Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 02 | Page 13

Fleet Complete acquires Ecofleet, advancing its expansion in Europe Nokia and Qualcomm complete tests of 5G New Radio network and devices F leet Complete, the fastest-growing provider of IoT solutions in the connected commercial vehicle space, has announced its acquisition of Ecofleet, the leading fleet telematics player in the Nordic and Baltic regions. This is Fleet Complete’s second acquisition in Europe since ITmobile in 2016 (now operating as Fleet Complete Europe), establishing a presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Austria and more recently, Germany. Ecofleet is the current top telematics provider in the north European market, offering cost-effective, high-benefit mobile asset management solutions in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The company has over 80,000 subscribers across small-to-medium businesses and large enterprise fleets, growing Fleet Complete’s subscriber base to over 110,000 in Europe and over 400,000 globally. Ecofleet’s founders and leadership team will continue driving business in the region, aligning local market expertise with Fleet Complete’s global objectives. Autolog by Ecofleet – a GPS-powered automatic mileage logging solution for business tax claims – will continue to be offered as a standalone brand due to its leading market position in handling country-specific rules and legislation. Future plans include offering Autolog to other European regions as well as North America. “Ecofleet has a tremendous team of professionals, amazing product and innovative technology, which we look forward to incorporating into our global offering,” commented Tony Lourakis, CEO of Fleet Complete. “Leveraging Ecofleet’s immense success and combining it with Fleet Complete’s expansive IoT infrastructure and mobile carrier partnerships, we will be able to establish a powerful global IoT platform that will help more fleet-owning businesses around the world thrive.” www.intelligentcio.com N okia and Qualcomm Technologies have successfully completed interoperability testing in the 3.5Ghz and 28Ghz spectrum compliant with the global 3GPP 5G NR Release 15 standard – which was formally confirmed in December – using the commercially available Nokia AirScale base station and device prototypes from Qualcomm Technologies. Focusing on the commercialisation of 5G technology, with New Radio as its foundation, Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies testing at Nokia’s 5G centre of excellence in Oulu, Finland, will provide the basis for 5G NR field trials with operators in 2018. Nokia, Qualcomm Technologies and various other mobile operators are already committed to working together in verifying and trialling 5G NR technology. This will be based on the successful interoperability tests of the flexible 5G NR interface from Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies which will support a wide array of 5G services and various deployment scenarios. In line with Qualcomm Technologies’ and Nokia’s announcement in September 2017 to collaborate on 5G NR and with the success of these recent tests, Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies continue working closely in driving the industry, leading to widescale 5G deployments in 2019 based on 3GPP standard-compliant 5G infrastructure and devices. This will enable timely commercial network launches in 2019, in particular in the United States, China, Japan, Korea and Europe. Marc Rouanne, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia, said: “These tests by Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies are important to the progress of 5G. Importantly, they demonstrate how we have quickly applied the 3GPP Release 15 specifications that were set in December, using our AirScale base station together with a prototype Qualcomm Technologies UE. Now, we can look forward to commencing standards-based, over-the- air 5G NR trials with operators.” INTELLIGENTCIO 13