may 2010 - roadmap newsletter

Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | [email protected] | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | Fax +351 214 135 678 Frotcom vehicle tracking system | www.frotcom.com Algeria | Angola |Belgium | Bulgaria | Cameroon | D. R. Congo | Greece | Kenya | Luxemburg | Madagascar | Mauritius | Morocco | Portugal | Reunion Islands | Romania | Rwanda | Senegal | Seychelles | Slovenia | Spain | Tanzania | Uganda

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Roadmap monthly newsletter

Editorial

here have been widespread concerns about the

high levels of debt of a number of European

countries, most notably Greece, but also others

including Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

In the last weeks, the debt crisis has spread to Spain and

Portugal as global markets tested whether Europe was willing

to secure the monetary union with muscle rather than just words.

The answer came on May 2nd, painful but determined. European governments and

the International Monetary Fund committed to a 110 billion Euros emergency loan

on the condition Athens make painful budget cuts and tax increases. For now, the

worst scenarios seem to have faded out. The markets immediately reacted in a

positive way.

I have been asked by some partners about the possibility of a similar situation

affecting Portugal and therefore, Frotcom International.

It is not very probable that the same situation will hit Portugal. Although the

Portuguese public debt is quite high, the Portuguese Government already started a

debt reduction program, under scrutiny by Brussels, for the next 3 years.

Frotcom International is not too exposed to bank credit operations, meaning that in

the scenario of increasing interest rates, there will not be a strong direct impact on

our financial performance.

Last, but not least, Frotcom International’s business currently comes from many

countries from inside and outside the European Union. In that sense, the current

depreciation of the Euro benefits exports to countries with the US dollar as a

reference for the local currency.

In conclusion, although we remain alert, we do not anticipate a significant impact of

the European debt crisis on Frotcom International’s ability to proceed with the

internationalization plan.

Valério Marques CEO - Frotcom International

A note from the editor – If you would like to have your own say in the next edition of this newsletter

please do not hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].

T

May 2010

In this issue

Case study Talos-Attikis

European wide logistics

New features in Frotcom

New Alarms | CANBus

Frotcom News

Frotcom helps UK police

recover stolen truck

This and much more…

mailto:[email protected]


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Case study

Talos-Attikis Ltd

European wide logistics

Talos-Attikis Ltd is a logistics company based in Athens, Greece. Located among

some of the best transportation companies in Greece, Talos-Attikis provides their

clients an excellent local and international networking service.

One of the highlights of the

company happened six years ago,

when it received approval from the

"International Airport Committee of

Athens" to arrange the moving from

the old Airport to the new "El.

Venizelos". This significant task

was accomplished by Talos-

Attikis in only one night,

employing 100 trucks and a work

force of 200 people.

Today, Talos-Attikis controls approximately 100 trucks, 250 trailers in all Central

Europe, with weekly departures from Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy,

Belgium, UK and Portugal. It also controls 200 trucks in Eastern Europe with

departures from Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey.

Following Talos-Attikis’ established corporate policy for better quality services, and

in order to upgrade the management capability and the supervision of loads, the

company decided to install Frotcom to selected transportation partners and load

lines. Using Frotcom’s maps, satellite imagery, automated reports and preset alarms,

Talos-Attikis is now able to reliably control the vehicles and loads, in real-time, both

nationally and internationally.

According to Talos-Attikis News (http://talosattikisltd.blogspot.com), “Apart from

informing about the vehicles’ locations and having a record of all paths with

their respective speeds, Frotcom works also as a digital tachograph which can

be monitored by the manager via the internet. Therefore, traffic managers can

ensure a more effective and efficient transfer of cargo. Clients can also be

informed about the estimated arrival time of vehicles at the designated

destination.”

ROADMAP congratulates Nasos and the Frotcom Greece team for this

successful project.

Did you know

About CANBus and J1939

As you may read in this issue of

ROADMAP, Frotcom now has an

improved CANBus interface, capable

of retrieving and displaying data such

as fuel level or tachograph driver

states.

But what is exactly CANBus and

how was it created?

CANBus is a message protocol

designed specifically for automotive

applications but now also used in

other areas such as industrial

automation and medical equipment.

