News Archive - Parcel Tracking, GPRS Track and Trace, GPS Vehicle Tracking, Mobile Working with ReDeTrack

Weekly Updates

2008-08-28 14:11:37

A Dublin-based company contacted us today. They ship articles around the Republic of Ireland and are looking for a system to help them track the deilvery process and keep geographic tabs on their vehicles. They called us after finding our website and reading about ReDeTrack. We're hopeful that this enquiry will develop into a sale as our strategic plans include expansion of our georgraphic market into the European area.

Week 33

New Vodafone Service

2008-08-21 18:00:50

We are happy to announce that we have negotiated a new Vodafone package for our clients. The ReDeTrack system requires a SIM card in each Hand Held Terminal (PDA) to allow the transfer of GPS, delivery and POD details within seconds of them being available. Our new service will allow our customers to use Vodafone data services at a flat rate of £5 per month - with no additional charges for use.

New PDAs on trial at Intercity

2008-08-21 08:57:16

Intercity express today took delivery of three new Pidion BIP5000 PDAs to add to their growing stock of ReDeTrack handheld terminals. The BIPs are lightweight and somewhat rugged (although not industrial strength) and include a 1D barcode scanner and GPRS radio - ideal for ReDeTrack. Intercity chose the GPS vehicle cradle option, which will allow them to use ReDeTrack to track vehicles and, at a later stage, use ReDeTrack's integrated Satellite Navigation facility.

Avondale Website Complete

2008-08-20 08:54:09

We today held a final review of the new website for Avondale construction. The new site brings a new clean look and feel to the Avondale web presence, including new colours and an uodated logo. The new site also includes a new navigation panel to make browsing a more satisfying experience. The handover is planned for next week and the new site will be published shortly after this.

Week 32

New Feature

2008-08-11 14:06:24

ReDeTrack version 2.02.00 will include a new pre-load feature. This will allow warehouse and depot staff to download the load details to the terminal before the driver is on site. The operator types in or scans the registration or route identifier of the vehicle and ReDeTrack provides a list of items to load. When the driver signs in later, the unit and vehicle are already loaded with the deliveries for the day so he or she can get out and start delivering immediately.

Week 31

Bromley Council Still Hopeful

2008-08-08 12:17:02

Bromley are still looking into ways to find funding for their proposed ReDeTrack post room system. Should the project go ahead, they will use ReDeTrack to monitor and control deliveries of internal mail throughout their town-centre campus. There would also be the possibility of a future phase to expand the scope of the system to track deliveries between their main campus and their various satellite locations.

Week 30

Depot Tool Goes Into Service

2008-07-30 12:03:38

Intercity Express have started using our new Depot Tool in their Bristol Depot. This component allows ReDeTrack users to set up a PC-based bar code scanning station within the depot. The tool provides functions to receive and displatch packages and pallets, and to spilt and build pallets that have been received or are due to be dispatched. These functions have been available to users of the PDA application since the launch of ReDeTrack. The new module now brings this capability to the desktop too.

Week 29

Enquiry from Jordan

2008-07-27 11:41:55

No - not Katie Price, the country!

We have been contacted by an ICT services company in Jordan who are looking for a Track and Trace solution for one of their customers. Our conversation is ongoing and a meeting is likely to be scheduled for the near future.

Week 28

iSware to seek Accredit UK Certification

2008-07-17 11:45:40

We will soon be emarking upon the Accredit UK quality certification process. This involves examining and improving our quality and business processes and culminates in an assessment. Following a successful examination we would be awarded the Accredit UK mark. We hope to acheive this before the end of 2008.

Avondale Project a Success

2008-07-16 11:49:41

Avondale Construction of London have now completed payments for their new ReDeTrack-powered building site delivery slot booking system. The project took one month from Purchase Order to Delivery. This process included requirements gathering, software design, changes and testing, followed by delivery and training.

Avondale and we are very pleased with our performance.

Week 26

Crosby Prospects

2008-07-02 11:00:00

Crosby Lend Lease have now been using ReDeTrack for six months to help monitor and manage their mobile team of engineers in the Birmingham area. They are currently engaged in a major software rollout to update their customer services systems. We met with them today to discuss activities and it seems likely that we will soon be called upon to provide integration services to allow their new system to work alongside ReDeTrack.

