Subject: [NEXTEL-1] GM offers wireless tracking, data option to truck fleet buyers

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 20:02:00 -0400

GM offers wireless tracking, data option to truck fleet buyers

By BOB BREWIN
MAY 20, 2003

   General Motors Corp. will offer small and midsize truck-fleet buyers a packaged
wireless data and fleet-tracking system based on software from Gearworks Inc. and data
phones from Nextel Communications Inc.

GM is targeting the one year, no-cash wireless fleet-tracking and data option at service
industries that run small fleets of between 15 and 50 vehicles, according to Tim
Cavanaugh, marketing product manager for fleet and commercial operations at GM. Cavanaugh
said the Etrace xt wireless fleet option, announced yesterday, will be available on GMC
and Chevrolet pickup trucks and vans, but not on semi trucks.

GM believes the market for the wireless fleet-tracking package is about 4 million
vehicles, Cavanaugh said, with plumbing, cable TV, HVAC contractors and courier companies
seen as likely purchasers. In January, Cincinnati-based Roto-Rooter Inc. rolled out a
wireless data and fleet-tracking system based on Gearworks software and Nextel phones
(sees story).

Cavanaugh said he expects a "slow start" for the wireless package but anticipates that the
program will grow consistently while providing GM with a competitive edge over its rivals.

Scott Hull, vice president of marketing at Minneapolis-based Gearworks, said the GM
package is similar to the system used by Roto-Rooter and includes the Nextel phone and the
company's Web-based back-office software.

According to Hull, Gearworks would host GM truck-fleet customer applications on its
servers, with access available over the Web. Since the Nextel phone includes a built-in
GPS receiver, the software will allow dispatchers to track the location of individual
vehicles in the fleet, Hull said. The Java-based Nextel phone, which offers data speeds of
between 20kbit and 40kbit/sec, allows dispatchers to send and receive simple text-based
messages from workers in the field.

The GM deal is good for a year, Hull said, after which fleet owners can continue the
service with a service plan that costs $34 per phone per month for Gearworks support and
$32.99 per phone per month for Nextel data services. Cavanaugh said he expected the "re-up
rate to be very high" because fleet customers will have "seen how effective this is in
scheduling jobs."

Ernie Cormier, vice president of business solutions for Reston, Va.-based Nextel, said the
cost of the data service could drop, since the 32.99 covers 10MB of data a month and some
GM fleet customers might be able to get by with less. While rival wireless carriers have
focused much of their data business on either consumers or road warriors, Cormier said
Nextel has zeroed in on what he called "the guy in the truck. ... Broad growth [in
wireless data] will come from that guy in the truck."

Source: Computerworld

 http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,81380,00.html

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