Innovative Computing Corp. (www.innovativecomputingcorp.com) announced that its online training courses at Innovative University Designed, which were designed to enhance its existing training program, now have 1,200 users and 175 customer companies and partners enrolled.
AirClic (www.airclic.com) released AirClic Time Management, a mobile phone application that combines paperless collection of mobile time and attendance, payroll and project information with a time and labor management application. Pricing ranges from $30 to $50 per user.
@Road (www.atroad.com) announced that Performance Transportation Services, the second-largest transporter of new vehicles in North America, will deploy @Road’s GeoManager solution for greater location intelligence, manageability and real-time visibility into the work of its 1,544 drivers and trucks.
GeocomTms (www.geocomtms.com) announced the availability of A.Maze NEMT, a solution developed for nonemergency medical transportation providers. System capabilities include trip scheduling, route planning, dispatch, vehicle tracking, mobile data collection and contractor management, the company says.
Getloaded.com, an Internet load board, is looking for automobiles to fulfill the demand of thousands of auto carriers. For a limited time, Getloaded.com is offering anyone who needs to ship their auto freight a free Premium Freight Posting Account for 120 days.
Paccar Leasing Co. (PacLease) announced the immediate availability of PacTrac, a telematics system that reduces customer operating costs, improves productivity and enhances service in private fleet logistics, the company says. PacTrac, developed by PeopleNet, utilizes GPS technology, a reliable network of more than 100 wireless carriers, and an Internet connection to deliver real-time data from customers’ vehicles.
Two team drivers for Sigler Freight Service recently made what could have been – in most areas of the country – a very costly mistake. They entered a truck stop together in St. Lucie County, Fla., violating a company policy that dictates at least one driver must remain with the load at all times. After returning 20 minutes later, they found their truck missing – with a million-dollar load of perfume in tow.
“The driver called me, and I told him to call police immediately,” says Lee Sigler, president of the 25-truck Miami-based refrigerated carrier. Ten minutes later, local police arrived on the scene. Using a Nextel private connect feature, St. Lucie County sheriff’s Detective Darrell Russell contacted Officer David Pearce at the Florida Department of Transportation Motor Carrier Compliance office. One hour later, the missing truck and driver were apprehended at a toll booth in a neighboring county, Sigler says.
Sigler chose this year’s Florida Trucking Association leadership conference in Naples to enthusiastically present the officers with an award for their service. “I haven’t felt this lucky since the day I met my wife,” Sigler said.
This fast response to a cargo theft incident was no coincidence. It all began in 1994 when the state trucking association and the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) launched the Fax Alert Anti-theft System to provide prompt notification of high-dollar commercial vehicle and/or cargo theft incidents to the state law enforcement community throughout Florida – namely FHP and FDOT MCC officers.
This early system consisted of a one-page form that was completed by the victim driver, his company, law enforcement or the insurer. The form was transmitted by telephone facsimile to one central location and then disseminated appropriately.
More important than this early technology, however, was the interest the system created among state law enforcement officials, as well as the new contacts it helped create among local and county agencies, says Lt. William Shiver Jr. of FHP’s Bureau of Investigations. This in turn led to a statewide cargo crimes task force effort sponsored in 2000 by the Florida Sheriff’s Association. It also laid the bedrock for the system now in place, as of August 2005 – the Electronic Freight Theft Management System.
EFTMS, a system that allows authorized users to generate theft notices online, was paid for by FDOT MCC, developed by the University of Central Florida, and is administered by FHP.
“This is a one-of-a-kind system that was developed under the direction and control of experienced cargo theft investigators, with both the transportation industry and law enforcement needs in mind,” Shiver says. “The system is user-friendly and offered to any industry member or law enforcement agency in the nation.”
Within two minutes after the user finalizes an EFTMS theft notice, an e-mail theft alert is sent to all mobile computer terminals in patrol cars or weigh stations. The alert also is forwarded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Cargo Theft List Server, which automatically distributes it to all listserver subscribers – literally hundreds of cargo theft investigators throughout Florida and other states.
In addition to issuing immediate alerts, EFTMS users can search through a database of past incidents, and generate queries and reports to study and attack the cargo theft problem in their local areas, Shiver says.
Any fleet or law enforcement agency in the nation can subscribe to EFTMS. Users first must sign an agreement that specifies that the system does not replace the need to get an official police report from law enforcement at the location of theft, Shiver says. But once you have the report and enter it into EFTMS, a statewide hunt will begin in less than two minutes.
To subscribe to EFTMS, visit this site and click on “Request” to start an account.
PacTrac on track
Paccar Leasing Co. (PacLease) announced the immediate availability of PacTrac, a telematics system that reduces customer operating costs, improves productivity and enhances service in private fleet logistics, the company says. PacTrac, developed by PeopleNet, utilizes GPS technology, a reliable network of more than 100 wireless carriers, and an Internet connection to deliver real-time data from customers’ vehicles.
PeopleNet announces product updates
At PeopleNet’s fourth annual user conference in Chaska, Minn., executives presented a product roadmap for PeopleNet’s G3 onboard computing and mobile communications platform for the remainder of the year and beyond.
The company soon plans to release up to 17 available “hot keys” for driver-initiated forms. By pressing F1 on a keyboard, for example, a driver can quickly complete a trailer change form, rather than scrolling through a menu. PeopleNet also announced an upgrade to deliver vehicle and engine fault codes (SAE for heavy-duty and OBD-II for medium- and light-duty vehicles) through its PerformX driver and vehicle performance monitoring application. It also plans to offer an automatic keyboard lock while the vehicle is moving, for driver safety.
Also scheduled for release in 2006 is widespread use of CDMA 1xRTT networks to utilize the best cellular bandwidth available today from providers such as Verizon, Sprint and Alltel. The G3 platform, launched in 2004, was designed with the capability to utilize multiple wireless networks, including digital and analog cellular and satellite. The company also plans to release a next-generation, driver-rich display to leverage the communication capacity of G3; the new display, which will be available in 2007, will use the Windows CE .NET framework, says Vikas Jain, chief technology officer.
PeopleNet Chief Operating Officer Ron Konezny introduced a new term, “openicity,” to describe PeopleNet’s ongoing strategy to offer new fleets management applications through system integration with various third-party application providers. The first three systems to integrate directly with G3 will be the Eaton Vorad collision warning system, handheld applications and tethered trailer tracking.
