LOUISVILLE, Ky. – International’s mission to become the industry’s uptime leader was all in the air at the Mid-America Trucking Show this week.

At a press event at the show, the company announced that the industry’s only open architecture remote diagnostics systems – OnCommand Connection ­– will now be a standard, no-charge feature on all new International Trucks.

“Open architecture means we didn’t just partner with one or two telematics service providers,” said Michael Cancelliere, senior vice-president, global parts and customer service. “OnCommand Connection currently works with 11 major telematics service providers and that’s a claim that no other OEM in the industry can make.”

He added that International does this to set it apart for its competition, as well as giving customers more choice.

“We don’t try to shoehorn the customer into one telematics solution,” Cancelliere added.

The company also claimed OnCommand Connection monitors more than 4,000 fault codes on the vehicle – over 20 times more than their competitors who average monitoring less than 200 fault codes on a vehicle.

In addition, the company announced International and competitive vehicle, year 2007 or newer with the company’s partnering telematics provider, can visit an International dealer and have OnCommand fitted into their rig for free.

“I am also proud to announce the industry’s first telematics ‘credit’ for base telematics hardware including two years of data service on International brand vehicles starting in July,” said Cancelliere.

Customers can now choose a base model telematics offering and will effectively receive the bundle for free. For customers choosing to upgrade from the base telematics hardware, a retail parts program is available to offset the incremental cost to customers.

“We think this is so significant we believe it is the turning point in the industry for telematics,” added Cancelliere.

International claims OnCommand Connection is currently in 80,000 vehicles across North America and it welcomes suppliers like Cummins and Eaton into the pipeline.

In addition to making OnCommand standard, the company also rolled out a new Web site, www.oncommandconnection.com, dedicated to the smart diagnostics systems.

The Web site will inform customers of the telematics systems and its benefits. Customers can also enroll for OnCommand directly through the Web site.

“As commercial vehicles and fleet operations become increasingly more sophisticated, it’s our responsibility to understand the data ecosystem and integrate with key stakeholders so our customers can maximize their uptime and see those results in their bottom line,” said Bill Kozek, president, truck and parts, Navistar. “OnCommand Connection will continue to play a critical role in driving uptime across the industry – and we’re just getting started.”