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Gold/Mining/Energy : MYT - Mytec Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Pakstas who wrote (1445)	2/6/2000 4:17:00 PM
From: oss	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1535

Mytec targets hi-tech trigger TYLER HAMILTON Technology Reporter Friday, February 4, 2000 There are smart cards, smart homes, smart cars and smart refrigerators. Now a small high-tech firm out of Toronto is helping Smith & Wesson make "smart" guns, part of a U.S. government push for safer gun use. Mytec Technologies Inc. said yesterday that it has successfully created a tiny biometric module that attaches itself to gun triggers, preventing unauthorized users from firing the weapons. The biometric technology inside the module scans an individual's unique fingerprint to determine his or her identity. The module was commissioned by Smith & Wesson, the world's largest maker of handguns, who plans to advance the technology as a way to reduce the number of accidental shootings in the United States. Mytec's stock soared 76 per cent or $2.21 yesterday to $5.10, with nearly 3.5 million shares trading hands. Company shares were trading below $1 as recently as one month ago. "The kids, a wife, nobody else can use the gun except the owner," said Frank Chen, executive vice-president of business development at Mytec, which began work on Smith & Wesson's smart-gun project nine months ago and recently wrapped up development of its silicon fingertip sensor. "We've completed the technology and we have most of the patents in place." Smith & Wesson's project could soon get financial support from the U.S. government. President Bill Clinton wants to make available $10-million (U.S.) in federal grants to contribute to the development of so-called smart guns. While that could increase opportunities for Mytec, the company's larger vision is to expand the use of its fingerprint sensor technology to other environments where the fingertips -- which for every individual carry a unique pattern of lines and grooves -- could be an alternative to carrying around a PIN or personal identification number. A mere touch of the finger could, in the near future, give people secure access to cars, homes, palm devices, computers, information appliances and cellphones, experts says. And fingerprint scanners are just the beginning. The biometrics industry is churning out products that treat the hands, eyes or face as physical and unique passwords, providing secure access to a plethora of communications and computing devices and networks. Yankee Group of Boston predicts that sales of biometric fingerprint devices will skyrocket to $1-billion next year from $145-million in 1997, the year it released a major report on the market. Mr. Clinton proposed the idea of smart-gun grants during his State of the Union address last Thursday, stirring political concern over the U.S. government's mixed position on guns. The government has backed a series of municipal lawsuits seeking damages against gun makers, but has also pushed for more research and development into guns. "Business usually does things because it wants to grow markets," said Wendy Cukier, professor of justice studies at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. Springfield, Mass.-based Smith & Wesson, a wholly owned unit of British conglomerate Tomkins PLC, has forked over $5-million of its own money into the initiative, and while it hopes the new product will reach U.S. stores in two years, it's asking for government support to help it continue the project. Ken Jorgensen, a spokesman for Smith & Wesson, said the Mytec module isn't small enough yet to be built directly into the gun, but added that the two companies are working toward that goal. Critics of the technology say there's too much risk that the biometric device might fail, either allowing the gun to work when it shouldn't or preventing the gun from working in an emergency situation. "The more sophisticated the technology the more opportunity there are for failures," Ms. Cukier said.