Nextel and ServicePower Launch First Wireless Voice, Data, and Scheduling Solution Designed for Major Appliance and Consumer Electronics Industry (email this article)

Reston, VA and Annapolis, MD – July 27, 2005 – Nextel Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTL), a leading provider of wireless communications services, and ServicePower (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), a provider of Web-based, automated job scheduling and warranty chain management services for service delivery and installation industries, today announced the availability of SERVICEMobility, a dynamic wireless scheduling solution that electronically dispatches jobs to technicians, thereby saving contractors valuable time and eliminating the need to travel back to the office to pick up paperwork or to place lengthy phone calls to the dispatcher. The service, which works on GPS-enabled handsets, replaces manual or semi-automated scheduling solutions used by most companies.
 
The Java-based solution, built on mobile application and platform technology provided by KonaWare Inc., integrates Nextel’s voice and data technology with ServicePower’s Web-based patented scheduling application to help companies manage service calls based on specific criteria, such as skill level, technician availability and technician and customer location. Using SERVICEMobility on Nextel devices lets technicians accept, reject, reschedule and complete new service calls from the road. Inbound reports detail new job specifics, such as location and type of repairs needed and allows technicians to close out jobs and submit claims paperwork directly from the device, thereby streamlining the invoice process and maximizing service revenues. The service also lets dispatchers reschedule work and avoid potential problems such as jobs running over schedule and allows schedulers to take advantage of resources becoming available earlier than expected.
 
“Nextel regards the partnership with ServicePower as a natural progression of our Wireless Business Solutions initiative,” said Rob Consolazio, senior director, Nextel business solutions group. “Nextel is delighted to work with ServicePower – a company who clearly understands the needs of service companies and the challenges they face. Nextel and ServicePower will deliver relevant and effective solutions for the major appliance and consumer electronics industry to increase operational efficiency and productivity.”
 
Ian MacKinnon, ServicePower’s CEO, said “Typically, our enterprise customers have gained over 15-percent productivity, which equates to two or three extra jobs per week from using our scheduling technology. SERVICEMobility offers the small to medium sized service company the same benefits that large field service organizations have realized for years, in terms of greater efficiencies and reduced cost. We are focused on helping the two million technicians in the small business space become more profitable by providing tools such as SERVICEMobility, that ultimately allow them to save money and get more work from manufacturers, retailers, and third-party administrators.”
 
SERVICEMobility delivers improved operational efficiency and provides all the information necessary to create and submit management reports in real-time. The solution reduces manual overhead by limiting time-consuming paperwork and phone calls between the dispatcher and technician. SERVICEMobility also provides real-time and historical activity reports that highlight specific technician productivity and billing details and help management continually optimize work schedules.
 
SERVICEMobility is available on the Motorola i605, i710, i730, i830, i860 and i355 handsets.
 
About Nextel
 
Nextel Communications, a FORTUNE 200 company based in Reston, Va., is a leading provider of fully integrated wireless communications services and has built the largest guaranteed all-digital wireless network in the country covering thousands of communities across the United States. Today 95 percent of FORTUNE 500 companies are Nextel customers. Nextel and Nextel Partners, Inc. currently serve 297 of the top 300 U.S. markets where approximately 264 million people live or work.
 
About ServicePower
 
ServicePower (LSE: SVR) offers tools that enable optimized service execution across the entire service network. With licenses sold covering over 30,000 service technicians, SERVICEPower is the most widely used artificial intelligence based field service scheduling application in the world. ServicePower solutions, offered throughout the U.S., UK, and Europe, allow companies to locate their employed field resources in the right geography, ensure they have the right mix of skills, and outside this geography to create a network of independent, authorized servicers. The routes for both the company field resources and the independent servicers are optimized by ServicePower’s technology to ensure the right balance between service and cost. ServicePower also provides warranty chain management, call center services, and analytics for manufacturers, third-party administrators, and retailers across the U.S. ServicePower’s customers include innovative, world leading companies such as Avaya Communication, GE, Sharp Electronics, and Siemens. For more information, visit the Web site at www.servicepower.com.
 
About KonaWare
 
KonaWare Inc. provides the leading mobile application platform for developing and extending mission-critical enterprise applications to a mobile workforce. The KonaWare Mobility Platform and KonaWare Application Suites utilize a standards-based architecture that leverages existing IT infrastructure to maximize return-on-investment. With KonaWare, end users can deploy industry-specific applications and developers can quickly develop mobile transactional applications on a range of devices (from laptops to PDAs to smartphones) with minimal coding and reintegration. KonaWare is privately held and headquartered in Menlo Park, California. For more information, visit the Web site at www.konaware.com.
 
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