Fleet Complete Adds BlackBerry's Tracking Device to Platform
BlackBerry and Fleet Complete have agreed to a reselling partnership that will make the BlackBerry Radar trailer and container tracking device available to users of Fleet Complete’s asset management platform.
The deal announced Sept. 20 is expected to provide a sales boost to BlackBerry, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company that last year entered the market for asset tracking with a battery-powered device that attaches to a trailer’s door and can provide data on location, temperature and humidity, plus information on whether the trailer or container is full or not and whether doors are opened or closed.
BlackBerry, which is perhaps still best known for producing the once-ubiquitous BlackBerry wireless phone, has shifted its focus in recent years to new markets with devices that enable highly secure mobile communications and vehicle automation.
Poulidis
Toronto-based Fleet Complete was founded in 2000 and offers a telematics platform for dispatching, fleet tracking and mobile resource management with more than 250,000 subscribers and 10,000 customers worldwide. The company’s services are marketed by AT&T in the United States, TELUS in Canada, Telstra in Australia and T-Mobile in Europe.
Officials from both companies said they believe that adoption of fleet telematics and asset tracking will accelerate rapidly in the next few years.
“Improving utilization and efficiency can only happen if you have continuous visibility into all assets in your transportation fleet,” said Philip Poulidis, senior vice president and general manager of BlackBerry Radar. “By working together, we will be able to unlock the excess shipping capacity due to logistics inefficiencies and improve the visibility into an entire fleet of both powered and unpowered assets.”
Lourakis
Tony Lourakis, CEO of Fleet Complete, said the current penetration of fleet telematics in the North American market, which consists of 20 million commercial vehicles, is between 30% and 35% and he expects that share to grow to between 60% and 70% in the next few years.
“It took us 15 to 17 years to get to where we are now and it will double in three to four years,” Lourakis predicted. “Adoption is accelerating rapidly.”
The market for trailer and container tracking is even larger and is only about 12% penetrated, according to BlackBerry’s Poulidis.
“There’s a lot of room for growth,” he said.
Poulidis said the ability to provide data on fleet assets and operations will make things easier for fleet and logistics managers and will be especially critical for firms that transport high-value sensitive goods, such as produce or pharmaceuticals, and to comply with new government regulations.
“Our customers have a very diverse range of needs,” Lourakis added. “With the addition of BlackBerry Radar, we now offer our customers, especially carriers and shippers, the most holistic solution on the market.”
