Polaris Wireless Powers Lawful Intercept Applications With Accurate Location Information

Polaris WLS is the First to Provide Highly-Accurate Wireless Location to Law Enforcement Agencies
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — December 9th, 2008 —

Polaris Wireless, the global leader in high accuracy, software-based wireless location systems, today announced the deployment of a new lawful intercept location solution that allows Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) to pinpoint the precise location of handsets for Lawful Intercept (LI) measures. The solution, based on the company’s leading Wireless Location Signatures (Polaris WLSTM™) technology, brings highly-accurate, highly-reliable and highly-scalable wireless handset location information to LEA’s, enabling more powerful and efficient target-based, mass and border-zone lawful interception applications.

“Today, most LI applications focus primarily on intercepting mobile traffic rather than determining the exact locations of the call’s originating mobile device and recipient,” said Manlio Allegra, President and CEO, Polaris Wireless. “Adding accurate handset location to lawful interception solutions increases the value of the information gathered and ultimately provides law enforcement with more precise, highly actionable and focused capabilities for use in criminal investigations.”

Nearly every country requires lawful monitoring of voice calls and data sessions for use by government agencies in criminal investigations and anti-terrorism measures. Until now, wireless location technology for this application has traditionally been inaccurate and unreliable, utilizing crude solutions like Cell-ID based location. Existing solutions simply do not provide the accurate and consistent performance needed to meet the requirements of evolving lawful intercept policies being contemplated by the U.S., Europe and regulatory bodies in other countries around the world.

The Polaris Wireless solution uses its WLS technology to quickly and reliably determine handset location to within 50 meters accuracy. Like an individual’s unique signature pattern, a location signature can be identified by a unique set of values including measurements of neighboring cell signal strengths, time delays and other network parameters. The Polaris WLS solution collects this information and uses it to match incoming signals to an extensive database of values to determine highly accurate handset location—regardless of the type of environment.

The new mass interception functionality allows LEA’s to determine the accurate location of handsets on a large scale for all targets on a mobile network. LEA’s can also monitor specific areas using electronic geo-fences. LEA’s can track the location of thousands of handsets in real time or for a period of time in the past, enabling both a preventative security strategy and post-event analysis.

Polaris WLS also enables target-based and border-zone interception. The solution enables target-based interception by tracking targets in real-time over a set time window.  A historical “bread-crumb trail” of a handset’s location activity, including sending and receiving calls or data transmissions, can be generated. Polaris also enables the set up of an electronic geo-fence around a geographic area or on top of an international border, giving carriers the ability to track handset location within the border-zone or identify handsets that go in or out of the zone.

“Polaris WLS is the only high accuracy wireless location technology that supports mass interception—a vital tool in securing international borders, tracking targets, and investigating criminal acts, especially in high traffic areas,” said Manlio Allegra. “Having reliable and accurate handset locations can only enhance and enrich existing LI applications.”


About Polaris Wireless
Polaris Wireless is committed to simplifying and improving the process of location of mobile phones for carriers around the globe by serving as the price/performance leader delivering accurate, reliable and flexible products to support a variety of applications. Since 2003 Polaris has been successfully deploying the only software-based location system that meets FCC E911 Phase II requirements. Polaris is backed by venture capital funds Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ePlanet Ventures, Draper Richards and Palisades Ventures. For more information about Polaris Wireless please visit http://www.polariswireless.com.

Polaris Wireless Location Signatures™ is a registered trademark of Polaris Wireless. Polaris WLS™ is a trademark of Polaris Wireless.

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For additional information, please contact:
Kathleen Gratehouse
(415) 963-4174 ext. 2
kathleen (at) bordersgratehouse.com