E911, LBS, RFID, and WI-FI Consulting Services

INDELFINGEN, Germany, Feb. 19 - A day after the board of DaimlerChrysler announced that it would extend Jürgen E. Schrempp's contract as chief executive, Mr. Schrempp ran into a storm of questions on Thursday over the company's role in a botched highway toll collection system in Germany.

Mr. Schrempp, who appeared at DaimlerChrysler's financial news conference in this suburb of Stuttgart, admitted that the company had stumbled on the project, which the German government angrily canceled this week, after technical flaws repeatedly delayed its operation.

"Mistakes were made by all sides, that is quite evident," Mr. Schrempp said. "We don't want to escape responsibility."

The futuristic system, which is designed to track and collect tolls from trucks with a network of satellites and wireless transmitters, was supposed to set the standard for Europe and the world.

Instead, it has become a humiliating symbol to many here of the decline of German engineering.

The German government has threatened to hold DaimlerChrysler and its partner, Deutsche Telekom, liable for damages in excess of 6.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion). The companies are already paying 250,000 euros a day in fines, a penalty that will increase to 500,000 euros a day next month.

Mr. Schrempp said he was confident the sides would resolve their differences. He disputed suggestions that the debacle had sown broader doubts about DaimlerChrysler's reputation.

"Despite all the justified criticism, there is a chance, even with this long delay, to make the system work," he said. "This is a highly complex system, and if it materializes, it will be an E.U. standard."

For Mr. Schrempp, the problem-plagued Toll Collect project only makes his sales job more difficult. DaimlerChrysler said it had taken a charge of 250 million euros ($317 million) in 2003 to cover its share of the losses at the venture, plus provisions to pay fines for failing to complete it on time.

But the bigger cost may be to the company's image. When DaimlerChrysler and Deutsche Telekom signed a contract with the government in 2002, they made grand promises about how quickly they could design and build an exceedingly complicated system. When one deadline after another passed, the partners settled into a surly standoff with the government.

"To use satellite-tracking technology, allied with mobile phones, should work in theory, but nobody has ever done it in practice on such a grand scale," an analyst at Standard & Poor's, Robert Bain, said.

The German transport ministry has given the companies two months to come to a new agreement, which would include stiff damages. Otherwise it said it would solicit new tender offers for the project. Mr. Aney said DaimlerChrysler would probably pay a fee to settle the dispute.

Analysis: While I have not seen any technical assessment of the problems with this hybrid of RFID and GPS technology, my hypothesis on the issues are:

Wireless Lights the Way (1-19-04)
Wireless is everywhere these days, including in lamp posts. Startup company Last Mile is using highway lamp posts as the base network for a wireless world. The idea is to install electronics in lamp posts to create networks with each lamp post talking to the others. A U.K. Highways Agency is putting out a tender for just that - equipping major road with wireless. The winning bid could provide basic traffic telemetry and telematic services to meet government requirements and then use the extra capacity for commercial services - making it quite a windfall. (Source: The Register)

Analysis: While not yet knowing the details, this could provide a low-cost way to provide high-accuracy LBS services in Europe, since they LBS to-date has been via network-based technologies

Vodafone and AND develop first true Location Based Services (1-9-04) Source: WirelessDevNet.com

Rotterdam, 8 January 2004 - Vodafone is the first mobile operator in the Netherlands to launch true Location Based Services. Building on the latest XML technologies, AND developed Streetguide in close corporation with Vodafone. Streetguide automatically plots the current location of the mobile phone owners on a map. The service is available on the Vodafone live! platform.

AND developed the Streetguide for Vodafone, based on the wishes and demands by Vodafone. With GeoAccess, AND's XML Web Service, AND was able to develop an unique Location Based Service. "The joint development of Vodafone and AND proved to be very successful. Based on the mobile expertise of Vodafone and technological geo expertise of AND, Vodafone and AND reconfirm their leading position in their markets." says AND's Dirk van Loenen.

Streetguide determines the current position of the mobile phone in the Netherlands based on cell information. This functionality helps users to find locations and establish the direction of travel to reach a given destination. Using the location generated by the mobile phone, one can search for the nearest Point of Interest and plan a route. The route description indicates the most important directions along the route, making navigation easy. Streetguide is available on the Vodafone live! platform.

