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Fastrax Ltd., a leading provider of programmable OEM GPS receivers and open, portable OEM GPS Software Development Kit environments, today announced that all Fastrax products will be compliant with the upcoming European Union Directive for the Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) by the end of the third quarter of 2005.

Helsinki, Finland (PRWEB) June 22, 2005 -- Fastrax Ltd., a leading provider of programmable OEM GPS receivers and open, portable OEM GPS Software Development Kit environments, today announced that all Fastrax products will be compliant with the upcoming European Union Directive for the Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) by the end of the third quarter of 2005.

European Union Directive 2002/95/EC, on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, will be enforced throughout the European Community from July 1st, 2006. According to the directive, EU member states must ensure that new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

Fastrax initiated a RoHS program in early 2004, and all applicable products have now been redesigned or modified for compliance with the directive. The company's production will move fully to RoHS-compliant processes during the third quarter of 2005. All new Fastrax products will be RoHS compliant at launch.

"Fulfilling the requirements of EU manufacturing directives well in advance of deadlines is essential to the competitiveness of electronics manufacturers both in Europe and worldwide. Fastrax OEM GPS receivers lead the industry with their top performance and compact size, and we are committed to maintaining our forerunner role in RoHS issues as well," said Robin Cavén, Test Manager, Production, Fastrax.

Samples of RoHS-compliant Fastrax products will be available during the third quarter of 2005. For further details of each product line, please contact Fastrax.

Fastrax contact:
Robin Cavén
Test Manager, Production
Tel. +358 (0) 424 7331
e-mail protected from spam bots

Fastrax agency contact:
Netprofile Tech PR
Juha Rantanen
Tel. +358 9 6812 080
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About Fastrax Ltd
Fastrax provides industry-leading receivers and software solutions for optimal utilization of GPS (Global Positioning System) and other GNSS location services (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). Fastrax transforms GPS technologies into highly scalable iTrax and iSuite solutions with open interfaces, combined to ultra low power consumption and miniature hardware design. With industry-leading performance, Fastrax GPS receivers navigate continuously even in extreme conditions. Receivers are ideally suited to both industrial location applications and high-volume consumer products such as cell phones and sports accessories. Fastrax Engineering Services provide expert services in application design. Headquartered in Finland and founded in 1999, the company is privately owned and backed by leading venture capital investors CapMan, Eqvitec, Startupfactory and Innocap, with a strategic investment by Suunto Corporation, a subsidiary of Amer Group, a leading global supplier of sporting goods equipment.
More information: www.fastrax.fi.

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide satellite navigation infrastructure funded and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense, originally developed for U.S. military purposes. GPS provides satellite signals that enable GPS receivers to calculate their exact position and velocity. The GPS infrastructure has three segments. The space segment consists of 24 satellites that orbit the earth every 12 hours. The control segment consists of tracking stations located around the world, with the master control station located at Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado. The user segment consists of GPS receivers and users utilizing the information provided by the system. GPS is widely used in applications such as marine navigation.

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Source :  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb253194.htm