By Brian Eriksen Noer, HomelandDefenseStocks.com, InvestingInWireless.com
December 2004

Once the Government gets behind a developing technology, not only in certifying it, but in actually integrating that technology into widespread use amongst its jurisdictions, chances are very good that those technologies will gain mainstream acceptance and provide growth opportunities for both companies and investors. As Alan Panezic, Senior Manager Technical Services with Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) said, “Enterprises like to see the fact that government bodies are using the technologies themselves.”  Brian Eriksen Noer reports for InvestingInWireless.com.

One of the quickly evolving technologies that the US Government has shown great interest in, subsequent to the collapse of cellular communications during disaster scenarios like 9/11 and the big East Coast blackout is improved and reliable solutions for wireless communications strategies. The Department of Homeland Security has identified first responder communications as one of its leading strategic objectives.

Mr. Dan Inbar, Chairman of the Homeland Security Research Corporation, stated at the Homeland Defense Stock Conference (www.HomelandDefenseStocks.com) in Washington , D.C that 90% of Homeland Defense solutions will come from small, emerging growth companies. Savvy investors may see opportunities for growth by following the trail of which companies are earning government contracts and funding for R&D.

InvestingInWireless.com profiles several enterprises of this type whose products and services are quickly gaining acceptance within the Department of Homeland Defense. These companies include Roaming Messenger (OTCBB: RMSG), Aegis Assessments (OTCBB: AGSI), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Snocone Systems Inc. (OTCBB: SCOS), Lumera Corporation (NASDAQ: LMRA), Markland Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: MRKL), Adaptix, and Onset Technology.

Wireless in Motion

A product that is causing huge waves of interest throughout the wireless industry as well as many jurisdictions of the US Government is Research In Motion’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry device.

"The Homeland Defense sector has really begun to see the value and reliability of Blackberry from the perspective of being able to stay in communication at all times, especially in the event of unfortunate situations," says Alan Panezic, Senior Manager Technical Services with Research In Motion.

Many departments within the US Government have case studies on Blackberry usage. The Department of Justice has begun to employ Blackberry devices. When the DOJ (which has more than 1500 mobile employees) first started to look at Blackberry usage they had up to six devices to enable secure reliable communications throughout the world - secure cell phones, data devices, secure token devices, etc. They discovered that the BlackBerry allowed them to roam globally and have not only their voice but their data find them securely as well. They adopted another 3rd party solution from a company called Inciscent, to be able to remotely manage back end servers. This has allowed them to convert from six devices down to only two. The Blackberry made the cut after it met the stringent security criteria called FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard).

"The department of the army (IMCEN - The Information Management Support Center) was trying to figure out how they would deploy 1300 mobile employees very quickly in a short period of time,” said Panezic. “They used technology that we had available in the 3.6 version of the enterprise server (today it would be even easier) to create an install package so that they could deploy to the desktop in a very short period of time. This technology reduced the number of visits that they had to make to end user workstations by 75% which is a huge reduction in terms of deployment. Their installations were reduced from 60 minutes down to 25, and the upgrade of a device from 40 down to 15 minutes. This allowed them to very easily deploy the Blackberry. The quote I got from them is, ‘we can add a hundred users to the Blackberry in ten minutes, and it's that simple’."

The US Department of Agriculture has integrated a solution from a company called Epoch Integration, which will allow them to monitor and manage all servers (not just Blackberry servers) in their environment. This means that IT engineers can reset servers, change a queue, and look at log files, all from the Blackberry device. The Department of Agriculture has been able to save the salaries ($140,000) of two full IT engineers, because they no longer have to have people onsite 24/7. This technology has allowed them to be more efficient in terms of how they manager their networks, increasing their responsiveness while decreasing response time from hours down to minutes, and improve customer service, all this by simultaneously reducing their cost. This system is of course broadly applicable in jurisdictions other than agriculture.

Third Party Applications Help Sell BlackBerry

"We are one of Research In Motion's biggest and most successful independent software vendors," said Steve Koontz, VP of Marketing with Onset Technology. "We make METAmessage software which helps a BlackBerry do more. We have a customer base of over a thousand enterprises and over 120,000 users. We also have a substantial partner base with carriers, resellers and enterprise application developers."

