For the fourth year, SkyWave Mobile Communications and its partner, Rivercross Tracking, were the providers of the near real-time vehicle tracking services of off-road cars that participated in the annual Rhino Charge race held in Kenya.

SkyWave installed its SkyWave SureLinx 8100 satellite/cellular tracking devices in 58 vehicles at the event while Rivercross monitored the devices. For the event, Rivercross was appointed as the official scorekeeper and was responsible for determining the winning competitor who was able to visit the most control points in the shortest distance based on GPS mileage sent by SureLinx 8100 devices and calculated using Rivercross’ fleet management software.

In a press release, David Gachuche, director of Rivercross Tracking, said, “We chose to use the SureLinx for this event because it has the unique capability to switch between GPRS and satellite tracking, which is quite an important feature. We felt the SureLinx was the best device for the event.”

The new devices provided detailed position information to Rivercross’ fleet management software even in areas where cellular communication services did not exist. It also had a panic button that would alert Rivercross and rescue crews via satellite of the vehicle’s location in case of an emergency.

SkyWave was in news recently when the company along with Inmarsat (News - Alert), a provider of global mobile communications services, announced plans to launch a new low data rate tracking, monitoring and messaging service in Q3 2011. Officials with Inmarsat claim that the new service, IsatData Pro, will deliver up to 37x data capability of current global machine-to-machine (M2M) services. Company officials said that the new service which will be promoted to government users and rail, road and shipping and other sector will support a wide range of security and location-based services in the fast-growing M2M market.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.