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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
City of Chicago Deploys GPS-Based Solution to Enhance Field-to-Office Communications
CHICAGO, IL and RESTON, VA and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- 03/31/2004 -- Nextel Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTL) and Xora, Inc., a leading provider of mobile solutions and services, today announced that the City of Chicago has deployed Xora GPS TimeTrack on Nextel GPS-enabled digital wireless phones to enhance field-to-office communications for its Department of Buildings.
As part of a City of Chicago-wide effort to leverage emerging technology systems to improve business processes, the Department of Buildings began using the solution from Nextel® and Xora in August 2003. Today, each of the 175 inspectors from the Department's 15 business bureaus is equipped with a Nextel wireless phone that is running the Xora GPS TimeTrack service. In addition, all Nextel phones include Direct Connect® long-range digital walkie-talkie technology, though Chicago uses this feature only for communications within the city limits, the technology allows users to connect instantly across tens, hundreds or thousands of miles.
From the field, the City's inspectors use the Nextel phones to access the Xora service and, with the phone's key pad, record time and date-stamped information, including property addresses and inspection status data. Upon capture, this data is available immediately for viewing over the Internet by the Department's 30 supervisors and bureau chiefs. Supervisors in the office can also access maps that show the location of inspectors at any given time along with detailed reports that show the workers' inspection status information throughout the day on the Xora Web site.
Previously the City's field staff would record this information on paper, and submit it at the end of each day to their supervisors and chiefs for review and approval. As could be expected, this process was inefficient and allowed for various errors and omissions. The City determined that by coupling Xora GPS TimeTrack with Nextel mobile phones, it could enhance service to customers, expedite the billing process, minimize paper-based reporting, and improve the efficiency of its entire operation.
"Nextel has always provided leading edge technology to our business customers, helping support some of the world's most productive and successful organizations," said Leon Frazier, vice president, Public Sector, at Nextel. "It is becoming increasingly more important to demonstrate accountability in the public sector, and we are very pleased to be able to bring a comprehensive wireless solution to the City of Chicago."
"The use of Xora GPS TimeTrack with Nextel mobile phones are a powerful combination and the implementation of Xora GPS TimeTrack at the City of Chicago represents one of our largest deployments to date," said Ananth Rani, vice president of Products and Services at Xora. "The City's eagerness and subsequent success of the program indicate the growing demand for our service in the marketplace and the ever-increasing need to implement technology that ties field and office together."
About Nextel Communications
Nextel Communications, a FORTUNE 200 company based in Reston, Va., is a leading provider of fully integrated wireless communications services and has built the largest guaranteed all-digital wireless network in the country covering thousands of communities across the United States. Today 95 percent of FORTUNE 500 companies are Nextel customers. Nextel and Nextel Partners, Inc. currently serve 294 of the top 300 U.S. markets where approximately 250 million people live or work.
About Xora GPS TimeTrack
Xora GPS TimeTrack is a hosted technology service available only with GPS-enabled mobile phones from Nextel. As a replacement for the old- fashioned time clock, mobile workers access Xora GPS TimeTrack through the mobile phones to clock in-and-out at the beginning and end of each day, and to record job numbers and project details. This information is then transmitted via wireless connection to the Xora data center, where it can be viewed on the Web in the form of maps and reports from anywhere in the world. As a result, companies have access to the latest information from the field, which helps to reduce costs associated with managing and executing field operations, while creating new revenue opportunities and improving service to customers.
About Xora
Xora is a leading provider of mobile solutions and services that help enterprises reduce cost, increase productivity and generate revenue. Xora GPS TimeTrack enables businesses to track employee time, job and location in real time, over the Internet. The company's EnterpriseOne mobility platform delivers improved productivity to mobile users by providing wireless, voice, web and alert extensions to enterprise applications, such as Amdocs-ClarifyCRM, Siebel, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Exchange, and Lotus Notes. Xora's partners include Nextel, Amdocs ClarifyCRM, Siebel Systems, Verizon Wireless, Motorola, RIM and IBM, Founded in 1999, Xora is privately funded and has raised $11 Million in venture funding. The lead investor is SoundView Ventures.
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