Technology Sellers hope mobile wireless will appeal to young drivers

Just as North America's big three automakers look to overhaul their business models, three Moncton car dealerships are offering Internet solutions on the go to appeal to a tech-savvy generation of drivers.

Ford and Saturn are in the process of launching in-car mobile wireless broadband service while Honda is offering customers the ability to track cars remotely - both solutions by Moncton's Red Ball Internet.

With the same iBurst technology Red Ball has used to track and bring mobile Internet service to Moncton's city buses, the company is now reaching out to new corporate clients in the auto sector.

For Saturn's general sales manager, Sean Kavanagh, offering in-car Internet to younger customers will give his dealership an edge.

"Those in their mid-30s will appreciate their kids being able to be on the Internet in the backseat," Kavanagh said.

"It just becomes a way of life and they can't live without Internet so why not have it in their car?" he said.

Red Ball is promising its mobile Internet access within the Greater Moncton and Greater Fredericton areas will be consistent for drivers and passengers of cars, and has successfully tested the service to speeds of up to 250 kilometres per hour, according to the company.

Honda will soon begin marketing Red Ball's vehicle-tracking service under the name Guardian Angel as a way for parents to keep tabs on their teenage drivers.

John Brushett, owner of Moncton Honda, said Red Ball's solution will allow a new car buyer at his dealership to watch their vehicle travelling in the Greater Moncton area on an online map and receive email updates on how fast the car has travelled.

As a father of four, Brushett can see how other parents would find the service valuable.

"I know what kind of stress it is when they don't show up on time with the car," Brushett said.

"We really think that there's a strong possibility that parents who have vehicles, especially those with substantive value, and they're passing their keys over to their younger teens, it would be a great safety feature to just dial into the Internet and see where your son or daughter has the vehicle at a particular time."

Sean Adams, chief marketing officer for Red Ball, said the company first tossed around the idea of designing solutions for car dealers last year to get ahead of the curve after Chrysler LLC announced it would be offering in-car Internet in 2009.

Internet and tracking are just two solutions possible with the iBurst technology, though.

Adams maintains that iBurst - manufactured by Japan's Kyocera Corp. and licenced to Red Ball for use in Canada - is superior to WiFi in that it was designed specifically to handle high bandwidth data and video rather than voice, and is more reliable and secure.

"Comparing iBurst and WiFi is like comparing apples to oranges," Adams said, explaining that WiFi was created years ago by telecommunications companies using the same technology used to develop cell phone networks.

He explains that WiFi operates on a public spectrum, "like a drinking fountain in the park" and can be accessed or tapped into easily, even when protected by a security code.

RedBall "takes it to the next level," Adams said, because it has its own band - or spectrum - for the province of New Brunswick, offering more secure service.

Red Ball provides Interac banking to two cab companies in Moncton with iBurst and envisions offering in-car live video - which would be streamed over the Internet - as a safety measure for cab drivers at risk of being held up by passengers.

Once iBurst is installed in a car, voice-over-Internet, video, tracking and banking are all possibilities.

The company is also working with several public utilities on a trial project that would see power meters and water meters checked remotely with iBurst, which could save time, manpower and costs.

And the National Research Council Canada's Institute for Information Technology is helping Red Ball market its Internet and fleet management program for buses nationally.

The company set up shop in 2004 initially with the aim of providing Internet to rural communities but found there was too much market competition.

Now, they are the only Internet provider and infrastructure company in the world to focus entirely on corporate and government deals, Adams said.

In an interview in his company's downtown Moncton office, Adams points out the window to Red Ball's antenna on the top of the Assumption Life tower - the tallest building in Moncton.

The antenna and four others that loop Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe provide a ring of service of up to 12 kilometres at its widest.

The company's goal for 2009 is to expand its current service beyond Moncton and Fredericton and into Miramichi, Saint John and Bathurst.

"We plan to go across Canada eventually," he said.