The Eye Ball R1 Receives Official NTOA Approval
Globes
Wednesday 26rd April, 2006 (UPI)

One of Wave's subsidiaries develops innovative imaging products, a second - a hoe security camera, and a third - an OB/Gyn endoscope.

Gali Weinreb 26 Apr 06 11:56

The Wage Group Ltd. has announced that it raised $10.5 million from US private investors at a company value of $100 million. The investors included Packard Bell founder Benny Alagem, who led one of the consortia that bid in the Bezeq Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) tender last year, and Global Crossing founder and former chairman Gary Winnick.

Wave Group is basically a bloc of three companies, two of which have R&D operations in Israel, and one in the US, which functions as the business development arm. An Israeli subsidiary, ODF Optronics Ltd., is a defense company that develops innovative imaging and photography products. The company’s flagship product, Eye Ball R1 has a camera and microphone inside a rigid ball that can be inserted into hazardous locations to gather real-time intelligence.

ODF Optronics founder, president and CEO Ehud Gal says, “The inspiration for the product was the attack on the World Trade Center, and the realization that it was very hard to see inside the rubble. Our product is the size of a tennis ball. It is tossed into a closed building or dangerous open space, from where it transmits a multi-directional image. It also knows how to spot suspicious movement, such as movement where there shouldn’t be any. It also has sensors for spotting suspicious temperatures. It is very suitable for combat in built-up areas and for gathering intelligence.

“We’ve developed about ten products based on the same computerized vision and suspicious movement identification technologies. The products come in a variety of shapes, including a stone for camouflage for a new product that doesn’t have to move to provide a multi-directional image. We’ve also developed a team of small robots with a multi-directional camera, which can enter a building and move within it, as well as cooperate with each other. One robot can tell another, ‘I’m going right here; you go left’; or ‘I’m losing contact, relay me’. We have another new product that can be installed in a vehicle, such as an armored personnel carrier, so that the troops inside can know what’s happening outside.

“Lately, we’ve also been developing products for the household market, through a new subsidiary, ODF Security. For example, we’ve developed a home camera that sees in all directions, and whose owner can contact it via his or her cellular phone and through it, see what’s happening around. This is good for security or kindergartens. It is also a smart system. For example, it can learn a adult’s daily routine, and sound an alarm if he or she doesn’t wake up in the morning, or falls down and doesn’t move for a long time. A very similar system can keep your dog off the couch, by producing a loud and unpleasant voice whenever he tries to jump onto it.

“I believe that we’re on the verge of a great revolution in photography, in which we’ll begin photographing and monitoring everything that moves. At some point, we’ll have had enough and there’ll be a great counter-revolution, and we’ll start seeing signs ‘No photographing, please’, but the technology won’t go away.”

In the medical field, ODF Medical Ltd. has developed a number of products that are also based on image processing. The company’s G-View real-time OB/Gyn vaginal endoscope is now undergoing clinical trials, and is expected to be launched early next year. The endoscope can take a multi-direction image of the womb, and through which drugs can be delivered and treatments carried out. “This is a comprehensive solution for all gynecological imaging needs, which will greatly help patients,” says Gal.

Wave Group had $5-7 million in annual sales over the past two years, and has a $20 million orders backlog for the coming year. The present $10.5 million investment will be split three equal ways: for the development of manufacturing infrastructure at the security arm; the new personal security arm; and for the medical arm. Wage Group has raised $5 million to date from Spark Enterprises, an Israeli venture capital fund, and private investors.

Gal founded Wave Group in 2000. He is a former colonel in the IDF, and served as deputy IDF chief scientist, among other posts. In 2004, Marc Belzberg invested in the company and was appointed chairman. Belzberg previously worked in M&As at a number of investment banks, and was chairman and CEO of e-Sim Ltd.(Nasdaq:ESIMF.OB). “Marc is a Canadian Jew who immigrated to Israel out of Zionism. Unlike other potential investors, he believes as I do in the need to develop and products in Israel and manufacture them here through subcontractors. We’re less interested in marketing, and we’ll probably outsource that. We’re mostly interested in creating technology prototypes.”

Former Remington Arms COO Ronald Bristol II was recently appointed president of the US subsidiary. Remington Arms is one of the world’s top gun makers, and a strategic partner and distributor of Wave Group’s security products.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - http://www.globes.co.il/ - on April 26, 2006

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