Privacy guaranteed
Vodafone commits itself to guaranteeing the privacy of its customers in the best possible way. Therefore Vodafone will only offer location-based services to customers who have explicitly indicated that they want to use these services. This means that the customer's location in the network will only be determined after giving prior consent. By means of a signed contract Vodafone ensures that the providers of these services only use the location-information for services that customers have signed up for.

Analysis: I love these guys (both genders) for their marketing prowess and willingness to be a leader in their markets. Hopefully this will be expanded rapidly across the rest of Europe.

Wherify Unveils World's Smallest GPS Locator Phone at CES (1-9-04) Source: Wirelessdevnet.com

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. Wherify's GPS Locator Phone is the latest product in a family of next-generation Wherify GPS locators to be showcased at CES

Wherify Wireless Inc., developers of innovative GPS-based location products and services, is unveiling the world's smallest GPS Locator Phone at this year's 2004 International CES (booth #20669), the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology, January 8-11, in Las Vegas, Nev. Wherify's new GPS Locator Phone is geared towards consumers looking for a unique personal safety and security device that can be used to keep tabs on the location of loved-ones (no matter their age), within feet, through the Internet or any phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Wherify GPS Locator Phone incorporates such features as a two-way mic/speaker, a one-touch button with direct dial to 911 and an operator in the event of an emergency, as well as a programmable button with direct dial to a parent, guardian, spouse, co-worker or other important contact. Wherify's GPS Locator Phone will retail for less than $150 and will be available to consumers late second quarter 2004.

Wherify is also showcasing at CES a family of other GPS Locators that are smaller and lighter than their predecessor, the Wherify GPS Locator for Kids, and come in a variety of form-factors from handheld devices with unique designs, to GPS Locators about the size of a matchbox.

"The two-way voice speaker adds an extra layer of safety and security for the person carrying the Wherify GPS Locator Phone and will become a standard feature in all future Wherify personal location devices," said Timothy Neher, president and CEO of Wherify Wireless. "In case of an emergency, not only will the 911 emergency operator get the person's location within feet, they'll also be able to assess the situation, stay in contact with the user of the Wherify GPS Locator Phone, and determine the appropriate level of emergency response."

Neher added that the company's new GPS Locator Phone could also be used in a variety of business applications. He cited such business uses as executive security, fleet management, vehicle and cargo tracking, valuable asset tracking, and mobile workforce communication.

Through the convergence of Global Positioning System (GPS) and digital wireless technologies -- in combination with Wherify's patented back-end location technology -- Wherify's GPS Location products and services offer a tested and proven safety solution that gives consumers and businesses peace of mind knowing they can locate loved ones or valuable property, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Simply, the Wherify subscriber logs on to the Internet at www.wherify.com or any telephone to quickly identify the location of their loved-ones or valuable assets within feet, in about a minute. In the event of an emergency, either the subscriber or individual carrying a Wherify GPS Locator can request an emergency 911 response and local police will be dispatched.

About Wherify Wireless

Wherify Wireless, Inc. is a privately-held developer of patented wireless location products and services for child safety, parental supervision, personal protection, Alzheimer and memory loss, supervision, law enforcement, animal identification, and property asset tracking. The company's proprietary integration of global positioning systems and wireless communication technologies will enable customers to obtain real-time location information on individuals and property directly through the Internet or any phone. Founded in March 1998, Wherify Wireless is located in Redwood Shores, Calif. For more information, or to purchase Wherify products, visit the company's website at www.wherify.com

Webraska Unveils New LBS App (1-2-04)
Webraska Mobile Technologies unveiled the newest version of its SmartZone Navigation application for SmartPhones. SmartZone Navigation is expected to play a major role stimulating consumer uptake of low-cost GPS navigation. Webraska says SmartZone Navigation is a market-ready application for wireless carriers seeking to offer a valuable branded service that will create opportunities to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) and stimulate device upgrade. The company, which specializes in a number of location-based services (LBS)-like applications, displayed the product at the Mobile Office exhibition in Paris. (Source: Scotsman.com)

Gearworks and Motorola introduce new LBS solutions for enterprise workforces (1-2-04, Source: WirelessDevnet.com)

Gearworks, a Minneapolis-based provider of wireless mobile workforce management solutions, and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions, today announced a joint marketing agreement to provide new location and mobile productivity solutions to the enterprise workforce.

