Cannot find this epic this site..so I thought I bring it to peeps attention.

Another poster on another BB claims Airport security contracts for biometric etc have been won. Announcements due quite soon now.
This share is very illiquid..I cannot stress that enough. Has risen from 90p to 1.70 recently and looks to have settled at this price.

http://www.network-technology.com/news.asp for your info to read.
AGM statement reads well.

HOMELAND SECURITY
The Fruits of Safety
Accenture's $10 billion contract marks a water-shed: The homeland-security market has hit the big time. Stand by for much, much more.
By Nicholas Stein

The U.S. government doesn't hand out $10 billion to a single company every day. So the announcement this month that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had awarded Accenture a contract for that amount (to be paid over five years) to develop its US-VISIT program received plenty of attention. US-VISIT is the futuristic and controversial new initiative that will use fingerprinting, retinal scans, and other so-called biometric data to monitor the flow of visitors across America's borders. There's much to marvel at hereand it's not just what such a program might mean for the future of civil rights. That $10 billion is truly huge: It's seven times the size of the contract Boeing got to heighten security at the nation's airports. And it's a clear sign that the nascent homeland-security business, which companies have eyed since 9/11 as a potential gold mine, has finally come into its own. The pace and volume of contractsboth from the feds and the private sectorhave greatly accelerated and are expected to soar still higher.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. government was spending about $10 billion a year on homeland security, the majority on protecting federal facilities in the U.S and abroad. Each year since, the Bush administration has allocated about $40 billion annually to homeland security. Initially much of this money was spent on things like getting the DHS up and running (a 180,000-employee colossus, it officially opened its doors in early 2003) and paying the salaries of additional security forces. Only in the past 18 months have the real bucks started flowing directly to the private sector. In its 2003 fiscal year the DHS awarded $6.8 billion in private sector contracts. In 2004 it will sign over some $8 billion more, according to the Civitas Group, a leading D.C. homeland-security consultancy. In a report to be released at the end of June, Civitas forecasts $17 billion in government spending on homeland security for 2005about $8 billion from the DHS and the rest from other governmental agencies.

But government money is just part of the story. The biggest rise in spending is likely to come from the private sector. After all, more than 70% of the nation's critical infrastructure, including oil wells, chemical plants, and computer systems, is in private hands. Civitas expects corporations to spend $6.5 billion on their own security in the next year. "We are very optimistic about the potential for continued growth in the market," says Mark Shaheen, vice president of Civitas. He estimates that the sector will expand 5% to 10% a year, mostly due to increased corporate spending.

Homeland security is a vast arena, encompassing everything from baggage screening at airports to Coast Guard patrols to the stockpiling of smallpox vaccines. So far the government has focused its spending on securing borders, transportation, and infrastructure; enhancing domestic intelligence and counterterrorism; and generally preparing for emergencies. Within each of these areas there are immense programs like US-VISIT, which is expected to capture arrival and departure information on all of the 300 million people who enter the country each year. (Some legislators, angry about Bermuda-based Accenture's offshore status, are trying to block the deal; if that happens, the contract is likely to go to Computer Sciences or Lockheed Martin.) But there are also smaller-scale projects that devote a few million dollars to studying, for example, how to prevent a shoulder-fired missile attack on commercial aircraft.

Thus far just a handful of companies have received the bulk of DHS money: In 2003, 42% of the $6.8 billion for the private sector went to ten corporations. Those ten include not only Accenture but also IT system integrator Unisys and major defense contractors Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics companies with the experience and lobbying power to negotiate Washington's bureaucracy. But the field is beginning to widen. "In the long run, the bidding will get a lot more competitive," says Bruce Aitken, a Washington lobbyist who heads the Homeland Securities Industries Association, a 200-member trade group founded in 2002.

Indeed, what's surprising is the vast number of companies in a wide range of industries that are setting themselves up to benefit from this windfall. Some are doing it through acquisitions. For example, in March, General Electric agreed to buy InVision, a top producer of explosive-detection systems used in airports, for $900 million. And insurance giant Marsh just announced the $1.9 billion acquisition of Kroll Associates, the world's leading investigation firm. Companies in businesses ranging from shipbuilding to small-caliber arms stand to profit too.