Centrex

2008-07-01 10:00:00

Centrex Services, of Newcastle, have requested a 3 unit pilot of ReDeTrack. The system will help them plan, monitor and control their operations. Centrex provide delivery and repair services to their IT customers from their bases in Newcastle and Milton Keynes.

Week 25

A Clean Test Run for Phones4U

2008-06-27 08:09:56

The modifications to ReDeTrack for the new Phones4U repair process were tested in the real world yesterday and early results suggest a clean run. Handsets were logged in the repair booking sytem at two Phones4U stores in the Midlands. Intercity Express drivers later collected the phones for return to the Intercity depot, where they were checked and boxed up for dispatch to the repairer. The boxes (or totes) were delivered by trunk vehicle to the repair company at their Norwich site. Both ReDeTrack and the repair company's booking system were kept up to date using the new automated interfaces at every step in the process. Phones4U are anticipating going live within the next few days.

Avondale Accept Delivery

2008-06-24 09:00:00

Avondale today accepted the delivery of their new Site Delivery Booking System. They spent the last few days trying it out in-house and reported 'everything working well' and the manager responsible said 'I am very pleased with it'. The next step in the project will be to roll it out to one of their clients. This should happen within the next couple of weeks.

Week 24

Yet another Complete Courier Component

2008-06-20 10:00:00

A new project was started today. We will be adding an in-depot tool to the already massive set of components to be included in our forthcoming 'Complete Courier' solution. The new component will allow a PC in the depot to be used to scan the bar codes of packages and pallets on receipt and dispatch, and to manage palletisation of packages, either building pallets or splitting them up. The new system will enable even greater visibility of package movements, even when ad-hoc palletisation is employed in day-to-day operations.

Avondale Final Furlong

2008-06-17 11:00:00

We payed another visit to Avondale Construction in Camden Town today. The purpose of the visit was to demonstrate the final changes to their Site Delivery Booking System, which uses certain ReDeTrack components to provide an on-line service to their clients. The demonstrarion and Avondale were delighted with the system. The final release of the system will be delivered next week along with user documentation. Avondale plan to try the system out in-house before rolling it out to clients over the next few weeks.

Week 23

Phones 4U Testing Nearly Finished

2008-06-13 14:39:01

The changes to allow Intercity Express to convey broken and repaired handsets between Phones4u stores and A-Novo repair centres are complete and in testing. The testing, led by Phones4u, has been underway for three weeks now an is expected to be completed this week or next. Following this, the way will be clear for the new Phones4U repair process to be implemented, and that ReDeTrack will be able to provide up to the minute information on the location and process stage of any repair. This will help Phones4u give their customers a clear picture of the progress of the repair.

Avondale Changes Nearing Completion

2008-06-13 14:34:11

The site delivery booking facility is now ready for its final review. This will take place next week at the Avondale London headquarters. Following approval at this stage, the Avondale team will test the system out before introducing it to their business partners. The system may go into use as early as late June and Avondale clients such as McAlpine, Scanza and Bovis will be able to plan deliveries to site in a more controlled manner and reduce the amount of waiting time as a result.

Avondale Project Milestone

2008-06-10 11:30:17

We visited Avondale today to demstrate the progress of their customisation work. The team were happy with the form and function of their site delivery time booking facility. The meeting raised a few additional details, which will be included in the production release, due early next week.

Avondale have also asked us to present some designs to replace their existing website. They feel that the current site needs a makeover. This work will also deliver an new corporate image with new colours and a new logo for Avondale.

Week 22

Routing Trial

2008-06-06 10:00:00

We met with Mark Clarke of Intercity Express (an existing ReDeTrack customer) today. As the Intercity business grows, they are finding the routing and scheduling process increasingly difficult. Coupling this with the recent increases in fuel prices, Mark has identified the need to automate these processes to some degree in order to speed up the process and, hopefully, to make routes more fuel efficient. We have agreed to go into trials with Intercity of our the Routing component of our forthcoming 'Complete Courier' solution.

Mobile Platforms Research

2008-06-03 18:00:00

We today agreed with Staffordshire University on the setting up of a collaborative project, researching developments in mobile platforms. New and emerging technologies shall be investigated, including the iPhone / iPOD Touch platform, Android and Open Moko. The collaboration will also include Tang Solutions and Portech.

