PosiTim News

NAPEOS Training Course Registration 2011

2011-06-11T13:02:00.001+02:00

PosiTim, a start-up company under ESA Business Incubation, is organizing its second NAPEOS GNSS Software Training Course. This second NAPEOS Training Course will be held from October 10 to 14, 2011, at the hotel Lopesan Costa Melonera, located on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The same location as we used for the very first NAPEOS training class.
The official on-line registration for this training course is now open.

PosiTim is the winner of the 2009 European Satellite Navigation Competition for the region of Hessen and the ESA special prize. One of the main goals of PosiTim is to spread the usage the ESA GNSS software package, called NAPEOS, that is one of the leading high accuracy GNSS analysis software. The distribution of NAPEOS licenses coupled with an intensive one week training course are two corner stone’s of the PosiTim high accuracy GNSS services portfolio.

PosiTim is under business incubation at the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany. The ESA BIC is run by the Centre for Satellite Navigation in Hessen (CESAH).

Click here for detailed information regarding the NAPEOS Training Course.

NAPEOS Training Course

2010-10-26T23:08:00.003+02:00

Yesterday, Monday October 25, 2010, the very first NAPEOS GNSS training course has started on Gran Canarias. The number of participants is, unfortunately, rather low. However, for the participants this is actually very advantageous as they get an almost one-on-one training. For us as organisers it also has several advantages as everything is new for us as well. So this give us the oportunity to have a really good "dry run". The location for the course, which was selected by our local partner Soluciones Avanzadas Canarias, has turned out to be a really perfect location.

On Gran Canaria the event was even imporant enough to make it into the news with a full page and big picture of our local organising "hero" Ignacio (Nacho) Romero.

We are now two days into the five day course and things are going really well! Below we include two further pictures to show the great environment and the splendid course facilities.

PosiTim at the INTERGEO

2010-10-05T20:26:00.000+02:00

This year PosiTim is represented at the world famous INTERGEO conference. The INTERGEO is the world’s largest event and communication platform for geodesy, geoinformation and land management. The trade fair and conference cover all the key trends that crop up along the entire value-added chain – from geo-based information surveys and data processing to integrated applications. This year the 16th INTERGEO takes place at the Koelmesse, Cologne, Germany. Meet geo experts from all the world's continents from 5 to 7 October 2010.

As PosiTim we are at the ESA Business Incubation Centre stand which you will find in Halle: 11.2, Stand: 2D.148.

We are looking forward to meeting you there!

NAPEOS Training Course Registration

2010-08-31T00:43:00.001+02:00

PosiTim, a start-up company under ESA Business Incubation, is organizing the first ever NAPEOS GNSS Software training course. For more information please visit the PosiTim web-site.

PosiTim is the winner of last year’s (2009) European Satellite Navigation Competition for the region of Hessen and the ESA special price. One of the main goals of PosiTim is to commercialize the ESA GNSS software package called NAPEOS. The distribution of NAPEOS licenses coupled with an intensive one week training course are corner stone’s for the PosiTim high accuracy GNSS services business.

The very first NAPEOS Training Course will be held from October 25 to 29, 2010, at the hotel Lopesan Costa Melonera, located on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The official on-line registration for this event is now open.

PosiTim is under business incubation at the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany. The ESA BIC is run by the Centre for Satellite Navigation in Hessen (CESAH).

NAPEOS Training Course

2010-08-16T07:45:00.000+02:00

We are in the final preparations for the very first NAPEOS training course. The official NAPEOS training course announcement with all the training course details will be announced later this week or early next week. In the pre-registration more then half of the available seats were taken, so there are still some seats available for "late" registrations.

Furthermore, the PosiTim NAPEOS license is now ready and the first two licenses have been send to our customers for review. Based on their feedback and comments we will be starting to distribute the NAPEOS licenses ASAP. PosiTim has received a total of 28 NAPEOS licenses requests. However, 7 of these requests came from non-ESA member states for which a special technology transfer board (TTB) approval is needed. This TTB approval will take more time then just generating the PosiTim license.

PosiTim at ILA

2010-06-26T13:30:00.002+02:00

PosiTim was offered the chance to have a small exhibit at the International Air Show 2010 in Berlin, better known as the ILA. This great opportunity materialized thanks to both VEGA and CESAH. VEGA, had invited the Centre for Satellite Navigation in Hessen (CESAH) to present itself on the VEGA stand at the ILA, in hall 9. CESAH decided that it would best represent its incubation activities by inviting one of their start-up companies. PosiTim as a real “space” start-up was selected by CESAH to be the most appropriate representative of the current incubates. The picture (Courtesy of Ruth Reinicke of VEGA) shows Frank Zimmermann (right) the General Manager of CESAH, and Tim Springer (left) the General Manager of PosiTim at the VEGA stand.

