DecisionLink and TNO Agree to Cooperative Development of Non-Invasive Oxygen Detection for Food and Beverage Industry
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2001--DecisionLink Inc. (OTCBB:DLNK), through its wholly owned subsidiary FCI Environmental Inc. (FCI), announced an agreement to cooperate with a division of TNO, the Dutch research organization, to jointly develop and market sensor technology for an application of broad interest to the food and beverage industry.
FCI has been working with TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute on the development of sensors for a specific contaminant of interest to the food and beverage packaging industry at large. This second development expands cooperation between FCI and TNO into the area of oxygen detection within food or beverage packaging.
The presence of oxygen within a sealed package is an indicator of spoilage. The industry at large utilizes a lab method for measurement of oxygen within a package. These methods are usually destructive in that they require the package to be opened in order to carry out the test.
TNO has invented and patented a highly stable oxygen sensor that can be used for Non-Invasive Oxygen Detection (NIOD). TNO and FCI will work together to commercialize and market this development, first for use within the R&D departments of food and food packaging companies, then to Quality Control and then to the global food packaging industry.
Hans Konig, project manager, Sensor Technology Department, TNO, said, "Our previous work with FCI indicated to us that they offered the best starting point to help us get this development rapidly into the market. We at TNO have already produced prototypes of what we believe will be a viable package.
"The potential market for this product is very large and TNO has had many inquiries from the industry. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other non-invasive technology available with sufficient stability. TNO estimates that the global market for NIOD could be as high as several thousand units at about $15,000-$20,000 each," said Konig.
Geoff Hewitt, chairman and chief executive officer of DecisionLink, said, "TNO offers the best available proprietary technology to address this important application. The ongoing support of the development by TNO, together with FCI's ability to rapidly produce and market these devices should result in early acceptance by the industry.
"Since this project is already in the prototype phase, it should lead to the rapid introduction of products to address this important and large market. This was reinforced by the very positive response at the recent Pittsburgh Conference in New Orleans," said Hewitt.
TNO is a large Dutch research organization that provides a link within the innovation chain between fundamental research and practical application that can be commercially exploited. TNO has an annual sales of $400 million, employing more than 5,100 professionals who together form a leading independent contract research organization. For more on TNO, visit www.tno.nl/homepage.html
DecisionLink's FCI Environmental Group has introduced small, low-cost sensor and communication products that use satellite communications and the Internet as the backbone for data transfer and control in the pipeline leak detection, aboveground storage tank monitoring, oil production, water quality monitoring and industrial wastewater compliance monitoring and control markets.
DecisionLink's Intrex Data Communications Group has developed a wide range of products for monitoring of propane and fuel oil tank levels, pipeline compressors, and many other multi-user remote asset monitoring applications for low-cost volume use of satellite communication pathways and the Internet. For more on DecisionLink, visit www.decisionlinkinc.com |