Week 20

Avondale Order Confirmed

2008-05-23 12:00:00

Avondale Construction today confirmed their order for a materials delivery time booking system based on components of ReDeTrack. Avondale are a major building services company, operating in the City and Greater London area. They are employed by some of the UK's biggest main contractors, such as Sir Robert McAlpine and Laing O'Rourke. ReDeTrack will allow the main contractors to book time-slots on line, using the Avondale website. The bookings will be managed by the Avondale team and confirmed by email.

Avondale Construction

2008-05-20 09:00:00

We met Avondale Construction today at one of their offices in London. Avondale are a major building services company, operating in the City and Greater London area. They are employed by some of the UK's biggest main contractors, such as Sir Robert McAlpine and Laing O'Rourke. Discussions today focussed on a new Avondale requirement. They need a system to allow them to control the timing of materials deliveries at their sites. We will be proposing a solution based on certain components of ReDeTrack.

Week 19

Portech Partnership

2008-05-15 11:00:00

We met Shaz Nazeem or Portech today at their headquarters in The Custard Factory in Birmingham. Portech have two mobile solutions: their 'wireless waiter' is an off the shelf product for restaurants and bars, and their bespoke mobile systems provide more flexible solutions for their other clients. The Portech and iSware systems provide different and complementary functions that could be combined to provide hybrid solutions. We may work closely together on future projects. This agreement complements the one made with Tang this week and it seems likely that the three companies will work on collaborative projects going forward.

RFID Expert

2008-05-13 12:00:00

We met Kelvin Cushman of the RFID superstore today. Kelvin has agreed to provide iSware customers the RFID expertise needed to complete the ReDeTrack RFID solution.

Closer Working with Tang Solutions

2008-05-13 10:00:00

We met with Simon Bromley of Tang Solutions in Wolverhamton today to discus working together on a number of projects. Barracuda is Tang's mobile computing product. Unlike ReDeTrack, Barracuda allows the user to define screens that the operator uses to collect technical data during processes such as safety inspections. The data collected is then presented in the form of pre-designed PDF documents. It is possible that we will work with Tang on future projects to provide our customers with a richer pallette of solutions as our two products have a number of complementary features.

Week 18

Interest from another Construction Company

2008-05-09 11:12:05

We will be meeting a London-based construction company later this month to discuss their requirements. They operate at a number of London locations and have many household names amongst their clients.

Phones 4U Changes

2008-05-09 11:07:05

The changes for Intercity are nearing completion now and testing is scheduled for next week. These changes will allow one of their customers, UK-based Phones 4U, to manage and monitor phone repair services using ReDeTrack, which already handles the delivery and return of new handsets to their UK stores. The changes include process changes within Phones 4U and Intercity as well as system changes in ReDeTrack and in the systems of their repair supplier.

Week 17

Collaborations Gallore

2008-05-01 08:46:23

It turned out that the Interop 'Trade Mission' we attended last week was a great way to meet other businesses. We have already arranged to meet four with a view to working together. In some cases it is anticipated that ReDeTrack may be a suitable solution for existing clients, in others we will provide technical consultation and in others, receive specialist knowledge to help us expand the service we offer to our clients.

Interop 2008

2008-04-28 08:40:51

The Interop expo kicked off today at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. We were there to meet representatives of Microsoft, Google, Motorola and many others in the exhibition rooms. We also took part in the side-room seminars in the 'Wireless and Mobile' stream. There is a lot happening in the platforms arena. If some speakers are right, the market share currently enjoyed by Microsoft in hand held device operating environments is about to be eroded. The new kids on the block are Open Moko (open source), Android (from Google) and Apple (on the iPhone and iPod touch). We will be teaming up with Staffordshire University to look at these new technologies. In particular, we will be looking at the possibility of an iPhone version of ReDeTrack.

Week 16

Silverlight

2008-04-25 10:45:13

Wednesday afternoon saw an Introduction To Silverlight presentation to the iSware staff and one of our customers by Jon Mellor. The focus of this event was to lay the groundwork for the future improvements that Silverlight will give the web experience and to fully evaluate its current position and potential. The demonstration highlighted that Silverlight 2.0 in its current beta incarnation is not stable enough to develop the kinds of front ends that we would need. This will hopefully change by the final release of 2.0 in June. In the meantime we will continue to evaluate each release as and when they occur.

