Atlanta, Georgia and San Diego, California, USA. (PRNewswire) — Numerex Corp, a provider of on-demand and interactive M2M enterprise solutions, is collaborating with Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS) to develop “ground-breaking” new continuous alcohol monitoring products for criminal justice use.
AMS’ SCRAMx wireless ankle bracelet provides courts and law enforcement with an alternative to incarceration, because of the product’s proven ability to hold offenders accountable to 24/7 alcohol abstinence. The wireless SCRAMx version will remotely download the data over the cellular network, allowing the measurement of alcohol use and tamper attempts, without the need for a telephone line, cell phone or internet connectivity.
Numerex provided advisory and design services to create a customised machine-to-machine (M2M) turnkey wireless solution for the SCRAMx system. The system uses Numerex network services which provide a full range of wireless network options for M2M network connectivity including 2G, 3G, and 4G GSM and CDMA services, in addition to satellite connections.
SCRAMx reportedly offers the criminal-justice arena:
* Around-the-clock abstinence monitoring
* Unprecedented accountability (99.3% average daily offender compliance)
* Increased community safety
* An effective offender-funded programme option (80% of monitored offenders pay all or a significant portion of the daily monitoring fee)
* Dramatically lower incarceration costs. The cost of monitoring an offender using the SCRAMx system averages US$10 a day. In comparison, the average daily cost to incarcerate an offender in a county jail is over $71 (Source: The Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2010).
In addition to the SCRAMx system, AMS is developing an innovative remote breath alcohol device designed to further expand ‘sobriety enforcement’ for lower-risk alcohol offenders. The product will feature a combination of facial-recognition, cellular, location, and breathalyser technology so that an offender can be tested via the device from any location with results sent wirelessly to supervisory agents. Beside providing design and network services, Numerex will lead certification testing of the device, which is expected to hit the market in early 2013.
“In concert with Numerex’s M2M expertise and broad capabilities, AMS is committed to providing criminal justice professionals with the most complete set of technically advanced alcohol-monitoring tools,” says Lou Sugo, vice president of marketing, AMS. “We will continue to work closely with Numerex as more technological advances materialise within the wireless technology space,” Sugo added.
“We are very proud of our alliance with AMS and the solutions that have resulted. Their products are examples of how cutting-edge network technology and M2M services can be used to affect social change. Together, we will continue to create and offer the criminal justice community leading-edge monitoring tools that drive offender accountability and deliver results,” said Michael Marett, chief revenue officer of Numerex.
Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS) was established in 1997 and is said to be the world’s largest provider of Continuous Alcohol Monitoring (CAM) technology. AMS manufactures SCRAMx, which uses non-invasive transdermal analysis to monitor alcohol consumption and integrates home detention monitoring into a single anklet. SCRAMx fully automates the alcohol testing and reporting process, providing courts and community corrections agencies with the ability to continuously monitor alcohol offenders, increase offender accountability and assess compliance with sentencing requirements and treatment guidelines. AMS employs 131 people across the US and is a privately-held company headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.
Numerex Corp (NASDAQ: NMRX) is a leading provider of interactive and on-demand M2M technology and services, offered on a subscription basis, used in the development and support of M2M solutions for the enterprise and government markets worldwide. The company offers Numerex DNA® that may include hardware and smart Devices, cellular and satellite Network services, and software Applications that are delivered through Numerex FAST® (Foundation Application Software Technology).
In addition, business services are offered to enable the development of efficient, reliable, and secure solutions while accelerating deployment. Numerex is ISO 27001 information security-certified, highlighting its focus on M2M data security, service reliability, and round-the-clock support of its customers’ M2M solutions. www.numerex.com
