Splinternet Holdings [SLNH], a small firm that has developed gamma radiation detection sensors and a networking platform to tie sensors to a command and control platform for alerting, plans to acquire Vidiation, another small firm experience marketing radiological detection technology.
Officials from both companies sat they hope to close the deal shortly. The companies have already begun to align their respective web sites with similar product descriptions.
The plans for the merger coincide with Vidiation’s recent termination of an agreement with Advanced Fuel Research (AFR), a technology development company that combines video analytics software with existing CCTV cameras to detect the movement of radiological material. Gordon Bingham, vice president of marketing for Vidiation, says his company terminated the agreement with AFR because the analytics technology didn’t perform well in beta test environments when changes in lighting created nuisance alarms.
For its part, AFR says that Vidiation didn’t raise a sufficient amount of money to help complete development of the video analytics technology (TR2, March 19). Still, Bingham and AFR say that there’s a chance moving forward that the analytics technology–if its development pans out–could still become a part of Splinternet’s solution set.
In the meantime, Bingham says that as a start up company Vidiation needs to get product out to market.
Splinternet says it needs the marketing team and resources that Vidiation has as well as its base of contacts. “Our future is unclear,” Splinternet spokeswoman Laura Wessner tells TR2. “We’re pretty new so we want someone to market our technology.”
Splinternet’s offerings in the radiological detection include GammaTect, which is a small gamma ray detector that can detect the presence of threat levels of radiation, and GammaTect Plus, which can detect radiation and identify the isotope.
GammaTect Plus was introduced last month. During a high-radiological event, photos, isotope identification and the date are sent to a remote command center, triggering an alarm. GammaTect Plus can also be set in “patient mode” so that patients undergoing medical treatments don’t trigger innocent alarms. Alerts can be triggered to PDAs, cell phones, pagers or other mobile devices. The system was developed by JRT Calibration Services and re-architected by Splinternet.
Splinternet’s command and control sensor networking software is called DefenTect. The sensor technology can be co-located with video cameras to provide security officials with additional information when an alert is sent.
Vidiation’s Bingham sees three primary marketing targets for Splinternet’s technology. First are hospitals where radiological material for use in medical equipment and devices is stored. Second are chokepoints such as ports and borders and third are the actual targets such as entertainment sites, monuments and other venues.
Hospitals were a primary marketing site for Vidiation when it was teamed with AFR on the Vidiation-Radiation Analytics Detection System but Bingham says that Splinternet’s detectors may be a better solution in this environment because of privacy laws that limit the installation of cameras in certain areas.
Bingham sees interest in a grid approach to the gamma sensing technology linked with DefenTect. For example, he says, at an entertainment venue, GammaTect sensors could be deployed as a first line of defense at parking lot gates to warn of potential threats. Closer to the facility the GammaTect Plus sensors could be deployed to ID a threat, he says.
Moving forward Splinternet would like to get contracts from the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) to further develop its technology. Bingham says that at some point the technology will be submitted to the Department of Homeland Security for SAFETY Act review.