Aug/Sept 2008

GPS tracking has been added to the armoury of resources used by Absolute Software, a company specialising in tracking and recovering stolen mobile computing devices.

Absolute supplies Computrace, a special type of software that sits dormant on a mobile device, but comes into action if the item is reported stolen.

The system already uses a range of resources to help track down stolen mobile devices, including keystroke loggers, on-board cameras, Wi-Fi triangulation and remote access terminals.

Now it can also access an on-board GPS chip if one is installed. The company says this means it may be able to help managers to track GPS-enabled laptops in the field to within 10 metres. The results are shown on screen with Google Maps technology.

 

Computrace is said to be highly resistant to attempts by the thieves to remove it – surviving operating system re-installations, hard-disk reformats and re-imaging. Major computer manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu, MPC, Panasonic and Motion Computing have embedded the ComputraceOne Agent in the BIOS or firmware of their computers to prevent ComputraceOne from being removed by unauthorised users.

Users pay a subscription for the service, and there's no extra cost for using the new GPS capability.

There's a list of supported GPS receivers on the Absolute web site (see www.FollowUpOnline for the URL).