Satellite communications provider ORBCOMM [ORBC] and the asset tracking solutions company Savi Technology yesterday said they have partnered to bid on an Army logistics tracking and monitoring program as well as other government and commercial opportunities.
The two companies have submitted a proposal for the Army’s RFID IV logistics support project and will offer Savi’s ISO18000-7 radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and a suite of ORBCOMM’s satellite solutions. A contract award is expected during the fourth quarter of 2013.
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| GlobalTrak’s gNarus provides supply chain visibility. Photo: ORBCOMM |
“The combination of ORCOMM’s satellite expertise and broad network service portfolio with Savi’s state-of-the-art RFID technology offers a full spectrum of innovative monitoring solutions to our collective market base with focus on our government and international customers,” Marc Eisenberg, ORBCOMM’s CEO, said in a statement. “Although RFID and satellite tracking have traditionally been divergent technologies, the synergy of these solutions within a common operating environment creates a seamless transition from infrastructure to wireless-based location services for tracking and monitoring high-value assets.”
Bill Clark, Savi’s CEO, said the satellite tracking and RFID technologies are complementary and offer customers a “best-of-breed solution.”
The satellite tracking and RFID technologies complement each other but integrating them for location and automatic identification hasn’t been done because there was no contract vehicle or requirement to do so before the RFID IV project, Rich Meyers, vice president of ORBCOMM’s GlobalTrak business, told Defense Daily yesterday via an email response to questions.
Meyers pointed out that RFID solutions typically require infrastructure, such as readers, while satellite tracking doesn’t. In certain areas, such as rail yards and ports where readers can be easily deployed the RFID technology works well, while in other areas a fixed reader infrastructure can’t be easily installed so satellite tracking makes sense.
“The combination of these two technologies provides true end-to-end visibility,” Meyers said.
Savi is one of four companies that compete for work under the Army’s current asset monitoring program, RFID III. Savi, which at the time was part of Lockheed Martin [LMT], Northrop Grumman [NOC], Unisys [UIS] and Systems & Processes Engineering Corp. were selected for the program in December 2008 (Defense Daily, Jan. 7, 2009)
The RFID III program marked a departure by the Defense Department from using a sole-source contract–which had been performed by Savi for a number of years–to a multi-vendor approach that included competitive task orders to help contain costs for location and asset tracking services. In addition, the program introduced an international standards based solution.
ORBCOMM this year made two key investments in the asset tracking space. First, in April, it acquired GlobalTrak from System Planning Corp., giving it products and software capabilities in tracking containers and vehicles along with military, international, government and commercial customers. At the same time, ORBCOMM acquired MobileNet, which provides telematics solutions to the heavy equipment and rail industries, enabling the satellite communications company to offer complete a fleet management solution direct to original equipment manufacturers.
Then, earlier this month, ORBCOMM acquired the Sensor Enable Notification System (SENS) operation from Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. (Defense Daily, Oct. 2). SENS provides secure tracking and messaging products and services to the government, defense, transportation, logistics and other industries.
ORBCOMM’s Meyers said that GlobalTrak and Savi had a teaming agreement before ORBCOMM’s acquisition of GlobalTrak. He also said that there are several opportunities in international markets that the partnership is pursuing. These require a combination of technologies such as RFID, satellite and GPS, he said.