May/June 2005

A vehicle tracking and location service called TrackIT has been launched by Transcomm UK, the mobile data network operator. It takes the company's parent BT squarely into the realms of telematics and tracking.

The company describes its new offering as "a portfolio of managed product and service offerings", which include a range of services built around historical and real-time location.

Underpinning these offerings are Transcomm's two communications systems - its long-established Mobitex-based wireless data network, and GPRS, which is now also part of its standard offering.

Transcomm is offering three different versions of the service. There is a Web-based version called TrakIT Monitor; a free-standing version for fleet customers called TrakIT Fleet; and a modular enterprise version called TrakIT Enterprise. This last is wide-ranging in scope, including features such as route scheduling, real-time proof of delivery and mobile data terminal support.

The Fleet and Enterprise versions include optional support for latest technologies such as RFID for driver identification and vehicle location.

All these services are being offered on monthly terms with no up-front fee. When we closed for press no specific figures were being quoted for the various options, but in today's highly competitive market keen pricing can be expected.

Transcomm, one of the pioneers of mobile data, was acquired last year by BT Redcare, an established asset tracking and security specialist. Redcare had specialised more in fixed asset tracking, using technologies such as GSM tracking, while Transcomm's speciality has traditionally been on the communications side. Telematics and tracking represent a natural extension of their services.

In launching the service, chief executive Kevin McNulty laid emphasis on the pressures faced by operators over working time compliance and EU legislation. "It would be a huge mistake," he said, "to do 'just enough' to comply when organisations in the transport, logistics and distribution sectors could maximise their efforts and benefit the business's bottom line with true visibility across the supply chain."