XATA Corp, Minneapolis, Minn., has announced a partnership with ORBCOMM LLC, which operates the Orbcomm low-earth orbit satellite system.

According to the Xata announcement, the two-way communications capability and near-universal coverage will be an available option for existing Xata customers as well as new ones.
Xata is a provider of onboard systems and fleet management technologies to the private fleet sector and the first established supplier to offer communications over the Orbcomm system.
"The powerful combination of ORBCOMM's two-way satellite-based communications and XATA's proven solutions will provide customers immediate and complete visibility over their entire fleet," said William Flies, XATA chairman and chief technology officer. "We're going to package and deliver all these capabilities in a way and at a price the market has long desired, but has not yet seen. This new model will provide substantially increased value to our customers and to their fleet operations."
Xata said the integration of Orbocomm into the XATA system architecture is under way and the company plans to roll out the new capabilities to a number of test sites later this month. XATA will be demonstrating the new capabilities at upcoming industry events. The products are slated for general availability in January.
The Orbcomm satellite constellation of 30-odd, suitcase-sized satellites went on line in 1999, but the company quickly fell into bankruptcy. New owners resurrected Orbcomm last year and have made a number of business strides since then.
Earlier this year, Volvo announced that Orbcomm would provide communications for the Volvo Link OEM mobile communications being offered as an option on some Volvo models.