International Technologies Lasers (ITL) (TASE: LASR) has received an initial order from the Ministry of Internal Security for a system that will detect explosives. The system is based on technology demonstrated several months ago by the company.
The announcement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) did not mention the value of the order, but industry sources said that a new product for detecting explosives could achieve a market share amounting to tens of millions of dollars in the coming years in both the military and internal security markets.
Following the company announcement at 4:00 PM, the ITL share shot up 12% before the end of the day’s trading.
The detection technology, called laser spectroscopy, is based on the fact that the light reflected by each material in nature is unique. The system’s computers contain samples of the reflected light of various materials. When the systems sensors encounter the light with a similar reflection, they issue a warning, and the system creates an alert, based on what it had detected.
As part of its cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Security, ITL will joint manufacture with the Israel Police an operational system based on its technology. ITL general manager Amichai Robb told “Globes” that the ITL’s technology had several prominent advantages, and could be made operational within a short time.
The agreement with the Israel Police is ITL’s first in the security field, but the company is also developing civilian applications of the system. One, currently being tested in the US, is in the phosphate industry. Robb says that systems based on the technology can be developed for medicine and other industries.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 22, 2004