One of the only communication devices that worked during recent emergency scenarios was a BlackBerry. In an emergency situation, the whole communications network can fall apart, said Koontz. "We have developed a product that essentially turns any BlackBerry deployment into an emergency communications network. For example, BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN messaging works in an emergency because it bypasses email infrastructure - users communicate directly with each other. METAmessage helps make PIN-to-PIN messaging more effective by automatically updating PIN addresses, archiving PIN messages, and by enabling blasts to distribution lists from the handheld."

All of the carriers who are reselling BlackBerry devices strive to expand their government market, which Koontz says increases interest in Onset's applications. "All federal, state and local agencies have mandates to be able to demonstrate that if something blows up they have a plan to communicate with their employees. BlackBerry is a tremendous vehicle for emergency communications. With METAmessage, emergency documents can be stored on a handheld so that even if users are out of wireless coverage, they can read procedures in the event of an emergency." 

Bridging the Radio Gap

Aegis Assessments Inc. was founded prior to 9/11 by Eric Johnson who formerly worked with the International Security Command (INSCOM) and the National Security Agency (NSA) and his brother in law who is currently on active duty with the US Army Special Operations Command. They developed ideas for several cutting edge wireless products that would allow communication during an emergency situation. Their initial idea was to set up a system for schools. One of the big problems at Columbine, it was found, was the lack of interoperable communication among the first responders.

Their first product to reach mass production is the SafetyNet brand RadioBridge. This product solves the problem that is caused by not having radio interoperability at the scene of an emergency by allowing radios on different frequencies, or with different modulation schemes, analog, digital, or trunked, even a cell phone to be connected to the Radio Bridge which then allows radios of any frequency to talk to radios of any other frequency.

The Radio Bridge system, which weighs about twenty pounds, is truly portable and provides almost immediate interoperability at the scene of an incident. It is inexpensive enough that users could have a large number deployed throughout a given city, on fire trucks, or in the trunk of a police car. It allows up to eight different agencies to be grouped into different talk groups depending on who needs to talk to whom, and those groups can be changed just by turning a dial.

 “We sold our very first Radio Bridge to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center - San Diego, in support of the Office for Domestic Preparedness (an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) and they are testing it now with an eye towards a wider deployment," said Richard Reincke, President and COO of Aegis. "We are on the Department of Homeland Security Responder knowledge base, so if you are a first responder anywhere in the country you can access our information and our website through the Department of Homeland Security website. We will be announcing additional sales to other military, government, and law enforcement agencies throughout this quarter.”

Aegis is in development of a product called the Guardian System which will allow real time streaming video and two-way audio to stairwells in buildings. This will allow an incident commander outside the building to see and talk to the people in the stairwell. In addition Aegis is also working on RFID technology that would allow tracking of firefighters in a building during an emergency. All of which is of course very important for the first responders, as was made clear by the 9/11 commission report.

Taking Mobile Messaging to a Whole New Level

Roaming Messenger provides a breakthrough mobile messaging solution for delivering real-time, actionable information in a secure and interoperable manner. It is especially valuable for applications in homeland security, emergency response, law enforcement, public health and defense, all areas where security and interoperability are key challenges. Using proprietary, patent-pending technology, Roaming Messenger encapsulates time-critical information and business logic into a single package, called a mobile data agent. Unlike e-mail or text messaging, these mobile data agents or “smart messengers” are capable of roaming across wired and wireless devices, escalating as necessary through chains of command, to track down the individuals who must respond to the information. 

Providing end-to-end government-grade security as well as interoperability, i.e, ‘seamless communication’ across devices, networks, agencies and jurisdictions, Roaming Messenger brings a robust set of capabilities to transform communication between individuals, organizations and systems.

The solution is easily integrated with existing applications to extend their functionality out into the mobile world. The benefits of Roaming Messenger’s solution are not limited to any one vertical. In addition to its usefulness for government agencies, Roaming Messenger has a multitude of applications in the enterprise space including: automation & control, supply chain/ERP, salesforce automation, facilities management, healthcare and enterprise messaging. The potential of this middleware technology solution is far-reaching, with homeland security and public safety being just the tip of the iceberg. 

The RISKeye Mobile Security Device

Snocone Systems Inc., an innovator of wireless solutions, recently announced the launch of RISKeye Mobile Viewing and Surveillance Technology, its new mobile security monitoring service.

