Navman Wireless Wins Prestigious 2011 Chicago Innovation Award

GLENVIEW, Ill., Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Navman Wireless, a global GPS technology developer headquartered in suburban Glenview, this week was honored as one of the 10 winners of the 2011 Chicago Innovation Awards for its Qtanium 300 GPS Construction Fleet Tracking System. Construction contractors can save millions of dollars annually by using Qtanium-supplied data to reduce fuel consumption, optimize maintenance schedules, monitor job costs, and improve overall operations.

Now in its 10th year, the Chicago Innovation Awards program recognizes the most innovative new products and services introduced by Chicago-area companies. Past winners have included high-profile organizations such as Abbott, Comscore, FirstAlert, Groupon, Millennium Park, Orbitz and Sara Lee.

The 2011 winners were selected from more than 400 nominees and announced at Chicago's Harris Theater on Tuesday, November 8.  All 10 honorees will jointly ring the opening bell of the NASDAQ stock market in New York City on November 15 through an opportunity provided by TechAmerica, an awards sponsor.

"Fleet tracking systems save millions of gallons of fuel as well as millions of dollars of operating expenses for car, van and truck fleets every year, but construction contractors traditionally have been unable to take advantage of these savings because of the lack of reliable technology for use with equipment like bulldozers and backhoes," said T.J. Chung, CEO of Navman Wireless. "This award recognizes both the technology achievement and the business value of our Qtanium 300 system and is a credit to the whole Navman team for meeting an important market need."

The Navman Wireless Qtanium 300 is the first universal construction fleet tracking system, making it possible to monitor actual equipment usage and associated costs for all makes and models of construction equipment from a single application. As part of the company's flagship OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking platform, it also offers the industry's first combined on- and off-road vehicle tracking capability for efficient cost management across the entire fleet.

The system gathers data from the outdoor-proofed Qtanium 300 GPS tracking unit as well as sensors connected to machine attachments. That data is transmitted it to Navman Wireless' back-end software, which is able to display the real-time location of all vehicles in the fleet on one screen as well as generate in-depth vehicle usage reports for analysis and interpretation.

Job site cost reports track actual equipment usage and associated costs by site, for example, while other reports document engine hours, maintenance status, idling time, equipment utilization, and usage of machine attachments such as buckets, hammers and shears. Other benefits include multiple anti-theft measures built into the Qtanium hardware to protect contractors against expensive equipment loss.

"The new products and services brought to market in the Chicago region each year represent the most important economic engine driving the new economy," said Thomas D. Kuczmarski, Co-Founder of the award program with Chicago journalist Dan Miller. "The economy is challenging but each nominee believes the simple truth that a powerful new product will find a rewarding market and each has the courage to pursue their vision."

The complete list of this year's Chicago Innovation Award winners is available at www.chicagoinnovationawards.com. The program is supported by sponsors including Wrigley, Google, Cisco, Comcast Business Class, Edelman, Spigit, Disney Institute, and others.

About Navman Wireless

Navman Wireless is a global leader in GPS-based fleet optimization products and services, including real-time vehicle tracking and OEM GPS solutions that enable companies to track, monitor and communicate with their movable and fixed equipment assets. The company's flagship OnlineAVL2/Qube system is installed in more than 130,000 vehicles owned by over 9,000 customers worldwide, making Navman Wireless one of the world's largest fleet management providers with coverage on five continents. Navman Wireless is based in Glenview, IL, with facilities in the U.S., Mexico, UK, Italy, Taiwan, Ireland, Singapore, China, New Zealand and Australia. For more information, visit www.navmanwireless.com.

SOURCE Navman Wireless