Frank W. Murphy Manufacturing, a maker of control systems for equipment, is now offering a satellite monitoring system that can report the location of a piece of equipment and monitor its number of running hours, engine temperature and speed, as well as shutdown and its cause.

Frank W. Murphy is the value-added reseller while Orbcomm, the world's first commercial provider of global low-Earth-orbit satellite-based data and messaging services, owns and operates the system. A network of distribution partners then delivers the service around the globe to meet the communications needs of the transportation, marine, oil and gas, utility, heavy equipment, and other industries.

"This is the future," says Raymond Carr, engineering supervisor for corporate development for Murphy Manufac-turing. "In the next five years, every piece of equipment from cars to tractors to pressure washers will be hooked up to communicate data to manufacturers and owners. Twenty-eight satellites and have so far been launched, while the system has been fully operational for more than a year."

Satellites provide worldwide geographic coverage. Outgoing messages are transmitted to a satellite and sent to "a gateway earth station" and then to the intended recipient via e-mail, pager or cell phone, or by logging into a Web site.

The company provides preconfigured satellite systems as well as customized packaging, allowing rental centers to decide what features they need, Carr says. For instance, with notification and cause of shutdown, a service technician can be dispatched quickly to make repairs, already knowing what is needed. Routine maintenance checks can be carried out by remote control, the company says, eliminating the need for personnel to perform regular on-site checks, saving labor costs.

To stop theft, a rental center can be contacted if a piece of equipment strays far from the jobsite, and alerted as to its exact latitude and longitude. According to Carr, the fee for the service ranges from about $20 to $70 a month, depending on the level of value-added service.