CalAmp Corp. has found a new target market for its tracking sensors: our furry friends.
The Irvine-based telematics specialist (Nasdaq: CAMP)—whose products are typically used to remotely monitor vehicles—is supplying sensors to Reston, Va.-based logistics software maker CargoSense Inc., to bring a new pet tracking device to market.
The device, called Maven, is about the size of a smartwatch and can be attached to a crate, box or collar.
The product “provides pet owners, dog clubs, veterinarians and airlines with location and environmental condition updates for any animal shipped by air,” the two companies said when announcing the product.
It costs about $80 and was among the thousands of products launched at CES in Las Vegas earlier this month.
The device links CargoSense software with CalAmp’s LoJack brand supply chain sensors, which are primarily used to help police and commercial vehicle operators monitor and recover cars and trucks.
“It’s basically a telematics gateway and sensor tags that can detect light, temperature, humidity and all these environmental conditions,” CalAmp Chief Executive Michael Burdiek told the Business Journal during the technology trade show.
Telematics is an all-encompassing term for the remote monitoring of assets, typically autos.
The telematics segment accounted for about 83% of CalAmp’s $366 million in revenue in its last fiscal year that ended in February.
The Irvine-based company has seen an uptick in business since acquiring LoJack Corp. in Canton, Mass., in 2016 for $131.7 million.
That deal added a distribution network and name brand in the used-car dealership market, as well as additional business in the vehicle theft-recovery and fleet telematics sectors.
Pet Travel
CargoSense has worked with CalAmp previously to monitor and track a variety of goods in the U.S. and internationally, including palettes of pharmaceuticals, electronics, aircraft parts and warehouse inventory.
“We monitor high value cargo in supply chains,” Chief Operating Officer Mark Gardner said.
Valuable cargo now includes pets, and could expand to show dogs, race horses and zoo animals as CargoSense gauges market demand with dog breeders, kettle clubs, caretakers and other potential purveyors—including airlines, which typically charge upwards of $300 a flight for pet travel services.
The Virginia-based company, established in 2012, was contacted last year by an undisclosed domestic airline after some negative social media publicity.
The airline asked the company to monitor its cargo holds and CargoSense found that about 15% of all their flights subjected pets to discomforting conditions, typically on the tarmac and in certain compartments.
“We realized through all this there was a consumer product,” Gardner said.
Only a small fraction of pets die annually during air travel, though these statistics are of little comfort for pet owners, especially when well-publicized national reports detail them.
According to the Department of Transportation’s 2017 Air Travel Consumer Report, 24 animals died in air transportation that year. Nearly 507,000 pets took flight in 2017, the latest available research shows.
The Maven product, along with an accompanying app, provides a complete view of a pet’s status from departure to arrival. Its battery lasts longer than a month, but it’s intended as a one-time use device.
Other key features include real-time location while in transit, environmental conditions prior to takeoff, pre-set temperature thresholds with alerts, quick chat with pet owners and transportation providers, and a summary PDF of trip details for pet health records.
“Some airlines we’re talking to want to use this as a competitive advantage,” Gardner said.