Other beneficiaries will be smaller firms in the tech industry, many of which are getting R&D money from the government to develop useful new technologies. For example, U.S. Genomics, a Woburn, Mass., company, recently received $7.5 million to perfect a sensor that can be placed in large public spaces to identify airborne pathogens such as anthrax and smallpox. Another recipient is Wakefield, Mass., firm Implant Sciences, which has received $1 million to develop bomb-detection devices.

The stock market is wild about these developments. In early June, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge gave a speech in Knoxville, Tenn., in which he singled out a few local companies for "helping to make America more secure." One of them was iPIX, a maker of 360-degree-video software that lets househunters view an entire room online. The next day iPIX, which has annual revenues of just $29 million and only recently started a security division, was the most actively traded stock on Nasdaq. It rose 50%.

[January 27, 2004]

Ringdale Quick-ID Overhauled With Customizable Color Touch Panel Interface

Ringdale's Quick-ID has been completely overhauled with a customizable colour touch panel interface. Quick-ID comes standard with an enrollment camera and an enrollment fingerprint reader for the enrollment station and just a fingerprint reader for the Verification station. The 14inch colour LCD touch screen is optional. Quick-ID is currently the industrys fastest way to enroll and identify a persons data and visual appearance.

Applications where Rindale's technology will significantly enhance security and make the process more efficient are:

Airport Attended Security Gates Bank Tellers Check Cashing Outlets Guarded Reception Areas Military and Commercial Hospital Reception Areas Fitness Center and Health Clubs Mobile Law Enforcement Manned Security Posts In an Airport the flyers face and fingerprint can be registered on the check-in counter where the data of the persons passport is entered. The information is held centrally so if the customer would show up at the wrong gate, immediate notification will show on the gates screen that the customer was registered for a different flight also the persons face and details will appear on the screen making it no longer necessary to see the persons passport as a visual verification with an up-to-date picture can be made.

In a Check Cashing outlet the shop owners most effective protection against fraud is to only accept and cash checks from persons known to the shop owner. This often causes a problem on weekends or during holiday times as the person knowing the clients has the dilemma that his visual knowledge is not easily transferred to another person. The Qick-ID system from Ringdale allows the registration of face and fingerprint as well as keeping track of checks that have been cashed in the past, a maximum credit line and a black list of issuers of checks that the shop does no longer want to cash.

Once the customer is enrolled, a 30 second process, any trustworthy person can now share the visual information of the customers picture and verify that the person is the person that they say they are in less than 2 seconds, whilst getting all pertinent information on the screen to be ready to process the check.

In a Bank the signature is often still the only way to identify a person an a lot of bank fraud is still committed. Elaborate systems have been developed by banks, which could be streamlined using Quick-ID increasing throughput on the counter and increase customer satisfaction, whilst eliminating the risk of fraud.

Fitness Centers can benefit from Quick-ID allowing unattended entry to the fitness area using their fingerprint, the receptionist can verify the identity by looking at the picture registered for the subscriber. Quick-ID comes with subscription management and automatically terminates access to the facilities when the subscription period has ended. A Touch Screen (optional at additional cost) interface allows self enrollment and status alerts like "5 days subscription left - Like to renew now?" Multiple stations for logging in and self service can be networked together. For Multiple Stations you will require SQL Database Server access. SQL Server Software or Hardware not included in stipulated price.

All Ringdale software products are easy to install and provide an intuitive operator interface. This system works on ny current Windows Platform such as NT, 2000, 2003, XP Home and XP Professional.

Wednesday - May 14, 2003
Ringdale Integrates Fingerprint Recognition Into FollowMe Products
Ringdale has integrated its fingerprint recognition system into its FollowMe access control products for printers and copiers, in addition to area access control devices. This makes for a more convenient key or cardless identification system that can be used with Ringdales FollowMe Q-Server and printer and PC access control technology. The FollowMe printing system is also available with keypad, proximity card and swipe card access.