AirIQ Inc., a mobile resource management company, announced June 27 that it has acquired more than 25,000 subscribers from its three primary vertical markets: Rental Vehicle, Commercial Transport and Field Service. The service revenue backlog relating to this subscriber base as at June 26, 2002, was approximately $21,500,000. The company also announced a reduction of 25 employees, or 28 percent of its total workforce, as a result of management's decision to focus on acquiring larger accounts, the maturity of its service delivery technology and the completion of certain internal business automation projects. "We have developed an impressive subscriber acquisition engine, which we now intend to direct toward larger accounts, our most cost effective path to expedited growth," said Donald E. Simmonds, president and chief executive officer. "With our automation projects engaging, we can continue our growth while making this further substantial reduction in our operating infrastructure costs." The staff reductions are effective immediately and will reduce annual operating expenses (including wages and other associated costs) by approximately $2,850,000. One-time charges related to the staff reductions total approximately $350,000, and will be booked in the third quarter. With previously announced reductions in operating expenses, the company says it has now reduced annual operating expenses by approximately $4,850,000. "We have now automated much of what was dependent on human intervention in our business operations. Our more recent technology efforts have been focused on integrating the dispatch service and automating our total service delivery mechanism, client support systems and back office processes," said Dathan Liblik, chief technology officer. "In June 2002, we completed and launched automated transaction rating, invoicing, and customer relationship management systems simultaneously, thereby placing the Company in a position to obtain these expense reduction benefits." The company says it has further reduced cash requirements by changing to an equipment sales model. Typically, AirIQ secures client contracts for a 36 to 60-month term. Until now, AirIQ offered a bundled service model, which included the vehicle equipment and corresponding wireless airtime for a single monthly fee. To date, the Company has used its cash resources to fund approximately $7,200,000 in vehicle equipment and will need to fund a further $2,500,000 (approximately) in vehicle equipment related to existing contracts. The Company has now implemented this equipment sales model and will no longer finance vehicle equipment from its own cash resources. About AirIQ AirIQ is a mobile resource management company headquartered in Pickering, near Toronto, Canada. The company operates as a wireless Internet applications service provider specializing in Telematics. AirIQ's services are offered to three large vertical markets, including rental vehicle fleets, commercial transport fleets and service companies. AirIQ (www.airiq.com) gives fleet managers information about their vehicles, including vehicle location, boundary notification, automated inventory, maintenance reminders, security alerts and remote vehicle disabling. AirIQ also offers dispatch services that enable clients to send and receive job information to and from any PC, via the Internet, to the display of their mobile workers' portable wireless device.