- Email: [email protected]
Veridicom changes strategy and secures more funding
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4/16/02
9:58 AM
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BUSINESS WATCH Comany update
Veridicom changes strategy and secures more funding Veridicom, a US supplier of silicon fingerprint sensors and software, has secured US$4.7 million in additional funding. The company said the money has allowed it to accelerate product development – most notably the supplier launched version 3.0 of its system developer's kit (SDK 3.0), which is compliant with the CBEFF standard. As well as product development, however, the company has made major shifts in strategy since it climbed out of financial difficulties last year. The company has emerged more focused and leaner (21 staff plus R&D contractors). As Naeem Zafar, Veridicom's president and CEO, told Btt: "In the past we used to sell our peripherals and software solutions direct to PC OEMs or to corporate IT departments. These markets were not ready, however, and required a lot of direct selling and support. Now we are heavily focused on delivering specific vertical market solutions – including the fingerprint algorithms, server software and high-end peripherals. We have had contract wins in Turkey, India, South Africa, Brazil and Malaysia." In particular, Veridicom is working with systems integrators to implement fingerprint systems for securing access to personal information and critical corporate data over the internet, particularly in the government and financial sectors. Contact: Naeem Zafar at Veridicom, Tel: +1 408 543 4201, Fax: +1 408 734 0308, email: [email protected]
Financial results
Bioscrypt reports massive revenue gains for 2001 Bioscrypt, a Canadian provider of fingerprint technology, announced encouraging results for its financial year ended 31 December 2001. Bioscrypt posted revenue of C$8.45 million for the year, compared with C$0.34 million in 2000. This resulted in a net loss amounting to C$24.83 million for 2001, although just over C$15 million of this resulted from amortization expenses for intangibles associated with the company's acquisition of BII last year. According to Pierre Donaldson, president and CEO of Bioscrypt: "We are very satisfied with the revenue growth and improvement in margins,
Biometric Technology Today • April 2002
particularly within the physical access product line which rose from 13% to 20%." Despite the losses, the company is still in a stable financial position, with assets of C$19.87 million, including C$15.37 million in cash. The company says it is on track for another strong year of revenue growth and believes it can reach profitability in early 2003. Contact: Lorelei Luchkiw at Bioscrypt, Tel: +1 905 624 7717, email: [email protected]
Company update
Staffing trouble brews at Advanced Biometrics A number of disgruntled employees at US supplier Advanced Biometrics Inc (ABI) have disputed ownership of intellectual property associated with the company's KeyFree technology. Sixteen employees claim not to have been paid wages amounting to almost US$1 million – dating back to November 2001 – and have been barred from accessing their Tacoma research & development facility. They have also had their corporate e-mail accounts closed and been mailed certified letters terminating their employment. The employees have asked the courts to reinstate them and are disputing ownership of the intellectual property. The complaint asks the court to grant them a "Declaratory Judgment" for "ownership and proprietary rights to the technology, software and hardware" developed during the time when the employees were not paid. During that period, the employees claim to have reengineered the hardware and software in the company's KeyFree product. Stephen Fishburn, ABI's CTO and the lead plaintiff commented: "We were close to working out final bugs in KeyFree. Before we were locked out, we hadn't managed to fix a newly found bug in the recognition algorithms that cause verification of users to fail in the demonstration units, but we were close. I'm not sure what ABI is going to do to move KeyFree forward without anyone on the technology staff." It is not yet clear whether the current dispute will affect the recently announced share exchange with Electronic Identification. The share exchange will lead to a listing of the combined company, Advanced Biometric Technologies Corporation, on the NASDAQ. Contact: Stephen Fishburn at ABI, Tel: +1 253 670 4404, email: [email protected]
Company news • Sense Holdings has announced a successful round of funding, which resulted in the securing of US$2.5 million. The money will be used for expansion of its operations and biometric product development. • Security Biometrics and Lightec Communications have agreed to merge their operations. Under the agreement, shareholders of Lightec Communications will receive a combination of cash and stock in Security Biometrics worth approximately US$12 million. Lightec Communications is a provider of telecommunications design, installation and information technology services. Revenue in the combined company is expected to exceed US$17 million. The company’s business plan includes penetrating the growing biometric signature authentication markets. • Viisage Technology has signed another exclusive licensing agreement with Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Under this deal the company will market and sell Viisage's face recognition solutions for surveillance and access control applications to the power plant and pipeline industries worldwide. This builds on an agreement last month, which permitted Curtiss-Wright to sell face recognition solutions to parts of the US Department of Defence. • Biometric and network security company Onesync has set up operations in North Wales in the UK. The company provides iris, voice, fingerprint and facial recognition systems to help secure communication and information channels between private networks and the internet. Meanwhile facial recognition technology supplier Imagis Technologies has also set up an office in the UK, based in Gloucester.
