Scania's trucks enter the IT world

Infotronics now in place Scania's trucks enter the IT world Scania's IT development company on Wednesday inaugurated its new facilities in Kista in the northern outskirts of Stockholm. Operations have had a flying start. Some ten projects have been initiated and Scania expects fast results. "One of the leading principles of our development strategy is that we want full control of system design and system integration. These areas allow us to develop unique product with unique customer benefits," says Håkan Samuelsson, Chief Technical Officer and Executive Vice President at Scania. "By picking up the spoken and unspoken needs of our customers in this area as well, we can create an even stronger Scania profile." The company, which was formed in March this year, is located in Kista - Swe- den's Silicon valley - where most of the large IT companies have settled. Among them are research units within Ericsson, with which Scania now runs new joint projects. The area is so hot that the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has decided to create a new campus and locate its IT research and education in Kista. "Within short, some of Scania's products will consist of services that are de- livered electronically," says Peter Gillbrand, MD of the new company. "Commu- nicating will become as common and natural as washing the windscreen while driving or making coffee during a break." The market for intelligent transport products and services is facing a boom. Within 15 years, the turnover is estimated at USD400 billion across the globe (source: ITS America), of which USD100 billion only in Europe (source: EU com- mission). Around 80 percent of the market is estimated to be within private enterprises, the remainder belonging to the public sector and the infrastruc- ture. Within fleet management the market for GPS-based solutions is expected to grow from USD200 million in 1998 to USD1,200 million until 2002 (source: USGIC, Strategic Group). For further information, please contact: Peter Gillbrand, Scania Infotronics AB, tel. +46 70 8225969, peter.gillbrand@scania.com Per-Erik Nordström, Corporate Communications, tel. +46 70 5535577, per- erik.nordstrom@scania.com Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 23,500 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 1998, turnover to- talled SEK 45,300 million and income after financial items SEK 3,200 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and approxi- mately 96 percent of total production is sold outside Sweden. Scania press releases are available on the Internet, www.scania.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/08/18/19990818BIT00200/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/08/18/19990818BIT00200/bit0002.pdf