Mobile Communications: New Products & Price Wars
The technology ranges from automated driver logs to multi-mode communications.
John Bendel
Technology Editor
Few fleets buy mobile communications from direct providers - wireless and satellite companies, for example. More often, truck fleets will deal with resellers who understand their operations and can adapt services to meet those needs. Mobile communications resellers provide related products, hardware and applications.
In the realm of mobile communications, that's where you'll find the news and the competitive action.
Take Qualcomm's Wireless Business Services division. Qualcomm resells satellite communications for use with its flagship OmniTRACS system, still the mainstay of the truckload industry. Qualcomm also resells cellular services from a number of providers - most notably Sprint PCS - which licenses Qualcomm's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) wireless technology. Qualcomm resells cellular service for use with OmniExpress, among other products.
In March, Qualcomm announced it has reduced the price of its OmniExpress mobile communications solution to $990 per unit effective immediately. The company also said that the current $19.95 monthly per unit will be lowered with the introduction of the 3G digital cellular service by Sprint, scheduled for June.
OmniExpress is often used by fleets in local and regional operations. Truckload and long-haul Qualcomm customers more often use the OmniTRACS satellite-based system. For those customers, Qualcomm recently announced it will release an automated hours of service application. The application makes use of the electronic on-board recorder embedded in the OmniTRACS solution and complies with section 395.15 of U.S. Department of Transportation regulations.
Automated logs have been available from a number of vendors, most serving the private fleet markets. Commercial fleets, truckload carriers in particular (with the notable exception of Werner Enterprises), have been reluctant to adopt the technology lest it give competitors an operations advantage. Since OmniTRACS holds the largest truckload sector market share, Qualcomm's OmniTRACS-based system appears to have that market very much in its sights. The application will be available this summer, according to the company.
Speaking of OmniTRACS, Qualcomm is developing a successor system. The company hasn't announced a name for the new product yet, but Norm Ellis, vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Wireless Business Solution said, "It will be a completely new product. It won't be OmniTRACS re-wrapped. It will go into some customers' trucks in the summer of '05 and will be commercially available after that."
Like OmniTRACS, the new Qualcomm trucking product will use satellite communications, at least initially. Over time, however, ground-based cellular and local area network (LAN) will be added. LAN most often refers to Wi-Fi, the popular, inexpensive wireless Internet access already available at most truckstops and spreading rapidly. Ellis said the new Qualcomm system is based on a platform that will enable automatic, least-cost routing using the mode that provides the best value.
Qualcomm customers who install the new system will likely enjoy lower messaging costs when their trucks are in range of a cellular system and don't need to communicate by satellite. Presumably, they'll get even lower messaging rates when a truck is within range of a participating Wi-Fi provider - a truckstop, for example.
Lower Prices and Higher Bandwidth
It's fair to point out that both of Qualcomm's new offering announcements were made well in advance of availability. That may be the big company's way of reaching current and potential customers who may be shopping elsewhere for these technologies. Automated logs and multi-mode technology have been available from other mobile communications vendors for some time.
Multi-mode communications, for example, was pioneered by GeoLogic Solutions. Though the company has changed its name in recent memory, their multi-mode product has been known as MobileMax for most of its life. MobileMax automatically selects the faster, lowest-cost terrestrial network first, and seamlessly switches to satellite when coverage is needed in remote areas. According to GeoLogic, multimode technology can cost substantially less than satellite-only networks.
GeoLogic recently announced it will offer the MobileMax fleet management system for an upfront price of $999 per truck. This offer for new orders only, includes a satellite and terrestrial dual-mode transceiver, keyboard display and all installation hardware. GeoLogic offers a variety of monthly communication packages and includes its host software at no additional charge. The lower upfront pricing is for a limited time only and will remain in effect for units purchased and delivered by Oct. 31, 2005.
"We feel with more modest, upfront pricing we'll appeal to a larger audience of people for whom a $2,000 price for a typical satellite-enabled system has kept them out of the market. We're making it more affordable for more folks," said John Lewis, GeoLogic's president and CEO.
GeoLogic said it's particularly proud of its ability and willingness to work with customers to meet individual fleet needs (see sidebar).
