EARS plc Provide Cargiant with the Latest in Handportable Technology
EARS plc were approached by Cargiant, officially the world’s largest car dealership, to offer a robust and cost efficient system capable of providing clear, effective and instant communication across their 23 acre, 5,000 car west London site. EARS plc’s technical team proposed a solution for the dealership which met their specific need to provide a system which was able to deal with hundreds of staff calls over a very large site whilst allowing for a greater level security for the dealership’s 600 members of staff.
To meet Cargiant’s requirement EARS proposed the Icom I-Loc and radio messaging system. This system works through a series of radio beacons that are strategically installed throughout the site. The beacons identify individual information about the portables including their location and user identity information, this data is then relayed back to a central server and all of the information can be displayed on a PC interface. The beacons are compact, robust, waterproof and equipped with independent power supplies so they are able to operate as stand alone devices.
The I-Loc system enhances Cargiants health and safety remit, by offering all radio users the ability for emergency alert functionality inclusive of mandown and loneworker. Icom I-Loc has a unique automated warning system which is activated if a portable radio nears the end of its battery life or more importantly if a radio is in emergency mode it automatically transmits the location of the user to the main server. The server then sends a text message to all other radios informing them of the name and position of the radio that is in the emergency mode.
Cargiant staff were equipped with the latest in Icom portable radio technology enhancing the company’s customer service offering. The Icom IC F4126S handportable allows Cargiant staff the opportunity to report to base that they are with a client just by pressing a button or they if a client is interested in a specific vehicle the staff member has the ability to send out messages and client details to their nearest manager. These radios are supplied with 2000mAh Li-Ion battery packs providing for up to 14 hours of operating time, they are water resistant and they come standard with a large full dot-matrix LCD (32 _ 18 mm) showing upper and lower case characters clearly.
In order to administer this complex system EARS installed Icom’s RMS-net digital radio management system. This system is installed in a standard desktop windows compatible computer. RMS-Net manages all voice communications and text messaging between the portable radios, it then logs and stores all radio traffic on a central database, making ideal management for control and future resource planning, which helps personnel coordination.
All administration of the system can be done remotely by other connected PCs, even from remote locations, like a control centre. This helps any system managers to oversee the entire system remotely.
With EARS’s assistance, Car Giant is now able to communicate with all its key staff instantly and in turn service their customers better and faster.
To learn more about Icom’s Digital radio offerings, including the new I-lock and RMS-net systems please call our sales team on 020 8964 6699.
