Orbcomm's not alone in this business, but it has a substantial lead on the competition.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Orbcomm is selling communicators to go onto things like oil pipelines and electric meters.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

And Webster is probably right when he says the potential market for Orbcomm's service is bigger.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

And when it came to putting Orbcomm together, simplicity remained the order of the day.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Orbcomm's biggest customer is Schneider National, a Green Bay, Wisconsin, trucking firm that owns 43, 000 trailers.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Schneider National hopes to outfit all of them with Orbcomm communicators by the end of next year.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Scott Webster is determined not to make the same mistake with Orbcomm.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

The deal is to launch 18 satellites for ORBCOMM's network.

ECONOMIST: Space

Orbcomm has signed a similar deal with J.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Orbcomm is going for the broad bottom slice.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Once Orbcomm has 350, 000 units installed--which could happen by the third quarter of next year, says Paul Nisbet, an analyst with JSA Research--it will be covering not just its operating costs but its noncash depreciation charges.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers

Orbcomm's network of 28 satellites handle short bursts of data from things such as shipping containers and electricity meters, the kind of messages that can wait a few seconds until a satellite is overhead and don't require elaborate software to process.

FORBES: Iridium for truck trailers