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Our Bureau

Chennai , Aug. 17

ROADWAVES Wireless Technologies (P) Ltd has launched Markker, a vehicle tracking device. The device can be connected to the battery of a vehicle and help track the vehicle's location and the speed at which it is moving.

According to Mr Suresh M. Selvanathan, CEO, RoadWaves Wireless Technologies, the device uses GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) technology to communicate the location and speed details, as and when needed by an operator owning a fleet of trucks.

RoadWaves, he said, had tied up with AirTel for the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards that are embedded in the device. A fleet operator can get details of the truck by either telephoning the call centre operated by RoadWaves or sending an SMS to the device or get data from the Internet.

Mr Selvanathan said Markker was launched on August 4 in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and the company had got 25,000 enquiries. Most of the product development is done at RoadWaves Wireless Technologies' research and development centre in Bangalore and manufactured at its facility in Mysore. It costs Rs 15,000 a piece. Besides, a fleet operator has three options to choose from — silver, gold and platinum; on payment of a monthly charge of Rs 250, Rs 500 and Rs 750, respectively, the operator will get periodic SMS messages on the vehicle's location.

RoadWaves is also offering a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) facility where minute-by-minute tracking of the vehicle is possible for a fee of Rs 350 a month. For this service, it is in the process of tying up with AirTel.

He said that the tracking device had a map covering 65,000 places all over the country embedded in its memory. This helps in sending details of a vehicle's location with an accuracy of 10 metres either way.

Apart from finding out details of a vehicle's location from a call centre or through an SMS message, a fleet operator can also access them through the Net by downloading software tools provided by RoadWaves Wireless. An embedded GPS (Global Positioning System) facility transmits data from the tracking device to the company's server in Bangalore, which would then be pumped through a secure connection to the Net.

Mr Selvanathan said in the next six months, 25 call centres would be in place across the country.

More Stories on : New Products & Services | Roadways | Tamil Nadu

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