Mobile monitoring is the next generation remote security application which enables users to receive real time video surveillance via cellular phones. The service features the ability to zoom in on specific areas of the images, being delivered for close up examination of objects or people, being captured on camera. It also supports the control of multiple cameras.

The technology is the first of its kind allowing users to monitor CCTV, webcams and remote surveillance cameras from their mobile phone through Openwave's widely used WAP 2.0 browser, enabling the application to function on a broad number of handsets worldwide without the need for client side software downloads.

Through research and relationships, Snocone has recognized the enormous need for handheld surveillance devices in Homeland and Personal Security. These applications will be made available to government agencies, police departments and the general public. The advantages of these applications include: low cost, ease of use, multiple remote camera controls and minimal reconfiguration of existing cameras, availability on most current mobile phones.

Rolling Out the WiMAX

A wireless sector development to watch closely is the implementation of WiMAX technology, scheduled for interoperability testing with broad implementation expected by the end of 2005. WiMAX is a licensed networking technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX can be used in a diverse arsenal of applications, including "last mile" broadband connections, hotspot and cellular backhaul, and high-speed enterprise connectivity for businesses.

Anticipating the impact of the evolving WiMAX technology, the Lumera Corporation will very shortly be introducing their complementary device, a beam forming smart antenna, which can adapt to changing data transmission environments and maximize data communication capacity and quality. This is the first smart antenna to integrate specifically into customer premise equipment. Lumera expects to have their antennas available in early 2005, said Dan Lykken, VP of sales and marketing with Lumera.

Once WIMAX usage becomes more standard, base stations will be deployed, which will necessitate end user reception by either terminals or customer premise equipment. “Although the average range is typically good,” said Lykken, “our smart antenna is designed for longer ranges. What we are hearing from some WiMAX market participants is that a dipole antenna will work up to a distance of 1 – 2 miles, depending on conditions. In contrast, we expect our smart antenna will work for up to 7 miles for rural applications and those needing more range.” 

Through its beam forming technology, Lumera’s smart antenna will maximize received energy from the base station by flexibly forming the beam in the proper direction. This eliminates the need for a dish to be positioned with minute accuracy in order to pick up a signal, making deployment much easier than it is now. WiMAX providers are seeking smart antennas so they do not have to ‘roll out truck’ to complete an install thereby reducing costs for business and end users.

Lykken expects that the WiMAX platform will first introduce fixed portable broadband, and, eventually, could offer a fully mobile solution. “Our product is designed for the enterprise portable broadband market, where the antenna will configure itself in the optimum way to communicate with the tower. In addition to WiMAX, when deployed with an access point in the enterprise, it is suitable for MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) applications.  “We have been speaking to a number of industry participants about IP data and with broadband IP we expect multiple user applications to be extended to voice and video. Some of our partners want to roll this technology out to provide video for developing countries where they hope to beam video for the last mile. Think of it as ‘broadband on demand’,” said Lykken.

The Smart Antenna in Defense

In addition to the many business and personal communications uses, the smart antenna could also be deployed to benefit the Homeland Defense sector.

In its defense strategy against biological and chemical attacks, the US has established the Project Bioshield Act of 2004, which utilizes a network of environmental sensors to detect biological weapons attacks against major cities in the United States. Biodetectors (which are expected to be introduced soon in many major American cities) collect samples, conduct tests right on location, and send the results to the lab wirelessly.

 “One of the benefits that our product presents,” said Lumera’s Lykken, “is that in this scenario smart antenna technology could be deployed. Rather than utilizing a number of fixed antennas pointing at bio-sensors, you could have a smart antenna with beam scanning technology that could scan multiple sensors at once.”

Smart WiFi Data Security

Markland Technologies, Inc., an integrated homeland security company, recently announced that their gas plasma technology can be utilized to create secure WiFi data transmission capability for use in business and military applications. WiFi’s biggest drawback is data transmission security. Although manufacturers are working to make interception of WiFi data transmitted via the airways more difficult they have encountered obstacles to solving the problem.

Markland believes that one approach to create secure WiFi networks is to incorporate gas plasma transmission antennas within a wireless network environment. Gas plasma antenna technology allows for highly directive and electronically steerable digital data transmission. The low cost solid-state semi conductor based plasma generators can be rapidly enabled and disabled in less than 1 microsecond, and can be repositioned to point in any required direction or can scan at very high speed. A plasma antenna can also change its beamwidth and bandwidth creating spatial and spectral security features which are not presently available with conventional WiFi antenna technology. Markland's significant patent portfolio of innovative gas plasma antenna technology can potentially create a new model for secure WiFi data transmission.