Motorola and Gearworks will develop and market solutions based on Gearworks successful etrace(TM) mobile workforce management service and Motorola's VIAMOTO(TM) suite of location-based services.

Gearworks etrace combines a GPS-enabled mobile application that runs on Java-based phones with a hosted, web-based application for dispatching, mapping, tracking and reporting. Motorola's VIAMOTO delivers text or audible route guidance prompts to users, literally "talking" users through directions to a destination, speaking street names and maneuvers along the way. Motorola's VIAMOTO server is continuously updated and integrated with traffic conditions and point-of-interest databases to provide users accurate and up- to-date navigation services.

"This is a leading edge enterprise solution that will reduce costs and let workers perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently, especially in travel-intensive markets like field service," said Neal Campbell, general manager of location services for Motorola's Personal Communications Sector. "Businesses ranging from large scale delivery services to real estate agencies will benefit by connecting their workers to vital customer, work order and traffic information, in real time over their mobile phones."

"Gaining real-time knowledge of mobile worker time, location, activity and events can transform the economics and expectations of field service and services-based businesses," states Todd Krautkremer, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Gearworks. "The product offerings planned from Gearworks and Motorola will enable service-based organizations to manage operating costs and improve productivity and customer satisfaction."

About Gearworks
Minneapolis-based Gearworks ( http://www.gearworks.com ) provides wireless and Web-based applications that improve business at the point of delivery - the last mile of the supply chain where dispatched mobile workers deliver goods or services to customers. The company's flagship product, etrace(TM), runs on standard mobile devices and allows businesses to automate and manage transactions, data collection, customer relations and communications with dispatched workers, etrace also provides a real-time connection back to enterprise systems to expedite billing, tracking and other operations. The results for customers are shortened job cycles, improved communications with customers and mobile workers, and reduced operating costs.

Bell Mobility launchs gpsOne-based A-GPS location services (1-2-04) - Source: WirelessDevNet.com

Canadian wireless operator Bell Mobility on the network launch of its new precision location-based services (LBS) enabled by QUALCOMM's gpsOne(TM) hybrid Assisted GPS wireless location solution. gpsOne is the world's most broadly deployed, and commercially mature and innovative precision solution for locating mobile phones. Bell Mobility is not only providing its wireless subscribers with new phone-based precision location services, such as its popular Roadside Assistance service, but also E9-1-1 emergency call location services that will help Canadian safety officials respond more effectively to emergency calls, while saving lives.

"This offering by Bell Mobility is an exciting first, marking the debut launch of precision gpsOne-enabled consumer LBS in North America," said Kamil Grajski, senior vice president and general manager of SnapTrack, a wholly owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM. "QUALCOMM's gpsOne technology has helped US carriers meet the Federal Communications Commission's E9-1-1 emergency call location mandate, and now it is helping to bring to Canadians the benefits of precision LBS that can enhance the wireless user experience, improve productivity, and help save lives." The Bell Mobility Roadside Assistance service enables customer service representatives to locate customers automatically, with their consent, when they call for roadside assistance. The Roadside Assistance service is available anywhere and any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Canada and the United States. However, the location based technology is only available within the Bell Mobility wireless network.

Bell Mobility's emergency E9-1-1 service is being implemented in two distinct phases. Phase I enables emergency operators to automatically identify the general area from where the wireless emergency call is made, as well as the 10-digit wireless phone number of the mobile phone from which the call originated. This reduces emergency response time and gives the emergency operator crucial callback information should the call be disconnected for any reason. E9-1-1 Phase II uses an even more precise, Assisted GPS, which allows emergency operators to locate customers using a gpsOne A-GPS enabled wireless handset or device.

QUALCOMM's gpsOne hybrid, Assisted GPS solution improves upon regular GPS, and provides industry leading all-terrain accuracy and performance by combining GPS satellite and CDMA network ranging data to locate mobile phones in both outdoor and indoor environments. While the cost-effective gpsOne solution is embedded in most QUALCOMM CDMA chipsets for mobile devices, it supports both CDMA and non-CDMA wireless standards.

