Offered through an alliance with Mexens Technology, Quova will resell the Navizon Wireless Locator as an extension to its GeoDirectory Server 6.0. The Navizon software is a wireless positioning system that doesn't require a GPS to provide its' location based services. Instead it triangulates signals broadcasted from Wi-Fi access points and Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) cellular towers. The application uses the continuous wireless pings emitted by Wi-Fi transmitters to accurately calculate the position of a mobile device by measuring signal strength and applying proprietary algorithms.
The Navizon software works on any wireless network and is based on a collaborative database that is being enhanced daily by a growing membership of more than 60,000 users in 60 countries. Members use a GPS device to map the Wi-Fi and cellular landscape in their neighborhoods. Once a user synchronizes their data it is made available to all the other users of the network so that a GPS device is not required for location purposes of that area in the future. In rural areas, most users are located through phone positioning from GSM cellular towers, and in densely populated urban areas users are primarily located using Wi-Fi signals. The current Navizon network is growing rapidly and today contains more than 10 million mapped Wi-Fi access points. Most urban cities in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe have already been completely mapped.
The Navizon software does not attempt to gain access to the Wi-Fi networks it maps, and neither Mexens Technology nor Quova collect or store any personally identifiable information about the Web visitor being located or about the owner of the Wi-Fi network. The data collected includes only information about the Internet connection including the IP and MAC addresses, the service set identifier (SSID) code, and the signal strength of the Wi-Fi access point. To respect individual privacy a user must grant permission and download the Navizon application in order to allow their phone or laptop to be located. A Web visitor might allow this access in order to access their online bank account, watch a baseball game on MLB.TV or to place a bet from their cell phone or laptop.
"A number of trends are converging today that make it critical for online businesses to know where their Web visitors are coming from," said Marie Alexander, Quova's CEO. "The need for better automated systems becomes even more important as the proliferation of mobile and wireless devices offers multiple channels for customers to access the Internet. Understanding customer location -- what we call 'Internet Location Intelligence' -- is one of the most powerful and economical tools companies have to build and protect their online business Navizon shares a strong commitment to personal privacy, making their approach an easy addition to our platform."
Quova's GeoDirectory Server 6.0 -- Internet Location Intelligence platform announced earlier this month can instantly identify the type of Internet connection a Web visitor is using and deploy the most effective technique to locate that device, whether it is IP geolocation or another real-time locating technique. The recently announced Proxy Locator and the Navizon Wireless Locator are the first two extensions to this platform and provide alternative location tools for situations in which the IP address may not be as accurate in pinpointing the Web visitor's location.
