Omninet Corporation

Omninet Corporation was founded by Allen Salmasi in 1984. Mr. Salmasi was Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of Omninet which developed the first commercial mobile satellite communications system in the world called OmniTRACS. In 1988, this system offered continent-wide two-way messaging, position location and reporting services using fixed geostationary satellites as a secondary user of the Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) transponders (i.e., avoiding interference to primary FSS such as video transmissions). OmniTRACS also provided for the first widespread use of spread spectrum communications employing both Direct Sequence Code Division (CDMA) and Frequency Hopping along with TDMA and FDMA. The satellite terminals employed antennas that could be mounted on moving vehicles and the system determined mobile's position through triangulation between fixed Ku-band satellites before GPS system became available for civilian use. OmniTRACS has become one of the largest mobile satellite services in the world and it is still an operational service in Americas, Asia and Europe serving hundreds of thousands of fleet vehicles. In 1985, shortly after QUALCOMM Incorporated was formed, Omninet contracted with QUALCOMM (as its first commercial customer) to manufacture its mobile satellite terminals in San Diego, CA. After a few years of collaboration, Omninet assets were merged with QUALCOMM Incorporated in 1988 in return for 50% ownership of QUALCOMM by Omninet shareholders who simultaneously made additional investments in QUALCOMM as a part of the overall partnership that was forged. Allen Salmasi and two other recent shareholders of Omninet joined the Board of Directors of QUALCOMM after the closing of the transaction. Shortly after joining QUALCOMM, Mr. Salmasi initiated CDMA technology development as a second generation Cellular and Personal Communications System and as an alternative to GSM which was already adopted by most of the mobile operators throughout the globe.