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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (30906)	1/8/2003 5:23:56 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 196543

It calls for help when you can't By JONATHAN B. COX, Staff Writer Wednesday, January 8, 2003 12:00AM EST newsobserver.com RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Bikers, joggers and the elderly in distress might someday get help from an unlikely source: IBM. A new technology developed by the world's biggest seller of computers and services would automatically notify family members or medical professionals if a user fell ill from overexertion. The device, known as the Peace of Mind, wirelessly links a small heart monitor with a cell phone or other mobile device to function, and IBM says it could save lives. "It's a technology that needs to be developed, and we see that it has a lot of potential," said Spiros Teleoglou, an engineering manager for IBM's Engineering & Technology Services division in Research Triangle Park who helped with the invention. "This device can be used in multiple industries, including medical, consumer and athletics." IBM put a team of researchers to work on the project in the early summer with the goal of licensing it to an unidentified corporate customer in Europe. It's just one device in development by IBM's Engineering & Technology Services division, made up of 700 workers, including 22 at the company's sprawling Research Triangle Park campus of more than 13,000 employees. The unit's mission "really is to figure out ways to help the customer figure out a whole new revenue stream," said IBM spokesman Cary Ziter. "This is not a product from IBM, it's a technology." If the European client is uninterested, IBM might find other customers willing to buy. It has talked with a variety of companies, but declined to identify them. IBM, which can't say when devices using its technology might hit the market, is not alone in its efforts. Digital Angel in South St. Paul, Minn., has a wristwatch-size health-monitoring device that automatically summons assistance using a satellite chip to pinpoint the location of those who are ill. And Medtronic, the world's biggest pacemaker manufacturer, sells implantable heart-monitoring devices (see story below). For IBM's Peace of Mind device to work, users must attach a heart-rate measuring patch to their chests. It's a tool that is readily available and often worn by athletes to track their heart rates. A relay device about the size of a pack of chewing gum is set to work with the monitor. When a user's heart rate rises above a specified limit or stops altogether, the system kicks into action. The relay device sends a signal using Bluetooth,an increasingly popular wireless transmission standard, to a cell phone or personal digital assistant loaded with IBM software that the user must carry. The phone is programmed to call or send a text message to specific contacts in emergencies to initiate a rescue. Although it might sound cumbersome, Teleoglou says it's not because users don't need wires strung all over their bodies. "The industry is working to make cell phones and other devices very small and very convenient to carry in your pocket or pocketbook," Teleoglou said. "The smaller the size of the wireless device, the more popular the entire solution can be." Staff writer Jonathan B. Cox can be reached at 836-4948 or jcox@newsobserver.com.