| IBM has developed a new telematics software platform for DaimlerChrysler subsidiary Fleetboard, a leading provider of fleet-management solutions and telematics-based internet services, to further strengthen its position across the European market.
The new solution is based upon the specifications and technology of the OSGi Alliance and is the first production implementation of its kind in the world for use in commercial vehicles. It dramatically simplifies the integration of diverse applications and helps enable the smooth download and life-cycle management of software-service bundles using mobile networks.
The new software architecture enhances and integrates the performance of DispoPilot, an on-board computer that supports the daily business requirement of commercial-vehicle drivers. DispoPilot offers a wide range of functions, including driving analysis, global positioning, on-board navigational services, journey scheduling, order transmission and shipment monitoring. Communication and data transfer between vehicles and the Fleetboard Telematics Centre via GSM/SMA and mobile hand-held computers with touch screens and scanners are also featured.
The architecture answers the demands of modern telematics systems for increasingly frequent software service updates, which are needed to stay abreast of rapidly developing function enhancements and the availability of new services that help drivers and fleet managers meet growing market and customer requirements. Featuring the world’s first open-standards-based embedded service platform – the OSGi Service Platform (provided here in a robust production implementation as the IBM Service Management Framework), the Fleetboard solution enables new software service bundles to be downloaded via mobile networks (GSM/GPRS) in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Because Fleetboard’s head office is connected via cell-phone networks to trucks on the road, no exchange of devices or interruption of commercial vehicle routes is required to download new information. Fleetboard’s onboard computers store key data, such as new trip information, and display it on each driver’s screen. A specially designed keyboard enables drivers to pass status reports back to their head offices. As a result, fleet managers can gain thousands of dollars in annual savings per vehicle, including reduced fuel consumption, less downtime and reduced administrative costs.
“IBM has years of experience implementing telematics systems around the world from the earliest days of this expanding business arena, and we are very proud that DaimlerChrysler’s Fleetboard subsidiary has chosen IBM and OSGi technology to further develop their offerings,” said Erich Nickel, IBM’s director of global telematics solutions. “This relationship further strengthens the value of open standards-based software solutions for the future of telematics innovation worldwide, since such solutions can be adapted and expanded according to a client’s needs at any time – without re-investment or re-design of the underlying platform.”
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