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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (15425)	12/19/2002 11:25:29 PM
From: Bill Harmond	Respond to of 57684

reuters.com

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (15425)	12/20/2002 12:23:34 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

Veritas snaps up two software firms By Dawn Kawamoto Staff Writer, CNET News.com December 19, 2002, 9:57 AM PT Veritas Software on Thursday announced plans to acquire Precise Software Solutions and Jareva Technologies, two deals that will move it beyond its core storage management business. Veritas will pay $537 million in a stock and cash for Precise Software, a network-management software maker. Jareva Technologies was purchased for $62 million in cash. The company's software is designed to automatically activate additional servers and allow a particular server to swap out applications. For example, a server running Oracle on a Linux operating system could be changed to SAP on Windows. "Both acquisitions represent application management software versus (Veritas') traditional core infrastructure--storage management," Daniel Renouard, an analyst with Robert W. Baird, wrote in a research report. "We believe Veritas will make additional application management acquisitions over the next few quarters in an attempt to further diversify products." Veritas CEO Gary Bloom said the Precise acquisition will allow Veritas to offer a soup-to-nuts solution for problems customers encounter--ranging from hardware and software failures to performance issues. Although analysts applauded the deal, investors pushed Veritas shares down in morning trading by 35 cents, or about 2 percent, to $16.94. "I think it's a good move and a pre-emptive one," said Sabrina Ricci, an analyst with Deutsche Bank North America. "The Precise deal is a conduit for Veritas to get more involved in the application infrastructure and does not have a lot of overlap with what Veritas does." She noted, however, that the price Veritas paid for Precise was high. Under terms of the deal, Veritas will pay $16.50 per share for Precise's stock--a 37 percent premium over Precise's closing price of $12.05 Wednesday. These two acquisitions follow another small deal Veritas undertook last month. The company announced plans to acquire NTP Software's storage management software product line, Storage Reporter. The Storage Reporter software allows customers to determine what types of files are filling up their storage. "Veritas is always in an acquisition mode. That's how they've grown the company. But over the last year or two, their acquisitions have been quiet," Ricci said.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (15425)	12/20/2002 12:01:01 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

Venture Capital: Start-ups hope to tap national security By JOHN COOK SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Friday, December 20, 2002 The war on terrorism and the recent formation of the Department of Homeland Security could create dozens of opportunities for Washington start-ups. From sampling air particles for anthrax to creating software to monitor fence lines at U.S. military bases, Washington companies are hoping they can pitch in to make Americans more secure. Formed less than a month ago, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to spend more than $2.1 billion on technology products next year, according to the research firm, Input. Among the technologies it considers essential are biometrics, data-mining software and geo-spatial information systems. Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are certainly taking notice of the department's massive expenditure on technology. It definitely is on the radar screen of David Johnston, a Seattle venture capitalist with The Phoenix Partners. "Given Homeland Security -- 22 different agencies crammed into one -- and the need for truly enterprisewide corporate data sharing, the need for Web services companies to share data over dissimilar platforms will be the Holy Grail," he said. Johnston is working with one company that addresses some of those integration issues, though he declined to provide any details. Some other local companies also want to help fight the war on terror. Advanced Interactive Systems, for example, is training as many as 30,000 baggage screeners at 438 airports as part of the Transportation Security Act. The 9-year-old Seattle company expects $50 million in revenues this year. And MesoSystems, with operations in Kennewick and Albuquerque, N.M., is hoping to land government customers for its BioCapture Air Sampler that detects airborne pathogens. Vigilos, a Seattle start-up founded in March 2000, has created software that helps security professionals monitor hundreds or thousands of activities from one centralized location. Chief Executive Geoffrey Barker said the technology could be extremely effective in monitoring security breaches at military bases or federal courthouses. Currently in talks with six government agencies, Barker hopes to have pilot programs set up with a few of the agencies in the first quarter of next year. "All the indications that we are seeing is that force protection technology, particularly in the military, is going to be a green light on spending," Barker said. "They are spending many billions in extra dollars now on reserve manpower (for security) and they know they have to apply technology to not only keep the manpower under control but also to escalate and manage events quickly." Barker said the dollars have not started flowing out of the Department of Homeland Security. But when they do early next year, he hopes to tap those resources. It is sometimes difficult for the 20-member company to navigate the maze of government contracts. However, he said given the scope of the projects "it is well worth wandering the fog a little bit." "If one of these deals came through in the course of the next 12 months, it could totally change the profile of the company," he said. "It makes for very interesting possibilities." Saflink Corp. also is benefiting from the government's increased spending on security products. The 11-year-old company, which makes software used in iris, speech and fingerprint identification devices, is working with the Department of Defense and the U.S. House of Representatives. Just over a year ago, Saflink was running out of time and money. In August 2001, the company chopped 42 percent of its staff and instituted a plan to reduce its cash burn rate by more than half. Then the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center occurred, creating a new level of interest for biometrics and other security technology. "We started to see an increase in the demand for our products before 9/11, but I think 9/11 was a big catalyst on a lot of fronts," marketing and communications manager Thomas Doggett said. "Sept. 11 really woke people up." Saflink's sales pipeline now stands at $140 million with more than 4,000 potential leads. That compares with $10 million in June 2001. The company also started to attract investors, raising more than $9 million this year. "How the Homeland Security initiative is going to play out I am not entirely sure at this point," Doggett said. "But I would say that the government is clearly committed to biometrics as a way to secure infrastructure and also as one of the best-known means of verifying an individual's identity." A report issued this week by Allied Business Intelligence -- an Oyster Bay, N.Y., research company -- found that spending on biometric equipment will experience strong growth next year. "The U.S. government remains the largest potential buyer of biometric technology and the newly created Department of Homeland Security will be the catalyst for the biometric industry," said John Chang, a senior analyst at Allied Business Intelligence. seattlepi.nwsource.com