ID Systems Inc has acquired PowerKey, the industrial vehicle monitoring products division of International Electronics Inc, for USD500,000.

ID Systems chairman and CEO Jeffrey Jagid says the acquisition gives his company "instant access" to a broader base of customers, product offerings for prospects in the industrial vehicle management market and consolidates its market position.

"PowerKey has earned a respectable brand name in this industry and achieved success with dealers, distributors and fleet management providers. We anticipate ID Systems will be able to capitalise on all these assets," he says.

PowerKey customers include Caterpillar, Owens Corning, Visteon, Whirlpool and a network of forklift dealers and fleet management service providers.

Manufacturing, marketing and support of PowerKey products will be mostly absorbed into ID Systems' existing operations, sales and customer service organisations.

ID Systems has also launched a wireless product, PowerKeyPlus, for the entry-level segment of the industrial vehicle management market.

Peter Fausel, ID Systems' executive vice president of sales, says the new product will make ID Systems a one-stop shop that addresses all the needs of industrial fleets.

"We will promote an aggressively priced, entry-level PowerKey brand product that can be easily upgraded to our full-featured Wireless Asset Net solution as customers' needs and wants evolve," Fausel says.

PowerKeyPlus manages safety and maintenance issues for industrial vehicles by providing vehicle access control, safety checklists and impact sensing.

Separately, ID Systems has appointed Zetes Industries, of Brussels, Belgium, to market its products and services throughout Europe. Zetes, a systems integrator of automatic identification technologies, employs more than 700 people in 12 countries.