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Biometric Technology Today • November/December 2006
c o m p a n y n e w s
• CryptoMetrics has announced that it has secured US$12 million in private international financing to support business growth. This funding, the latest in a series of private placement rounds of financing, will be used to further expand operations in support of recent new oversees contracts and to support the company’s aggressive R&D activities in biometric technologies.
• The International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA) has added executives from Cross Match, LG Iris, and Motorola to its board of directors. The addition of Charles Koo, Iris Technology Division CEO at LG Electronics; Darrin Reilly, vice president and general manager at Motorola biometrics business unit; and James Ziglar, CEO of Cross Match Technologies expands the IBIA’s Board to 11, and is intended to reflect the organization’s goal to represent the entire fast-growing biometrics industry.
• bioMETRX has acquired the patent that encompasses biometric security and the retrieval of electronic medical records. The smartTOUCH Records System will allow patients, parents/legal guardians and health professionals to attach their biometric samples to a patient’s electronic medical record. When needed, the biometrically authorized individual places their finger on a scanner and the medical record can be retrieved.
• Pay By Touch has announced that it has acquired S&H Solutions (S&H) and its parent company S&H greenpoints. With a purchase price in excess of US$100 million in cash and stock, the company intends to bring personalized marketing applications to its biometric payment platform.
company news
New focus for Precise BiometricsSwedish fingerprint and smart card technology company Precise Biometrics has announced organizational changes in a bid to improve efficiency and marketing strategy. The objective is to achieve significant cost savings through internal coordination, while targeting several prioritized market segments, such as the aviation market. The changes will lead to job losses amounting to 25% of the company’s staff count.
Precise Biometrics’ CEO Thomas Marschall commented: “We have defined a number of areas where we see potential for significant improvements of cost-efficiency, which are necessary if we are to achieve our target of a positive cost flow.”
Marschall explained that the company will form two new business areas – Biometric Aviation Solutions and Biometric Embedded Solutions. In Biometric Aviation Solutions, the supplier will base its efforts on the success it is experiencing with the biometric application developed for SAS (see main news section). The company says it is now going to market this concept internationally with the requisite adaptations for different countries, airlines and airports.
Marchall said: “In the field of Biometric Embedded Solutions the company’s partnership with the Oki Group has produced such positive signals of predicted volume markets that we have decided to initiate more extensive processing of the global market to establish additional partnerships with the major players on the market.”Contact: Ann-Sofi Höijenstam at Precise Biometrics, Tel: +46 46 31 11 47, Email: [email protected]
subsidiary
Cognitec opens Hong Kong subsidiaryGerman facial recognition systems provider Cognitec Systems has announced a new subsidiary based in Hong Kong which will cover all business in the South-East Asia region.
The new South-East Asian presence – Cognitec Systems Limited – is expected to drive marketing and sales for Cognitec’s standard face recognition software as well as project based solutions. In addition, the company will develop
and manufacture hardware appliances, based on Cognitec’s core technology, for various market segments.
Cognitec says it already has end-customers as well as business partners in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Bangladesh, India, and Japan. The supplier says that growing awareness its FaceVACS range of products, married with the population size and huge manufacturing capability in the region translates into strong potential opportunities for the company.
Cognitec Systems Limited will work closely with IWT, Cognitec’s established partner in Hong Kong.Contact: Jürgen Pampus at Cognitec, Tel: +49 351 862 9212, Email: [email protected]
company news
Mixed quarter for SaflinkUS supplier Saflink Corporation has reported mixed news within the last month regarding its performance. An improvement in the company’s financial results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2006, was dampened by news that it has received another notice from Nasdaq that the company will be delisted from the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Despite a number of extensions to the standard 180 days given to the company to rise above the US$1.00 per share minimum bid price requirement, Saflink has repeatedly failed to achieve this target. Saflink says it intends to request an appeal of Nasdaq’s determination, which would postpone the effect of the delisting pending a hearing on the matter.
The news comes as Saflink could be about to see an upturn in its fortunes. Revenue for the third quarter of 2006 was US$1.7 million, compared to US$944,000 for the second quarter of 2006, although the net loss attributable to common stockholders was US$21.5 million in the third quarter of 2006.
Saflink is pinning a lot of hopes on the US Registered Traveler program. Steve Oyer, Saflink’s Interim CEO commented: “We are encouraged by the clarity coming out of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with respect to the Registered Traveler (RT) program. We believe the build-out of the RT infrastructure by the TSA is an important step in the market’s evolution and expect this to result in active RT programs at several major airports in the near term, which we will be aggressively competing for through the FLO Alliance.”
BUSINESS WATCH
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