When it comes to automated driver logs as part of a mobile communications system, PeopleNet CEO Ron Konezny made a convincing case for commercial carriers - and truckload fleets especially - to adopt automated driver logs. One point he raised at a recent technology conference sponsored by ALK Technologies in Princeton, N.J., was that when carriers aren't aware of a driver's log status, a driver can easily misrepresent his available hours in order to be assigned a more attractive load.
That inevitably leads to either a late delivery or a log violation. PeopleNet has been offering an automated log product called eDriver Logs since 2003.
More recently, PeopleNet introduced PeopleNet g3, the company's next-generation onboard computer. According to PeopleNet, the g3 communicates over multiple, ground-based wireless networks - digital and analog - but not satellite.
PeopleNets g3 takes advantage of third-generation - so-called 3G - digital networks offered by Verizon and Sprint, making it possible for much greater amounts of information to be transmitted at a reasonable price. Among the possibilities are practical onboard printers and scanners capable of dealing with detailed documents; it will also be possible for fleets eventually to enable direct driver access to the Internet.
The g3 includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 port like those found on most computers. USB will enable connection to various ancillary devices including multi-media message displays and handhelds, in-cab scanners and printers, Wi-Fi access points, biometric scanners, and more.
The new device incorporates Wide Area Augmentation System technology that enhances the accuracy of GPS positions. Position reports can reveal, not only a truck's location along a road, but which side of the road the truck is on.
GPS enhancement and USB, combined with much higher digital bandwidth, will provide powerful tools to transportation application developers.
PeopleNet's g3 is remotely programmable and backward compatible with all PeopleNet applications.
Fleet Management in the Palm of Your Hand
All the products noted above involve powerful onboard computers capable of running serious applications with large amounts of data. They represent what you might call the traditional end of the trucking mobile communications spectrum. At the other end is the cellphone.
Not long ago, cellphones were for talking. That was it. Now hardly a week goes by without the announcement of yet another mobile phone breakthrough. We use them for messaging, taking pictures, playing games, downloading e-mail, GPS tracking and, according to recent news, we'll soon be watching television on them.
And that's all on the consumer side. On the business side, things have been moving at a similar pace, nowhere more intensely that at Nextel, the only national wireless provider with an internal marketing group devoted to transportation markets.
Not long ago, Nextel became the mobile communications vendor of choice for local, often private fleets. That's because Nextel was first to market with the walkie-talkie-style service it called Direct Connect, what some other vendors call push-to-talk.
In just the last couple of years, Nextel has added GPS, bar-code scanning and credible computing power to its phones. The company has partnered with transportation software providers to offer a variety of fleet dispatch solutions. In 2003, Nextel took its Direct Connect service national. A dispatcher could walkie-talkie a driver 3,000 miles away. Last year, Direct Connect went international, bringing much of Canada into walkie-talkie service range.
Nextel continues to evolve. In May, Nextel launched Group Connect service, which enables instant group walkie-talkie conversations nationwide. According to Nextel, Group Connect allows groups to be created directly on the handset within seconds. The service allows up to 21 simultaneous participants, including the call initiator and 20 invitees, who can be anywhere in Nextel's nationwide network. Fleets might not use a Group Connect feature except in an emergency, but emergencies might justify deployment.
Nextel says Group Connect will be available on future handsets. As of now, it only works with the Motorola i605 handset - a ruggedized phone designed for use in transportation and other physically demanding application. The i605 was introduced at the same time as the Group Connect service.
According to Nextel, the Motorola i605 meets military specifications for resistance to dust, shock and vibration. The i605 features a large screen, lots of memory and long battery life. The phone is GPS capable and can run Java software applications, including turn-by-turn directions. Integrated Bluetooth technology makes it possible to connect wirelessly with nearby devices - in the cab of a truck, for example. The i605 will be available at about $200 a copy, probably less for bulk purchases.
For the moment, cellphones cannot begin to threaten onboard computers, at least in the those fleets that require serious computing power on the truck. But for fleets with less demanding needs, cellphones are an increasingly attractive option and they're evolving rapidly.
HDT previously reported Nextel fleet software partner Xora has developed a driver log application to run on phones like the i605. Nextel has requested that phone-based automated logs be allowed in future Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations. Meanwhile, Xora has appealed for an exemption from current regulations. The FMCSA is expected to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking requesting comment on one or both of these proposals, and by the time you read this, may already have done so.
IT Solutions continued...
