Omnitracs, Inc., a wholly -owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated and provider of integrated wireless systems, applications, and services to transportation and logistics companies, announced the launch of its Tire Pressure Monitoring (TPM) and Trailer Tire Inflation Alerts (TTIA) applications.
These two new applications — along with the Fault Monitoring application — comprise Omnitracs’ Vehicle Diagnostics suite, which is designed to help for-hire and private fleets reduce maintenance expenses, prevent accidents and improve safety. Fleets can now proactively monitor and maintain proper tire inflation directly from integrated, third-party Tire Pressure Monitoring and Tire Inflation system, the company says.
Tire Pressure Monitoring delivers easy-to-understand graphical data on tire conditions, such as under inflation, over inflation and normal, to back-office staff and drivers, making it easy to identify which tires are having issues and the proper course of action. TPM also provides customer configurable alerts that can be sent to back-office staff.
With Trailer Tire Inflation Alerts, fleets receive notifications of tire airing events whether the tractor is moving or stationary, enabling back office personnel to contact drivers to discuss how best to address the issue. Supporting data delivered with alerts includes vehicle ID, time, location, and vehicle speed.
TTIA also allows for customer configuration of alert notifications based on frequency, duration and type of event, so that each fleet can determine what constitutes a critical airing event.
Both applications will be available starting November 2013 for the Omnitracs Mobile Computing Platform 110 or 200 (MCP110 or MCP200).
Omnitracs also announced its new Virtual Load View application. Virtual Load View delivers position and message data from authorized Omnitracs Mobile Computing Platform-equipped vehicles to approved third parties to enable greater visibility into vehicles’ arrivals, departures and load status.
“Today, more and more fleets are looking to increase capacity without purchasing additional vehicles and hiring more drivers. Rather than turn away good business, many have created a brokering business for freight, but have found it presents new management challenges,” said Vikas Jain, vice president of product management and Software-as-a-Service at Omnitracs. “Due to the very large and diverse network of fleets that we count as customers, we’re uniquely positioned to provide unprecedented visibility into loads across carriers with our first-of-its-kind Virtual Load View application.”
Designed to help both fleets and third-party logistics providers improve resource allocation and planning, Virtual Load View delivers a consolidated view of a fleet’s proprietary, brokered or subcontracted loads, eliminating the need to call contracted or third-party drivers regarding load status and location.
As announced on Aug. 23, 2013, a definitive agreement was entered into to sell Omnitracs to Vista Equity Partners, a U.S. based private equity firm. Closing of the acquisition is expected during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, subject to the terms and conditions of the definitive agreement.
