"The database contains information on nearly 98 percent of the U.S. population, including, for example, a person’s prior residence and with whom he or she lived, criminal information, court filings, vehicles owned, and even restricted government data."Flight information
06/28/2004 08:13 AM
By Christina Torode
SourceSeveral anti-terrorist technology pilot tests have failed at Logan International Airport.
Take, for instance, Boston-based GenuOne’s trial, which for nine months in 2003 tested an optical tracking product at Logan that the airport opted not to buy.
There was also the trial of Billerica-based Viisage’s facial recognition product for four months. That fell to the wayside when the test resulted in failures 96 out of 250 times.
There are successful anti-terrorism tests, however, leading to contracts with Logan. In 2003, the airport authority purchased Imaging Automation’s software that loads into small scanners, reading and validating identification documents in about four seconds.
Now this month, LocatePlus has landed a major deal with the Massachusetts State Police, the Anti-Terrorism Unit and other investigative units stationed at Logan to supply its AnyWhere RIM Blackberry wireless product.
The Massachusetts State Police have for some time been using LocatePlus’ motor vehicle records database housed on CD-ROMs, which gives them the ability to do partial searches — such as the color of a car, partial license plate number, make of a vehicle, or a combination of search criteria.
With the AnyWhere wireless devices, police and other investigative staff at Logan can access LocatePlus’ database of 7 billion records housed in a 33,000-square-foot facility. The database contains information on nearly 98 percent of the U.S. population, including, for example, a person’s prior residence and with whom he or she lived, criminal information, court filings, vehicles owned, and even restricted government data.
“It wasn’t possible for police to put together such a dossier of information in seconds while on the fly,” said Jon Latorella, chief executive officer of LocatePlus in Beverly. “The information was all over the place and could take days or weeks to gather. With the wireless devices it’s now seconds.”
The Massachusetts State Police have been field-testing the device this month decided to sign a 12-month contract with LocatePlus. Lt. Thomas Coffey is one officer using the device to look up information as he patrols the interior and exterior of Logan Airport.
“We’ve had excellent results so far and decided this would be a great tool to obtain information outside of traditional law enforcement databases,” Coffey said. “If I see a suspicious person or vehicle I can tap into multiple databases that have been rolled into one, so the device has been very helpful in our investigations.”
For security reasons, Coffey would not go into detail about how effective the wireless devices have been. He would disclose only that the device is another tool tied to the overall Logan Airport security plan. “In a nutshell, some of our anti-terrorist and security tactics are visible to the public and some are not, but this (device) will allow us to find exactly who is traveling through the airport.”
Pricing models for the service include unlimited access for $99 per Blackberry device per month, as well as unlimited e-mail and instant messaging, or a per-click option that costs between $1 and $7 per click.
LocatePlus had an interesting beginning in that Latorella is a former policeman and was on the waiting list for the FBI. A hiring freeze at the FBI in the early ’90s put a crimp in his plans, leading him in a new direction.
Aware of the problems investigators had tracking information, Latorella taught himself how to program software. By 1994, he wrote a custom database application using Microsoft’s SQL Server platform, and LocatePlus was born.
Last year, LocatePlus reported $3.4 million in revenue, and Latorella says it expects to nearly double that number to $6.2 million this year and reach profitability. The company is growing 80 percent in revenue year over year.
To achieve its profitability goal, LocatePlus is relying on organic growth through telesales, which are adding 500 to 600 new customers per month, in addition to a channel of companies that are reselling its products to their own customers.
“A great example of this reselling strategy is (Van Buren, Ark.,-based) Loislaw, which has 30,000 customers and didn’t have a public records offering,” said James Fields, chief financial officer at LocatePlus. “We are the back engine, the data stream behind their public record offering now, but it has the look and feel of a Loislaw service.”
An infusion of $3 million in financing this month from Laurus Master Fund Ltd., a New York-based investment firm and Reedland Capital Partners, a division of Financial West Group, also stands to push LocatePlus closer to its profitability goal.
LocatePlus intends to use the money to fund its merger and acquisition strategy, and is currently evaluating companies, according to Latorella.
Just fewer than 16,000 entities such as the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration use LocatePlus’ products, and the company’s wireless offering is gaining traction in other government sectors.
Businesses are also using the company’s product to verify information on resumes, for example.
And banks are screening people opening new accounts to check that Social Security numbers match LocatePlus’ database, or make sure people are not moving money through their banks for terrorist activities, Fields said.