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BUSINESS WATCH
Biometric Technology Today • October 20026
Precise Biometrics makesstrong gains in US marketsSwedish supplier Precise Biometrics has postedstrong results for the third quarter of 2002following substantial order wins in the USmarket. The supplier generated an orderintake of SEK7.5 million during the thirdquarter, its best performance to date. Its mostsignificant orders were from the US Depart-ment of Treasury (SEK2.5 million) and froman American ‘Fortune 100’ company (sharedrevenue of SEK7 million).
Overall the company made SEK 4.49 million(US$482,362) in the third quarter endedSeptember compared with SEK3.5 million in thesame period last year. For the nine months endedSeptember this year Precise Biometrics madeSEK11.84 million compared with SEK8.49million in the first three quarters of 2001.
Although it seems that orders are now startingto flow in at Precise Biometrics, there is concernsurrounding the company’s capital position. As ofSeptember 2002, it stood at SEK13.4 million, asubstantial drop from the SEK61.1 million it hadat the same time last year. The company hasundergone a cost reduction programme, whichshould reduce costs by around 30%, however, thiswon’t be fully visible until the end of the year. Thechanges will lead to the loss of 12 employees,leaving the company will 47 staff in total. Thecompany’s board of directors will present a long-term financing solution by the end of October, itis believed.
Contact: Gunilla Savring at Precise Biometrics,Tel: +46 46 31 11 14, email:[email protected]
Saflink offers cash tocustomers in its piplineWith more than US$140 million of potentialsales opportunities in its pipeline, US biometricmiddleware supplier Saflink is taking the novelstep of offering its clients a way to pay for thesystem without hitting budgetary constraints.
The company recently entered into a rela-tionship with Preferred Lease, a CapitalWerkscompany, which will enable qualifying customersto either lease (and eventually own) or rent abiometric system.
According to Joshua Grantz, vice president ofsales at Saflink: “We believe that a number of
potential deals in our pipeline are ready to close – subject to budget approval. We feel thatthis financing may help to facilitate theapproval process by allowing customers to fundbiometric deployment through their operatingbudget, rather than incurring a large one-timecapital expenditure.”
In particular Saflink says that companies in the healthcare, government and hightechnology industries have difficulty in findingmoney for unplanned expenditure. Many ofthe supplier’s claimed 125 potential custo-mers fall into these vertical markets, with 48 in healthcare/pharmaceuticals and 21 ingovernment.
Contact: Thomas Doggett at Saflink,Tel: +1 800 762 9595, email: [email protected]
Russian and US scientistsbecome research partnersA new biometric research centre is to be set upby Security First Corporation in an attempt topopularise and develop biometric technologiesand solutions. As part of the venture, thecompany will team up with Russian softwaredevelopment company, Luxoft, and the State ofWest Virginia.
The partners say that a great number ofbiometric technologies exist, but most needfurther development in order to be taken to themarketplace. The partners said: “Each tech-nology, be it fingerprint recognition, handgeometry, affordable ultrasonic finger detec-tion, pulse detection, iris scan, true 3D facialrecognition or typing speed has its own area ofapplication. But to provide multifunctionaland effective means of security protection, theyneed to be put together and integrated intocomplex information systems.”
As well as serving as a meeting point forvarious biometric technology manufacturers, the group will also focus on educating thepublic on how biometrics can be employedwithin a security strategy. Under the terms of the agreement, Luxoft will be the primarysoftware provider. It will also bring skilledRussian scientists to the center. Any softwareapplications produced by the team will beoffered to the market.
Contact: Vera Kurochkina at Luxoft,Tel: +7 095 967 8030, email: [email protected]
Jodie Lapin at PAN Communications,Tel: +1 978 474 1900, email: [email protected]
Financial results
Partnership
Finance
C o m p a n yn e w s
• Despite a bleak environmentfor raising venture capital, EviveCorporation has managed tosecure a second round offunding from its existing PacificRim investors. The funding will be used to support thecompany’s acquisition andgrowth strategy, which isfocused on the fragmented, butfast growing, biometric physicalsecurity industry. As part of itsacquisition strategy Evive plansto acquire firms that are well-managed and has retained the help of Focus Enterprises, aUS investment banking andcorporate-development consulting firm.
• Middleware provider Bio-Netrix Systems and Communi-cation Intelligence Corporation(CIC), a provider of dynamicsignature verification (dsv)technology, have partnered toprovide enterprise-wide bio-metric signature solutions forelectronic document signing,workflow enablement and userauthentication. Essentially thelink up will allow organizationsto secure their corporate data by deploying and centrallymanaging dsv technology for ahost of computing devices thatenable pen input.
• A report by the FujiChimera Research Institute inJapan has said that thecountry’s leading supplier ofbiometric solutions for net-work authentication is Secu-Gen. According to the report,SecuGen secured 21.5% of themarket in 2001, based on thenumber of units sold. Otherfindings in the report includedconfirmation that fingerprinttechnology is the dominantbiometric in the country withan overwhelming 90% marketshare. The report also said that the Japanese biometricsmarket is expected to grow at acompound annual growth rateof around 50% over the nextfour years.
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