SARS introduces RoadTrac; takes tracking from water to highway
SARS CEO Clayton Shelver says his company's product has some unique features. (Courtesy SARS Corp.)
By LYNDON FINNEY
The Trucker Staff
2/20/2008
BELLEVUE, Wash. — The SARS Corp. has docked.
A few years after developing a product to track shipments on the water, the company based in this Seattle suburb is offering a fleet tracking service for the road transport industry.
Called SARS RoadTrac, the product utilizes the integrated satellite/GRPS SureLinx satellite terminal from SkyWave Mobile Communications, a provider of two-way satellite telematics products and services.
SARS is short for Secure Asset Reporting Services.
“We started as a tug and barge company on the Yukon River hauling all the freight and fuel for all the villages in western Alaska,” SARS CEO Clayton Shelver said in an interview with The Trucker. “We also had fuel depots out there and sold fuel to lots of local communities. But we had a problem trying to coordinate where all those boats and barges were because we were also hauling freight, including groceries, freezer vans and frozen fish. Trying to coordinate where those boats were was always a problem. Sometimes we couldn’t get a hold of the boats so we said there had to be a better way. Customers were always calling asking when their freight was going to arrive and we had kind of an idea but we didn’t know exactly where they were.
“So we came up with a tracking system that we built ourselves. It worked very well as we expanded our service, especially Seattle to Alaska, we were able to keep up with where everything was in the supply chain.
“As we started hiring tugs boats to move our freight, we required they use it and they said this is pretty slick, we can’t find anybody else out here that does it, can we use it and we said sure. So that’s when [in 2001] we began a commercial operation.”
And how did the company track its assets prior to developing the new system.
“We had white boards and we had 8:15, 1:15 and 5:15 radio checks,” Shelver said.
The tracking system was a management solution, Shelver said.
“What we really have is the ability to link all these different types of assets because since we came from the maritime world, maritime companies don’t just have boats and barges, they also have shore based equipment,” he said. “They might have aircraft—we actually tracked our own aircraft in the company—so this is a much larger picture than just tracking boats. So when we took this commercially, we have services not only in the aerospace industry, but also in the land based side where we can track school buses or dual rigs that are land based. So you get a common picture of where all your assets are and you can drill down on the system.”
“SARS RoadTrac combines data from GPRS and satellite networks to give customers a very low total cost of ownership while ensuring constant contact with an asset even when it’s out of GPRS range,” Shelver said.
RoadTrac has what the company believes are some unique features, Shelver said.
It can work with many types of hardware devices and on both satellite and cellular platforms.
“We work with about 102 different devices right now while most companies will work with one or two hardware units and one or two carriers, we work with all the major carriers, cellular as well as satellite,” Shelver said. “If you have a container, we can actually track a container in Europe across the Atlantic then brought into the U.S. and tracked across the U.S. And we are one of the few companies that can do that seamlessly.”
Terry Lang, the company’s executive vice president, said the company used an agnostic approach on the use of hardware and communications.
“As Clayton was saying, we can track satellite or cellular. We don’t care,” Lang said. “It could be any of the satellite constellations or it could be any of the cellular companies. Any of the equipment that is on existing units; quite often we can use that same equipment. We might have to do a little bit of work to make us be able to read that information, but it’s something that’s doable. So as you look at companies that have a multiple mix of hardware, we are able to put that into a common operating picture.”
Shelver said that with SARS RoadTrac, customers monitor their vehicles on a customizable map-based interface and receive real-time business intelligence regarding the status and location of vehicles.
SARS RoadTrac is accessed through a standard Web browser allowing users to be in touch with their critical assets, anywhere, anytime.
The SARS RoadTrac service utilizes SkyWave’s SureLinx terminal that integrates satellite and GPRS for simplified networking and cost-efficient application integration, Shelver said.
“The discrete terminal features low power consumption and a rugged exterior, making it versatile enough to suit a wide range of applications requiring dependable coverage across urban and rural or remote locations,” he said.
For more information, visit www.sarscorp.com or call (866) 276-7277.