The light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train, but it's a little hard from here to see exactly how far it is to the daylight.
There are few serious strategic threats to IDX at the moment. In bio-ID, there are opposing alliances in the smart card area, although neither major sales nor known pilots by these alliances, and smart card biometrics is still over the horizon; there is opposing software offered by NRID, but it is using a nonconforming API to those chosen by the big guys, and it has no significant sales; there is competing scanner technology by some large or well funded companies like Veridicom, but they have not reported any breakthrough sales. In the AFIS field (which has a rapidly diminishing strategic value), DBII has scored a couple of recent successes, but IDX dominates the tenprinter field. ANADAC seems to be a growing source for IDX cash flow.
Finally, there is plenty of evidence that biometrics are going to be more than a pipe dream -- and IDX has a number of very important pilots and partners.
When will it move? Wouldn't we all like to know. I think we are going to see incremental movement during 1999, and if/when the major pilots are rolled out in a year or so, we will see rapid movement. |
