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BUSINESS WATCH
Biometric Technology Today • May 20025
Viisage moves forward but its CEO calls it a dayUS supplier of facial recognition systemsViisage Technology has announced its firstquarter revenues for the month ending 31March 2002. Overall first quarter sales grewslightly from US$6.37 million in 2001 toUS$6.40 million. However, the company saidthat 11% of the total revenue was from facialrecognition systems compared with 8% the yearearlier. The facial recognition order backlog alsotripled, representing around 20% of thequarter’s new business bookings for the quarter.
A significant increase in sales and marketingspend meant the company made a net loss ofUS$857,000 this quarter compared with a netincome of US$218,000 in the first quarter of 2001.
In recent months the company has madesignificant ground in the facial recognition sector.Notably it secured a Department of Defensecontract for US$672,000 for facial recognitionsurveillance systems; it deployed a high-profilepilot test at Boston's Logan International Airportusing facial recognition for security screening; itacquired Biometrica Systems, a provider of facialrecognition software to casinos, and it has addedfacial recognition capabilities to improve securityfor a second state drivers' license program.
Following the close of the quarter, the companyannounced it had won the digital drivers' licensecontract for Connecticut, valued at US$7.5million. This includes approximately US$700,000in facial recognition systems and makes Conn-ecticut the third state to add this security capabilityto its drivers' license program.
On a negative note, the company announcedthat Tom Colatosti, the company’s president andCEO, made a decision to resign effective 1 Junethis year.
Contact: Tom Colatosti at Viisage Technology,Tel: +1 978 952 2211, Fax: +1 978 952 2225,email: [email protected]
ABI battle lines are drawnFollowing a dispute with a number of companyemployees concerning non-payment of wagesand intellectual property ownership, the CEOof Advanced Biometrics Inc (ABI), JamesKatzaroff, has filed an official response thatrefutes all allegations.
As well as denying the allegations, the companyhas also made counterclaims against Stephen
Fishburn, ABI’s former CTO and lead plaintiff,for breach of contract, disruption of andinterference with the company's operations andbusiness relationships, and conversion of thecompany's assets.
Katzaroff said: "We intend to vigorously defendagainst their claims, which we believe are totallywithout merit. We also believe that we will prevailon our counterclaims, which are based on thewrongful actions of Mr. Fishburn both duringand subsequent to his employment with thecompany."
ABI’s proposed share exchange with ElectronicIdentification (EI) was recently approved by ABIshareholders and the company claims the dealwill close in May as long as EI’s shareholders alsoapprove the deal.
ABI holds patents for subcutaneous biometricmeasurement of the palm of the human hand,currently marketed as LiveGrip.
Contact: Jim Katzaroff at ABI,Tel: +1 253 848 5678
Precise Biometrics makesnew industry partnersPrecise Biometrics has signed an agreementwith Scandinavian IT Group, one of the biggestIT providers in Scandinavia, to supply securitysolutions to the airline industry. An initial jointcustomer contract has been signed with SASAirline regarding a test installation that isdesigned to make check-in and boardingprocedures safer and more flexible.
A number of SAS employees will be equippedwith smart cards containing their fingerprinttemplates. These will be used for identification in physical and computer access scenarios.Eventually, tests will also be carried out withselected customers at one of the largest airports inScandinavia, the companies claim.
Meanwhile, Precise Biometrics made a numberof other agreements in recent months including: a link up with smart card group Schlumberger-Sema; a partnership agreement with Singapore-based security company Apro; and distributionagreements with Securitas in Norway andPrimion Technology.
Precise Biometrics announced that its net salesfor the first quarter of the year amounted to SEK5.1 million (US$498,232), while net lossestotaled US$1.69 million.
Contact: Christer Bergman at Precise Biometrics,Tel: +46 730 35 67 26,email: [email protected]
Company update
Company update
I n b r i e f
• US supplier Indivos hassupplied a biometric system tothe Thriftway supermarket inWest Seattle, USA. Based onfingerprint recognition thesystem ties consumers to theircredit cards, electronic benefitcards or checking accounts.Indivos’ business model meansit will earn money on a per-transaction fee basis. Fast foodprovider McDonald's recentlyperformed a limited pilot withthe supplier’s system inCalifornia. Meanwhile, Bio-metric Access Corporationrolled out a pilot test of itsSecureTouch-n-Pay biometricsystem in a number of Krogergrocery stores in Texasrecently. Indivos is in theprocess of suing BiometricAccess for patent infringe-ment, however.
• A US trucking company has displayed a fingerprint-enabled concept truck, design-ed to enhance security andconvenience. The KenworthTruck Company usedfingerprint recognition tech-nology from Bioscrypt toshow a system that controlsthe ignition of the truck’sengine. Although a falsematch will allow the truck’sengine to start, it wouldseverely curtail the horsepowerit generates, preventing thetruck from moving at normalspeeds. The purpose of thisdesign is to allow the truck tobe moved short distances incase of an emergency.
• IBM has teamed up withthe Schiphol Group in theNetherlands to offer airlinesand airports around the world a quick security accesssystem that uses iris scanningtechnology. The offering isexpected to be an enhance-ment to the automated borderpassage system at SchipolAirport that began operationin October 2001. In particu-lar, functions, such as ticket-ing, check in, screening andboarding, may be added.
Financial results
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