When they met, it was GPS

If you’re old enough to recall the cheesy Hart to Hart series that aired in the late seventies to mid-eighties, then the name Stefanie Powers should ring a bell.

Powers (as Jennifer Hart, left), fought crime with her “self-made millionaire” husband, Jonathan. As the butler, Max, used to point out, “Mrs H is one lady who knows how to take care of herself.”

And indeed she does. Now firmly out of the Hollywood limelight, Powers has reinvented herself not only as a conservationist, but more interestingly, as a savvy businesswoman. And now she’s popped up on the board of a London-based telematics firm, Astrata, co-founded by Tony Harrison of Northern Ireland.

Astrata has developed a system that can be installed in vehicles such as security vans which can detect, for example, when a pre-determined route has been altered. If the on-board system receives information that the vehicle has been hijacked, it can be remotely slowed to 5mph, or stopped altogether, while windows can be jammed to hinder escape. The electronic box is about half the size of a cigarette pack, so can be easily tucked away in the recesses of a vehicle. The system comes at a time when fear of terrorist-related attacks are rife, and Astrata hopes to capitalise on that. Customers signed up to date include Shell, Group 4 Securicor, and the government of Singapore, which uses it on trucks transporting hazardous materials.

Powers also sits on the board of mutual funds operated by Los Angeles-based Capital Research and Management, having been introduced to the firm’s vice chairman, Jon Lovelace, in 1984. Powers wanted a “simplistic” investment approach, and Lovelace thought that most people were probably thinking along the same lines. Powers even went on to make a seven-part television series sponsored by Merrill Lynch about managing finances.

Tony Harrison worked with electronics and defence firms including Racal Electronics and Thales before establishing Astrata (Racal is now owned by Thales).

Still a minnow, Astrata is quoted on the more loosely regulated OTC board in the US, and has a market capitalisation of just over $16m.

Seems that Powers still has a penchant for those self-made millionaires. Or at least, soon-to-be ones.

http://www.astratagroup.com/

http://www.btinternet.com/~highestpub/99092416.HTM

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E4DE1431F931A25754C0A96E958260&n=Top/News/Business/Companies/Merrill%20Lynch%20&%20Company