H&Q presentation . . .
Thanks for the report. I wish we had heard some of that on the open conference call, rather than it being presented in a proprietary brokerage conference. Maybe it's J. Saf's fault for not asking, "Is it true you are bringing out a $10 scanner and will be a billion dollar company in a few years?"
However: To come out with a $10 scanner -- whether immediately or ASAP -- implies that IDX is not looking to make money from the hardware . . . just the software. And that is the smartest way to go. They have a very good start on establishing their algorithm as the standard in Internet space. This will push that forward quickly. It may require a secondary offering to fund it, though, depending on how fast it happens.
And it's not that IDX is just in the best position. Currently, no one else is anywhere. Veridicom is not competitive in price or reliability. Who? has vaporware, and BII/AuthenTec has nothing that would approach a $10 hardware solution. NRID would kill to get a $10 scanner, but they aren't getting anything from IDX.
The IDT "CFO" is probably Oz Pieper, who was their CEO. I understand he makes a very good impression, and I'll bet it was IDT strategy you were hearing.
Behind the scenes, IDX is breaking out. O'Hare will establish IDX software as the access/control standard. Compaq and what we will probably see announced very soon will give IDX/IDT the PC standard. And they are reaching out to Novell and Motorola. CTST will be the coming out party for Identix.
By the way, companies in their market segment (computer security) have a P/S ratio now of about 5 to 1. A billion dollar company in a few years? Maybe a $5 billion market cap by then. See you there, Brad. |