The Road To Mandalay (Interop 2008)

2008-04-25 10:39:27

We will be attending Interop 2008 in Las Vegas next week in order to keep our skills and domain knowledge at the forefront of current developments in mobile computing. The show, held at the Mandalay Bay hotel, brings industry leaders from around the world together to show of their latest products and services. We will be on the look out for new products to enhance ours and future technologies that may be just around the corner.

Intercity Upgrade

2008-04-25 10:35:48

ReDeTrack has been a crucial part of Intercity customer experience for some time now. One of their customers is currently undergoing a change to a part of their business process and is set to form a relationship with a new supplier. Intercity are to be involved in this part of the process so ReDeTrack will be there too, seamlessly tracking movements of items between the various parties involved.

Week 15

Advert in PIR CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE

2008-04-18 18:17:05

PIR CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE will be including a printed advertisement for ReDeTrack in next months issue. This is the first time that we have advertised in the printed press so it will be interesting to see whether it generates any leads.

The image is a shrunken version of the quarter page advert that will appear.

Gantt Charts

2008-04-18 16:43:41

We are proud to produce our latest addition to ReDeTrack functionality. Project planners may now create and manage tasks using our new Gantt chart tool. This allows task definition with sub-tasks, resource allocation and dependencies. Tasks are automatically passed to the relevant resources when work on them is required. The plan is automatically updated when tasks are started and completed, so early completions and overruns are quickly identified.

Week 14

Package Labels

2008-04-11 16:52:23

The Complete Courier version of ReDeTrack can now generate package labels. These are produced using the order management screen and can be printed on regular paper or on sticky labels using either desktop or portable printers. The labels incorporate bar codes to allow them to be scanned by the delivery drivers, so there should be no more errors.

Invoice Tool

2008-04-08 16:50:13

We have added a PDF invoice tool to our forthcoming Complete Courier version of ReDeTrack. This will use information gathered from the order and from delivery records to create invoices for your customers. These will be generated periodically - daily, weekly, etc - or automatically when the POD is received.

Week 13

iSware at Interop

2008-04-03 15:35:49

We will be attending Interop 2008 in Las Vegas later this month. This is a huge conference with input from many industry sectors, such as software, networking, security and mobile computing. We form part of the WMMW (West Midlands Mobile and Wireless) delegation. We are hoping to forge new relationships with US vendors in order to find channels to the US market for ReDeTrack and to get the low down on the latest technologies. We have already had enquiries from other delegates wishing to meet us there. Please drop us a line in EventMingle if you will be there too.

Recurring Tasks now Available

2008-04-03 15:31:48

The ReDeTrack service management configuration has been extended to allow recurring tasks to be defined. These are defined in terms of the customer site affected, the task description, the start date and the repeat interval (in days, weeks, months or years). The system automatically creates the repetitions, which the system user must then allocate to an individual engineer so that the task can be performed.

iSware to Present at CPL

2008-04-03 15:21:32

We are happy to announce that the ReDeTrack 'Colplete Courier' solution will be launched at this years CPL show (Courier Parcel and Logistic, see http://www.clp-expo.com). We have booked a stand at a prime location in the main hall, so please come and meet us there (stand 2321). We will also be presenting at the postal and operations express summit, which is part of the expo, so look out for our slot. Our talk will be in the form of a case study, so you will be able to hear about what ReDeTrack has done for one of our customers. We are hoping to have a customer with us so you can hear it from the horses mouth.

Week 12

Council Mail Room

2008-03-27 15:00:54

Today we issued a quotation to a UK local government office. Their intention is to use ReDeTrack to keep tabs on mail as it is moved around their large campus of a number of buildings. There is the possibility of the scope being extended to road operations should the campus-based rollout be a success. We expect progress on this project before the end of May.

Laundry Project to Continue in April

2008-03-27 14:58:37

Our laundry owner client in West London (previous reported in week 05) is expecting to start the project in April or May this year. ReDeTrack will be used to track movements of both van drivers and stock. We are delighted to be working in yet another market sector and in this important geographical location.

Week 11

New Partnership Takes a Step Closer

2008-03-20 16:15:26

A leading UK consultancy has agreed to work together with iSware to deliver ReDeTrack to a broader customer base. This new partnership opens up the local government and blue chip market sectors and will provide our customers with industry-strength support and consultancy services to create a complete IT services environment with ReDeTrack at its core.

