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Netstar tracks people

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Cape Town, 24 Apr 2008

Netstar's soft launch of its Guardian personal location tracking system will enable the company to test the market with an eye to the 2010 World Cup, says MD Joel Stransky.

The Altech subsidiary launched the service earlier this year and, according to Stransky, it has about 140 clients signed up for the service.

The company's Tracker vehicle location system has about 480 000 privately-owned cars subscribed, plus another 75 000 vehicles in fleet management contracts.

"We did a soft launch because we want to see how the business case works. For instance, we don't want it to become a 'concierge' type of service."

According to Stransky, the Guardian service is aimed at anyone who feels they need some kind of personal location system, either for themselves or for others.

The big difference between it and competing systems is that Netstar has its own armed reaction teams in place, he explains. These teams include 46 aircraft, mainly helicopters, and a number of vehicle- and motorcycle-borne teams.

Guardian is a device that is similar to a cellphone and the subscriber can make a limited number of calls using the GSM cellular networks. However, it also incorporates a global positioning system, which can then determine the client's location to within 3m. The GPS data is transmitted via the GPRS service over the cellular networks.

The device is able to notify Netstar and two other pre-programmed emergency numbers in an emergency. It has the ability to send SMSes to two numbers when there is an unauthorised movement.

"The GSM system is not as accurate as we would like on location and is often out by at least 80m, which can at times mean on one side of a highway or another."

The device was designed and manufactured in Taiwan, as the country does not have the market size to justify making it here, he notes.

Stransky says Netstar has a team of 18 engineers who design and develop various radio frequency, GPS and GSM products for it.

"A service such as Guardian is really important for visitors to this country who have heard about the high crime levels before they arrive."

The Guardian device costs R99 per month for an established Netstar subscriber with no upfront payment. Otherwise, it costs R999 for the device plus R130 per month subscription fee.

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