Nokia and Securitas bring location-security services

Nokia and Securitas today announced a collaboration that will bring mobile services for personal security and safety to Nokia's S60 platform. The service bundle, Securitas Safe-2-Go, consists of four components: Assist (security alert), Find (locate person), Zone (SMS boundary alerts) and Friends (general friend locator). Safe-2-Go will launch in Sweden in the first half of 2009, with other European markets following later in the year.

Here's a little more detail of each of the services:

* Assist - this service, when activated, connects the user to the Securitas alarm central. When the call is made, Securitas is able to see who is calling, where they are located and who (relatives, etc.) needs to be contacted. Essentially it is the mobile phone version of a panic alarm, such as those given to children, the elderly or those engaging in vulnerable solo activities.

* Find - this service allows you to get the location of a specific person.

* Zone - this service will send a nominated person an alert (SMS) if another person leaves or enters a pre-defined zone. This sort of location service is often used in child-tracking services to ensure a child stays within a given area or arrives at a given location safely.

* Friends - this services gives an overview of where a group of people are located.