30 | Business World Magazine |
February 2014
Poellmitz was a director for three different
cellular telephone companies operating in
the Caribbean and also travelled extensively,
developing distribution channels for high-
tech products in Latin America and China.
During this same era, Fresonke worked in
research and development for AT&T Bell
Laboratories. Fresonke was among the team
working on the first computer chips for
Global System for Mobile Communications
(GSM), the European standard for digital
mobile phones that went on to become the
world standard. Seeing a trend on the hori-
zon, Fresonke left AT&T to launch a con-
sulting company called Data on Air.
“We didn’t have consumer-friendly hand-
sets back then,” says Fresonke. Instead, the
focus in the late 1990’s was on industrial ap-
plications. Among the earliest products that
Data on Air sold was a shoebox-sized con-
traption that allowed for vehicle tracking.
The device enabled utilities, transportation
companies, and other industries to effective-
ly monitor fleet operations. Vehicles could
be readily located through an interface be-
tween the vehicle and its headquarters facili-
