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Press Release: April 28, 2005FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALK Technologies Hosts Technology Summit Princeton, NJ April 28, 2005 ? ALK Technologies, Inc., the leading developer of routing, mileage, and mapping software, hosted a Technology Summit last week where an influential group of transportation industry leaders gathered in downtown Princeton to collaborate on the theme ?Driving Profitability,? Emerging Issues in Transportation Technology. During the one-day conference, participants addressed critical industry trends including toll cost management, GPS navigation and tracking, fuel tax and regulatory compliance, and transportation management/mobile communications systems. The group highlighted several crucial issues: driver turnover exceeds 100% annually for the industry, fuel costs have skyrocketed, and traffic congestion impacts efficient operations. To deal with these issues, the attendees agreed to establish a Practical Rating Council with the mission of moving the entire industry to standardize on practical, truck-legal and safe routes (mileage) ? not the shortest route ? for billing purposes. This will enhance driver job satisfaction because motor carriers will have the ability to pay drivers based on what they actually face each day operating their vehicles, not an artificial, outdated mileage calculation. Additionally, ALK?s Optimized ETA Routing was introduced as a new and extremely useful mechanism for assuring that predictable traffic patterns can be exploited for the most advantageous minimum delivery times. The keynote address ?Beyond Just in Time: Redefining Real Time? was delivered by Dr. Alain Kornhauser, Founder of ALK Technologies, Inc. and Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University where he is also Director of the Interdepartmental Transportation Research Program, and Co-Director of the Center for Transportation Information and Decision Engineering. His audience gathered at the historic Nassau Inn across from Princeton University and included leaders from companies such as Celadon Trucking Services, CR England Inc., Crete Carrier Corporation, FedEx Freight, Roadway Express, and UPS. Other attendees included Bridge Terminal Transport (Maersk), Cowan Systems, Knight Transportation, National Freight Industries (NFI) and USF Logistics, in addition to various technology partners. ?For many years, industry leaders have encouraged us to host an event focusing on the technology that drives transportation,? explains Ed Siciliano, Vice President of ALK. ?This event allowed us to reach out to the customers that are directly affected by the innovations we are working to develop, as well as brainstorm new technology solutions that will address challenges currently facing the industry.? Speakers included Tom Weisz, CEO of TMW Systems, Ron Konezny, Chief Operating Officer of PeopleNet Communications and Dr. Richard Murphy, President of IDSC. Of utmost interest to the attendees, Weisz cited industry surveys revealing costs associated with an inefficient dispatcher equating to $250,000 annually. Henry Popplewell, Vice President, Sales at Nextel ® Communications presented ?Customer Service Technology Innovations? and was ironically forced to rely on a new GPS navigation system on his mobile phone to avoid heavy traffic congestion while traveling to the event. Additional speakers included Erik Anderson, Vice President, Sales at Agentek, Tom Rushfeldt, Partner at Inter-Tax and Garry Dreier, CEO of ALK Technologies who spoke on ?Improving On-Time Performance.? John White, Vice President of Marketing Services for Swift Transportation, spoke candidly regarding the hot button issue of Toll Cost Management and returned to the podium at the end of the day to moderate a roundtable discussion regarding Industry Rating Practices. According to White, Swift incurs more than $20 million in annual toll costs and has recently developed a new system with ALK to more accurately and efficiently manage these exorbitant costs. The day concluded with a dinner reception held at the Prospect House on Princeton University?s campus. For a complete overview of ALKļæ½s 2005 Technology Summit, visit www.alk.com/techsummit. About ALK Technologies, Inc. ALK Technologies is a member of the Microsoft Mobility Partner Advisory Council (MPAC), a unique partner program developed by Microsoft Corp. to serve as a focused feedback mechanism for Microsoft Windows Mobile platform development, and provide leading companies with the tools and resources they need to bring the most innovative and successful mobility solutions to market.
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