• Utilities plan to stay the course with spending plans for infrastructure

    Despite the economic slowdown, utilities around the world plan to press ahead with investments in both their infrastructure and “smart grid” automation program; investments will be in the range of $90-$105 billion

  • Security specialist Core Systems sees U.S. prisons as opportunity

    Belfast-based Core Systems provides biometric equipment to prisons in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland; it is now expanding to the United States; with a prison population of 2.2 million; “In the prisons business, the United States is the market leader,” says Patricia O’Hagan, company’s co-owner

  • $400 million ballistic missile defense award

    The Bush administration awarded Boeing a $400 million contract for Ground-based Midcourse Defense interceptors; it may well be the last large ballistic missile defense contract, as both Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress have shown little interest in the program

  • Political squabbles hobble H5N1 research

    Indonesia has had the most cases of human H5N1 flu since 2005; it refuses to share the virus samples with Western pharmaceutical companies unless these companies agree to share with Indonesia the profits from the vaccine these companies develop — and also guarantee Indonesia access to a vaccine in case of a pandemic

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  • Israel-made UAVs gain popularity among world's armies

    Israeli-made Heron UAVs will be introduced to the Afghani theater by the Canadian military; Turkey, India, and Georgia have struck deals for various Israeli UAVs; Russia was impressed with the UAV performance (in Georgian hands) during the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war, that the Russian military is buying them

  • Radioactive-waste tracking software deployed at U.K. nuclear sites

    The radioactive-waste tracking software developed by Tennessee-based AttentionIT will be deployed in decommissioned U.K. nuclear facilities; the waste tracking software provides electronic storage of information related to “cradle to grave” treatment of radioactive and mixed waste

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  • The continuing development of Fort Detrick offers business opportunities

    In some places there is a debate about the balance between the business opportunities and risks that the presence of a BioLab facility offers; in Washington County, Maryland, they concentrate on the business opportunities the sprawling — and growing — Fort Detrick (it covers 1,127 acres and employs more than 8,000 people) offers

  • The Blackwater example: Private security booming

    The war on terror has been a boon for private security companies; Blackwater is one of the more obvious success stories; the company is expanding its menu of offerings: it is wrapping up work on its own armored vehicle, the Grizzly, as well as its Polar Airship 400, a surveillance blimp

  • AS&E in $2.8 million X-ray detection van deal

    Massachusetts-based developer of the Z Backscatter detection van reports yet another contract for its “drive-by” inspection system; this contract follows in the wake of several other deals for the company’s solution

  • U.K. can lead the world on biometrics

    New study argues that the U.K. biometrics industry can lead the world if it were less fragmented and had an independent voice

  • Unisys study shows U.S. public trusts biometrics for data protection

    Privacy advocates may be worried about the proliferation of biometrics for identification purposes, but a recent Unisys survey shows that Americans are comfortable with the idea of banks and government agencies asking them for biometric data for identity verification

  • Economic downturn may force software engineers into crime

    Eugene Kaspersky says economic crisis would create a situation in which unemployed software engineers could become the latest threat to corporate IT security

  • Day of 4G technology -- mobile WiMax -- nears

    Clearwire and Sprint Nextel completes transaction to combine their next-generation wireless Internet businesses; companies announce $3.2 billion investment to launch 4G mobile Internet company

  • BAE moves into radiation detection

    Natural diamonds have been used for UV detection since the 1920s, but high purity single crystal diamond with excellent bulk uniformity is a new development, opening new markets for the technology

  • BAE shows strong results for first half of 2008

    Large defense and security contractor reports rise in revenue in first half of 2008 to £727.4 million from £638.8 million a year earlier, with underlying operating profit up 19.8 percent to £55.1 million