Handhelds Duke It Out
Will use of generic handheld computers gain momentum in fleet use?
JOHN BENDEL
TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
Will the trend toward off-the-shelf, relatively cheap handheld computers gain momentum in fleet applications? Or will these generics made by Palm, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard fail in rugged trucking use?
The question may have two answers.
Drivers carry the small devices climbing in and out of cabs, gathering proof of delivery signatures and reading bar codes in places as diverse as indoor delivery platforms and outdoor construction sites. Technicians, on the other hand, tend to use their devices in the maintenance shop or a nearby yard — more controlled circumstances.
HDT talked to handheld experts in each of these fields.
Handhelds in Logistics
Mark Stanton of Symbol Technologies, Inc., (www.symbol.com) of Holtsville, N.Y., said that most driver applications require ruggedized equipment.
"You wouldn't want to give a (generic handheld) to a trucker. The first time he jumps out of the cab and it scatters itself across the parking lot is the last time they'll use it,'' said Stanton.
"You can drop our products from four or six feet to concrete multiple times and they will work. They do work,'' he said.
Symbol's products are also tightly sealed so they remain virtually impervious to windblown dust and rain, "which means you can use them out in the real world,'' Stanton said.
Temperature is another consideration. Off-the-shelf handheld computer displays won't work in some not-so-extreme conditions, said Stanton. His company's products, on the other hand, will work "in Minnesota in the winter and Tucson in the summer,'' he said.
Symbol recently introduced two new handhelds, the PPT 2800 and the PDT 8100. Both run on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 operating system, an upgrade from Windows CE that resembles Microsoft's new Windows XP for desktops and laptops.
The new models come with color screens and both accept pen-based input and are thus capable of signature capture. The PDT 8100 also has a small keyboard making it more versatile. Of course, both devices are ruggedized to Symbol's specs.
Stanton pointed out that Microsoft's newly introduced Pocket PC 2002 operating system supports multiple languages.
"Many carriers have international operations. They want to deploy one application and see language as an important thing to consider. And many employ non-English-speaking people here in the States,'' he said.
Stanton, whose title is Senior Director, Systems and Services, Technology Business Development Group, said the fleet market is looking for more power in handhelds.
"The push is to do more and more within the terminal, such as a greater level of integration with technologies like wireless wide area connections, GSM, CDPD, Bluetooth, imaging and RFID,'' he said.
Wireless wide area refers to the regional and national communications networks of carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, etc.
GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) and CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) are competing wide area communications standards.
Bluetooth is a system for wireless communications among devices within a few feet of each other — a computer and a printer, for example.
Imaging is most frequently used in trucking for proof-of-delivery signature capture.
RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) refers to various short-range wireless communications, for example, systems used to track vehicles entering, leaving or moving within a terminal yard.
Handhelds In Diagnostics
Nexiq Technologies (www.nexiq.com) of Sterling Heights, Mich., supplies diagnostic systems to the heavy-duty truck market, among other products, and partners with Symbol in some areas. According to Sales Director Mike Lambie, Nexiq markets both ruggedized and generic handhelds depending on customer preference. Nexiq fleet products are used mostly by technicians in shops.
"You talk to the customer base and you realize we're going down a path that involves using off-the-shelf handhelds, both Palm-based and Pocket PC based,'' Lambie said.
Palm, of course, refers to the operating system originally developed for consumer-oriented Palm Pilot handheld computers.
Lambie said Nexiq sees more competition in working shops between handhelds in general and laptop computers, which have become increasingly popular in shops for their range of capabilities, including technical analysis.
"Now the technician, he would really rather have a handheld. He wants it to be quick. He wants it to be easy. He doesn't want to have to roll a cart out. He wants to go (to the truck), do his thing and get done,'' said Lambie. "So he's all about a handheld and he couldn't care less about a PC.''
Lambie said the best of both worlds is a wireless-enabled handheld device able to download data from a truck on the shop floor and transmit that data to a back-office computer.
"We're looking at handheld tools with wireless capability both from a wide-area point of view and local-area point of view,'' he said.
Tom Kotenko, Nexiq's eastern regional sales manager explained that the local-area wireless would probably use the 802.11 specification, which enables communications within roughly 300 feet, "The size of a football field,'' he said.
Lambie said Nexiq's wide-area system would not involve handhelds so much as diagnostic data from a truck on the road, transmitted over the company's mobile communications system, say, an Aether, @Track or Qualcomm system.
Meanwhile, according to Lambie, fleet service managers appreciate the low cost of generic handhelds in their shops.
"But they're also worried about it walking,'' he said.
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