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Heritage
Heritage
Our Origins as a mobility innovator
History of Innovation
Cognito has been continually at the forefront of mobility technology development. Much of the technology developed has now been replicated and adopted as standard features of any successful mobility implementation.
Our history of innovation can be traced back to 1989 when, then a part of the Dowty Group, it was awarded one of the first set of temporary licences by the Department of Trade and Industry to develop mobile data conveyance services.
Foundations in Technical Innovation
In 1991 J.L. Haine of the Cognito Group published a paper "A new air-interface protocol for mobile packet data" in which he states that packet data services will be a vital component of a future digital trunked radio system. He describes a new air-interface for packet data, which includes features specifically incorporated to enable low-cost hand-portable terminals. This is described as a protocol used in the Cognito network, being rolled-out in the UK at that time, to deliver a two-way message paging service as well as other mobile data applications.
From here there was the initial design and development of the first message base station for the Cognito Messenger (the original Cognito hand-held device). This is recorded as involving PC communications and protocol definitions for communicating with a handheld device and packet monitoring and simulation system. Steve Alderson, now Managing Director, joined Cognito at this time and was involved in the early protocol development.
During 1992 Cognito Group, along with Hutchison Mobile Data Ltd and Ram Mobile Data Ltd, was issued a 25 year licence run mobile data conveyance services and also for the conveyance of data between fixed terminals. Later that year Cognito was purchased by a private investor and was reformed as Cognito Limited.
Leading the way with GPRS
Cognito Limited ran the mobile data network for mobile packet data until January 2003. With Steve Alderson appointed as Managing Director a decision was taken to re-engineer the Cognito service to deliver data over GPRS, retaining the original air-interface protocol standards and maintaining the data optimisation, compression, routing and resilience features central to the original Cognito Network.
Growth and Expansion
Since 2003 Cognito have trebled the contracted subscriber base and extended into new markets. Forging partnerships with Mobile Network Operators, Independent Software Vendors and Strategic Alliances, Cognito continues to maintain strong growth. Cognito is now able to offer its service internationally; rolling out its first international customer during 2006 and developing a VAR network across Europe and internationally.
Continuing to innovate
Now, Cognito is focused on enabling customers to proactively manage service levels, delivering Mobile Workforce Management solutions that equip organisations to deal with service issues before they become problems, and ensure that the targeted standards of performance are achieved. The proactive service level management process provides real insight into the drivers behind service quality and provides management with rich information about the opportunities for systematic improvement.
