Oslo, Norway, 30 June 2011: IDEX increases its staff by at least four additional employees. The recruitment drive reflects the increased level of activity at the company. The number of customer projects is increasing, and the company last week reported two new cooperation agreements. In addition, the ramp-up to volume production of the company's prizewinning fingerprint sensor SmartFinger® Film requires more staff.
Several areas will be strengthened: production management, testing, development support for customers as well as technical sales support. The advertisement, in the Norwegian language only, is at the IDEX web site: http://www.idex.no/viewfile.aspx?id=769
"The entry into the commercial phase confronts us with new demands. We shall strengthen our expertise in volume production, and we want more staff working close to the market and with customers. In this way we build the foundation for growth and expansion of the company," says Ralph W. Bernstein, CEO of IDEX.
Hosted successful project meeting of the eGO project
IDEX is taking part in the European eGo(TM) project. Last week IDEX hosted a successful project meeting. During the meeting, the Norwegian weekly technical journal Teknisk Ukeblad interviewed the project manager for eGo, Alain Rhelimi of Gemalto. Gemalto is a world leader in digital security and has about 10,000 employees. The interview (in the Norwegian language) is available at the IDEX web site: http://www.idex.no/viewfile.aspx?id=771 . Other important partners in the eGo project are STMicroelectronics, Precise Biometrics and Atos Worldline.
The eGo project will use IDEX sensors with accompanying software. IDEX is now starting production of a batch of the current version of SmartFinger Film for this project.
"In the eGo project IDEX works with the world's leading companies within several related technology areas, and it is extremely inspiring that there is so much interest in our technology among the partners," Bernstein says. "Our fingerprint solution fits perfectly with products like eGo. SmartFinger Film is thin and bendable and can therefore easily be used in devices with nearly any imaginable form factor, including cards in the credit card format. Equipped with the software especially developed for low-cost micro controllers, IDEX now offers complete embedded fingerprint systems," he adds.
The motto of the project is "what you touch is yours!" It is presented in more detail at www.ego-project.eu. The project's ambition is to develop technology for simple and secure ID for users of all kinds of devices that one tends to call "things", not only PCs and mobile phones. This will be an important contribution towards realizing the Internet of Things, meaning that things are networked and communicate. For instance one can imagine that the owner contacts a lost wallet, which responds by stating its position. Logistics, health care, buildings and various alert systems are assumed to be early areas of adoption. The plan is that the first eGo products will hit the market in the first quarter of 2013.
The Research Council of Norway will contribute NOK 4.1 million support to the development work that IDEX undertakes in connection with the eGo project.
About IDEX
IDEX ASA is a Norwegian public company specializing in fingerprint imaging and recognition technology. IDEX' vision is to ensure individuals a safe, secure, and user-friendly use of personal ID.
IDEX has developed the award-winning SmartFinger Film technology platform including the patented fingerprint imaging principle, sensing scheme and chip design. Combined with core software solutions for imaging and authentication SmartFinger Film enables on-device enrollment, template storage and verification within the very same module. The SmartFinger Film sensor is thin and bendable and can be customized for a variety of applications such as One Time Password devices, Smartcards, ID cards, access control devices and biometric tokens. The SmartFinger technology is available to customers under an intellectual property licensing scheme or as SmartFinger Film sensor assemblies for integration into customers' products.
IDEX ASA (ticker IDEX) is listed at the Oslo Axess market place on the Oslo Børs (Oslo stock exchange). For more information, please visit www.idex.no or contact IDEX at: mailbox@idex.no .
IDEX press contact:
Erling Svela, CFO and IR contact, IDEX ASA, +47 4062 1040, erling.svela@idex.no
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.