Aug/Sept 2007

Cellular telematics could soon become a thing of the past, according to Ezurio, a wireless M2M (machine-to-machine) solutions specialist.

By cellular telematics, the company is talking about the current generation vehicle location and tracking of systems based on GSM/GPRS communications. It says the cost of the communications hardware and data contracts involved is stifling the market, since they 'are uneconomic for all but a few critical applications.'

This is all likely to change soon, Ezurio argues, since cellular technology will be replaced by modern 'cellular-free' wireless systems such as Wi-Fi.

Whilst some might dispute the company's dismissal of the thousands of effective telematics applications rolled out in recent years (many of them reported in m.logistics), the report's criticism of the obstacles to wider adoption does have some plausibility.

 

Ezurio also points out that so long as telematics costs have remained high (by its own standards, anyway), other concerns have been given a higher priority by fleet operators. It cites research last year by Harte Hawkes suggesting that operators' main requirements are fuel cost management, insurance risk management, driver behaviour analysis and maintenance scheduling.

'Nowhere in that top four is there anything that demands real time-data, not even for location,' Ezurio says.

However, demand for real-time telematics is likely to see a real upturn, it says - fuelled by falling costs, new-era wireless technology, the emergence of legislation on emissions and road tolling, and new insurance and maintenance regimes.

'The technology is now in place to produce a major step change in telematics deployment,' the company concludes. 'Those in this industry sector that fail to recognise this will follow the path of the dinosaurs.'

* The company's findings are detailed in a white paper entitled M2M needs to discard cellular modems, which can be downloaded from Ezurio's Web site at www.ezurio.com/press/wp.