201012 roadmap newsletter - december 2010

Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | [email protected] | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | Fax +351 214 135 678 Frotcom vehicle tracking system | www.frotcom.com Angola |Belgium | Brazil | Bulgaria | Cameroon | Cyprus | D. R. Congo | Greece | Kenya | Luxemburg | Macedonia | Madagascar | Mauritius | Morocco | Portugal | Reunion Islands | Romania | Rwanda | Senegal | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Slovenia | Spain | Tanzania | Uganda

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Roadmap monthly newsletter

Editorial

his year has been, as we will all agree, full of

challenges. Families, companies and ultimately

countries are being challenged to rationalize their

costs, in a context of fierce global competition and

debt crisis, where loans are becoming more and

more expensive and harder to get.

Rationalization is today not only synonymous with good practices. It is a

fundamental ingredient for survival.

Frotcom is a tool to help companies implement that rationalization. Having a fleet

without a tracking system makes just about as much sense as leaving the office’s

lights on all night.

Until a few years ago, we had to evangelize customers, by explaining to them the

advantages of using Frotcom. In most countries where we’re active today, that is no

longer needed: companies know perfectly well that not to track their fleets is to

incur in costs much higher than the cost of ownership of Frotcom.

As the global economy relentlessly imposes the need for tighter control of a

company’s costs, Frotcom is ideally positioned to give a hand to fleet managers and

company boards, in their responsibility to lower costs and improve productivity.

That explains why in 2010, a year with so many economic downturns,

Frotcom’s network and global turnover continued to grow: cost control is

becoming more and more a priority, and Frotcom is being seen by clients as an

excellent tool to help in this endeavor.

Let me end by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a 2011 full of personal and

professional successes.

Valério Marques CEO - Frotcom International

A note from the editor – If you would like to have your own say in the next edition of this newsletter

please do not hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].

T

December 2010

In this issue

New Frotcom Partner

Frotcom Lusitana steps in

in Portugal

New feature

Import cost files automatically

Case study

Marampa Iron Ore (SL) Ltd

Frotcom helps in mineral

extraction project

News and events

Frotcom Cyprus exhibits

This and much more…

mailto:[email protected]


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New Frotcom Certified Partner

Frotcom Lusitana New partner for Portugal

From October 21st, Frotcom Lusitana became the new Exclusive Distributor for

Portugal.

Frotcom Lusitana (“Lusitana” means “Portuguese”) has already started its activity,

substituting the former Distributor, Frotcom Portugal, whose distribution contract

came now to an end, after 2 years of intense cooperation.

Manuel Gomes Mota, CEO of Frotcom Lusitana,

expressed his whishes that “Frotcom Lusitana will

be focusing on increasing the Frotcom brand

awareness in Portugal. Special conditions are being

created in order to fast forward sales, in a mature

market such is the Portuguese.”

The beginning of Frotcom Lusitana’s activity

coincides with the launching of Frotcom SL, which

keeps receiving great reviews from users

worldwide.

Roadmap welcomes Manuel and the Frotcom Lusitana team on board, and

thanks the Frotcom Portugal team for all the work they provided as previous

distributor.

New Features

Import cost files

We are pleased to inform that Frotcom’s

Cost management module is prepared to

Import cost files, which allows users to

upload/import cost files from their

computers to Frotcom.

As you probably know, some entities like providers of fuel, highway and parking

services, among others, give their customers the option to receive files with all of

the fleet’s cost for a certain period (usually one month). Frotcom is now able to

import these cost files directly, by the user uploading the corresponding file from

his/her computer. The file will be validated and the resulting data inserted in the

Cost management module.

Did you know

What is Silverlight?

You already know that Frotcom SL

was built with Silverlight. But what

exactly is it?

Microsoft Silverlight is a web

application framework that integrates

multimedia, computer graphics,

animation and interactivity into a

single runtime environment. It is

compatible with multiple web

browsers used on Microsoft Windows

and Mac OS X operating systems.

Mobile devices, starting with

Windows Phone 7 and Symbian

(Series 60) phones, are likely to

become supported in 2010. For more

information on Microsoft Silverlight

visit http://www.silverlight.net/.

How does it work?

The first time your web browser

loads a web page containing

Silverlight content, you will be asked

to authorize the installation of the

Silverlight Plugin to the web browser.

This happens in a manner identical to

what happens with Flash files. After

downloading and installing the

Silverlight Plugin, your browser will

be able to download and run

Silverlight applications (Silverlight

content).

http://www.silverlight.net/


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Case Study

Marampa Iron Ore (SL) Ltd

Frotcom helps in mineral extraction project

The Marampa Iron Ore Project is a brownfields (mineral) exploration project located

near the township of Lunsar in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Marampa Iron Ore (SL)

Ltd is the registered company in Sierra Leone and it is a subsidiary of Australian

company Cape Lambert Resources Ltd.

