ARTICLE PRINTED IN THE PRESS NEWSPAPER, CHRISTCHURCH, JUNE 29 2004:

The problem of cellphone use in classrooms could be solved, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of students at St Thomas of Canterbury College.

The group, with mentoring from Tait Electronics, has come up with a clever device which detects cellphones in use.

If a cellphone is being used in a classroom against the wishes of the school, or for cheating, the CellTrac-r can detect it and alert the teacher.

Its potential uses do not stop there. The group of students see markets in the corporate world, the aviation industry and prisons, or wherever cellphone use needs to be monitored.

The CellTrac-r is the brainchild of a group of young entrepreneurs led by senior college students Adam Manley and James Cole.

After coming up with the idea in March, they hired a technical consultant and linked with a local electronics firm to manufacture the product.

Yesterday they officially launched the CellTrac-r, which will be sold through their company, Stopcom, at $39.95 a piece.

The product has already brought accolades for the students.

The CellTrac-r recently won the supreme award for product and design at the Young Enterprise Scheme trade show in Canterbury and may be nominated for judging in the national final.

Tait Electronics intellectual property manager Frik de Beer mentored the college students and was impressed by their initiative.

"They were highly motivated and competitive and supportive of each other," de Beer said.

He predicted the CellTrac-r would do well in the marketplace.

"It isn't a toy. It is affordable and they have identified a valid niche in the market. I think it is going to succeed."