Sept/Oct 2004

Axscend, the Kent-based asset-tracking specialist, says it is the first supplier to incorporate the new ViaMichelin online mapping service into an asset tracking system. This allows users to locate assets down to street-level in over 45 countries and 300,000 different locations across the world. It can be accessed from any Internet-enabled PC through Axscend's secure Web portal.

ViaMichelin was launched in 2001 to develop digital map-based computer applications such as mobile mapping on PDAs, in-vehicle navigation and online mapping and route-finding. Its latest online mapping product can be incorporated seamlessly in third-party solutions such as Axscend's Global Asset Tracking System, and Tim Steer, Axscend's managing director of Axscend, says it gives a consistent and high level of quality.

Axscend itself is a relative newcomer to the tracking market, having been launched this summer. But it has a strong pedigree, being a subsidiary of BCM (Transport), a long-established communications network specialist whose customers include the RHA. It is the UK distributor of the Axtracker tracking system from US-based Axonn.

The Axscend system is pitched as ideal for tracking non-powered assets such as trailers, marine containers and rail cargo. It uses GPS for location, the Globalstar satellite comms system for reporting, and the Internet to deliver the information to users.