Qualcomm Inc., a provider of business-to-business telematics and equipment management services, and National Equipment Register, provider of centralized heavy equipment registration databases and related services, last week announced that the two companies are working together to combat the equipment theft and recovery challenge.

The partnership represents NER’s first partnership with a telematics provider and Qualcomm’s first alliance with a security- and recovery-services provider. The combined service will include Qualcomm’s GlobalTRACS equipment management system and NER’s program, including enrollment in the NER database, decals that help deter theft by indicating the equipment’s identification information is registered, and communication channels to law-enforcement investigators. NER’s database is often checked by companies purchasing used equipment.

The combined program compresses the time lapse between being alerted that a machine may be stolen and reporting a theft to the most appropriate law-enforcement agency. This time-lapse reduction raises the likelihood of stolen equipment recovery and reduces the costs associated with theft for both owners and insurers.

“By working together with NER, we can offer our customers not only the equipment management and theft-recovery information they need to optimize their business operations, but also theft prevention, used equipment purchase services and invaluable relationships with law enforcement and the NER.”

The GlobalTRACS system collects, organizes and manages equipment use and location data, as well as critical system alerts, such as engine overheat. Information can be accessed through the Internet or integrated into existing back-end business software systems. Companies using GlobalTRACS can spot unauthorized use, identify and re-deploy underutilized and idle equipment, and create virtual boundaries.

In other Qualcomm news, the company said that Thoutt Brothers Concrete Contractors, a Denver-based construction contractor, has implemented improved equipment monitoring by installing GlobalTRACS on the majority of its construction equipment, including tractors, loaders, and fuel and service trucks.

Thoutt Brothers previously spent considerable time keeping track of equipment with phone calls, construction site searches and handwritten notes recording the number of hours a machine had been running. The GlobalTRACS system improves efficiency because the system constantly monitors location and engine usage on every machine and makes that information available to Thoutt Brothers in a variety of forms, automatically updating location data for each piece of equipment to ensure the equipment is in the right location.

Thoutt Brothers’ outsourced equipment maintenance provider, Colorado Machinery, uses GlobalTRACS online interface to access equipment maintenance information to ensure they are meeting prescribed maintenance intervals.