- Email: [email protected]
Bionet sells netNanny
BUSINESS WATCH
company news • The receivers have been called in at one of the leading speaker verification companies, VoiceVault. The Irish company had been flying high in 2001, successfully raising Euro 15 million. Soon afterwards the company purchased SpeakerKey technology from US-based ITT Industries and assembled a good list of customers including Progressive, a US car insurance firm and AIB, an Irish banking group. The problems begun to appear in recent years when the company had been forced to shed 60 jobs and close offices in Brazil and the USA.
• Keystroke dynamics technology is to be used by the music companies Warner Music Canada and BMG Canada. They have both chosen to implement Musicrypt’s Digital Media Distribution System (DMDS), which uses the biometric technology to secure the process of digital music deliveries both internally and to radio stations.
• OmniPerception, a provider of facial-recognition-based solutions, has partnered with RS Software, an Indian provider of software services. RS Software will use the OmniPerception’s Affinity application development kit to produce specifically designed biometric security solutions for its customer base. RS Software will also have the right to market, sell and distribute the Affinity technology. • Voice.Trust, a German provider of speaker verification technology, and Vocalocity, a provider of interactive voice response (IVR) platforms, have announced a strategic alliance. As part of the agreement, Voice.Trust will embed Vocalocity’s Voice Gateway in the stand-alone version of its VOICE.TRUST Server 5 solution.
ipo
Cogent makes plans to go public with an IPO
Aladdin invests US$1 Million in C-Signature
Cogent, a US supplier of Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) and other fingerprint biometric solutions, has made moves to raise money through an initial public offering of its stock. The move could potentially raise US$150 million for the company. The company’s financial performance over the last three years has grown impressively, especially in the last year, which has been a tough for some other companies in the face of increased viability from competiting technologies. The company made US$13.07 million in 2001, rising to US$16.35 million in 2002 and to US$32.2 million in 2003. In the 12 months leading up to the end of March 2004, the company generated US$44 million in revenue and produced a 37% operating margin. Meanwhile, a net loss of US$411,000 in 2001 turned into a net income of US$2.3 million in 2002 and US$9.2 million in 2003. This strong financial performance is no doubt one of the reasons that the timing is now viewed as perfect for Cogent to offer itself in an IPO. Another reason for the timing of the IPO is the high profile nature of the work it is doing in the US-VISIT programme, where it is the primary supplier of AFIS solutions. According to the company: “We expect that sales under our contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, or US-VISIT, programme will account for a majority of our revenues in 2004.” Cogent markets its solutions directly to end customers and indirectly as a subcontractor with other vendors to US and international government organisations. As well as to the DHS the company has made sales to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the European Commission, the Chilean National Police, the Italian National Police, the UK police and the Singapore National Police. Details of the company’s IPO were submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in May. Morgan Stanley has been selected to act as lead underwriter on the deal, although terms and timing have yet to be determined. The company has asked to be listed under the ticker symbol COGT.
Aladdin Knowledge Systems, has announced it has made a US$1 million investment in CSignature, a new biometric company creating authentication and identity management technology. Through this strategic investment Aladdin will claim a 19.9% equity stake in C-Signature and a license to sell products based on C-Signature technology. The investment builds on the capabilities of Aladdin’s existing eToken authentication solution. Products based on the new technology are expected to be released in 2005. According to Yanki Margalit, the CEO of Aladdin Knowledge Systems: “Aladdin believes that biometrics will play an increasingly instrumental role in numerous security applications…Biometrics, smart cards and OneTime-Password tokens will undoubtedly continue to grow and serve diverse market needs for identity management.”
Contact: Ming Hsieh at Cogent, Tel: +1 626 799 8090
6
investment
sale
Bionet sells netNanny BioNet Systems, a provider of keystroke dynamics software has completed the sale of its Net Nanny software division to LookSmart. In total the cash and stock transaction was worth US$5.3 million. Net Nanny was introduced in 1994 and was best known as a parental Internet safety and control software. At that time the keystroke dynamics division came under the same company name, but following financial troubles it was spun off as BioNet Systems. According to Mark DiSalle, chief executive officer of BioNet Systems: “While Net Nanny has been a very successful product for BioNet Systems and for the millions of parents who rely upon it, given the heightened demand and market growth for security solutions worldwide, we are turning our complete focus to the increased development, marketing and sales efforts for BioPassword, our patented strong user authentication biometric technology.” LookSmart plans to continue the existing Net Nanny consumer sales channel and to extend it further by integrating its own web search technology into the Net Nanny product. Contact: Andrew Tull at BioNet Systems, Tel: +1 425 649 1100, email: [email protected]
Biometric Technology Today • July/August 2004
company news • The receivers have been called in at one of the leading speaker verification companies, VoiceVault. The Irish company had been flying high in 2001, successfully raising Euro 15 million. Soon afterwards the company purchased SpeakerKey technology from US-based ITT Industries and assembled a good list of customers including Progressive, a US car insurance firm and AIB, an Irish banking group. The problems begun to appear in recent years when the company had been forced to shed 60 jobs and close offices in Brazil and the USA.
