Qualcomm, San Diego, has announced the commercial launch of FleetAdvisor, a mobile fleet management and logistics solution directed at the private fleet market.

According to Qualcomm, FleetAdvisor software interfaces seamlessly with OmniTracs, Qualcomm’s satellite-based mobile communications system, and OmniExpress, which communicates over ground-based digital systems. FleetAdvisor includes paperless driver logs, state mileage reporting and route management, among other tools.
In fact, this is the second launch for FleetAdvisor. The original product was developed by the Trucking Information Services unit of Eaton and introduced in 1997. Eaton offered FleetAdvisor as a proprietary system that could be configured to work with various mobile communications options.
Qualcomm bought FleetAdvisor in March of last year, announcing that the system would be adapted to run on Qualcomm's MVPc in-vehicle computer and integrate Qualcomm mobile communications products.
The new launch of FleetAdvisor continues Qualcomm’s move into LTL and private fleet markets that began in 1999. OmniTracs has dominated mobile communications in the truckload field since its introduction in 1988.
At the American Trucking Associations convention in 1999, Qualcomm introduced OmniExpress, which communicates over the Sprint PCS network using QUALCOMM-developed CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology. The less expensive ground-based technology appeals to local and regional fleets like those of many LTL and private carriers. At the same time, Qualcomm introduced its MVPc onboard computer, which runs the Windows CE operating system, an acknowledgement of Microsoft’s increasing influence in the once-all-proprietary fleet software markets. By moving from the DOS to the Windows CE platform, Qualcomm officials say they or third parties will be able to add more features in the future, such as mapping or traffic and weather.
Fleets running the old FleetAdvisor platform can purchase new equipment in order to upgrade to the Qualcomm system, or can opt to install the upgraded FleetAdvisor only on new trucks as they are purchased. The system is designed to work with a mixed fleet of DOS and Windows CE equipment.
FleetAdvisor appears to round out a suite of products that makes Qualcomm a serious competitor in the private fleet market, not just a supplier of communications products to other suppliers and integrators.
"This total solution provides an affordable, reliable system that directly addresses the needs of private fleets with onboard computing and improved customer service enhanced with real-time, integrated wireless communications,” said Chris Wolfe, president of Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions.