@Track Communications Inc., Richardson, Texas, announced that it is changing its name to Minorplanet Systems USA Inc.
, subject to approval by the company's stockholders.
@Track itself is a relatively new name for the company that began as HighwayMaster Communications in the 1990s. HighwayMaster challenged Qualcomm in the truckload mobile communications sector, offering a cheaper, ground-based alternative to Qualcomm’s popular satellite system.
HighwayMaster stitched together a network of analog cellular providers for voice and data communications, but failed to attain profitability. In April 2000, after a management shakeup, the company changed its name to @Track Communications, but profitability remained elusive.
Early in 2001, after the NASDAQ exchange threatened to de-list its stock, @Track found a rescuer in Minorplanet Systems PLC of Leeds, England. MinorPlanet provides a telematics system called Vehicle Management Information, or VMI, in markets outside North America.
Just two months ago, @Track sold its trucking services, including its former flagship product HighwayMaster 5000, to Aether Systems of Owings Mills, Md. Aether will administer the service and will pay @Track – soon to be MinorPlanet -- to maintain the existing network
According to @Track CEO Jana Ahflinger Bell, the newly renamed company will concentrate on marketing MinorPlanet’s VMI product in North America.