Srt Marine Sys. Regulatory News (SRT)

1 Dec 2009 07:00

SOFTWARE RADIO TECHNOLOGY PLC AIS Class A Agreements

Software Radio Technology plc ("SRT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed three distributor agreements and received its first orders for its forthcoming AIS Class A transceiver.

The agreements are with three international companies based in Europe and North America. All are recognised players in the marine electronics market with established brands and sales channels.

Under the terms of the agreements, the companies will purchase SRT's Class A solutions in order to launch a new range of AIS Class A transceivers. SRT embarked on the development of its new Class A solution in 2008 and expects to commence shipping of fully approved product during Q1 2010. SRT will provide customers with a low cost, small solution which is compliant with all relevant IEC (AIS international standards committee) standards, thereby enabling them to reduce the cost of their existing Class A offers.

The market for Class A transceivers was first created by the SOLAS mandate from the International Maritime Organisation in 2002 which required most vessels worldwide over 300GT to be fitted with a Class A transceiver. Recently both the EU and US have announced further mandates which will require Class A transceivers to be fitted to more vessels. In the EU two mandates have been announced, the first requiring the majority of commercial vessels on inland waterways to be fitted with a Class A transceiver by the end of 2011 and the second all fishing vessels by 2014, thereby creating a market for tens of thousands of Class A transceivers. In the US, mandates are expected in the future which will require certain classes of commercial vessels to be fitted with Class A transceivers.

Simon Tucker, CEO of SRT said, "As we reported in our recent results, this year has seen SRT focus on the development of new technologies and products to meet demand from the growing AIS market. We believe our Class A product sets a new cost, size and performance standard in the AIS market and will enable new and existing suppliers of AIS Class A products to renew and refresh their offers to remain competitive. These agreements are the first step in commercialising our significant investment in this product and lay the foundations for an additional revenue stream next year."

Enquiries:

Enquiries: Software Radio Technology plc +44 (0)1761 409500 Simon Tucker simon.tucker@softwarerad.com Chief Executive Officer Westhouse Securities Limited +44 (0) 20 7601 6100 Tim Feather

Matthew Johnson