For a true aerospace company like PosiTim it was really a great opportunity and a unique experience to be able to present our small start-up company at this very high-level event. We had some very interesting visitors and new contacts at our stand. Also we met with several interesting companies and people in hall 9, the “Space centre” of the ILA 2010.
We are convinced that this has been a very good experience for our company and that it has certainly helped to increase the awareness regarding our company.
Many thanks to both VEGA and CESAH for offering PosiTim this unique opportunity!

ESA GNSS Software NAPEOS

2010-06-03T13:29:00.000+02:00

Over the last years the Navigation Support Office (OPS-GN) of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of the European Space Agency (ESA) has developed a new high accuracy GNSS software package. This software, called NAPEOS, is in routine usage at ESOC’s OPS-GN since January 2008 for all its activities in the scope of the International GNSS Service (IGS). The NAPEOS based ESA products are amongst the best of the IGS Analysis Centre products. As such the NAPEOS software may be considered to be of at least similar quality as the GNSS software used at the other IGS analysis centres.

With this message we would like to inform you that ESA is now ready to license the software to companies which are located (main office) in one of the ESA member state countries. This license of the NAPEOS software is free of charge. If you are interested to learn more about the NAPEOS software have a look at the web-site we have prepared for this at.

To support people who are interested in using the NAPEOS software we, PosiTim, are organising a NAPEOS training course for high accuracy GNSS processing. The course will be given in Gran Canarias, Canary Islands, Spain, from October 25 to 29, 2010. The course is limited to 20 people and will be a mixture of theory and praxis. Unfortunately the course is not free of charge as we will have to cover our costs. Detailed information regarding this NAPEOS training course may be found on our web-site.

PosiTim to present at the ESA Investment Forum

2010-05-18T07:51:00.000+02:00

Organised by ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) in collaboration with Europe Unlimited, the ESA Investment Forum 2010 follows the previous and highly successful editions taking place at the EuropeSpace Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands and in La Hulpe, Belgium.

For its 4th edition, the ESA Investment Forum will foster investment and partnership opportunities by bringing start-up companies using space technology, applications or services in a non-space environment, together with finance and investment communities while highlighting the business potential of such blends.

In recent years, we have witnessed that transfer of space technologies back to commercial applications generates countless business opportunities. The leading example is satellite-based services becoming one of the most promising sectors of business profit, highlighting the potential in spinning space technology back into Earth applications.

The Forum plays an active role in the European innovation scene and it constitutes an exceptional setting for exploring collaboration opportunities while providing a privileged insight into space research for prospective commercialisation.

PosiTim is one of the few SMEs that have been selected to participate in this event because the PosiTim business builds a significant portion of its growth and competitive advantage on the utilisation of technologies originating from space.

We are looking forward to expanding our network, in particular in the financial area, during this very interesting event!

PosiTim affected by Volcanic Ash.

2010-04-20T22:26:00.003+02:00

Also PosiTim was severely affected by the eruption of the volcano eyjafjallajökull on Island. Our general manager was on a customer trip in Aberdeen, Scotland and saw his return flight on Saturday morning, April 17, 2010, cancelled. However, in a quick action he managed to book one of the last seats on the Eurostar train, the one that runs through the tunnel in the British Channel. The down side of this “last seat” was that this was actually a “folding chair” next to one of the train doors. However, although the Eurostar journey started on the very uncomfortable folding chair the train manager found some free chairs and thus the folding chair was upgraded to a very luxury 2-person cabin. A very nice way to travel! Many thanks to Eurostar for this free upgrade.

However, all in all our general manager was really taking the “long way home”. First an 8 hour train trip from Aberdeen to London, followed by the high-speed (TGV) Eurostar from London to Brussels in 2 hours. After a stopover in Belgium with some relatives the journey continued on Monday with a 6-hour trip to Seeheim-Jugenheim. So in total it was a journey of 16 hours of train ride, not too bad.
The real positive side was that on Saturday the countryside in Scotland could be enjoyed and this included a visit to the world famous Glenfiddich distillery including some “product confrontation” of this famous Scotch Wisky. Two bottles he took on his long train journey (but without drinking them).

The loss for PosiTim is at the level of serveral hunderd Euro's. Very little compared to the losses of the airplane cariers but significant for our small start-up company.

PosiTim Accepted for ESA Business Incubation

2010-03-13T18:09:00.000+01:00

After our successful participation in the Galileo Application Days it is now back to business!

A very important step for PosiTim is that we have been accepted for the ESA Business Incubation Programme. This is an important step for us as besides giving us some substantial financial support it also underlines that ESA is very happy with our plan to commercialise the ESA owned NAPEOS software. Some details of the incubation contract still have to be filled in but we assume that all will be worked out and the contract signed by April 2010. PosiTim will be incubated at CESAH, one of the four ESA Business Incubation centre, located in Darmstadt, Germany.

In the scope of the ESA Business Incubation PosiTim plans to participate in the upcoming ESA Investment Forum taking place on April 19, in Stuttgart.

The PosiTim exciting endeavour is starting very well!

Galileo Application Days

2010-01-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

PosiTim will actively participate in the Galileo Application Days that will take place in Brussels, Belgium, from March 3 to 5. The event is hosted by the EC, organised by the GSA and the Anwendungszentrum Oberpfaffenhofen, and sponsored by ESA.

