Press Release
@Road®® Introduces @Road Mobile HotSpot - Giving Mobile Workers Wireless On-Demand Connectivity to Back Office Applications
@Road Mobile HotSpot designed to revolutionize productivity of field service organizations
San Francisco, CA and Fremont, CA - October 25, 2004 - CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Expo, Booth #212 - @Road, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDI), a leading provider of mobile resource management (MRM) services, has introduced @Road Mobile HotSpot, a Wi-Fi device that can transform any vehicle into a mobile hot spot. Using the @Road Mobile HotSpot, field service personnel can access their corporate networks, run applications, send and receive work orders and job status information, retrieve schematics, or access e-mail – anywhere, anytime.
By wirelessly connecting a laptop or internet-enabled handset into the @Road Mobile HotSpot, mobile workers can instantly access manuals, customer records, update inventory, place orders or review their next assignment, without having to seek out an existing, stationary hot spot. From any internet-connected PC, dispatchers can see when jobs are complete and provide their customers with the actual time that a technician will arrive at their home or place of business, instead of making them wait for hours on end.
"Field service organizations understand that real-time access to both location-based and back office information, at the point of business, is an important corporate and competitive advantage," said Brent Iadarola, analyst with Frost & Sullivan. "@Road Mobile HotSpot is another example of the technology and market leadership for which @Road is known."
"@Road is committed to helping companies with mobile workforces improve the way they do business," said Krish Panu, president and CEO of @Road. "We believe that @Road Mobile HotSpot can transform the role of field service personnel from on-site product support to that of on-site customer care. The two-way flow of information at the point of business can help organizations increase sales, reduce operations costs, increase workforce productivity and enhance customer loyalty."
About @Road Mobile HotSpot
@Road Mobile HotSpot is an extension of the @Road GeoManagerSM family of products. Built to withstand the demanding in-vehicle environment, the @Road Mobile HotSpot device utilizes a Linux operating system and also serves as an enterprise-grade router that offers automatic channel selection for remote access points, and security features including firewall, access control fillers and 802.1x security protocols. @Road provides centralized administration making it easy for organizations to install and deploy. @Road Mobile HotSpot is compatible with both 802.11b and 802.11g protocols and is expected to support the emerging 802.11i standard, upon its ratification by IEEE.
Benefits to mobile workers include:
- Provides real-time secure access to back office data and applications
- Eliminates the need for multiple devices to access company information
- Increases job performance capabilities
Benefits to businesses include:
- Real-time updates at the point of business
- Provides centralized administration and job status information via Web-based control panel
- Field service personnel can provide higher quality of service to customers
Contact your local @Road sales representative or authorized agent for pricing and availability, or to schedule a demonstration of @Road Mobile HotSpot.
About @Road
@Road, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDI) is a leading provider of mobile resource management (MRM) services, a rapidly growing category of productivity solutions integrating wireless communications, location technologies, hosted software applications, transaction processing and the Internet to help companies better manage mobile workers. Any size organization, in any industry or public sector, in which improving the productivity of mobile workers has an impact on revenue, expenses, customer service, and competitive advantage, will benefit from @Road MRM services. Because @Road offers MRM services on a hosted basis, customers avoid expensive and complex software and IT infrastructure investments. Since @Road delivers services on a subscription basis, customers can experience a rapid and measurable return-on-investment.
@Road delivers its MRM services to approximately 130,000 mobile workers in North America every day. The company has headquarters in Fremont, CA and secure networked data centers on both U.S. coasts. For more information, visit the @Road web site at www.road.com.
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Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of @Road to develop, market and sell the @Road Mobile HotSpot service discussed herein, the dependence of @Road on mobile data systems technology, wireless networks, network infrastructure and positioning systems owned and controlled by others, difficulties which could delay or prevent the successful deployment of the @Road Mobile HotSpot, and general economic and political conditions. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the @Road Report on Form 10-Q dated August 9, 2004, Report on Form 10-K dated March 12, 2004 and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. @Road undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
@Road is a registered trademark of @Road, Inc. The @Road logo is a trademark of @Road, Inc. GeoManager is a service mark of @Road, Inc. All other product names and services are the property of their respective owners.