Aliso Viejo-based Telogis Inc. is playing a key role in helping disaster service providers and commercial fleets navigate the clogged transportation grid around Moore, Okla., in the wake of the powerful tornado that upended the area last month.
The enterprise software maker has been dispersing updates on road closures, openings and alternative routes to customers traveling in and around central Oklahoma since a 200-mph twister ripped a path of destruction miles wide on May 20, leaving 24 dead, hundreds injured and billions of dollars in damages.
Telogis’ five-member customer feedback group—stationed in Aliso Viejo, Boston, Toronto, and Austin, Texas—were funneling, verifying, and updating traffic information and map data within minutes of the tornado’s landing.
Much of the data is centered on certain stretches of Interstate 35, which handles about 96,000 vehicles daily, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Transportation.
“Most of the major over-the-road transportation vehicles are using our routing tools,” said Newth Morris, a Telogis cofounder who runs the company’s route and navigation division. “We’re their reliable source.”
Big customers operating in the region include utilities and JB Hunt, Swift and Schneider National, the latter of which provides relief services in natural disasters and other catastrophes.
Telogis uses GPS and software to help companies with large fleets of delivery trucks create better routes, track shipments and deliveries, manage mobile work forces, and optimize work flow.
The company’s navigation technology has evolved greatly since its early days in 2001, when it primarily sent electronic directions to drivers without using GPS.
Now it’s a critical tool used by commercial and municipal fleets to get food, water and emergency services to residents and businesses, evident in the recent floods in Chicago, on the Eastern seaboard following Hurricane Sandy, and in the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse.
“We get services in there,” Morris said. “Having known, good routes is critical in a lot of these events.”
The company topped $57 million in sales in the 12 months through June 2012, a 167% increase from two years earlier. That landed Telogis in the No. 43 spot last year on the Business Journal’s list of the fastest-growing private companies based here. Executives say it has continued its rapid pace of gowth and expects to top $100 million in revenue this year.
It employs about 65 in OC and some 400 companywide.
Paragon Win
Irvine-based Paragon Software Group notched a design win to embed its universal file system driver into D-Link Systems Inc.’s networking gear and smart devices.
Paragon’s technology allows smartphones, multimedia players, network-attached devices, and other equipment to communicate with storage media, giving consumers the ability to streamline content through any device.
Fountain Valley-based D-Link makes networking gear, surveillance cameras and storage products.
Its Taiwan-based parent, D-Link Corp., has about $1 billion in annual revenue but doesn’t break down sales for its subsidiary here. The Irvine unit has annual sales split between the B2B and consumer segments.
Paragon is one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Orange County, with more than $10 million in annual sales. The company’s products target the data storage market and the mobility segment, two of the industry’s fastest-growing areas, with productivity applications for smartphones.
Machine-to-Machine
Verizon Wireless made a recent stop in OC as part of its nationwide Connected Technology Tour to help local businesses get up to speed on what’s called machine-to-machine solutions.
That’s industry jargon for the ability of different types of equipment and devices to communicate with each other.
The May 14 event at Hyatt Regency Orange County featured seminars and interactive presentations from industry experts to increase operational efficiencies, improve customer service, enhance security, and generate new revenue streams.
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. with more 116.7 million subscribers, is using the tour to target small- to medium-sized businesses in the health, finance, retail and hospitality sectors, as well as government agencies.
The tour began in Oklahoma City in early April, with other recent stops in Raleigh, N.C., Chicago and Phoenix.
Verizon Wireless is a unit of New York-based Verizon Communications, which saw revenue top $115.8 billion last year.
Chris Casacchia can be reached at casac chia@ocbj.com.
