By Rik Turner, Computerwire
May 21, 2007
AirClic, which delivers business process mobilization as a service, has beefed up the GPS capabilities in the new release of its console for tracking and managing mobile operations, including workers, assets, inventory, jobs, and activities.
The suite of offerings from Newtown, Pennsylvania-based AirClic is collectively referred to as the Mobile Process and the GPS element is called Tracker. The new release is v2.0.
Tim Bradley, CEO of AirClic, said: "in version 1.0 a company could plot any event and associate it to a business event, with a map and route, but it was only on an event-by-event basis, whereas now they can see their full fleet, field force or asset estate at a glance, Tracker becoming like a personal command and control system."
The new version of Tracker enables someone managing a fleet of vehicles or a network of field or sales staff to drill down on any individual, vehicle, or asset to get a history of their movements and associate them with other events.
The GPS dimension of AirClic's services relies on the handset itself having the GPS capability, which in the case of CDMA and iDEN networks is a given, since all phones are fitted with GPS silicon as a means of complying with their e911 requirements. GPS is now being embedded in phones in the GSM world, which Bradley said represents an opportunity for expansion of the Tracker service to other parts of the world.
AirClic competes for mindshare with a number of product-based companies in mobile app enablement including Antenna Software, Dexterra, and Vettro. "They're all product-oriented and consulting-led, which can be a barrier to entry," said Bradley. "They're high-end and cost-rich." At the other extreme, there are companies offering a degree of location-based services such as GPS and GPS reporting "but they don't scale into activity or event capture," he said.
Bradley said AirClic charges for its services on a per-user basis, with annual or multi-year contracts. "It usually averages out to about $2 a day per user," he said.