By Steven Sachoff, editor
LE PLESSIS, France—CS, a designer, integrator and operator of mission critical systems for the homeland security and defense sectors, has won a tender called by the Iraqi government to serve as a consultant on its Baghdad and border security program.
Under the terms of the deal, CS will review the operational concept, define the system, organize an international competition and submit its recommendations to the Iraqi government for subsequent phases of the program.
In a statement, the company said the deal represents CS’s intention of expanding its homeland security business, particularly in the Middle East.
“CS has been chosen for this consultancy after a highly competitive international tender over a year,” said the company’s CEO, Eric Blanc-Garin. “This is a recognition of the relevance of our mission critical systems integration capabilities in order to respond to defense and homeland security requirements.”
DUBLIN—Situation management specialist Orsus announced in late February the acquisition of the Ireland-based Cinario, a developer of intelligent management integration software, as part of its strategy to enlarge its footprint on the UK and European markets.
The acquisition of Cinario was funded via a recently completed round of investment raised from existing Orsus investors. The company declined to disclose further details on the investment or the acquisition.
Cinario, which was established in 2002, focuses on solutions for the retail market and boasts clients such as Tesco, Dixons and Wal-Mart subsidiary ASDA.
In addition to the comple-
mentary nature of Cinario and Orsus products, Rafi Bhonker, vice-president of marketing and sales at Orsus, told Security Systems News Europe that Cinario’s well-established list of clients also made the company an attractive acquisition target. “This deal gives us a local presence as well as an existing customer base that we can migrate to our Situator product,” explained Bhonker.
Situator, Orsus’ flagship product, is a comprehensive situation management software solution which enables situation planning, response and analysis for the security, safety and crisis management markets.
Cinario’s CEO Charlie Sherlock and CTO John Breen will stay on board, joining the Orsus manage-
ment team. “Orsus’ very strong financial position allows for a level of expansion which we simply could not have achieved by ourselves in Cinario,”
Rafi Bhonker
Sherlock said in a statement. “My coming on board
allows me to deliver significant additional business benefits to my Cinario clients through the use of
Situator,” he added.
The synergies between the two companies will present real opportunities to clients for cost savings, according to Bhonker. For
example, as economic concerns move to the forefront, larger organizations—Orsus’ target market—can reduce costs by effectively consolidating multiple control rooms, Bhonker said.
At the same time, effective situation management can reduce bottom-line costs. “When you talk about situation management, you’re really talking about different alerting technologies that we correlate together,” explained Bhonker. “We put these technologies together and make sense out of the information, out of the business process,” he continued. “Correlating information to allow for the most effective response—this has a direct impact on an organization’s bottom line.” SSNE
Spain’s Agnitio secures
EUR 5.5mln in new funding
Counter Terror Expo
2009 draws a crowd
By Kelly Ramundo, contributing editor
By Steven Sachoff, editor
JERSEY, UK—The Nurizon Corporation, a consultancy and solutions provider for the government and homeland security market based here, has signed an exclusive partnership deal with the U.S.-based Digital Ally, a manufacturer of in-vehicle video recording systems for law enforcement and public safety organizations,to distribute Digital Ally products in the Middle East.
Digital Ally’s solutions comprise an integrated rear-view mirror and LCD, which ensures that there are no moving parts, and existing radios mounted in the dashboard of the vehicle no longer need to be interfered with. Law enforcement officers can upload video from the vehicle to government servers by encrypted wireless radio technology, and officers also have the option of wearing body worn cameras
The fully Arabized Digital Ally system is fully compatible and integrates easily with Nurizon’s ANPR systems and mobile speed enforcement systems from major manufacturers like Kustom Signals.
MADRID—Agnitio, the Spain-based voice biometric technology provider, has secured EUR 5.5mln in Series B funding, led by the French venture capital firm Elaia Partners and with a significant contribution from prior investor Nauta Capital of EUR 2.7mln, which the company will use to expand into new vertical and geographic markets.
