http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1
<http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=vn2007022509
3817611C635361> &click_id=79&art_id=vn20070225093817611C635361
New device set to chip away at theft
February 25 2007 at 03:24PM
By Agiza Hlongwane
A new tracking device invented in Durban might just be what the doctor
ordered in the fight against the rampant theft of motor vehicles,
cellphones, digital cameras, laptop computers and other battery-operated
equipment.
Known as the Celebell, the technology works through three microchips - one
installed, for example, in the battery of the cellphone, another one in the
circuit board of the device and a third in a remote alarm, which the owner
keeps.
Wayne Hughes, 33, a Durban entrepreneur who invented the Celebell with his
father and business partner Brian, said the product meets national and
international communication standards.
<http://adserver.adtech.de/?adlink|585|1105507|0|231|AdId=1159624;BnId=12;it
ime=434074502;>
'Maybe it was a fortuitous mistake'
He said it automatically notifies the owner by alarm when an item has been
stolen.
Hughes, along with publicist Hannah Glover, gave the Sunday Tribune a brief
demonstration of how the Celebell works in a cellphone.
Glover walked away with an activated cellphone, and once she was about four
metres away, a beeping sound came from both the phone and the remote alarm.
About eight seconds later, the phone switched off.
"The device is then unusable until it has been tracked and returned to its
rightful owner," said Hughes.
The Celebell system also has a back-up service where any information on the
stolen item can be stored. Clients can then access this on request.
"This means that in addition to having an electrical device recovered,
people will no longer be faced with having the frustrating problem of losin
g any information or data from their laptops or cellphones," Hughes said.
Described as a world first, the concept was borne by mistake, while Hughes
was an MBA student at the then University of Natal.
"One of the marketing modules required us to write a paper presenting a
marketing plan for a product that doesn't exist.
"I misunderstood it to mean that we had to invent something and write a
marketing plan. Cellphone theft was as topical then as it is today, and it
irritated me that with all our technology and expertise, we couldn't do
something to curb it. Maybe it was a fortuitous mistake."
Hughes graduated and accepted a job offer in the United States.
"I gave the marketing plan to my father, Brian. He liked it and said he
would develop it here."
Hughes snr started researching the product, taking it piece by piece to
electrical engineers to ensure the idea would not be stolen. It finally
landed up with a radio frequency expert in Durba n, who made the fini shed
product.
It was patented last year.
According to Hughes, the insurance industry had "warmed up" to news about
the product.
"During our market research, we spoke to insurance companies about what we
wanted to provide with the product.
"The response was that if we could make Celebell do the things we said it
would do, it would reduce the risk by half, therefore they would be prepared
to reduce the premium by half."
Hughes said they will be ready to launch the product in the second half of
the year, with a once-off R299 payment, with clients paying less as they
secure other devices.
Estimating cellphones in South Africa to number around 36 million, Hughes
said the company projected a turnover of R192-million for the first year.
"We're looking at around 1 500 new jobs to begin with."
* This article was originally published on page 13 of
<http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=1919> Tribune on February 25,
2007
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