Markland CEO Robert Tarini stated, "We believe that our research staff has created a new approach towards WiFi data transmission that will enable the industry to provide very cost effective secure WiFi products. Our business model is to create a patent royalty revenue flow for this technology commercialization opportunity in the WiFi marketplace. This marketplace is presently estimated at $4 billion per year and growing rapidly."

Adapting Software Radio Solutions

Adaptix, who provide an innovative mobile broadband wireless access technology, just hired a head of Government systems this past week. Their system is software driven, providing high modularity and granular control over the critical operational aspects in wireless communications delivery. The company’s products are engineered to fit into existing wireless infrastructure base stations and network architectures.

"As a software defined radio platform, we are able to modify software, which is a much more trivial exercise than modifying a hardware platform. We can adapt the platforms of both the base station infrastructure and the user terminal side to fit any number of applications," said Vern Fotheringham, CEO of Adaptix.

"At a given frequency the footprint and the in-building penetration of radio waves is a wash between narrow band voice cellular systems and the broadband wireless data systems at equivalent frequencies and equivalent power. The big gain that we get is through the implementation of a technology called OFDMA-TDD (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Time Division Duplexing)."  

OFDMA-TDD technology, which enables simultaneous bi-directional flow of data for numerous subscribers at a high speed, was recently recognized by leading standardization bodies as the recommended technology for Wireless Broadband Access. Adaptix's software allows each user terminal to constantly adapt to the radio environment at its specific location, ensuring that each terminal is always operating on the minimum amount of spectrum at the highest order of modulation delivering the greatest bits per hertz of efficiency.

Adaptix's system is a fully converged service hosting platform used for contingent access to allow authenticated users to get online, to manage quality of service and service level agreements to ensure that what a user subscribed for is what they get, and also to empower real time applications like VoIP and IP video and video conferencing which are hugely problematic to implement without a very robust control mechanism within the solution. "We are the first company to take OFDMA all the way to the system level and to implement it into a software defined radio environment", said Fotheringham.

"We are potentially the Microsoft of the broadband wireless world. We are reducing broadband wireless to a level of practice that is a software defined radio operating system that any number of generic hardware manufacturers could license and load on their hardware, and which correspondingly will support IP centric functions such as VoIP, IP Video, Virtual Private Networking, security cameras, and other forms of applications that clearly are front and center challenges in the Homeland Security environment.  

Because these are very inexpensive generic open systems this makes it simpler for jurisdictions of all levels to add these types of functions to their legacy systems. Adaptix has a relationship with a company called Twisted Pear that has had tremendous success in a short while with a solution called WAVE (Wide Area Voice Environment) which is a solution that they are bundling with Adaptix products to handle all of the point to multi point dispatch functions and interoperability between next generation broadband wireless IP systems and legacy radio systems of any type.

"No jurisdiction that I have come across in my many years of dealing with government agencies is going to throw away their legacy systems betting on a totally new technology to solve all of their problems," said Fotheringham.

"We are pioneering a time in the radio industry,” he continued, “where all of the extraordinary advances that Moore's law brought to personal computing are being pulled over into the radio domain. We are six months into a 36 month game plan. As early as last spring it was not clear whether the market was truly ready to purchase these types of products at a pace that would warrant this company having a rapid ramp up. In our first six months we have put that worry to rest. We are looking to take advantage of a window of opportunity to take our company into a public environment between mid year 2005 and towards the end of Q1 or Q2 2006."

Brian Noer

Brian Noer has a degree in Business and Economics from the University of Western, Ontario. His career in the financial markets spans fifteen years and several continents, including: Manager with The Bank of Montreal in Canada, Associate Analyst with the structured finance group at Moody’s Investor Services in the UK, and Editor for several financial trade magazines in the UK for both Thomson Financial Publishing and Euromoney PLC (titles include Thomson’s trade magazines “The International Securitisation Report”, and “Capital Market Strategies”, and Euromoney’s “Asset Finance International”). Brian recently joined the InvestorIdeas.com portal team as a Writer, Editor and Research Associate.

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