Navman in Spanish for Latin deal

By PETER GRIFFIN IT editor

Local tech high-flyer Navman is learning Spanish as a contract to license its technology to a Chilean company puts it in the Latin American market for the first time.

The deal, with GPS Chile, is worth around $1 million to Navman with further revenue likely to flow as use of Navman's technology increases in the country.

Navman's fleet tracking products, which use the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) and the mobile phone network to map the progress of vehicles from a central location, were previously sold mainly into Australia and Europe.

Like Navman, GPS Chile sells everything from fish finders to personal GPS units but had a hole in its product portfolio in the area of fleet tracking.

Several Chilean companies had unsuccessfully attempted to track their vehicles sending positioning information via text messages over the mobile network.

"The early tracking technologies that were [text messaging] based were somewhat flawed," said Jamie Macdonald, vice-president of Navman Wireless Data Group.

Delays in text messages getting through were common and it was an expensive way of sending information.

Navman's service will run over Telefonica's mobile data network as small bursts of data sent back to headquarters in real-time.

Macdonald said New Zealand had many similarities with Chile, making it an ideal market to target.

"It's a long, thin country with a relatively small population but a developed economy."

While Navman has marine giant and main shareholder Brunswick seeking out business deals for it, the Chileans turned up on Navman's doorstep after seeing its products on the web.

Navman is providing GPS Chile with the hardware, GPS modules and terminals which sit on the dashboards of vehicles, as well as licensing the software, which has been translated into Spanish.

The package feeds data to a server which can then be fed via the internet to any computer screen.

"I can show you a map of Santiago with vehicles whizzing around there," said MacDonald.

Navman's success follows mobile application developer Bulletin Wireless signing a deal with a mobile operator in Brazil.

That deal, brokered by Swedish equipment maker Ericsson, will also initially generate $1 million in revenue but is expected to grow.

Chilean customers using Navman's technology were likely to be freight companies shifting everything from wine to concrete, security companies, couriers and rubbish collectors.

Navman Wireless