W4PCSoftware Announces Additions and Changes to Its Radio Software Product Line
Software Rebranding to Set the Stage for Product Line Expansion
September 17, 2008 —W4PCSoftware, Inc. (CSS) today announced a product rebranding initiative in anticipation of several new products now in development. All of the company’s amateur and commercial radio software products will now be developed and marketed under the name Radio Operations Center™ (ROC™). The ROC brand will serve as a platform for marketing CSS’ pending additions to its software suite as well as the company’s current product line.
The Radio Operations Center name will serve as an ‘umbrella brand’ that will bring greater clarity and simplicity to the company’s development and marketing efforts. Individual products will continue to be sold as stand-alone software under the unified brand.
The software formerly known as PKTerm™ (for Timewave/AEA TNCs) and PacTerm™ (for Kantronics TNCs) will now be sold under the name ROC Digital Desktop™. All other current CSS software products will be renamed with an “Ops” designation to tie each solution to the umbrella Radio Operations Center brand. For example, CSS’ software for marine radio and weather fax will be renamed Marine Radio Ops™ and Weather Ops™ in the next releases.
As is standard with most commercial software products, customers will simply choose the version specific to any TNC hardware requirements when downloading or purchasing Radio Operations Center solutions.
“The Radio Operations Center brand allows us to talk about our software as a unified solution, making it easier for radio operators to evaluate and select the specific software they need as we expand our product line,” said Rick Ruhl, W4PC, president of CSS. “This approach will also help us manage complexity and costs as we develop, package and sell new and improved software.”
New Packet-Only Solution to be Added to the Radio Operations Center Software Suite
CSS is in final beta testing for the first addition to the Radio Operations Center, designed primarily for emergency communications (EmComm) where only packet communication is needed. In keeping with the Radio Operations Center branding strategy, the pending packet-only software product will be marketed as EmComm Ops™. Scheduled for release in late September, EmComm Ops will support TNC packet communications with Timewave/AEA, Kantronics and the soon-to-be-reintroduced TNCs from MFJ Enterprises: the MFJ-1270D. Support is also included for the older MDJ-1270x series as well as the MFJ-1276 Packet/Pactor and the MFJ-1278 Multimode TNCs.
EmComm Ops will be introduced at a special price of $29.99 for a limited time. Radio operators may pre-order EmComm Ops on the CSS Website at www.cssincorp.com. In addition to EmComm Ops, several other new products are currently in development and scheduled for release in late 2008 and early 2009.
Maintenance Releases to Rebrand Current Software Products
Rebranded versions of all of CSS’ existing products will be issued as maintenance releases over the next several weeks. In addition to the new product names, several of the pending maintenance releases will contain some performance and functionality improvements. Maintenance releases are available at no charge for customers with a current support subscription.
New CSS Website to Reflect Rebranding
“We are in the final stages of development of a new Website and new messaging to support the rebranding effort,” said Laura Tanner, KJ4CNG, of 8 Alarm Marketing, Inc., the consulting firm supporting CSS in its marketing strategy and communications. “CSS has an aggressive product development strategy for the future which will continue to add more value and new options in amateur and commercial radio software. As CSS adds more choices for radio operators, we felt it was important to ensure clarity in how the company organizes and talks about its software products.”