Press Release


The @Road Telco, Cable and Utilities Suite Receives 2005 Utility Mobile Solution of the Year Award

Frost & Sullivan honored @Road with the Award at the annual Excellence in Mobile Communications Banquet in Las Vegas

FREMONT, Calif. – September 28, 2005 – @Road®, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDI), a global provider of Mobile Resource Management (MRM) and intelligent field service automation solutions, today announced that it has received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2005 Utility Mobile Solution of the Year Award. Frost & Sullivan recognized @Road with the award in the Utilities Vertical for the @Road Telco, Cable and Utilities Suite MRM solution. The @Road Telco, Cable and Utilities Suite extends the functionality of the @Road flagship MRM solution, @Road GeoManager(SM), with data integration capabilities that can streamline activities for field technicians by minimizing manual tasks and paperwork for more effective mobile resource management.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Utility Mobile Solution of the Year is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new mobile solutions, products and technologies for the Telco, Cable, and Utilities industries. The recipient company must show innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies. This Award recognizes the successful introduction of a solution that is expected to contribute significantly to the industry in terms of adoption, change, and competitive posture.

"Businesses in the utilities vertical are facing tremendous pressure to utilize MRM as a means of gaining a competitive advantage, as early adopters increasingly demonstrate tangible ROI with deployments,” said Brent Iadarola, industry analyst with Frost and Sullivan  "The key tenet of the @Road value proposition is to reduce execution risk in field operations by leveraging location to improve management visibility into field activities, increase field force productivity and reduce operating costs. By continuing to address the evolving demands of their customers with innovative MRM solutions, @Road has established itself as a clear market leader in the utilities vertical and is expected to continue to lead the industry with innovative MRM solutions in years to come."

To choose a recipient of this Award, Frost and Sullivan tracks new product launches, R&D spending, products in development, and new product features and modifications. This is accomplished through interviews with market participants and extensive secondary and technology research. New product launches and products in development in each company are compared and evaluated, based on degree of innovation and customer satisfaction. Companies are then ranked.

In addition to the methodology described above, Frost and Sullivan use specific criteria to determine the final rankings. The recipient of this Award must excel in one or more of the following criteria:

  • Significance of new product(s) in their industry
  • Competitive advantage of new product(s) in their industry
  • Product innovation in terms of unique or revolutionary technology
  • Product acceptance in the marketplace
  • New product or value-added services provided to customers
  • Number of competitors with similar product(s)

“We are delighted and honored to be recognized with the Frost & Sullivan Award,” said Leo Jolicoeur, @Road chief marketing officer. “This Award helps validate the benefits and competitive advantages that @Road MRM solutions can bring to the telco, cable and utilities industries. Field technicians are among the most mobile workforces of any industry. Everyday, they face increasing pressure to provide more services—better and faster—to their customers. The @Road Telco, Cable and Utilities Suite provides integrated, end-to-end solutions that are designed to address the needs of a utilities mobile operations and enables them to synchronize scheduling, routing, and services across all points of customer contact.”

Frost & Sullivan estimates the total US addressable market for field service technicians to be approximately 7 million in 2004, the majority of which are in the utilities and business services verticals.  The utilities market, in particular, has long been a vertical success story for MRM, with an estimated 20 percent of the field workers in the utility industry using some form of wireless data application. This penetration rate is expected to double by 2008 as utility companies increasingly recognize that although MRM solutions are today considered competitive differentiators, ‘tomorrow’ they may be requirements. To stay competitive and retain customer loyalty, many companies are empowering their field technicians with the technology they need to better serve clients, including the ability to up-sell and provision additional services and features directly from a customer location.

@Road leverages established practices for capturing accurate service orders, helping to maximize customer satisfaction and to optimize mobile operations.  Frost & Sullivan research indicates that utilities companies that have integrated MRM solutions into their operations are experiencing tangible increases in job completion rates, on average of 15 - 20 percent per day. 

The @Road Telco, Cable and Utilities Suite is part of the @Road Field Force Management solution. Additionally, @Road offers a host of MRM solutions, including Field Service Management and Asset Management, in on-demand software delivery, on-premise and hybrid environments.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.



About @Road

@Road, Inc. is a leading global provider of solutions designed to automate the management of mobile resources and to optimize the service delivery process for customers across a variety of industries. By providing real-time Mobile Resource Management infrastructure integrating wireless communications, location-based technologies, transaction processing and the Internet, @Road solutions are designed to provide a secure, scalable, upgradeable, enterprise-class platform, and are offered in on-demand software delivery, on-premise or hybrid environments that seamlessly connect mobile workers in the field to real-time corporate data on demand.

@Road provides Mobile Resource Management solutions to approximately 160,000 subscribers and end users around the world. The company is headquartered in Fremont, Calif., and has a global presence with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information on @Road solutions, visit www.road.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. These factors, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to customer acceptance of @Road solutions in foreign markets; the expansion of operations internationally; the timing of purchasing and implementation decisions by prospects and customers; competitive and pricing pressures; the dependence of @Road on mobile data systems technology, wireless networks, network infrastructure and positioning systems owned and controlled by others; and general economic and political conditions. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the @Road Report on Form 10-K dated March 15, 2005, in the @Road Report on Form 10-Q dated August 9, 2005 and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

@Road and iLM are registered trademarks of @Road, Inc. The @Road logo, @Road GeoManager, @Road Pathway and @Road Portico, are trademarks of @Road, Inc.

Media Contact

Georg zur Bonsen,
u-blox Product Management
+41 (44) 722 74 44
georg.zurbonsen@u-blox.com

Alicia Montoya
u-blox Marketing Communications
+41 (44) 722 74 86
alicia.montoya@u-blox.com

Bob Stern
@Road Media Relations
(510) 870-1360
bstern@road-inc.com

 


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