At the Navis World conference last week mobile computer specialist JLT Mobile Computers announced the signing of a long-term partnership with the Navis Ready Programme.

Navis Ready is the Navis partner programme for certifying connectivity with hardware and software to the Navis N4 TOS. To achieve certification third party products are tested against and certified for connectivity to a particular version of N4. What happens when a terminal upgrades to a new version of N4 is somewhat opaque. Navis does not change every API for every N4 version, but at the same time it does not guarantee that every certified product will continue to work with N4 updates.

To offer its customers certainty, JLT mobile has signed up for a five-year Navis Ready partnership. “JLT is the first partner to sign up for a subscription validation for all major N4 releases over the next five years ensuring that the included devices are Navis Ready,” said Darren George, Director, Technical Services at Navis. “This means that all ports using Navis N4 with validated computers from JLT will benefit from quick and straightforward installation.”

“A rapidly growing number of customers within the port segment are using our rugged computers,” said Per Holmberg, CEO, JLT Mobile Computers. “We have been collaborating with Navis since 2015. By renewing our Navis Ready Partner agreement to a full five years, we provide customer value by guaranteeing that our products will work with upcoming Navis N4 TOS releases for years to come.”

In another development JLT Mobile is offering US customers a “Hardware as a Service” (Haas) model where they can specify and contract with JLT based on device performance and availability criteria. JLT devices are more expensive than alternatives such as Toughbooks that are in the market, but the company claims its products have a lower lifetime cost and deliver superior performance in rugged applications. With the HaaS model JLT takes the responsibility for delivering that performance over the life of a contract.

JLT has also launched a “Wireless as a service” (WaaS) model in the US where it takes responsibility for a full turn-key wireless network, including the survey, design, configuration, deployment and management throughput the contract term. Speaking with WorldCargo News at Navis World, Darren George said this is available for indoor applications like warehouses, but not large outdoor deployments like ports at this stage.