel's GeoHelix GPS antennas stay on frequency regardless ofhow they are used.

The Sarantel antenna also works in random orientations because ofthe antenna's omni-directional capability. This important capabilityremoves the burden on soldiers to think about orienting the Saathi inorder to achieve reliable performance.

Mr. Mark Mathais, President of Encore Software Mobile ComputingProducts says: "The Sarantel GeoHelix antenna is the only antenna wecould source for use on the Saathi. A patch antenna was not acceptableto the customer."

"The Saathi is the first time the Sarantel GPS antenna has beenused in a large scale military application," says Sarantel CEO, DavidWither. "GPS is an invaluable tool for the soldier. The Sarantel GPSantenna provides exceptional reception in extreme conditions andenables Indian soldiers to carry out their duties without having toworry about GPS performance."

Joe Murray, Sarantel's Asia/Pacific President, commented, "This isSarantel's biggest India win and more will follow. Our relationshipwith Encore began over two years ago. Encore's position in India'selectronics industry is strong, and their military PDA design haspotential beyond India".

Sarantel's success with Encore was supported by HyneticElectronics Pvt. Ltd., who were appointed Sarantel's India businesspartner in 2003.

About Encore Software

Encore Software is a Bangalore based technology developeroperating in the areas of DSP and Embedded Systems. Encore licensesits DSP based modems, speech coders and VoIP protocols to some of theworld's leading semiconductor and telecommunication equipmentmanufacturers. For more information please visit www.ncoretech.com.

About Sarantel

Sarantel Limited is a dynamic, growing company that develops andmanufactures a new generation of miniature filtering antennas forwireless communications. Sarantel's antennas benefit mobile wirelessproducts in the GPS, Wireless LAN, Satellite and voicetelecommunications markets. Based on 20+ years of research anddevelopment, the company has over 200 worldwide patents covering thedesign and manufacture of antennas that provide clear signals and highperformance in all conditions of use. The parent company, SarantelPLC, is based in Wellingborough, England, with offices in Singapore,New York, Seattle, and Dallas. It is publically traded on the AIMmarket of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol SLG. Please visithttp://www.sarantel.com for further information.