Small community keeps tabs on vehicles with wireless monitor

To help in its monitoring efforts, the city signed a three-year contract with AT&T. Under the agreement, AT&T will deploy its Mobile Resource Management (MRM) service for vehicle tracking.

According to AT&T, the MRM service will enable city administrators to track light and water service vehicle locations. In addition, the wireless service will help the city monitor vehicle speeds as well as keep track of activity within vehicles. The service will enable the city to improve safety and control costs by routing vehicles as efficiently as possible, thereby cutting down on fuel and maintenance expenses.

Vehicles in the Seneca Light and Water (SLW) fleet will be operating with the MRM service. The SLW fleet, which numbers 42 vehicles, handles tasks for the city’s electrical, water, sewer, billing, engineering, and administrative departments. The departments, with a total of 55 employees, provide services for the city as well as surrounding areas.

The SLW customer base includes 13,500 water users, 6,600 electric users and about 5,000 sewer users.

“This solution will enhance visibility into the vehicular operations of our city, increasing staff productivity, reducing costs and improving the safety of our drivers,” Seneca City Administrator Greg Dietterick said. “The city of Seneca has done a great job providing light and water services. AT&T’s MRM solution is giving the city an excellent resource management tool that will help us deliver even faster and more efficient light and water services to our citizens.”

The AT&T MRM system relays vehicle location, speed and other data across the AT&T wireless data network and sends it to a secure Web site portal that is hosted in AT&T’s data center. MRM data will be available to designated city light and water administrators who have access to a Web browser.

“This MRM solution helps Seneca leverage technology to quickly and cost-effectively respond to urgent service situations, whenever and wherever they might arise,” said Ebrahim Keshavarz, vice president of business development, AT&T.

The city of Seneca, which sits on Lake Keowee, is in the northwest corner of South Carolina. It is located in Oconee County, and has a population of 8,000.

For more information about AT&T’s MRM service, click here.