GlobeTrac Introduces Vehicle Management System for SLBM of the U.K.) 1-2-04

GlobeTrac Inc. (OTC BB: GBTR), a leading supplier of telematics and tracking services, is pleased to announce it is the exclusive provider of vehicle management systems for SLBM. GlobeTrac has completed installation of its L2000 wireless data communications system in the SLBM Fleet. Operating on Orange's GPRS data network the Locator 2000 mobile asset management solution allows dispatchers to: -- Monitor driver activities to aid in route adherence and time management

-- Quickly locate and manage mobile assets

-- Easily view and management mechanical and maintenance data

-- Document activity to evaluate efficiency and utilization of data

Based in Leeds UK, South Leeds Builders Merchants is a privately owned and operated distributor of building materials, with a fleet of HGV's for the delivery of building materials all over the United Kingdom.

"We have been exploring vehicle telematics systems for over two months, and our decision was driven by the need to manage rising fuel costs (excess mileage) and overtime claims (productivity). Also we needed to have a reliable management tool which would assist our customer service department to provide better service than our competitors," said Tony Foster of SLBM.

Tony added, "The Quadrant(TM) - fleet management system provided by GlobeTrac Limited, proved to be flexible to our needs as well as value for money. All this combined with the exceptional customer service, made my final decision between GlobeTrac's product and another GPRS competitor very simple."

Colin Albert (Chief Operating Officer for GlobeTrac Limited) said "I am delighted with SLBM's decision and how rapid the interest in GlobeTrac's offering is increasing since recently expanding the UK sales team into the Midlands, Northern England & Scotland."

Location Developer Secures Funding, Moves HQ (Wi-Fi Planet - 12/4/03)
By Vikki Lipset

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Wireless LAN software developer PanGo Networks said Wednesday at the Wi-Fi Planet Conference and Expo here that it has closed a $4.4 million round of venture capital funding and will relocate to Boston.

IDG Ventures of Boston led the round, along with Alexandria, Va.-based Columbia Capital. Previous investor Innovation Works also contributed.

The four-year-old company needed the cash infusion to stay afloat. It flirted with bankruptcy in 2001 be

New NTT DoCoMo phones include location service (9-17-05) - CTIA Smartbrief

LogicaCMG to Launch Next Generation Enterprise 'Tracking And Tracing' Solution for Mobile Operators

Study finds most companies will deploy wireless apps. (10-23-04)

Technology can add to fishing pressure on state's lakes, streams (5-12-04, via Directions Magazine)

Bill seeks GPS to track offenders (5-6-04)

By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 5/6/2004, via RCR Wireless

A proposal to use global positioning satellite technology to track the state's most dangerous sexual predators received solid support yesterday from legislators, judges, and Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn.

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Support for the measure has been driven largely by the case of a Woburn mother and daughter who were killed in January, allegedly by Michael J. Bizanowicz, a level-three offender who frequented their neighborhood.

"The key with the level-three guys is that they have a strong tendency to reoffend, and this could be a tool to assist us in making sure they don't," said Senator Robert Creedon, a Brockton Democrat and cochairman of the Judiciary Committee, which held a hearing on the bill yesterday.

Among those testifying in favor of the measure was Superior Court Chief Justice Suzanne V. DelVecchio, who conducted an inquiry into the Probation Department's handling of Bizanowicz after he was charged in the murders of Joanne Presti and her 12-year-old daughter Alyssa.

DelVecchio said the use of a GPS-based system could have yielded information about whether Bizanowicz was living in Lowell, as he had told authorities, or spending most of his time in Woburn, in violation of his probation.

The proposed system would allow state probation or parole officials to track a subject 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, to within a 4-foot radius. While admitting that such systems are invasive, DelVecchio said she believes they are constitutional.

Meanwhile, Flynn sent a letter yesterday to Creedon and Representative Eugene L. O'Flaherty, Democrat of Chelsea and the committee's House chairman, pledging the Romney administration's support for GPS tracking of level-three sex offenders.

"The use of such technology in states like Florida has yielded impressive results, and it is our hope that GPS tracking will act as a deterrent," Flynn wrote.

Sponsors estimate that the GPS system, a wrist or ankle bracelet that costs about $12 per individual per day, would eventually cost the state about $4 million per year.

"It's not just overkill, but a false promise that you can be assured of safety," Leahy said. "The reality is that parents need to be vigilant and watch their children . . . My counsel to the Legislature would be to just slow down."

Analysis: I don't agree with this last point

Daimler Accepts Some Blame for Toll Venture By MARK LANDLER (NY Times)