Thursday May 25th, 2006

Canadian Automotive Fleet magazine takes a look at Netistix

Publication: Canadian Automotive Fleet - April/May 2006

Canadian Automotive Fleet magazine covers the Netistix FleetPulse fleet monitoring system in this story on vehicle telematics.

Telematics – Evolving and Consolidating to Provide Specific Fleet Management Applications

Telematics – conveying information wirelessly from one computer to another for anything from entertainment services to mechanical performance monitoring – is rapidly evolving*, with major players consolidating to offer applications and services that fleet managers can use to improve daily fleet operations.

The initial furor has faded, with many original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM’s) realizing the need to focus on vehicle-specific services as opposed to infotainment-type services. Production of telematic-ready vehicles continues to grow with each new model launch, from mid-size to luxury, from GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Volvo. Suppliers, such as Rogers, and Bell, from outside the traditional automobile industry, are also introducing products and services for the vehicle market. Joint ventures are becoming more common.

The ideal telematics solution would leverage time and communications to offer reduced costs, improved productivity and enhance customer relationships.

Other than GPS positioning/tracking of vehicles, future applications seen to hold promise include transmitting service reminders, traffic alerts or special offers on model upgrades, remote diagnostics anticipating potential problems, replacement parts ordering, and service scheduling – all services based on data extraction from individual vehicles.

Currently, telematics has three core applications: two-way wireless communication; location positioning; and control and tracking of automotive electronics. In this article we’ll review each of these areas, and talk to some of the major players…

Netistix Technologies Corporation

“We have a full end-to-end telematics solution,” explains John Woronczuk, Vice President Marketing and Business Development, “providing both hardware and software.” Netistix offers a software hosted solution, on a monthly fee, and an enterprise licence.

The company focus is “deeply on the fleet vehicle monitoring aspect of vehicle management system as opposed to the location based aspect.We feel ongoing monthly charges from either cell or satellite are very expensive from a business case perspective, and if you don’t need that real-time connectivity for security or lost vehicle, or dispatch reasons, then 8 times out of 10 a passive location based information source is sufficient and a lot cheaper.”

The hardware can be plugged into a standard vehicle port of a light or medium duty vehicle (a heavy-duty version will be offered in Fall ‘06), taking less than 10 minutes to install, and then be unplugged and reused in the next vehicle on fleet turn over. The information is collected and stored using a no-cost WiFi technology, so “from a business case perspective,” says Woronczuk. “doing a three year total project cost of our solution versus something built on a cellular technology with monthly airtime charges, we typically come in at one fifth to one eight of the cost.” GPS is an option.

Reports are customized according to customer requirements. Alluding to Toronto’s plans for WiFi coverage in the downtown core, Woronczuk says it’s interesting “because up to now, Netistix would put the WiFi infrastructure there on the site, and the customer would pay for it. Now, if the city/business want to get fleet management, there’s no need to put the infrastructure there, as it’s already in place. So that’s an even lower cost fleet management solution.”

He says fleets can expect a 9 – 12 month payback; in-vehicle hardware costs under $400, and software cost ranges between $5 – 9 monthly. Future plans include expansion to the US.

Conclusion

Telematics is increasingly a basic component in vehicles worldwide. Government regulations, such as stipulated hands-free mobile phones, will create more need for telematic solutions; increasing complex in-vehicle diagnostics will demand telematic interfaces; the promise of cost-savings, and higher productivity will speed development.

But it’s not just about getting the latest technology on board – telematics is evolving as a business tool to aid in managing assets, whether they are people, vehicles, or other mobile equipment. The combination of wireless technology and Web-based applications have the ability to produce large cost savings. Indeed, some predictions suggest that savings will be measured in the tens of billions of dollars by 2020, much of that in fleet operations. *At the end of 1999, there were 470 million wireless subscribers worldwide, compared with 309 million in 1998 (161% growth.) While forecasts vary, most industry observers forecast that the global wireless subscriber base will double within three years to 1 billion by 2003.

-From Canadian Automotive Fleet Magazine, April/May 2006

Download the Canadian Automotive Fleet file now:

• CanadianAutomotiveFleet_Telematics.pdf (536.55 KB)