XATA Corp., Minneapolis, Minn., a leader in mobile information solutions for the commercial trucking industry, has reported sales of $13.2 million for its 2002 fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2002, compared to $14.0 million for fiscal 2001.

Fourth quarter sales totaled $2.8 million compared to $3.8 million in the fiscal 2001 fourth quarter.
"While demand for information technology products, including our onboard information systems, is beginning to rebound, this trend is
too recent to have positively impacted our fourth quarter sales volume," reported Craig Fawcett, XATA president and chief executive officer. "However, increasing prospect activity, combined with our planned availability of new products, make us optimistic about the new calendar year."
On a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis, the net
loss was $1.1 million, or $0.16 per share, for the fourth quarter and $4.1 million, or $0.60 per share, for the 2002 fiscal year.
"Consistent with our previously announced expectations, our high investment in new product development, coupled with various non-cash charges, resulted in a loss for our fiscal year," said Fawcett. "It is important to recognize that our net loss in 2002 included approximately $3 million of total product development expense. While we were disappointed with the revenue decline and net loss, we made considerable progress on several key business goals. Specifically, we added over 20 significant new customers this past year, incorporated affordable satellite communications into both our OpCenter and XATANET product lines and made considerable progress on the development and launch of our new XATANET 2.0 system.
"Research and development expenses associated with the development of new products increased to $547,000 for the fourth quarter and $2.2 million for the fiscal year. In addition, we invested $276,000 in the fourth quarter and $880,000 for the fiscal year on the enhancement of released products. The expenses associated with released products are included as a component of cost of sales. Thus, our total investment in products, including both the development of new products and the enhancement of existing products, was $823,000 for the fourth quarter and about $3 million for the fiscal year.
"We have much to be excited about as we move forward," continued Fawcett. "In addition to continued demand for our proven Windows-based OpCenter product line, which today provides the majority of our revenue, we have experienced strong initial interest in XATANET, our new Web-based fleet management solution. We believe the introduction of XATANET 2.0 substantially increases our ability to penetrate the over 6 million commercial trucks operated by private fleets in the U.S.
Our new relationship with ORBCOMM enables us to offer the only Web-based, satellite-enabled fleet management solution for private trucking fleets available today, at a very affordable price point.
"As we focus on considerably larger markets, our goal is to develop
multiple recurring revenue sources," continued Fawcett. "These revenue sources will include subscription fees for our new Web-based product, wireless communication sales resulting from our relationships with ORBCOMM and Cingular Wireless, and our growing professional services offerings. While we expect to continue to derive significant revenue from system sales in the coming years, the recurring revenue sources will become increasingly important to our financial success."
The company has experienced strong demand for its OpCenter product complemented with ORBCOMM satellite communication capability, a configuration it plans to begin shipping in its second fiscal quarter of 2003. The company also expects to begin shipments of XATANET 2.0 utilizing ORBCOMM satellite communications in its second fiscal quarter of 2003. Because revenue for XATANET is expected to be realized primarily on a subscription basis over multi-year service contracts, the company expects reported revenue growth from this product to build gradually.
For more information, visit www.xata.com, or call (800) 745-9282.