OmniTRACS will have to move over and make room in the Qualcomm lineup.
This coming summer, Qualcomm will begin testing a new product with functionality beyond that of OmniTRACS
-- one of the most venerable and arguably the most successful mobilecom system in trucking. OmniTRACS pioneered satellite mobile communications in trucking in the late 1980s and remains the leading mobilecom system in the truckload sector.
Norm Ellis, vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions, told Truckinginfo.com today that the new product is in the alpha stage of development and as yet has no name.
“It will be a completely new product. It won’t be OmniTRACS re-wrapped,” Ellis said. “It will go into some customers’ trucks in the summer of ’05 and will be commercially available at some time after that.”
Like OmniTRACS, the new Qualcomm trucking product will use satellite communications, at least initially. Over time, however, ground-based cellular and local area network will be added. LAN most often refers to Wi-Fi.
Ellis said the new Qualcomm system is based on a platform that will enable automatic, least-cost routing over whichever mode provides the best value.
That means Qualcomm will offer multi-mode communications, which are currently available from a number of providers. Perhaps most notable among them is GeoLogic, the recent successor to Aether Systems, and provider of the multi-mode pioneering MobileMax. systems.
While no commercial name has been assigned to the new Qualcomm system, it is referred to within the company as OmniTWO.


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