‘Sweat equity’ startup’s product ready to roll

LONGMONT – By early next year Walking Orbit hopes to launch Real Time, a software program that will help dispatch, track and manage drivers and vehicles in moderately sized delivery fleets.

The Longmont-based startup’s product integrates GPS, route planning and communications capabilities. Its goal is to be a conduit between the fleet drivers and the dispatchers.

The company’s area of focus is vehicle telematics, a concept that combines the power of information processing with the technology available in wireless, satellite and cellular communications.

The company was founded in 2005 by a group of high-tech management professionals using a “sweat equity” mode.” IT professionals were asked to contribute expertise in exchange for shares in the new company. Brian Tsuchiya was the business creator. Co-founders, now company executives, include Sheila Hanley-King, Bruce Macdonald, Frank Willems, Deborah Burnett and Mark Bollinger. Tsuchiya put in 5,000 hours before leaving the company.

So far 15 people have contributed 40,000 hours of work, and some of those have contributed funding totaling $260,000. The company is now seeking an additional $1.5 million in funding to continue development of its product.

“It’s an unusual structure,´ said Macdonald, vice president of marketing and sales. “The founders didn’t have a lot of money to launch a startup so they basically offered equity in the company for pay. It has served us well, but we’re looking to leave that behind now and get angel funding to continue to build the company.”

Ron Brown, a 20-year veteran of business and technology leadership, has come on board as chairman and president.

“We continue to value our founding members, and we’re going to work hard to protect their time and investment in the company.” Macdonald said.

Walking Orbit’s system uses a modular and flexible software application broadcast to truck drivers through a mobile display terminal manufactured by Micronet. A driver can receive instructions and also send information back to a dispatcher. A hidden modem and antenna also broadcasts information about geographical location, routes taken and even engine performance back to the dispatching office through a Web-based interface.

“It enables drivers to stay focused on their routes, where they’re going, and how to get there in the most efficient way,” Macdonald said. “It also helps promote vehicle maintenance and safe driving habits.

All the information flows through Walking Orbit to the fleet dispatchers so all they need is an Internet-accessible computer. It’s one way we’re working to control costs and offer the latest solutions by keeping the software up-to-date.”

In early August, the company launched its first beta test when the city of Longmont signed up to add Walking Orbit’s monitoring and communications units in eight vehicles across their Water and Public Works departments. It hopes to provide general product availability through resellers starting in the first quarter of 2007.

“We are identifying companies that already sell products to fleet owners and will distribute our products through them,” Macdonald said. “Most of our competitors have chosen to go the direct sales route. That’s another reason the small and medium fleet market is underserved. The larger companies can’t afford to go after smaller markets because of their sales costs. We’re trying to drive those costs down by selling through reseller channels.”

Each Real Time unit is expected to cost about $750 and accumulate about $25 a month in charges for cellular service.

“The solution is global really,” Macdonald said. “We use satellite GPS to locate the vehicles and then use both satellite and cellular technologies to communicate information to the dispatcher through the Internet.”

The market for telematics solutions is significant and is expected to grow dramatically in coming years. Walking Orbit estimates that out of 100 million commercial vehicles worldwide, fewer than 2.5 million employ commercial telematics solutions.

While several larger competitors like Qualcomm and @Road provide mobile resource management solutions to larger fleets, Walking Orbit has purposefully chosen to focus on small- to medium-size businesses such as local delivery companies, government fleets or repair service providers.

“The big players are already serving large fleet owners well. But they’re priced high, and they over-deliver for what the small- and medium-size fleet owner needs,” Macdonald explained. “We realized that if we’re going to be successful in this market, we need to carve out a niche where we can make a difference.”

Macdonald also believes that introducing fleet owners to a competitive telematics system will allow them to improve their bottom line.

“The fleet trucking industry is extremely competitive,” Macdonald said. “The small- and medium-size fleet owners are facing a lot of competition where they’re being expected by customers to know exactly where their trucks are, what goods they are delivering and when they will arrive. We think we can provide a competitively priced but reliable product that will allow them to compete with larger trucking companies.”

Walking Orbit is looking for partners who can add functionality to their product and has already teamed up with a routing software company and a driver control log provider to add features to Real Time.

“We’ll be announcing our solutions partners later this year,” Macdonald said. “Customers will be able to sign up for our messaging and tracking solution. With the click of a button they can add the functionality of routing capability, driver log services or possibly refrigeration monitoring.”

News Editor Caron Schwartz Ellis contributed to this report.

on Facebook on LinkedIn