News
Issue #2003 - 09 (March 2003)
(Updated Mar. 19, 2003)

APPLICATION SOLUTIONS & APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

@Road® Launches Pocket Edition Mobile Resource Management Service

New Service Combines GPS-Enabled Mobile Phones with @Road Mobile Resource Management Service to Improve Productivity of Field Operations

Fremont, CA – March, 2003 – @Road, a leading provider of location-enhanced wireless Internet solutions for mobile resource management (MRM), recently announced the availability of a new solution that combines @Road mobile resource management services with GPS-enabled mobile phones.

To date, @Road MRM services have relied on vehicle location as a proxy for mobile-worker location. Now, @Road customers can use the Pocket Edition to locate and manage mobile workers carrying a GPS-enabled Motorola® i58sr or i88s handset wherever they are. The introduction of Pocket Edition enables @Road to offer a more comprehensive suite of MRM services to multiple industries. 

As is the case with all @Road MRM services, Pocket Edition is designed to help companies improve the productivity of field operations with a return on investment (ROI) measured in days, not years. Pocket Edition is also a useful solution for companies that depend on location information to ensure the safety and security of mobile workers. Future iterations of Pocket Edition are expected to allow mobile workers to send and receive text messages as well as interface with their companies’ enterprise applications.

“Pocket Edition enables every business with a mobile workforce to conveniently, efficiently and wirelessly manage their mobile assets right from their desktop,” said Krish Panu, CEO of @Road. “This solution automatically locates mobile workers as well as records time and activity, minimizing the task of manually managing mobile resources and freeing up managerial time to focus on other critical business requirements.” “With Pocket Edition, @Road brings MRM services to a new level of convenience and affordability,” concluded Mr. Panu. 

Pocket Edition is designed primarily for mobile-service organizations, in particular those in distribution, field trades, retail, government, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, real estate, telecommunications, construction and transportation, which are among the more aggressive adopters of MRM applications. 

The new service is based on a hosted MRM platform that uses the global positioning system (GPS) satellite network, wireless communications and the Internet. Customers using the service have access to a wide-range of tools, including activity and workflow reporting, mapping and location-on-demand. 

For more information on Pocket Edition, please call your @Road sales representative or visit the @Road Web site at www.atroad.com

About @Road
@Road is a leading provider of mobile resource management (MRM) services, a rapidly growing category of productivity solutions integrating location technologies, wireless communications, transaction processing, software applications and the Internet to help companies better manage mobile workers. Any size organization, in any industry or public sector, in which improving the productivity of mobile workers has an impact on revenue, expenses, customer service and competitive advantage, will benefit from @Road MRM services. Because @Road offers MRM services on a hosted basis, customers avoid expensive and complex software and IT infrastructure investments. Since @Road delivers services using a pay-as-you-go subscription model, customers experience an immediate and measurable return-on-investment. 

@Road delivers its MRM services to over 90,000 mobile workers in North America every day. The company has headquarters in Fremont, CA, and secure networked data centers on both U.S. coasts. 

For more information, visit the @Road web site at www.atroad.com.

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: Moving field force automation application to a less expensive smart phone platform (such as Motorola i58 or i88) on a "pay-as-you-go" basis is a good business model. We agree that small service companies will find this option quite attractive. More and more FFA application developers are supporting smart phones with GPS capability, especially those from nextel with "Push to Talk" capability. 

Note: This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of Securities Exchange act of 1934 in USA. Similar provisions exist in other countries. There is no assurance that the stipulated plans of vendors will be implemented. MobileInfo does not warrant the authenticity of the information. Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology architectures.  All trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective owners.