Ottawa-based EMS Technologies [ELMG] is looking to drive its sales through the introduction of a new satellite-based truck-tracking product at the 2004 American Trucking Association’s Management Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas last week.

EMS Technologies designs and manufactures wireless, satellite and defense industry products that offer a range of advanced broadband and mobile information capabilities.

The tracking-and-management software system, called eNcompass TMS, is designed to allow fleet operators to manage and monitor their rolling assets with whatever mobile communications link best suits their operations. EMS also has built the product to be integrated seamlessly into a trucking company’s existing operating system, said Nils Helle, director of marketing for EMS Satcom, a division of EMS Technologies that supplies customers with a broad array of satellite-based terminals, antennas and aeronautical applications.

The system is designed to be compatible with existing dispatch systems as well as to provide vehicle tracking, mapping, and free-form messaging, Helle said during an interview from the show floor with Satellite News. The enhanced system lets the operator of a vehicle pick up an order and then send back a form to his office with a few keystrokes. EMS had been selling the satellite transceivers that go on the trucks but the new product would allow it to offer an end-to-end solution for the first time to compete head-to-head with Qualcomm’s [QCOM] OmniTRACS and other satellite-based, fleet-tracking services.

(Nils Helle, EMS Satcom, 613/727-6277, ext. 1155)