Panther Prowess

Chase Stockon has been in the thick of the aviation industry most of his career. That’s why Panther International was able to convert its software almost immediately into a mechanism for homeland security in Florida following 9/11. That software originally was designed to help airports land federal and state funds for capital improvements. Since 1994, a component of Panther’s system has been used for sending instantaneous communications to the state’s 132 public-use and 614 private aviation airfields. When Stockon and his staff of ex-aviation planners created the software they did not foresee that it would be used by the Federal Aviation Administration to shut down the state’s airports immediately following the attacks in 2001.

“Our emergency management overlay is where homeland security comes into play,” says Stockon, the Tampa firm’s president. “It gets the word out to thousands very quickly.”

Since then, several states are in the process of acquiring this system and the Florida Ports Council is implementing the firm’s (www.pantherinternational.com) newest grant application management system.

“This is used by the 14 deepwater seaports in Florida,” Stockon says. The port authorities in New York and New Jersey have also purchased the system, he says. “Our system was not designed under the new fad of homeland security,” says Stockon. “We never envisioned that we’d have this kind of tragic activity. Homeland security means redefining the things we already do, and part of that is notification and coordination of people.”

On Guard with Artificial Intelligence
If you find yourself at Port Manatee, know that the eyes of Guardian Solutions Inc. (www.guardiansolutions.com) are upon you, everywhere and at all times.

The 18-employee, Bradenton-based video surveillance company began its work in the late 1980s with a $20-million investment from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. GuardianWATCH software teaches computers to “see,” putting it in an adjunct branch of artificial intelligence. Under the national terrorism alert system, a move to “High” alert requires seaports to put a lot more human eyes on the job of security. “(Seaports) not only throw bodies (into increased security) but also intelligence and resources,” says product manager Susan Hubbard. “Our system is dynamic so they don’t have to train new guards. It’s perimeter surveillance, not baggage checks and is an adjunct to what they currently have. A client could decrease the number of guards they have.”

Although Guardian’s clients are primarily ports – Port Canaveral will install the software this summer – the company is responding to proposals from the military interested in its products for air force bases. “We’re also talking with airports, water treatment, and even nuclear facilities. Anywhere there are critical assets,” Hubbard says. Dick Tracy’s

Future Is Now
Don’t expect to find Tess Trueheart or Fearless Fosdick on his staff, but Marc Moore, who named his company DTNet Inc. (www.dtnet.com) in honor of comic strip character Dick Tracy’s high-tech vision, wouldn’t mind being seen wearing a two-way wrist TV in the near future.

Tampa-based DTNet started in January 1995 with a focus on wireless connections for schools. That grew into providing secure high-speed wireless networks, followed by installing video security cameras and document imaging. “We have a project with Keys Energy, the electric company in the Florida Keys, putting security cameras up for their remote facility locations,” Moore says. “Through the combination of wires and wireless, we get information to them. That’s part of homeland security.”

Cyber Secure
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is watching your back in more than one way. While very concerned with providing homeland security for strategic places, it is also working to ensure that the computers and network systems of Floridians are protected. To that end, it has created a Web site (www.secureflorida.org) designed to notify registered users of critical cyber security alerts.

Florida is the first state to establish a partnership between government and the private sector to address this kind of security. “This is geared toward smaller businesses,” says Rick Morera, FDLE’s officer of public information. “Nowadays, anybody anywhere with a laptop and the know-how can get into your system and cause problems.”

The cyber alerts, Morera says, “provide instantaneous warnings of attacks against computer systems and structures.” These warnings can be delivered via e-mail or as a text message to a user’s cell phone.

Connecting the Dots
The Florida High Tech Corridor Council, the Tampa Bay Partnership and several other partners have taken a step to connect those who develop homeland security technology with those who need it. This has resulted in an on-line, search-able directory (www.HomeBase21.com). Technology firms across the corridor’s 21 counties are encouraged to register their product information. In turn, this directory will be marketed to government purchasing agents and as a business-to-business database.

“This database is a good tool to increase visibility of our burgeoning high-tech region,” says Sid Miller, whose Lake Mary-based consulting firm (bearing his name) was project manager for development of the Web site. “It showcases products in the quad chart format that the military requires.”

Tech FYI
Big changes are ahead for Breed Technologies Inc. (www.breedtech.com). Carlyle Management Group in Dallas recently acquired the Lakeland manufacturer of airbags and automotive accessories and plans to move its headquarters to Detroit, as well as give the company a new name. But it will keep the Lakeland facility for manufacturing … Anexio Inc. (www.anexio.com), a technology integration firm, has recently opened a new technology center in the Startup Florida incubator in Sarasota … Atlantic.Net (www.atlantic.net), has opened a data center in Orlando, complete with biometric palm scanners in the $14.5-million, 25,000-square-foot facility.

Send tips, information and news releases related to technology to Melissa Wells at Maddux Report, P.O. Box 202, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Or by email: mwells@maddux.com