James Brown Trucking of Lithonia, Ga., will use GlobalWave MT2000 to track and manage 1,000 trailers.

The GlobalWave system, from Montreal-based NSI Global Inc., permits two-way, satellite-based data communications in real time to track and manage various fixed and mobile assets.
The terminals and associated satellite airtime services are being provided to the trucking company by Herndon, Va.-based VistarDatacom, a subsidiary of NSI Global. Delivery is scheduled to begin this month and to be completed by year-end. The fleet management software integrated with the GlobalWave system and tailored to meet Brown's requirements will be TruckMate for Windows developed by Canadian software provider Maddocks Systems.
James Brown Trucking's fleet of 1,500 trailers are used to provide transportation services and are deployed as "mobile warehousing" facilities for customers throughout the Southeastern U.S. Primarily used to transport packaging products such as cardboard boxes, plastic and fiber drums, plastic containers, and fiberglass insulation from the factory, the company's trailers often remain parked for an extended period of time at the customer's premises. Instead of the cargo being off-loaded and stored in the customer's facilities, the trailer is parked and is used by the customer as a temporary storage facility. The packaging materials are then accessed directly from the trailer on an as-required basis.
"We have been following the development of trailer tracking technology for many years," said James Brown, President and CEO of James Brown Trucking. "Because our trailers can be in use over a large geographic area, we knew that we needed a satellite system to give us dependable coverage. In addition, since our trailers are parked at our customers' premises for extended periods of time, system battery life was of critical importance. GlobalWave's power management capability (up to three years without recharging or connection to a power source) exceeded that of other untethered systems that we evaluated."