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Plumbing Contractor Saves
$10,000 and Improves
Service with CradlePoint
DJ Data Solutions Installs CradlePoint Routers in Service
Trucks and Saves Plumbing Contractor the Pain of Buying
New Handhelds and Migrating Wireless Providers
SITUATION
DJ Data Solutions provides custom software development and handheld applications
in Madison, Wisconsin. One of its clients—Benjamin Plumbing—has a four-truck
service fleet. Each truck carries about 2,500 parts in inventory that are bar coded for
pricing. The company wanted its service field techs to be able to use their existing
MC9000 handheld scanners to scan bar codes of parts used on service calls.
Then, the techs would use the MC9000 scanners to print invoices on the spot using
wireless printers installed in the trucks. In addition, the company wanted to be able
to send scheduling updates and new job tickets to the MC9000 scanners while the
techs were out on the road. Finally, Benjamin Plumbing wanted it all to communicate
with their back-end accounting software.
CHALLENGE
David Harrison, President of DJ Data Solutions, faced a number of issues. The
MC9000 scanners the company owned—while Wi-Fi enabled—were not equipped
to communicate using 3G / broadband mobile service. This prevented them from
connecting directly with the office. Scanners that did have 3G / broadband mobile
The CradlePoint MBR1100 enables VPN sessions over the
Internet. The MBR1100 instantly creates a Wi-Fi hotspot
that any Wi-Fi enabled device can connect to—laptop,
camera, PDA, etc. The MBR1100 then connects the
devices to the Internet via 3G/4G mobile broadband using
an EVDO ExpressCard or USB air card. It can also use a
DSL or cable modem landline to connect to the Internet.
