New Mobile Technology Allows Businesses to Continually Track

Everyday Mobile Phone Can Act as 'Live' Tracking Device

 
A world-first in mobile phone technology means that employers can now elect to constantly track their employees whereabouts at any time or place during the working day.

Trisent, a young Scottish company, has developed a cost-effective system that allows mobile phone locations to be tracked continuously in real-time using standard unmodified phones without the need for additional equipment to be installed within the cellular networks.

Applications for the new technology are wide and might include a plumber who wants to assign a job to the nearest available employee, or a health authority that wants to know that lone workers can be located and alerted quickly if there is an emergency.

The existing alternatives - either a global satellite positioning system (GPS) or the network operator controlled mobile phone positioning service (cell-ID), are limited and prohibitively expensive. GPS tracking requires investment in specialised handsets or vehicle installations, and cell-ID ‘location request' is typically slow and inaccurate.

"Until now, tracking the location of people and vehicles has been an expensive, slow and inaccurate business. At about 25p a location request, multiple requests on multiple phones becomes uneconomical for most businesses," said Dr Gordon Povey, Trisent's founder and Managing Director.

"Likewise, GPS tracking equipment costs have limited growth in the market and the short battery life of handheld GPS devices is another factor. Trisent's system works passively on everyday mobile phones, so it's always-on, is affordable, and works anywhere in the UK that has mobile coverage."

With Trisent's system an individual, rather than a vehicle, is tracked so it works for people using public transport, private vehicles or even a bicycle. The system is always aware of the phone location, and when the person moves, it updates the location automatically and keeps a record of where they were at any time. This means that if you want to know where someone was at 9.45am last Friday you can easily find out. 

In the UK there are over 500,000 phones being located on a regular basis, and 200,000 vehicles tracked by GPS. The UK positioning market is worth over £120 million and growing rapidly. The arrival of Trisent's fully automated, ‘live' tracking system is expected to accelerate this growth as it is removes cost barriers to make the service more accessible to the wider business community.

There is a code of practice for location services to protect the privacy of employees. Trisent ensures that all its partners adhere to the code. This means that the person in possession of the phone is made fully aware that its location can be tracked. Even if the phone is given to someone else the phone will inform that person that the tracking is enabled on that phone. It is therefore not possible for an employer to covertly track their employees.

The test launch of the revolutionary technology has proven a success with four major location service providers partnering with Trisent to offer the new service, which is now fully operational across the whole of the UK. There is also increasing international interest and plans to deploy the system into Europe during 2007.

As a member of Wireless Innovation, Scotland's national initiative supporting wireless and mobile technologies, Trisent received crucial market intelligence and high level introductions that the company believes ‘were essential in helping to formulate our business strategy'.

Alisdair Gunn, Technology Manager for Wireless Innovation said: "Trisent have found a real niche in a fast developing marketplace and Wireless Innovation has been working closely with Gordon and the team to ensure the technology is market ready. We believe that once the market starts using their technology in their applications, it will be a serious competitor for GPS and existing alternatives." 

The new services are primarily being targeted at business users who need to locate their employees in real-time. There are real benefits for employers who need to keep track of their employees whereabouts for operational or security purposes. They may also wish to view their previous locations for a wide variety of other reasons.

Trisent's location accuracy already exceeds that which can be obtained from network-based phone locating and this accuracy will continue to be improved.

Trisent has spent many years developing the technology which can now be targeted at a wide range of markets. The company is also working on a small device for vehicle and asset tracking based on the same technology but with even higher accuracy. A new  product is planned for security applications that provides an alarm, alert and locate function, again based on a standard mobile phone. This will enable workers in dangerous environments to summons assistance to the correct location quickly.

ENDS

For further information, interviews and/or photography, please contact:

Joanna Downie at TVI  M: 07771 773699

Dr Gordon Povey at Trisent Communications Ltd  T: 01383 724444

Alisdair Gunn at Wireless Innovation  T: 0141 585 6315

About Trisent Communication Ltd.

Trisent was established in 2004 after a successful management buy out of Edinburgh based Elektrobit (UK) Ltd. This company was a subsidiary of the Finnish wireless and mobile phone design company the Elektrobit Group plc. Elektrobit engineers in Edinburgh had created unique new location technology but this did not fit well within the core business of the international group. The MBO was led by Dr Gordon Povey, the former Managing Director of Elektrobit in the UK, in order to create an independent company capable of developing the technology for international markets.

Trisent is today a technology company 100%  focused on developing, exploiting and evolving its unique location technology. The core technology, tri-cell, is under continual development to enhance location accuracies and enable it to address a wider range of markets. Trisent's most valuable assets are its intellectual property and know how in the field of location technology. To establish and maintain a leading international position in location technology, Trisent has developed internal research programmes to develop new ideas and address tomorrow's markets.

Trisent are based in Dunfermline, Fife.