The Marampa Iron Ore Project, in Sierra Leone, could be in production as early as

2012, the company said last month. “This is a landmark moment for the

development of the Marampa project, we have made rapid progress in the past 12

months, and with five rigs now drilling at site, we expect to accelerate the timing of

our first resource update, scheduled for the March 2011 quarter, at which time the

bulk of the rail and port infrastructure refurbishment associated with the project

will be completed,” said chairperson Tony Sage.

He also noted that over the past few months, work has also started on refurbishing

the Marampa infrastructure. Some of the work undertaken included the removal of

existing railway lines and sleepers, and the recompacting of the rail formation, as

well as replacing missing rail sections, and the start of civil works at Pepel. The

Marampa Project is connected to an existing deep water port, ship loader and

stockpile area at Pepel by approximately 80km of rail infrastructure.

Marampa Iron Ore (SL) Ltd has a fleet of vehicles which consist of mainly Toyota

Hilux and Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles. These vehicles are responsible for the

movement of staff as well as for the collection of core samples from various drilling

rigs.

The company installed the Frotcom tracking system into numerous vehicles

and is now in control of the vehicles usage. They are able to monitor vehicle

positions at night which is when most misuse and theft can occur and the system

allows them to track their vehicles in remote locations, which is where the drill rigs

are located, with the use of Google Maps.

Marampa Iron Ore (SL) Ltd is looking to

vastly expand their operation in Sierra

Leone and is relying on Frotcom to give

sufficient information and control over

their fleet of vehicles which in turn will

reduce fuel consumption and maintenance

costs.

ROADMAP congratulates Jason, Penny and the Frotcom Sierra Leone team for

this great achievement.

Tip of the month

Take Frotcom Premium SL

for a test drive

Recently, Frotcom proudly launched

Frotcom Premium SL (Beta release).

This new version of Frotcom’s web

interface, based on a technology

created by Microsoft, called

Silverlight (SL), is not only much

quicker but additionaly uses the full

width of the computer screen.

To take this new version for a test

drive…

Click on the icon on the top right

corner. That link will bring you to the

Silverlight version of the interface.

If you are not yet a Frotcom user and

you wish to take Frotcom Premium SL

for a test drive, please go to

http://www.frotcom.com and enter

username guestsl and password

frotcom in the login section (top

right).

You will be able to track some

vehicles which have been equipped

with Frotcom, in different parts of the

world.

Note: This password is only valid for

7 days. If you later need an extension,

please contact Frotcom International

at [email protected] and just

request a password extension.

http://www.frotcom.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.capelam.com.au/irm/content/projects_marampa.html


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News and events

Frotcom’s web site is getting

more visitors

Alexa (www.alexa.com) is a company specialized in providing information about

websites to the Internet community. Alexa has built a database of information about

sites that includes statistics, related links and more. With this information, Alexa is

able to provide very interesting information about the companies’ web sites.

One of Alexa’s most interesting indicators is its Rank. Alexa’s rank is a number

which shows the site’s order in the list of most visited sites in the Internet. So, site

ranked number one is the Internet’s most visited site, and so forth.

Today, Frotcom’s web site is ranked 635,220. The number has been decreasing

significantly; for instance, in the beginning of 2010, Frotcom’s site was still ranked

above 1,000,000.

India riders’ adventure

continues

Inacio and Leninha continue their Indian

adventure with the sidecar motorcycle

equiped with a Frotcom device. Great

pictures and descriptions of many pitoresc

episodes are available in

www.daravolta.com.

The website includes a link to Frotcom, where the vehicle can be tracked. At the

moment, it can be spotted traveling south from Goa, on the western coast of India.

Frotcom Cyprus showcases

Frotcom Cyprus exhibited in Cyprus’ 7th BoysStuff Show, held in November 27 and

28, 2010.

The show included presentations of new car

models, automotive products and accessories, car

audio systems and – according to the

organization, the most beautiful cars and

motorcycles in Cyprus.

Frotcom was present as part of Frotcom Cyprus’

strategy for brand awareness in the country.

Roadmap congratulates Michailis and the Frotcom Cyprus team for this

initiative.

Next, on Roadmap

News and events,

more new Frotcom features

and tips will be presented.

This and more, so don’t miss

the next issue of Roadmap.

http://www.alexa.com/

http://www.daravolta.com/

201012 roadmap newsletter - december 2010

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