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American Mobile Imaging (AMI) in Montgomery, AL, needed an economical and easy-to-install solution for tracking its vehicles. The company provides on-site X-ray, EKG and ultrasound diagnostic testing services to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospices and for the homebound elderly in six Southeastern states.

AMI's field techs use a portable X-ray machine and process images on-site in a van. Images are uploaded to an Internet site through a proprietary Picture & Archiving Commuications (PAC) system. A remote radiologist logs on to view the images and generates a report that's delivered to the patient or caregiver. The company promises a turnaround time of 24 hours for routine services and four hours for emergencies.

Each of the company's 29 vans carries equipment valued at approximately $120,000, including a Computerized Radiography processor, a computer, the mobile X-ray machine, and some six $1,200-$1,300 cassettes used to record images.

While the company wanted to protect the investment it had made in a BlackBerry infrastructure, it also needed a way to track its vans that required no human or tech intervention while enabling management to know where the vehicles were at all times. The solution had to be easy to deploy and economical.

AMI worked with Sprint Nextel and TeleNav to devise a solution that puts Motorola i335 phones running the TeleNav Track application into a rugged black box installed in each van. "We can get onto the Web from anywhere and see where those assets are," says Don Miniard, AMI's IT Manager. In today's economy, at a price of $12 per user per month, Miniard is satisfied with the return he's getting on his asset tracking investment.