From Scotland With Love

DAVID GREETHAM WORKS on the seamier side of life. He’s an expert at tracking down pedophiles, murderers, kidnappers, terrorists and industrial spies. But you’ll rarely find this detective on the street. He’s a modern-day Sherlock Homes, a cyber-sleuth. He’s a computer forensics expert who tracks down criminals of all stripes via the entrails of computers and their networks as well as on the Internet.

Earlier this year Greetham and wife Shona relocated the headquarters of their firm, PC Forensics, from Scotland to Tampa. “We now have a lot of business in this area,” says Greetham, president.

“Computer forensics science is in its infancy,” says Shona, CEO. “With our special cyber-crime and evidence recovery training, we are in a unique position to bring forensic evidence recovery and expert witness testimony to civil and criminal cases throughout Central Florida.”

The firm (www.pcforensics.com), with 12 employees in Scotland and four locally – more will be hired – provides services to Scotland Yard, the FBI, Secret Service, police departments and businesses. “Eighty percent of our work is private sector,” says David.

Their firm has restored hard drives that “disappeared” from the computers of Rolls Royce. In a more stunning feat, the company was able to recover data from a computer that a suspected criminal threw from the twelfth story of a building as the police were crashing down his door.

David is expert at detecting ‘stegonography,’ which is embedding images within images. “Terrorists and pedophiles use this,” he says. “They’ll send a picture of their wife and two kids on the beach and embedded within it are arrangements for a meeting, documents, pictures, spreadsheets, anything.”

Liberty Selects Space Coast
Liberty Aerospace Inc. has relocated its headquarters from Montrose, CO, to office space and a hangar at the Melbourne International Airport. That brings 64 jobs and a capital investment of $1.5 million to the Space Coast. The general aviation firm (www.libertyaircraft.com) is rolling out its latest product, the Liberty XL2, a new generation of two-seat aircraft.

“For the past five years Liberty has committed significant funds and effort to design and develop the world’s most advanced two-seat aircraft,” says Anthony Tiarks, the firm’s president and CEO.

21st Century Band-Aid
Biolife made a push this summer moving its new magic powder into some key pharmacies. Now the Sarasota firm is gearing up for a major entry into the occupational health market with UrgentQR™ – a topical powder that stops bleeding in seconds and forms its own protective scab.

UrgentQR is the “most innovative product for the first-aid industry that we’ve seen in decades,” says Larry Boss of Zee Medical, a California-based subsidiary of McKesson Corp. and the leading provider of occupational first aid and safety products via van delivery (vs. catalog mail delivery) to such customers as hotels, schools and restaurants. Meantime, Biolife (www.Biolife.com) expects to have the powder available in Target and Wal-Mart stores within six months, according to Doris Goodman, vice president of marketing.

JetBlue Simulates Orlando
JetBlue, (www.jetblue.com), the three-year- old, low-fare airline based in New York City, has selected Orlando as a location to build the airline’s first flight simulator training center and aircraft maintenance facility. The new $160-million center is expected to bring more than 150 skilled jobs to the area. Construction is to be completed by late 2005.

“Technology, training facilities and jobs brought here by JetBlue add to Orlando’s reputation as the world hub for simulation and modeling activities,” says Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who joined JetBlue President and COO Dave Barger in making the announcement.

Tech FYI
Sypris (www.sypris.com), Tampa, has won a $43-million military contract to provide handheld communication devices … Tampa-based Z-Tel Technologies (www.ztel.com) has expanded to include managed local, broadband, email and hosting services … InfoSource Inc. (www.infosourcenet.com), Winter Park, is producing custom-training manuals for Comp USA Inc. … Specialty pharmaceuticals developer Accentia Inc. (www.accentia.net), Tampa, has acquired an 81-percent stake in Biovest International of Minneapolis.

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