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4/16/02
9:58 AM
Page 5
BUSINESS WATCH Comany update
Veridicom changes strategy and secures more funding Veridicom, a US supplier of silicon fingerprint sensors and software, has secured US$4.7 million in additional funding. The company said the money has allowed it to accelerate product development – most notably the supplier launched version 3.0 of its system developer's kit (SDK 3.0), which is compliant with the CBEFF standard. As well as product development, however, the company has made major shifts in strategy since it climbed out of financial difficulties last year. The company has emerged more focused and leaner (21 staff plus R&D contractors). As Naeem Zafar, Veridicom's president and CEO, told Btt: "In the past we used to sell our peripherals and software solutions direct to PC OEMs or to corporate IT departments. These markets were not ready, however, and required a lot of direct selling and support. Now we are heavily focused on delivering specific vertical market solutions – including the fingerprint algorithms, server software and high-end peripherals. We have had contract wins in Turkey, India, South Africa, Brazil and Malaysia." In particular, Veridicom is working with systems integrators to implement fingerprint systems for securing access to personal information and critical corporate data over the internet, particularly in the government and financial sectors. Contact: Naeem Zafar at Veridicom, Tel: +1 408 543 4201, Fax: +1 408 734 0308, email: [email protected]
Financial results
Bioscrypt reports massive revenue gains for 2001 Bioscrypt, a Canadian provider of fingerprint technology, announced encouraging results for its financial year ended 31 December 2001. Bioscrypt posted revenue of C$8.45 million for the year, compared with C$0.34 million in 2000. This resulted in a net loss amounting to C$24.83 million for 2001, although just over C$15 million of this resulted from amortization expenses for intangibles associated with the company's acquisition of BII last year. According to Pierre Donaldson, president and CEO of Bioscrypt: "We are very satisfied with the revenue growth and improvement in margins,
Biometric Technology Today • April 2002
particularly within the physical access product line which rose from 13% to 20%." Despite the losses, the company is still in a stable financial position, with assets of C$19.87 million, including C$15.37 million in cash. The company says it is on track for another strong year of revenue growth and believes it can reach profitability in early 2003. Contact: Lorelei Luchkiw at Bioscrypt, Tel: +1 905 624 7717, email: [email protected]
Company update
Staffing trouble brews at Advanced Biometrics A number of disgruntled employees at US supplier Advanced Biometrics Inc (ABI) have disputed ownership of intellectual property associated with the company's KeyFree technology. Sixteen employees claim not to have been paid wages amounting to almost US$1 million – dating back to November 2001 – and have been barred from accessing their Tacoma research & development facility. They have also had their corporate e-mail accounts closed and been mailed certified letters terminating their employment. The employees have asked the courts to reinstate them and are disputing ownership of the intellectual property. The complaint asks the court to grant them a "Declaratory Judgment" for "ownership and proprietary rights to the technology, software and hardware" developed during the time when the employees were not paid. During that period, the employees claim to have reengineered the hardware and software in the company's KeyFree product. Stephen Fishburn, ABI's CTO and the lead plaintiff commented: "We were close to working out final bugs in KeyFree. Before we were locked out, we hadn't managed to fix a newly found bug in the recognition algorithms that cause verification of users to fail in the demonstration units, but we were close. I'm not sure what ABI is going to do to move KeyFree forward without anyone on the technology staff." It is not yet clear whether the current dispute will affect the recently announced share exchange with Electronic Identification. The share exchange will lead to a listing of the combined company, Advanced Biometric Technologies Corporation, on the NASDAQ. Contact: Stephen Fishburn at ABI, Tel: +1 253 670 4404, email: [email protected]
Company news • Sense Holdings has announced a successful round of funding, which resulted in the securing of US$2.5 million. The money will be used for expansion of its operations and biometric product development. • Security Biometrics and Lightec Communications have agreed to merge their operations. Under the agreement, shareholders of Lightec Communications will receive a combination of cash and stock in Security Biometrics worth approximately US$12 million. Lightec Communications is a provider of telecommunications design, installation and information technology services. Revenue in the combined company is expected to exceed US$17 million. The company’s business plan includes penetrating the growing biometric signature authentication markets. • Viisage Technology has signed another exclusive licensing agreement with Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Under this deal the company will market and sell Viisage's face recognition solutions for surveillance and access control applications to the power plant and pipeline industries worldwide. This builds on an agreement last month, which permitted Curtiss-Wright to sell face recognition solutions to parts of the US Department of Defence. • Biometric and network security company Onesync has set up operations in North Wales in the UK. The company provides iris, voice, fingerprint and facial recognition systems to help secure communication and information channels between private networks and the internet. Meanwhile facial recognition technology supplier Imagis Technologies has also set up an office in the UK, based in Gloucester.
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