AT&T, TeleNav Team For Enterprise GPSAT&T, TeleNav Team For Enterprise GPS

AT&T is teaming with TeleNav to beef up its enterprise global positioning system services, and it's offering a service that enables companies to track and monitor their vehicle fleets with embedded units.

The carrier said Monday it was offering TeleNav Vehicle Tracker as part of its enterprise mobility services. Once installed, the hardwired or embedded GPS unit doesn't require any driver interaction, and it provides real-time tracking information to a Web-based management console.

"This offering builds on TeleNav's industry-leading mobile resource management solution and provides businesses the ability to actively manage their vehicles, enhance workforce utilization, and provide better service," said Igor Glubochansky, AT&T's director of industry solutions, in a statement. "TeleNav Vehicle tracker from AT&T is backed up by mobile applications consulting and deployment support with a single point of contact, for faster time-to-value for AT&T customers."

Through the password-protected management console, supervisors can get access to historical mileage reports that can be used to analyze fleet performance. Managers can also get detailed vehicle information, like whether the engine is turned on, and they can also send notifications via e-mail and SMS when employees are violating company vehicle policy.

"This product combines GPS and Web technologies to make mobile resource management an affordable solution for any business, from large fleets to small plumbing operations," said Sal Dhanani, co-founder of TeleNav, in a statement.

The Vehicle Tracker is currently available with AT&T, and it costs $399 with monthly service charges of about $34 per device. There's also a $19.99 setup fee, and an $18 data plan activation charge, but the companies said volume pricing may be available.

This is not the first collaboration between the AT&T and TeleNav, as the companies have been working together for more than a year on the carrier's hosted GPS-based workforce management service. This service includes mileage tracking, navigation on BlackBerrys, wireless timesheets, alerts, and electronic data-gathering from the field.

As more devices feature GPS chipsets and the prices go down, the market for location-based services is expected to swell to $13.3 billion by 2013. Enterprise apps like Vehicle Tracker and other fleet management services are expected to be the single largest revenue producer at $6.5 billion by 2013, according to ABI Research.