Garmin

Garmin Limited is a group of companies founded by Gary Burrell, Min Kao, David Casey, and Paul Shumaker in 1989 that specializes in manufacturing and developing products serving aviation, marine, automotive, wireless, OEM, and general recreation applications using the Global Positioning System. It is incorporated in George Town of Cayman Islands. The name is a fusion of first three letters of the first names of its initial founders, Gary Burrell and Min H. Kao. With a degree in Electrical Engineering from Wichita State University and a graduation from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Gary Burrell, born in 1937, worked for a manufacturer of aviation radios during 1963, King Radio. He developed the most successful navigation and communications products for King and supplied radio equipment to Boeing since 1969. Upon acquisition from Allied Corporation, King Radio was finally merged with Signal Companies in 1993 and finally acquired Honeywell in 1999. Born in 1949 in Chushang, Taiwan, Min H. Kao relocated to the US to obtain an advanced degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee. While still graduating, he undertook research for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the United States Army. Later he was employed by the American defense contractors, Teledyne and Magnavox. Min was hired by Burrell in 1983 while he was developing military navigation systems using the Global Positioning System, initially called NAVSTAR. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certified the first GPS navigation systems, developed by a team led by Min, to be used in airplanes. Min and Burrell quit Allied subsidiary King and joined hands to start their own company, by the name ProNav in Lenexa, Kansas. Due to a trademark infringement lawsuit, the company changed the name to 'Garmin' in 1991. The GPS 100 was the first dash-mounted receiver for the marine market, sold for $2,500 US dollars, manufactured by the company and launched at the International Marine Technology Exposition, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois. The company developed a handheld GPS receiver for the use of military personnel during the 1991 Gulf War. The Forerunner is a series of personal GPS devices manufactured during the year 2000 for recreational runners. 2003 saw the launch of Garmin's iQue series of the PDA with an integrated GPS receiver.