Company Overview

Mentor Engineering was built in 1988 from the ground up by three electrical engineers who honed their technical skills during years of research and development at one of Canadas largest telephone companies.

After venturing out on their own, Gord Howell, Wolfgang Stichling, and Steve Hickle toiled for hours in Gords basement, building a wireless telemetry product for the oil and gas industry. When the energy industry took a nosedive in the early 1990s, the men re-evaluated and saw a niche for their technology in fleet management.

They first sold their Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) in 1993 to Checker Cabs in their hometown of Calgary. Soon, contracts were coming in from across Canada and the United States, and then from around the world.

In 16years, Mentor has installed more than 200 systems and 15, 000 units in 12 industries and nine countries worldwide. Mentors wireless computers can be found everywhere from taxis in London and ambulances in Australia, to buses in New York and cement trucks in Mexico.

Mentor is the leading provider of wireless data communication/GPS systems to the North American Paratransit industry, as well as the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Mentors in-vehicle hardwarein conjunction with industry- specific scheduling, dispatching, and reporting software improves response times, reduces costs, automates data collection, and increases customer satisfaction.

As Mentors clientele has grown, so have its employee ranks. Mentor employs over 70 engineering, sales, production, marketing, and administrative staff at its Calgary home office.

Company Information

Additional Details

Legal Name: Mentor Engineering Inc.

Number of Employees: 70

Contacts

Services

• Systems Integration

  Mentor Engineerings systems integrators ensure that the various components of the mobile data system including in-vehicle hardware, middleware, network, and host softwarecommunicate and work together. These engineers work with host software providers to develop the right mobile application; with clients to customize the mobile software to their needs; and with installers to ensure the vehicle interface is correct and takes full advantage of the mobile computers capability.

Products

• Bbx

  The BBX is an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and telematic data collection device for fleet tracking. It not only locates vehicles-in-motion but also can connect to emergency switches, temperature sensors, fuel disablers, and other vehicle monitoring components.

• Mentor Ranger

  Ranger is a rugged fixed-mount tablet computer. It features a Windows CE operating system, colour touchscreen display, in-vehicle mapping and navigation capability, built-in smart card and credit card readers, and integrated GPS for automatic vehicle location.

  Ranger meets MIL spec ratings for water resistance, shock and vibration.

• Mobile Data Computer
• Stryder

  Stryder is a Windows CE portable tablet computer for the mobile workforce. With its optional DVD drive, colour display, touch screen, in-vehicle navigation capability, docking station, and built-in smart and credit card readers, Stryder is the most integrated device of its kind.

• Xgate

  XGate middleware handles the intricacies of wireless networks and performs protocol translation so that your dispatching network can talk to other wireless networks.

  With XGate, users communicate over their choice of wireless networks and send data over multiple networks simultaneously. Regardless of the network(s) used, XGate provides a consistent user interface every time.

  XGate ensures that messages reach their target on time. If it doesnt, the user is notified immediately that something has gone wrong. Finally, XGate offers diagnostic tools, now available on the Internet, to help you monitor the communication flow throughout your system.

NAICS Categories

• 334110 Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing
• 541510 Computer Systems Design and Related Services

Additional Information