Internet/Digital Cellular Dispatch Technology Comes to "Help Desk" Software Market.

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1998--Lavelle Engineering Technologies, Inc. (LET), has announced plans to offer On+Site Dispatch(TM) technology, a pioneering software package which uses a combination of Internet and digital cellular telephone technologies to support a variety of dispatching needs, to the "help desk" market.

LET plans to design seamless custom interfaces to existing "help desk" applications, offering the marketers of help desk software an extension of their proprietary packages and bridging them to state-of-the-art field communications technology.

The announcement was made by Michael R. Lavelle, founder and President of LET.

The On+Site package seamlessly blends Internet and digital cellular or other wireless technologies to improve efficiency, automate record-keeping and reduce costs for companies which are heavily involved in mobile dispatching.

Three Help Desk Segments Targeted

"We see three areas within the burgeoning help desk market where our technology can add significant value," Lavelle indicated.

"Where the primary focus is on problem management, On+Site Dispatch extends the reach of a help desk technician. The field technician can use a wireless connection for real-time information updating, view a list of pending problems, acknowledge or `accept' them, provide an estimated completion time, and indicate the action (and, if appropriate, parts) required to resolve the problem," he explained.

"Our asset management extension provides instant retrieval of a stored equipment and software configuration. This permits centralization of such information and facilitates controlled but easily available access. It eliminates the need for field technicians to access that information from a personal computer or, worse still, paper-based records," Lavelle pointed out.

"The trouble management feature allows support personnel to pick up at any point in the service cycle. They can start at the outset of the call, recording progress at convenient points as they go through the repair process.

"They can cycle through step-by-step `help desk' prompts interactively, where that is appropriate. If they are returning to an in-progress site, they can view work completed to date. Jobs can be closed out or continued with notes about the work still to be done," he explained.

Easily Integrated With Existing Help Desk Packages

In many cases, On+Site Dispatch can be integrated with an existing help desk package through a relatively simple port, enabling the help desk vendor to deliver the power of their system directly to the field in easily-accessible, economical and productive fashion.

Lavelle reported that his company has held discussions with "several" help desk firms.

"We are leaning to an `open systems' approach which would make the technology available to multiple companies," he added.

LET's On+Site Dispatch technology is already being proven in field applications such as repair and maintenance contractors, delivery services and installation-intensive retail and wholesale businesses seeking improved productivity in the field.

Actual Productivity Gains of 10%-30% Reported

An early user of LET's On+Site software, PDQ Delivery in the (San Francisco) Bay area, has reported a consistent 20%-30% increase in productivity with its dispatchers, and a 10%-20% increase in productivity among delivery personnel.

With On+Site Dispatch, information required by those who are being dispatched is posted on and retrieved from a Web site operated either by LET or by the user.

CDPD technology offers both voice and data capabilities, delivering cellular voice calls through traditional means and displaying data through a built-in Web micro-browser.

On+Site technology can also be deployed through CDMA, GSM, TDMA protocols and the BellSouth RAM network.

Lavelle Engineering Technologies may be visited on the Internet at www.let.com.

ABOUT LAVELLE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (LET)

Lavelle Engineering Technologies provides Internet and wireless services for dispatching applications to a variety of markets. The company has pioneered dispatching over the Internet using the World Wide Web as a low cost, rapid method for transferring data to other personal computers, wireless Internet phones and Internet pagers.