Friday, August 7, 2009

Precyse launches, aims to end RFID, highway toll plazas

By Galen Moore

Precyse Technologies Inc. has launched in Norwalk, Conn. with a technology the company hopes will spell the end of both radio frequency tracking chips (RFID) and highway toll plazas, using a tracking technology developed for the Israeli military.

Precyse has its technology deployed with 10 enterprise customers, including construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, said CEO and president John Stopper. In addition, the company has a channel partner relationship with software giant SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), as seen in this YouTube video showing SAP vice president Dennis Browne demonstrating the company’s technology.

Eventually, the company hopes to deploy its technology on U.S. highways, where federal transportation officials have expressed an interest in tolling vehicles automatically, by tracking how many miles driven.

Precyse makes a tracking device designed to use GPS for real-time asset tracking, without draining a battery. The core technology is an algorithm that conserves power, sending the devices to sleep when the asset in question is immobile.

It was first developed after the Israeli army lost track of two soldiers during a conflict, Stopper said. Soldiers had begun carrying GPS-enabled cellular phones, but the batteries didn’t last. “During the battle, the commanders were calling in for batteries instead of food and water,” he said.

Out of a store-bought battery, the device gets a six-year operating life, Stopper said. Unlike RFID, the tracking devices can communicate with remote tracking beacons, obviating the need for a costly infrastructure of scan points, he said.

“We can show you real-time where your assets are at a cost that’s way below RFID,” Stopper said. “If you talk to the big companies in automotive and manufacturing, the big inhibitor in RFID is the cost. Not in the tag, but in the infrastructure. And it’s not even really real-time.”

Stopper and a group of private investors bought the company from its Israeli founders and still maintain a development team in Israel. Investors include New York-based private equity firm Spencer Trask & Co., Stopper said. The company has closed bridge financing just over $1 million with its investors, while it seeks a larger venture investment, he said.