Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition--Qualcomm and Aether Improve Communication for Truckers

Even truckers don't like to leave home without access to their e-mail. Last week at the American Trucking Association conference in San Antonio, Qualcomm and Aether Systems, the two biggest developers of OS/400-based truck communication systems, with their respective OMNITracs and MobileMax systems, introduced enhancements that will give truckers access to e-mail and faster connections to dispatch systems while they're on the road.

Thanks to its ease of use and stability, the OS/400 server has long been the favorite platform for America's large fleet management companies, and there are several independent software vendors developing OS/400 dispatch management software to serve this growing industry. However, because trucks can be anywhere in North America, communication poses a special kind of problem, and this led companies such as Qualcomm to develop cellular- and satellite-based communication and tracking solutions.

Qualcomm is easily the largest developer of communication hardware and software that integrates with the fleets' (predominantly OS/400-based) dispatch management software, with almost 2,000 fleets using the San Diego company's products for nearly half of a million vehicles around the world, which, experts say, is about three-quarters of the market.

In 2000, Aether Systems, an Owings Mills, Maryland, developer of mobile communication solutions, entered the market with the purchase of two companies developing tracking systems, @Track (which sold HighwayMaster) and Motient (also known as American Mobile Satellite). Today Aether Systems' suite of products, including MobileMax, GeoLogic, TrailerMax, and 20/20V, are used in about 50,000 vehicles, making it number-two behind Qualcomm.

At the ATA show last week, Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions, the division that develops truck and trailer communication and tracking technology, announced that testing has begun on a new high-speed satellite communication technique that will result in a 10-fold improvement over current download speeds.

The new data transfer technology will let carriers send large volumes of data at 10 times the rate that customers enjoy today, resulting in the faster transfer of load assignments, delivery instructions and other information directly to drivers while on the road. Road tests began last Tuesday, when Qualcomm packaged a trial version of the technology on a truck and dispatched it to "the far corners" of the United States to see how the data transfer technology holds up in all locales and weather conditions.

Aether wants a bigger piece of the pie, and is going straight to truckers' hearts to get it. Last week, at the ATA show, Aether announced several new features that won't necessarily enhance truck tracking but will make truckers' lives better out on the highways.

For example, Aether is introducing a new wireless driver e-mail system that lets drivers send and receive personal e-mails without fleet management involvement. This e-mail system is being offered through an Aether partner, Transcommunications (which Qualcomm has partnered with, too), which will sell truckers a pre-paid card that lets them use e-mail on their Aether in-truck computer modules, either the MobileMax or the Pro2000, without the e-mail going through the dispatch software.

Aether will also deliver a new text-to-voice option within MobileMax that reads truckers' messages to them, letting them keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road. This option requires a small Windows CE-based module (see below) and supports messages sent from the dispatcher, and can even read the driver's e-mail (see above). Aether says this feature, which will be delivered in early 2004, will reduce the number of times that truckers have to stop to read their messages, which the ATA says can cost upward of $7 per stop in lost productivity.

Fleets will be able to implement MobileMax text-to-voice capability on Handheld Products' Windows CE-based Dolphin 7400 Mobile Computer, which drivers can now use instead of their standard MobileMax keyboard, Aether announced last week. The company delivered the capability to use this Windows CE device through a new interface that lets MobileMax work with third-party handheld computers. The Dolphin 7400 features a barcode scanner and can also capture signatures.

Companies that don't want to run their Aether communication and tracking software on their own OS/400 or Windows servers can now let Aether host their applications for them. The company has finished development of its Web hosting delivery method and is ready to open its data center to MobileMax, GeoLogic, TrailerMax, and 20/20V customers. Aether says its Joplin, Missouri, data center is based on the iSeries server.

Qualcomm has a similar hosted offering running its OMNITracs software on its own OS/400 servers and delivering access to it for companies through a Web browser. One feature that Aether does have that Qualcomm does not, however, is untethered trailer tracking, which Qualcomm is currently working on (see "New Trucking App from Qualcomm Tracks Untethered Trailers" for more information).