2005 Automotive Technology of The Year Award©2004 Frost & Sullivanwww.frost.com 2005 Automotive Technology of The Year Award Recipient: IBM Global Telematics Solutions Written By: Soikot Sengupta Manager: Franck Leveque Analyst: Soikot Sengupta Award Overview: In October 2004, IBM Global Telematics Solutions announced the launched of its new software platform built for Daimler Chrysler’s commercial vehicle telematics subsidiary Fleetboard. Frost & Sullivan believes that IBM Global Telematics has pioneered a revolutionary way for the growth of Telematics in commercial vehicles by developing the first software using the OSGi’s common platform. This is an important development because the OSGI platform provides the telematics industry with the ability to leverage cost for both suppliers and end user by creating open standards across different hardware platforms. It also allows the industry to focus on software development and therefore concentrate on maximising the benefits of existing hardware. Hence Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the Technology of the Year award to IBM. Potential of technology to become an industry standard: The biggest challenge facing Telematics today is the lack of common and open standards, which undeniably put cost pressure on end-users with frequent hardware and software upgrades. This is particularly the case with Commercial Vehicles where telematics systems are regularly upgraded to constantly increase the productivity of the fleets and therefore justify the return on investment for Telematics. Frost & Sullivan believes that IBM’s Telematics solution can become the basis for the next generation of telematics software, to minimise the need for hardware upgrades, while allowing providing greater flexibility for software upgrades. The impact on costs will be such that telematics operating companies such as Fleetboard will be able to offer software upgrades without changing the hardware, as a key selling point for their service. Impact of technology in terms of shifting market R & D focus: Frost & Sullivan believes that the Telematics industry is still primarily focused on hardware, whereas there is a clear need to move towards software and services. Fleet companies find it difficult to invest in hardware that needs to be upgraded regularly. With this new software, Frost & Sullivan believes IBM will in fact influence every other Telematics supplier to shift their development towards better quality software, that will function independent of the hardware platform. For fleet companies, this will translate into an opportunity to leverage their cost and thereby eliminating the biggest obstacle to Telematics; the constant need for periodic investment.
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