June/July 2007

Our impression

If you wanted proof of a trailer tracking system's capabilities before investing in it, would it interest you to know that Wal-Mart, the world's largest supermarket, has installed 46,000 units? Fairly convincing evidence that the VeriWise trailer tracking system is respected, and has already built up an impressive head of steam in the market.

You might also be tempted by short-term rental offers that are available with this system Ð as little as two months, because GE recognises that lots of trailers are in service or leased for a only few weeks of the year to cover demand peaks.

That's the background to this month's product evaluation, which looks at the VeriWise trailer-tracking portal operated by GE Capital Equipment. GE, of course, owns the huge TIP trailer rental business, but VeriWise is part of the GE Asset Intelligence portfolio of products. You don't have to rent or lease a TIP trailer to use it, and you can have one for just two months, if that is what the operation requires.

What information you get from the Web portal depends on which of two available tracking units is installed on the trailer. The entry-level SATS100 has independent battery power and one-way communications, and incorporates a motion sensor that sends an alert whenever the trailer is moved. It can transmit position and up to ten messages a day, but operators can't poll the device to find out current position or status.

The SC200 is a duplex transceiver with more tracking and reporting features. Position reports can be scheduled for periods ranging from five minutes to three hours. In addition to the motion sensor, it has the ability to monitor curtain and door-openings and temperature, as well as the times when trailers enter or leave geofenced areas.

Both devices currently report back via satellite links, but GE says a GPRS option will be available by the end of 2007.

It is easy to make modifications to event-reporting intervals, geofences and sensors via the Web site and by means of over-the-air commands. The site is very user-friendly, and although it may lack the bells-and-whistles features of some tracking portals, it makes up for this in the sheer amount of data that is available and options on how it is presented.

Where VeriWise really scores is in the flexibility of its reporting system. Even the limited data from the SATS100 modem can be configured to produce some fairly comprehensive reports about trailer activity. Although the SATS100 modem has limited capability to deal with real-time information, it can still provide a wealth of analytical data about a trailer's activities.

By using the motion sensor in combination with the GPs position, for example, it can produce reports on how long trailers spend at their home depot, at customer premises waiting to be unloaded or elsewhere. You can see at a glance where idle, unused assets such as parked-up trailers are and when they were last used.

The SC200 provides additional information on door openings and temperature, and can be configured to provide security alerts Ð when the doors are opened outside a geofence, for example.

Data is visible through the Web interface, and can also be sent directly to an operator's fleet management system via XML data message.

Our verdict

The VeriWise Web site might not be the funkiest we've seen this year, but it does take some beating when it comes to the breadth of reports that are available, how they are presented and sent. And the system behind it seems to do exactly what it sets out to do without fuss or undue complication.