iTWire - Globalstar promises cut-price tracking and telemetry

Globalstar promises cut-price tracking and telemetry

by Stuart Corner
Monday, 30 April 2007
Globalstar Australia has announced plans to launch an Australia-wide satellite-based tracking and telemetry service from mid-2007, at costs claimed to much lower than those available using cellular networks. Register now to win a Canon EOS 500D "Until now the costs of telemetry and tracking outside of cellular coverage have been out of reach of most users. Now thanks to Globalstar Australia's breakthrough Simplex data service, tracking and telemetry services will be affordable and allow monitoring of assets across the continent, not just in those limited locations where cellular coverage exists" said Peter Bolger, managing director of Globalstar Australia. The service, Globalstar Simplex, is already available for testing by VARs and developers. It enables monitoring of remote devices that transmit short messages at pre-programmed intervals or as incident alarms are raised. The service covers the Australian mainland, Tasmania, up to 500 nautical miles into the Indian and Southern Oceans and east past New Zealand and New Caledonia. Roaming to North America and Europe, along with many parts of South America, North Africa and Middle East and North East Asia is automatic and billed at local rates. Globalstar Australia will also launch its TracerTrak service which enables asset tracking and monitoring from a web browser along with information, and alarm sensor updates to enable consumers to map and track of their personal assets such as their boat or caravan, or enable businesses to locate and manage their high value mobile assets. Customers can also choose to have the information delivered by SMS or E-mail. Target customers include VARs selling services to fleet owners with untethered assets such as trailers, as well as application and hardware developers who might want to integrate the transmitter. Globalstar Australia will provide wholesale simplex data services to enable developers and service providers to bundle the simplex satellite service with their subscription based services. M2M Connectivity has partnered with Globalstar Australia and its hardware partner, Axonn, LLC, for the service and as Axonn's distributor will supply the new AXTracker MMT and AXTracker T3 battery powered integrated modems, together with the Axonn STx2 simplex satellite data transmitter and developer kit. Globalstar claims that the hardware costs for the service are not much more than for GSM equipment: a complete tracking modem has a retail cost around $700 ex tax and a Simplex STx2 module around $150 ex tax. However the company has given no indication of service costs.{moscomment} Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags Add New Tag... Please Enter New Tags Separated By Comma's Or Close Satellite services Stuart Corner Telecommunications Powered By Joomla Tags