"If you buy a high-class luxury car in any European country today, your motor insurer will most probably require that it is equipped with a GSM/GPS anti-theft system," according to Berg senior analyst Tobias Ryberg said. Ryberg reports that insurance industry organizations in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK have developed national industry standards for vehicle tracking devices that are intended to guide the development and selection of car security systems.
In a report last year on
location-based services in Europe, Berg senior analyst Johan Fagerberg noted that there had "already been several cases where tracking of mobile phones have led to the recovery of valuable cargo from stolen vehicles."
Wireless M2M is also increasingly being used for fixed location security, according to Berg's research. The research firm notes that "a single landline connection between the premises alarm system and the alarm receiving center is no longer deemed sufficient for high security situations." The use of a secondary wireless link reduces the chance of disruption and makes communication much more reliable, Berg says. Late last year, the UK adopted a European standard for alarm systems (EN 50131) that requires dual signaling in most stores and offices.
Overall, Berg estimates that there will be nearly four million alarm systems connected to wireless networks in Western Europe by 2010.
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