Dec 27

Written by: safegardit
Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:17 AM

By Joseph Palmersheim, Sun Newspapers
December 26, 2007

One Lakeville company's digital reach goes far beyond city limits and exists in the boundless sphere of the World Wide Web.

Safegard It is a global technology recovery service. Each Safegard It registered device is provided with a tag featuring a unique identification number to identify it in case of theft. If it is reported lost or stolen, Safegard It can report the IP address for use by law enforcement in recovering the device. Safegard It and its parent company, Positive Results, are owned by Dan Medin of Lakeville.

"Positive Results has been in business for about 15 years," Medin said. "Safegard is more of a brand name, and it's been in business for about a year and a half."

An example of a successful recovery is the story of a laptop owned by Tom Holme of Shakopee. In October, Holme was working on a condominium in South Minneapolis. His truck was parked outside a model home, and his laptop was stolen from the front seat.

"It was right in front of the Parade of Home model, with people around - that takes some bold shoes," Holme said.

Holme filed a report with the Minneapolis Police, and thought he'd never see the laptop again. Safegard It monitored the laptop to see if it got hooked up to the Internet. When it did, the signal came from North Minneapolis. The department used the location information provided by Safegard It to send letters to the house saying the laptop needed to be returned or the persons responsible would be charged with possession of stolen goods. The laptop was turned over to the police two weeks ago.

"I would have never seen this again [without the tag]," Holme said. "I could have replaced all the saws and drills simply - but all my business documents were in here."

Safegard It also markets custom-made tags for businesses to hand out as premiums to customers. Medin said the advantage of insurance companies giving away tags as premiums works to give an inexpensive solution to assist in the recovery of an expensive object. The custom tag also serves to promote whatever business issued it. The tag's effectiveness isn't limited by geographical boundaries - Medin said some stolen devices had been detected operating overseas. Most of stolen devices seem to stay in town. Even without the software behind them, the tags themselves can be effective.

"A majority of the devices lost are returned just by having the tag on it," Medin said.

Cost can vary depending on quantity. A single laptop can cost less than $20 a year to track. Larger customers can get tags through wholesaling. Medin said the best way for interested parties to inquire about Safegard It is via e-mail at Dan.Medin@safegardit.com.

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