Jack Martin, editor-in-chief of WebSphere Journal, recently sat down with Bruce Radloff, CTO of OnStar, and Tony Lent, vice president of OnStar's Wireless Strategic Business Unit, to talk about how they use WebSphere.
WebSphere Journal: Bruce, what does the chief technology officer of OnStar do?
Bruce Radloff: I manage the advanced systems development group here at OnStar.
WJ: What does the advance systems development group focus on?
BR: It maintains an end-to-end overview of what OnStar is all about, with a focus on new product innovation. That overview includes three primary components: the vehicles themselves, and the system integration that goes along with them; the network that connects the vehicles to our back office; and the back office, which comprises several different platforms, including our call centers, Web interaction and support, and OnStar Virtual Advisor, which is how we provide voice-activated, Web-based automatic services to the driver.
WJ: Give me a primer on what OnStar is?
BR: That's easy. OnStar is the industry-leading provider of safety and security in-vehicle services. We use GPS technology and an embedded cell phone to link the vehicle and driver to a 24-hour call center where operators, whom we call advisors, are available to respond to all kinds of service requests, from emergencies to stolen vehicle locations to simple routing support to remote door unlocks.
WJ: OnStar services include automatic airbag notification. How does that work?
BR: Going back to our early days, airbag notification has been a cornerstone of our safety and security offerings. In the event the airbags go off, there's a trigger in the electronics within the vehicle that automatically generates an outbound call to the 24-hour OnStar call center. That call transmits vehicle lo?cation information, then toggles over to a voice call so the advisor can speak to the occupants in the vehicle.
WJ: How many subscribers do you have?
BR: Right now we're sitting at about 2.5 million moving to, we hope, 3 million by the end of 2004.
WJ: Recently, someone told me that OnStar has been instrumental in recovering a lot of cars that have been stolen. Can you talk a little bit about that?
BR: Right. In the event your vehicle is stolen, you can report it to the police or you can call OnStar and we'll help you report it to local police authorities. Once we have the police involved and get their approval, we can locate the vehicle - from a data perspective, we call into the vehicle to retrieve latitude/longitude information -- and share that information with the police so they can try and recover the stolen vehicle.
WJ: It kind of takes the fun out of stealing cars!
BR: That's the idea.
WJ: Another thing I find very interesting is being able to ask OnStar how a car or truck is running.
BR: That's our GM Goodwrench remote diagnostics service. I think, as we move forward, our abilities to help our customers better manage their vehicle by understanding the data that the vehicle produces and translating that into actionable additions for our subscribers is going to be huge. All of us at one point in time or another have probably experienced the "check engine" light coming on. What OnStar can do, at the customer's request, is actually go and do what we call a diagnostic probe and pull out the diagnostic trouble code and then give the customer some advice in terms of what actions can be taken. It goes back to the whole peace of mind issue with our subscribers. When the light comes on, you can hit the OnStar button and we can tell you a range of options: pull off to the side of the road and help is on its way; or that there doesn't appear to be a big issue and just make sure you have a dealer look at it the next time you're in for service. And in some instances, the issue will resolve itself with an ignition recycling, so you basically don't have to do anything.