• Keystroke dynamics technology is to be used by the music companies Warner Music Canada and BMG Canada. They have both chosen to implement Musicrypt’s Digital Media Distribution System (DMDS), which uses the biometric technology to secure the process of digital music deliveries both internally and to radio stations.
• OmniPerception, a provider of facial-recognition-based solutions, has partnered with RS Software, an Indian provider of software services. RS Software will use the OmniPerception’s Affinity application development kit to produce specifically designed biometric security solutions for its customer base. RS Software will also have the right to market, sell and distribute the Affinity technology. • Voice.Trust, a German provider of speaker verification technology, and Vocalocity, a provider of interactive voice response (IVR) platforms, have announced a strategic alliance. As part of the agreement, Voice.Trust will embed Vocalocity’s Voice Gateway in the stand-alone version of its VOICE.TRUST Server 5 solution.
ipo
Cogent makes plans to go public with an IPO
Aladdin invests US$1 Million in C-Signature
Cogent, a US supplier of Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) and other fingerprint biometric solutions, has made moves to raise money through an initial public offering of its stock. The move could potentially raise US$150 million for the company. The company’s financial performance over the last three years has grown impressively, especially in the last year, which has been a tough for some other companies in the face of increased viability from competiting technologies. The company made US$13.07 million in 2001, rising to US$16.35 million in 2002 and to US$32.2 million in 2003. In the 12 months leading up to the end of March 2004, the company generated US$44 million in revenue and produced a 37% operating margin. Meanwhile, a net loss of US$411,000 in 2001 turned into a net income of US$2.3 million in 2002 and US$9.2 million in 2003. This strong financial performance is no doubt one of the reasons that the timing is now viewed as perfect for Cogent to offer itself in an IPO. Another reason for the timing of the IPO is the high profile nature of the work it is doing in the US-VISIT programme, where it is the primary supplier of AFIS solutions. According to the company: “We expect that sales under our contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, or US-VISIT, programme will account for a majority of our revenues in 2004.” Cogent markets its solutions directly to end customers and indirectly as a subcontractor with other vendors to US and international government organisations. As well as to the DHS the company has made sales to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the European Commission, the Chilean National Police, the Italian National Police, the UK police and the Singapore National Police. Details of the company’s IPO were submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in May. Morgan Stanley has been selected to act as lead underwriter on the deal, although terms and timing have yet to be determined. The company has asked to be listed under the ticker symbol COGT.
Aladdin Knowledge Systems, has announced it has made a US$1 million investment in CSignature, a new biometric company creating authentication and identity management technology. Through this strategic investment Aladdin will claim a 19.9% equity stake in C-Signature and a license to sell products based on C-Signature technology. The investment builds on the capabilities of Aladdin’s existing eToken authentication solution. Products based on the new technology are expected to be released in 2005. According to Yanki Margalit, the CEO of Aladdin Knowledge Systems: “Aladdin believes that biometrics will play an increasingly instrumental role in numerous security applications…Biometrics, smart cards and OneTime-Password tokens will undoubtedly continue to grow and serve diverse market needs for identity management.”
Contact: Ming Hsieh at Cogent, Tel: +1 626 799 8090
6
investment
sale
Bionet sells netNanny BioNet Systems, a provider of keystroke dynamics software has completed the sale of its Net Nanny software division to LookSmart. In total the cash and stock transaction was worth US$5.3 million. Net Nanny was introduced in 1994 and was best known as a parental Internet safety and control software. At that time the keystroke dynamics division came under the same company name, but following financial troubles it was spun off as BioNet Systems. According to Mark DiSalle, chief executive officer of BioNet Systems: “While Net Nanny has been a very successful product for BioNet Systems and for the millions of parents who rely upon it, given the heightened demand and market growth for security solutions worldwide, we are turning our complete focus to the increased development, marketing and sales efforts for BioPassword, our patented strong user authentication biometric technology.” LookSmart plans to continue the existing Net Nanny consumer sales channel and to extend it further by integrating its own web search technology into the Net Nanny product. Contact: Andrew Tull at BioNet Systems, Tel: +1 425 649 1100, email: [email protected]
Biometric Technology Today • July/August 2004