Considering the severity of the financial climate, Agnitio CEO Emilio Martínez considers the investment a vote of confidence in Agnitio’s performance as market leader in homeland security and an opportunity to grow in new markets. After years of offering its text-independent and language-unspecific voice verification to police and anti-terror forces in 22 countries, including Spain, France, the UK and throughout Latin America, the company plans to use the new funding to expand into Asia and North America, as well as to make a greater foray into the fledgling corporate voice technology market.
“Voice biometrics is at the intersection of the homeland security and voice technology markets,”said Martínez. While the technology is fairly well developed in the former, being used in law enforcement, forensic laboratories and intelligence operations, the later is still in development stages.
But after five years of tried and tested product development in homeland security—voice ID evidence has been accepted in courts roughly 100 times in Europe— Martínez said Agnitio has secured a position to offer its unique products to other sectors, namely to financial institutions; but also in
health care, where the company recently entered into an agreement with New York´s Onondaga County to provide voice-veri-fied time and attendance control technology for
Emilio Martínez
caretakers in the wake of a massive Medicaid fraud.
In the financial industry, Agnitio has
also been working with Spain’s Bankinter since last year, having developed an internal application for the bank’s employees. Martínez, who characterizes the bank as “early adaptors” of new technology, said it had recognized that biometric technology is effective in fighting ID fraud.
Xavier Lazarus, general partner at Elaia, said his firm’s full weight is behind Agnitio, noting its “proven track record and credibility in homeland security,” as well as its potential to lead in the corporate sector.
In the corporate remote authentication market—for example in call centers or financial institutions—Agnitio’s solutions are “disrupting the established rules of the game, offering new improved security and flexible options, compared to the complexity high costs of fingerprint, token or smart cards, deployment,” Lazarus said.
As voice biometrics is the only biometric technology that can be used remotely, Lazarus thinks they will “become mandatory in the near future for low cost reliable remote authentication.”
Martínez said the time is ripe for entering new markets, pointing to errors on the part of Agnitio’s competitors in voice
See Agnito on page 14
LONDON—Counter Terror Expo, a two-day homeland security-themed exhibition and conference, took place at the QE II Conference Center here February 11-12, and the crowded show floor and well attended conference sessions suggested that interest in the homeland security sector remains strong despite the slowing global economy.
Events began with the opening of the main conference, which featured a variety of speakers addressing various aspects of current terrorist threats today, including Shadow UK Security Minister Baronness Neville-Jones of Hutton Roof DCMG, Richard Williams, deputy of the Director of Armaments Directorate of Division at NATO headquarters, and Robert Quick, assistant commissioner at London’s Metropolitan Police.
The highlight of the morning session, however, was the talk by Frank Gardner, a specialist on the Arab world and the BBC’s security correspondent. Gardner, who survived 6 close-range gunshots fired by Al Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia in 2004 and is confined to a wheelchair, rolled himself to the podium and rose with the help of a walker to speak on “thinking outside the box” when dealing with the terrorist threat. He had harsh words for anyone who thinks the Middle East can be reduced to simplistic black and white caricatures. In Gardner’s view, there has been a collective failure on both sides of the Atlantic to get inside the heads of violent Jihadis, an admittedly “unpleasant place to be.” Events like the Iraq war and the recent conflict in Gaza, Gardner said, have come along just when Al Qaeda has been knocked off balance, and have given the group ideal rallying points for more recruits. Garnder didn’t suggest that the terrorist threat would have been eliminated if these things hadn’t taken place. He instead argued that the question of “who’s winning the war on terrorism” is “nonsense.” There can never be a winner in the traditional sense of the word, he said, explaining that the real goal should be to reduce the chance of attacks as much as possible.
Richard Williams of NATO noted the extent to which the worlds of the military and security now overlap. As just one illustration, Williams said that the protection of critical infrastructure, both military and civilian sites,
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