This event marks the kick-off of the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2010 (ESNC), which will kick-off its 7th edition. PosiTim won a double price in the 2009 edition of this event winning two prices, the regional price for the German state of Hesse, and the ESA special price.

Furtermore, these Galileo Application Days offer the great opportunity to experience and learn about the latest cutting-edge GNSS applications developed und the the EU's 7th research framework programme (FP7), former ESNC competitions, the ESA Technology Transfer Programme, national and regional initiatives and more. These applications will be shown live in the "Application Village".

Our participation will include a presentation in the "high precission" session on Friday and we will have a, small, exhibit in the Galileo Application Village. We will also participate in the "Elevator pitches".

So if you are planning to come to the Galileo Application days please come by and visit us!

Looking forward to seeing your there!

PosiTim fully registered

2009-12-23T23:43:00.002+01:00

After the successful registration with the chamber of commerce PosiTim is now also registered with the "finanzamt" and has received its German and European tax codes. In addition we also registered with ESA on EMITS portal. So we are now fully ready for business and things are looking quite good for 2010!

PosiTim has meanwhile acquired two customers. One customer is the European Space Agency (ESA). PosiTim delivers two experts to the navigation support office of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). One is a true GNSS expert who has the technical lead of the GNSS activities in the ESOC navigation support office. The other is a Low Earth Orbiter (LEO) expert who is in charge for precise orbit determination (POD) of the ESA Earth Observation Missions, ERS-1, ERS-2, and ENVISAT.

We can not disclose uur second customer at present. However, this is also a big customer and we are working on a really exiting project that will go live in 2010. Until then we can not disclose any details about this exiting project.

The only scary part for early 2010 is our cash flow. ESA is in the middle of switching to SAP and everyone who has had such an experience knows that delays are unavoidable. So the first payments in 2010 may, or rather most likely will, be delayed. So the first 4 to 6 months of 2010 may be a bit tight. However, with our other customer an imporant milestone will be in February which, if all goes well, should resolve our cash-flow issues.

For now what remains is to wish you all a merry Christmas!

PosiTim now registered with the Chamber of Commerce

2009-12-01T07:54:00.003+01:00

On November 30, 2009 PosiTim was successfully registered with the chamber of commerce in Darmstadt located in the German state of Hesse. PosiTim is now officially "in business" and is no longer "in Gruendung". There are still a number of administrative "hurdles" to be taken but they are all on their way and under control. This registration to much longer then was expected as one of the main reasons in Germany to introduce the "UG" was to reduce the amount of time needed to set up a company. So in principle the registration should be a matter of days but it took almost 2 months. On the positive side one must say that the process is simple and smooth, one just has to have a little patience.

PosiTim Wins in the European Satellite Navigation Competition

2009-10-22T22:49:00.013+02:00

PosiTim is one of the big winners of the 2009 European Satellite Navigation Competition by winning both the regional price of the German state of Hessen and the ESA special price. The winning PosiTim idea is the provision of high-accuracy GNSS solutions and services. The PosiTim proposal convinced the, completely independent, experts of both Hessen and ESA. The award ceremony took place yesterday, Wednesday October 21, 2009, in the beautifull and impressive location of the "Allerheiligenhofkirche of the Munich Residenz".

The picture shows Dr. Tim Springer receiving the ESA special price from Frank Salzgeber head of the ESA technology transfer program (photo from Simone Hörmann).

PosiTim is very proud with the recognition received by winning both the regional price of Hessen, organised by CESAH, and the ESA special price, organised by the ESA Technology Transfer Program. It confirms that our core business idea of providing high-accuracy GNSS solutions and services will be well received on the GNSS market. The PosiTim success in the European Satellite Navigation Competition will give a very positive boost to our business and will help us to make our start-up company successfull!

Follow this link for a German press release from HessenIt.

PosiTim Founding in Progress

2009-10-04T23:18:00.005+02:00

On October 1, 2009 the founding papers for PosiTim were signed at the Notary office in Darmstadt, Germany. As legal form a so called UG, short for "unternehmergesellschaft" was chosen. This company form is practically identical to the well known GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschraenkter Haftung). The main difference is that for an UG the starting capital is much lower. This makes the UG comparable to the "Ltd" (Limited) company structure in the UK. This is the main reason it was introduced in Germany. Many people were founding UK based Ltd companies because the starting capital for a GmbH is rather high (EURO 25000).

The official wording of the company is now: PosiTim UG (haftungsbeschraenkt) i.G.

The term "haftungsbeschraenkt" is not part of the abreviation UG contrary to the GmbH abreviation which does include this. Therefore, it is mandatory to include this discription with the name.

The abreviation i.G. means "in Gruendung" which indicates that we are still busy setting up the company and not all the legal steps (hurdles?) have been taken.

Anyway, the first of October 2009 was a big step for PosiTim! We are now truly a start-up company and can and will now start to build up our GNSS business.