August 28, 2006

IBM announces cattle-monitoring services

As the need for greater monitoring arises in the age of more virulent diseases, it has brought two unlikely bedfellows together: cows and computers.

IBM Corp is teaming up with TekVet, another US company, to provide solutions that would enable ranchers and government agencies to monitor the temperature of their cattle.

TekVet has developed a battery-powered transmitter with a thermometer that fits into a cow's ear. The device would also carry the animal's life history, transmit its location and report its body temperature, all in real time.

IBM said its networks would be capable of handling the information from millions of cattle.

The transmitter in the cow sends the information to field receivers, which relay the data to an IBM data center via satellite, where servers would package the data for dissemination over the Internet.

The sensor can be reused five times, working out to an average cost of about US$3.30 per cow, Tali Haleua, chairman and president of TekVet, said.

Haleua said the cattle industry, which has been relatively untouched by information technology, could ultimately receive greater protection from the transmitters. The company is hoping to expand its capabilities to other animals.