Development of CANBus started

originally in 1983 at Robert Bosch

GmbH. It was officially released in

1986 at the Society of Automotive

Engineers congress in Detroit, USA.

The first CANBus controller chips,

produced by Intel and Philips, came

on the market in 1987.

A modern vehicle may have as many

as 70 electronic control units (ECU)

for various subsystems: engine,

transmission, airbags, cruise control,

etc. Communication among these

subsystems is achieved via an

electronic bus, the CANBus.

Bosch holds patents on the

technology, and manufacturers of

CANBus-compatible microprocessors

pay license fees to Bosch.

On top of CANBus, truck

manufacturers use a standard for data

communication called J1939. This

standard defines exactly how data is

written, transmitted and read over

CANBus.

Once connected to the CANBus of a

vehicle, a CANBus enabled Frotcom

device is capable of reading

information such as fuel level, engine

status or tachograph status.


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New features in Frotcom

New alarms

Frotcom was added two new alarms.

“Panic button” alarm

This alarm is triggered if a driver pushes a panic button inside the vehicle. This can

be used as a security option. Once the panic button alarm is received by Frotcom, it

can send out one or more SMS alerts to selected destinations, referring the type of

alarm and the vehicle’s license plate.

“Ignition ON with no movement” alarm

This new alarm detects situations when a vehicle’s engine

is kept running for a certain period, without the vehicle

moving. In other words, Frotcom can detect situations

when the vehicle is unnecessarily consuming fuel and

polluting the atmosphere.

The maximum number of minutes for which an engine is

allowed to be ON without movement can be configured.

Improved CANBus Interface

Launched in April, Frotcom’s new and improved CANBus interface makes it now

possible for fleet managers to know the fuel level, fuel consumption, engine RPMs

and temperature, as well as tachograph information, for most truck models

currently available.

Tip of the month

Customizable Driver

Identification Cards

Frotcom’s automatic driver

identification feature uses an RFID

(radio frequency identification) reader

in each vehicle and unique RFID tags

(cards), given to each driver.

Before starting a new trip, the driver

will just have to put the tag close to the

reader. A unique RFID code will be read

instantly and sent via GPRS to the

Frotcom data center.

That code is then compared with all the

driver identification codes in the

database, to determine which driver is

starting the trip. That driver is then

registered in Frotcom as the one

assigned that specific trip.

Frotcom’s driver tags are credit card

sized and shaped, easy to hold in a

wallet, for instance.

They can be customized by Frotcom

International to show the company’s

logo, as well as the driver’s name,

number, or any other identification.


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News and events Billboard in Bulgaria

Frotcom Bulgaria started a billboard

campaign designed with the

purpose of helping disseminate the

Frotcom brand in the territory.

If you happen to be travelling in

Bulgaria, you might find this

billboard next to your road.

Truck recovered by English Police…

with the help of Frotcom

Frotcom again helped recovering a vehicle. This time it

happened in UK. A truck’s driver stopped at a gas station to

ask for directions (the truck was not equipped with Frotcom’s

navigation module). Unfortunately, he left the engine running

and the keys in the truck. To his surprise, as he got back from

the station he found out that the truck was gone… along with

cargo, documentation and the mobile phone.

The driver managed to contact the office from the gas station. The police was

called and they were told the device had a tracking device. With Frotcom, the

office was able to describe to the police exactly where the truck had stopped

after being stolen.

When the police arrived, they found the truck and trailer. Nothing was stolen.

Apparently the thieves were disappointed with the loaded goods.

Gooooooooood morning Kenya! Nairobi based Milele Fm has been given the task of

executing a radio campaign for Frotcom East Africa.

The campaign is aimed at core target customers in Kenya (Fleet

Managers/Owners), by promoting Frotcom’s benefits. A competition will be held

to reward drivers with good driving practices and work ethics.

The promotion started on April 26th and will run for 5 weeks. Frotcom East

Africa’s staff will have a representative in studio every Friday to have an on air

interview, as the FM station awards the big wins.

In the next issue

News and events,

more new Frotcom features

and tips will be presented.

This and more, so don’t miss

the next issue of Roadmap.

may 2010 - roadmap newsletter

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