Vancouver Enterprise Forum:
Absolute Software

By Sean Donovan

For the engineers at SFU the forum provides a close look at how you will fit into high tech companies and the new technologies that they need you to develop. And if you are interested in starting your own business, this is a great place to learn the do's and don'ts.

On March 28, I attended a forum on Absolute Software which makes software to retrieve stolen laptop PCs. They have only been in operation a year developing the software and are already starting a pilot project to do more tests.

The software consists of a 'hidden' program that periodically calls over the modem to a monitoring station. When the Laptop is stolen, the user calls Absolute and the next time the thief plugs the laptop into a phone jack, the modem does its usual call and Absolute traces it, and thus retrieves that computer (not necessarily from the thief). This is a simple overview of the concept and it does have problems. For instance, what if the thief doesn't plug the modem into the wall and if data is the reason for Absolute's monitoring, what if the thief formats the hard drive?

These questions were all asked by the panelists and they had some good advice for the novice company, such as:

1. Keep some eggs in the basket _ meaning don't sell the full version in your first release. This allows you to make a 'new' release when your competition shows up and it keeps the buyers on the hook (for the upgrade).
2. Keep your R&D high compared to your sales - Technology changes fast, so you have to keep up.

EUSS Home Page
We welcome feedback and comments at euss-vp-external@sfu.ca
Copyright © 1995 SFU EUSS