Following the Fleet

Feb 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Erin Semple

THE CONTINENTAL GROUP, a property management and services company based in Hollywood, Fla., had one of its company vehicles stolen last year. The company manages condominium associations around the state and also has a fleet of service vehicles that handle its pest control, air conditioning, plumbing, and landscaping and painting services. Continental operates more than 200 vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment all over the state.

When one of Continental's landscaping trucks was stolen, Fleet Manager Carl Boren decided to look for a way to locate a stolen vehicle. Typically, companies use a global positioning system (GPS) to enable wireless devices to pinpoint a vehicle based on satellite technology.

Boren chose the StealthTrak system, which can control various types of wireless asset tracking devices from the same software platform. The StealthTrak Command Center uses proprietary software from TransMobile that can aggregate data from any type of wireless device. The software can take any wireless GPS device and bring it back into the software, which is accessed across a secure Internet connection.

TransMobile's open-architecture back-office software integrates wireless security devices into its StealthTrak Command Center to allow Boren to track and manage hundreds of vehicles and fixed assets in one system. Since each of the wireless asset tracking devices reports back on the same software, Continental can now group each of the assets in each of its divisions and efficiently manage and keep track of all of them in one place. This is all done via a password-protected secure Internet connection. Each business unit uses various types of equipment, fixed and mobile.

“This system adds a measure of security,” Boren says. “The devices are concealable, easy to install and simple to use. It also allows us the ability to grow and add features. Additionally, the system can create reports in Word, Excel and XTML.”

In the future, Boren says the company plans to use more of the On-Demand devices. This is a low-cost, pay-as-you-go type of device, which is inexpensive, compared to similar devices. “When you want to locate a vehicle with an On-Demand device you simply ‘ping’ the device,” Boren says. “This way we do not incur a monthly fee for a piece of equipment that does not have to be constantly tracked; however, if it is stolen we can quickly locate it and notify the police or retrieve it ourselves since the information is always at our disposal. We are planning to use these devices for expensive pieces of equipment, such as wood chippers in our landscaping division.”

Some of the other features he plans to use include the ability to set up a “geofence” on any specific vehicle or asset. The geofence feature lets the user program where a vehicle should be during different times of the day and for the system to notify the user if the vehicle is not in its place. “This added security will increase productivity and reduce fuel costs,” says Sherry Carani, president of TransMobile. “It will also cause The Continental Group to be more efficient.”

Other products integrated into the StealthTrak system include satellite, cellular, WiFi devices and radio frequency identification devices (RFID) — both active and passive.

TransMobile plans to distribute its StealthTrak brand of products through the electronic security industry. TransMobile has just begun meeting with security companies in order to open them up as valued added resellers for its products. The company contends that RFID devices will be the future for tracking and for multiple security applications. The opportunities they have for mobile asset communication are growing each day, says Michael W. Smith, vice president. One of TransMobile's resellers, Enhanced Vehicle Applications (EVA), is working with Penske Truck Leasing to install the OnDemand device in its fleet of vehicles.

Penske Truck Leasing Co. L.P. introduced the Fleet InSite system in December, an easy-to-use, low-cost vehicle tracking system that enables customers to locate their trucks quickly via the Fleet InSite Web site. Fleet InSite applies GPS and cellular technology to quickly and easily locate vehicles on demand. “Fleet InSite broadens our suite of technology offerings that improve customer satisfaction, enhance fleet security and maximize productivity,” says Jim Feenstra, senior vice president of marketing, Penske Truck Leasing. “The technology allows customers to be only a point-and-click away from information such as how close a driver is to delivering product or where a vehicle is stopped.

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