October 2020 Newsletter
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Welcome to the October 2020 edition of the TALLYMATICS Newsletter. Our newsletter is designed to keep our partners updated on our latest developments, as well as industry news.
In This Issue
3G turn down, CALAMP replacement
Many fleet managers are facing an inflection point in their operations: the turn down of the 3G network. across North America, carriers are mothballing their 3G service over the next couple of years (if not sooner). However its implemented, it is often quick and disruptive, as many telematics devices are 3G based.
Why not treat it as an opportunity to improve? If you have 3G telematics devices, they are surely somewhat limited in performance and functionality. This is the opportunity: upgrade these devices and services with better performing, more feature rich solutions.
Tallymatics has got this covered. The LTE-M based Sprite TW400 Tracker device has incorporated the 20 pin cable connector used by the popular CALAMP LMU-2600 telematics device. It is a pin for pin compatible replacement: power, input/ouput, serial buses (including CANBUS for OBD2). One thing you don’t need are the external drivers for the serial buses. 
This compatibility gives you a drop-in LTE-M solution for LMU-2600 installations by simply unplugging the LMU-2600 and plugging in a TW400, smoothly moving to a new and current service with future-proof capability. It utilizes the new LTE-M network which is now reaching ubiquitous coverage, and we ship them with SIMs already in them and ready to go.
Now you have plugged in a new device, there is still the service side. Tallymatics has developed a smooth activation/service pipeline with our cloud based TALLYMANAGER device manager and cloudbased TruFleet AVL. The TALLYMANAGER allows you to activate/deactivate the TW400 at will, and configure its many resource options (CANbus, I/O, Events). A TW400 managed TruFleet then takes advantage of the best in class user experience of TruFleet.
Great Tracking, smooth user experience on the next gen LTE-M network. 3G network problem solved … stress-free.
On-Board Diagnostics
Tallymatics is continuing to enhance the Sprite TW400 LTE-M Tracker capability.
One of the dimensions of functionality we have added is the very important On-Board Diagnostics information available from the vehicle. Very useful for vehicle management maintenance management, as well as avoiding mechanical catastrophe via monitoring of the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) and reporting Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC’s). OBD2 (J1979) light duty vehicle functionality is about to be released by November and J1939 for heavy duty vehicles will be available early Calendar Q1.
Want OBD but can’t wait for the release of the functionality? No problems. OBD2 and J1939 functionality can be downloaded to your TW400 with an “Over The Air” (OTA) firmware update when available. Just install the TW400 with the appropriate OBD cable to make sure you have power and the serial connection to the vehicle’s CANBUS. If there is a Parameter ID (PID) for J1979, or a Suspect Parameter Number (SPN) that is particularly useful, and we don’t support it, we can turn it on retroactively over the air.
School Bus Fleet Management
Quick and effective School Bus AVL, no matter your situation
One of the major beneficiaries of AVL technology for fleet management is the educational vertical. There is perhaps no other fleet type in existence of which so many people would like to know where a vehicle is at any specific moment in time. Of course, that is because of the very sensitive nature of the cargo: our children.
Yet many fleets still not have the capability of informing parents of the location of their child’s bus. Perhaps it is because the fleet managers don’t think they have an appropriate network to do that (e.g. they don’t have cellular service in some of their footprint, which is the network most often associated with telematics capability). Perhaps they are thinking that they have to invest in costly and complicated software or services that are beyond their current needs. Perhaps they are afraid of making a choice which will lock them into a specific direction on future expansions.
Lower Costs
Network flexibility
Future Proof
Tallymatics’ AVL solution is best in class, multi-network AVL solution with a laser focus on user interface and ease of use and deployment. See how we solve the problems of cost; implementation difficulty and latency; and functional flexibility by visiting our School Bus page with the link below.