SatNav Improved

2008-03-20 16:10:44

Sygic have released Drive version 7.5, the latest update to their Satellite Navigation product. The new version comes with a better user interface and a number of new functions (including display of current speed restriction on the from screen). This new version was integrated with ReDeTrack this week and is ready for market.

The Complete Courier Solution

2008-03-20 16:08:20

Our order entry and routing components are coming along nicely. Both can cope with courier operations (with a collection and a drop on the same day) and more traditional delivery tasks. The routing tool is very fast and provides extremely efficient delivery run plans on an ad-hoc basis or based on standard run 'skeletons' to allow for businesses that deliver to the home-based customer and to regular business customers.

Week 10

News - you're reading it!

2008-03-13 16:31:42

We added news to the website this week. We will be publishing weekly updates from now on and the highlights will be published in our monthly update too. Both weekly and monthly updates are available by RSS feed.

Website Revamp

2008-03-13 16:27:52

ReDeTrack is continually improving and broadening its reach. We have added a number of new components and functions over the last few months and the website had become a little out of date. We have spent a little time this week restructuring the website and have added a lot of new content. We have also brought a little more focus to our AdWords campaign - especially in promoting the Facilities Management capabilities of ReDeTrack.

Investment News

2008-03-13 16:24:55

Alan Hessell has today invested in iSware Limited, our trading body. The capital injection will help support some of our running costs, but more importantly to fund some of our marketing plans. Look out for our new CompleteCourier offering - which will provide a complete business management system for the Courier and Parcel delivery sector - we will be launching this sensational new product at the Courier and Parcel Logistics (CPL) expo in London next September and October.

Week 09

Another New Partnership on the Horizon

2008-03-06 11:19:03

A meeting has been arranged for March 20th with a software company based in the North Midlands. This will be an initial investigation into the scope our two companies might have for collaboration, possibly including one or both of us acting as resellers for the other.

Report Optimisation

2008-03-05 11:16:25

Our programming department has been busy this week. As our customers use ReDeTrack for more of their daily work, the amount of data in the database grows. This has the effect of slowing the online reports over the last year so that they were taking about twice as long to execute than at this time last year. An optimisation exercise was completed this week, bringing about dramatic performance improvements. A typical daily report that would have taken 20 to 30 seconds last week now completes in around 3.

New 'IBT' Service

2008-03-03 11:11:55

Intercity Express have been asked by one of their clients to allow items to be collected from one branch and delivered through the network to another branch. The client describes these types of transaction as IBTs - inter-branch transfers. A small amount of development work has now been completed to facilitate IBTs. These changes used some work that is currently in development that, when complete, will be part of our forthcoming new release that will allow ReDeTrack to manage sameday courier activities including single vehicle pickup and drop.

Week 08

New Market Sector a Possibility

2008-02-29 18:34:26

At a meeting with a medium sized Staffordshire software company, it was agreed that ReDeTrack might provide value to the companies existing customers. Feelers will be put out over the next week or so to evaluate interest. Should the feedback be positive, meetings between ourselves and the end users will be arranged in order to discuss requirements and to arrange pilot projects. The name and business sector of the potential partner will be announced after the agreement is formalised.

New Partnership

2008-02-28 10:00:00

We demonstrated ReDeTrack at a meeting with Bob Boyd of UK Internet Mobile and Wireless, who specialise in IT solutions in the construction sector. Bob is looking at a number of potential products with a view to providing them as solutions for the specific requirements of his clients. The outcome of the meeting was positive, with Bob showing interest in reselling ReDeTrack.

Crosby Training 'Excellent'

2008-02-27 11:00:00

Training of the Birmingham engineering team was completed today with a session for the remaining two. The session included a ReDeTrack overview and specific training on operation of the handheld. A usability issue was raised and has now been addressed. The session was described as 'Excellent'.

Week 07

Interest from Buildings Maintenance Company

2008-02-20 15:17:53

This week we visited a Midlands bases buildings maintenance business to demonstrate ReDeTrack. Their requirements are very similar to those of Crosby Lend Leases, one of our existing clients, so the system should suit their needs. The company concerned look after the maintenance of buildings for a number of national clients.

Week 05

A Possible Hospitality Sector Project

2008-02-08 15:23:13

Today we met with the owner of a London based laundry business. Their clients include hotels and restaurants in the West End and in Central London. ReDeTrack will provide better visibility of movements of sheets, tablecloths and the like as they are collected and delivered at customer sites.