About 1.13 billion mobile phones will be in use by 2003, and 85 percent of them will be Internet-enabled, said Frank Parise, business development representative for @Road.

Parise made his comments in a presentation titled “LocationSmart Wireless Internet Services” at a meeting of the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) Pacific Southwest Chapter meeting, which took place March 13, 2001 in Cerritos. Speaking about the future capabilities of wireless technology, Parise talked about the E-911 Mandate, which forces cell phone carriers to build cell phones that can be located when the user calls 9-1-1. “That will be very important to fleet management, because if you know where the phone is, you will know where the driver is,” he said. Parise said many fleet managers don’t want to track every move of their drivers, but they want a report once a month on where the vehicle has been such as whether the vehicle is traveling to Mexico, for example. Products such as @Road show can show fleet managers the average speed their drivers are driving, and can assist fleet managers in obtaining accurate odometer readings, he said. They also help drivers stay productive with tools such as e-mail, calendars, and driving directions.