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Homing systems thwart theft
Products use wireless networks, satellites and software to track down cars, laptops and other valuables, GRANT BUCKLER writes
Globe and Mail
Media Article
Grant Buckler
4/11/2002
At about 10 p.m. one Friday in early March, a young Toronto man named Michael sat in his car with a friend. As they discussed where to go for the evening, four youths approached the vehicle. One opened the door and pointed a gun at Michael, who handed over his keys and was left standing in the parking lot with his friend as the thieves drove away in his Lexus.

What the thieves didn''t know was that a tracking device in Michael''s car reported its location to Montreal-based Boomerang Tracking Inc. Within an hour, the Lexus was found in the parking lot of a nightclub in Markham, Ont. According to Michael -- who asked that his full name not be revealed in the event the suspects should choose to retaliate -- the thieves emerged from the club at about 2 a.m., jumped into his car, and were promptly surrounded by police.

Michael''s car is one of hundreds already recovered using tracking devices that can report a vehicle''s location within a couple of metres. And it''s not just cars. Many computers can now "phone home" when taken somewhere they shouldn''t be, and the technology that helped find Michael''s car could some day trace high-priced home electronics, lost Alzheimer''s patients and even wandering cats.

Vehicle-location systems have two ways of determining where they are. Boomerang''s system uses the cellular phone network. A tiny device hidden in the vehicle reports periodically to the nearest cellular transmission site, indicating its approximate location. When a vehicle is stolen, this unit can be activated over the cell network to signal continuously, and Boomerang brings in tracking gear that can pinpoint a vehicle''s location precisely enough to know which side of a two-car garage the vehicle is parked in, says Linda Farha, the firm''s vice-president of marketing and communications. Some Quebec insurance companies will not insure certain high-priced or frequently stolen vehicles that do not have a Boomerang system installed.

While charges vary among dealers, the standard Boomerang system typically costs about $470 to install and $9 to $10 a month in service charges, Ms. Farha says. With the standard system the owner must report the car stolen by phone, but a newer offering called Boomerang2 includes a small transponder that the car owner carries. If the car moves without this transponder present, it triggers an alarm and reports its location. This costs about $620 to install and $12 to $13 a month.

Other systems use cellular or other wireless communications networks only to send location data to a central tracking station, relying on the global positioning system -- a network of satellites put in orbit by the U.S. government for military purposes -- to calculate where vehicles are.

Ms. Farha says using the cellular network has the advantage of not requiring a clear line of sight to a satellite, so Boomerang''s system can find vehicles parked indoors. However, GPS works in remote areas the cellular network does not reach, and can pinpoint a vehicle''s location very accurately. Boomerang compensates for this by using its own mobile tracking gear to close in on targets.

Canadian firms have grabbed a sizeable slice of the vehicle tracking business. Besides Boomerang, players include Ottawa-based Mobile Knowledge Inc., the PowerLOC division of Paradigm Advanced Technologies Inc. in Markham, and AirIQ Inc. of Pickering, Ont.

AirIQ uses GPS to locate a vehicle and any of several wireless networks to communicate with it. "We do a lot more than just vehicle recovery," says Don Simmonds, president and chief executive officer of AirIQ. The system can alert dispatchers when vehicles exceed prescribed speeds or leave predetermined areas. The system can also disable a vehicle''s ignition remotely or unlock doors.

Used by several major rental-car companies, AirIQ''s system costs $15 to $30 each month for one vehicle, depending on how many messages are sent back and forth.

Car rental agency Thrifty Inc. has AirIQ installed in part of its fleet. Thrifty would not give specific numbers, but "certainly we have recovered vehicles," says Bill McNeice, executive vice-president at Thrifty in Toronto. He says he believes some professional thieves avoid Thrifty''s vehicles because of the tracking technology.

Mobile Knowledge sells its location technology for various purposes, but theft protection figures into most sales, says Laura Dierker, vice-president of product marketing. Baka Communications Inc., a Toronto-based tech reseller, sells a tracking service based on Mobile Knowledge technology. For a $699 installation fee and $9.95 a month, it reports location automatically if a car alarm is activated. Guy Annable, Baka''s director of business development, says construction equipment is a hot market.

Paradigm also uses GPS. Eduardo Guendelman, the firm''s president and CEO, says the units cost just under $500 installed, with monthly charges from $2 to $4 a month for passive devices used only to locate stolen vehicles, to $25 to $30 a month for those used constantly to track and communicate with the vehicle. PowerLOC can remotely disable the starter, unlock doors and sound the horn, and can alert the owner if a vehicle is moved or taken outside a prescribed area.

Mr. Guendelman says Paradigm is developing a unit that would cost about $100 and be small enough to track valuables and monitor the movements of children, Alzheimer''s patients and pets.

Computers could be a promising market for small devices like Paradigm''s, but today a different technique is popular for finding missing laptops. Several companies sell software that quietly reports to a tracking system each time a computer connects to the Internet. The system logs the phone number or Internet protocol address from which the computer connects.

ComputracePlus, from Vancouver-based Absolute Software Corp., costs $69 a year. When a computer connects to the Internet, ComputracePlus connects to Absolute''s monitoring centre. Installations on hundreds of thousands of PCs have led to several hundred recoveries, says John Livingston, Absolute''s CEO.

Among those were several laptops belonging to British Columbia Railway Co. Recently, one was taken from a car parked outside a Vancouver hotel and recovered a few days later. But sometimes it isn''t so easy. Laptops stolen from the company have reported in from Malaysia and Iran, but legal jurisdiction makes it impractical to recover them, says Lu Popek, client relations manager for information technology services at BC Rail.

MobileSecure, from Lucira Technologies Inc. of Boston, costs $49 (U.S.) for one year with discounts for two- and three-year subscriptions. Computer Sentry Software in Nashville, Tenn., offers CyberAngel, which requires a user to enter a password to access the computer software. If someone fails to enter the correct password, CyberAngel can encrypt data as well as notify a monitoring centre.

Mr. Popek says he hopes tracking software will some day be standard on laptops. Mr. McNeice believes tracking will become standard in vehicles. Thieves may learn to outwit it, but for now, tracking technology makes crime a little less likely to pay.
Boomerang Tracking Inc. markets and distributes the Boomerang® tracking devices, proprietary products using technology patented by the Company. The Boomerang, Boomerang2™ and GSM-based units are the central devices in a system that uses the wireless networks of major regional telecommunications companies for tracking stolen assets. The Boomerang Tracking System is capable of locating stolen automobiles, heavy equipment and valuable assets. As a result of its success, the Company has received the endorsement of members of the insurance industry. The Boomerang devices are available and installed through a network of authorized dealers in Quebec and Ontario. The Company's head office, research and development centre and manufacturing facilities are located in Montreal, Quebec, with regional facilities located in Mississauga, Ontario. Boomerang Tracking is a wholly owned subsidiary of LoJack Corporation (NASDAQ:LOJN).