Patents & Patents Pending
 Why Track & Trace is Novel
Other Patents Pending


Executives

Graham Sampson
Chairman & CEO

Kamal Mustafa
Director

Ron Barenburg
 Director of Bar Code Technology
and Patents

William Jeffries
Director of Software Technology

Richard Smith
 Director of Engineering

Brian Hastings
Chief Software Architect

Mark Connors
 Vice President of
Sales and Marketing

About Us

When Graham Sampson, SSI's Chairman and CEO, traveled to the Far East to research manufacturing capabilities for another company, he saw many sophisticated production facilities. However, he was surprised to learn that the output of these plants had little to no government-monitored controls to insure product ownership integrity. It wasn’t difficult to imagine the potential for counterfeit production and the enormous threat this posed to the future of US companies, and on a larger scale, all companies worldwide. It was through this experience that he became driven to address this challenge.

There were a number of pedigree technologies, available and emerging, vying for corporate America’s attention. However, none offered a truly practical solution that would not dramatically increase cost and production time.

So with that in mind, our mission was clear:

Develop an easy-to-implement, "user simple" system to track and trace merchandise from its origin/manufacturing location through the supply chain, irrespective of its path, to the point-of-sale. And, do so in a way that is low cost, does not slow production, and does not require a new infrastructure.

Secure Symbology Inc. (SSI) has developed an electronic product code (EPC) technology to implement a "practical pedigree", providing a track and trace solution to protect consumers from counterfeit goods.  This has applicability across many industries plagued by counterfeits, such as automotive parts and retail goods. Our first target market was pharmaceuticals. The proliferation of counterfeit drugs has heightened the potential danger to consumers, leading to a strong governmental regulatory movement pressuring the industry to respond.

So far, SSI has achieved the following milestones:

  • SSI has developed a patented method to implement a 100% track and trace methodology that has been continuously updated and refined with additional patents covering a wide range of solutions in a diverse group of industries.

  • Over a two-year period, SSI has designed, constructed, and tested production and implementation equipment that can be seamlessly integrated into any production line with minimal disruption and no compromise to output.

  • SSI has achieved complete success in a pilot program with a industry-leading strategic partner. The test delivered throughput exceeding 200 packages per minute with rejection rates well below one percent.

  • Our corporate headquarters in Wayne, NJ, is a 20,000-square-foot, secure facility with redundant technological infrastructure, which also houses a warehouse and engineering facilities.

Patents & Patents Pending

The Company's patent counsel describes the patent as:

 "A unique business method, system, and database, for allowing integer?-unit identification at production line speeds, authentication and pedigree of each unit via a secure authorized-access entry-field-type data base that employs substantive security features such as data deconstruction/reconstruction along the complete supply chain."

What this translates into is the following:

Printing static and/or variable data on units of production with machine-readable symbologies such as bar codes and/or RFID, and...

  • Verifying, collecting, formatting and providing 21 CFR 11 compliance for that data, and...

  • Track and Trace™ using unique security methods through supply chains for authorized users, and...

  • Providing an "e-pedigree" for products valid in the supply chain in compliance with federal and state regulatory mandates.

 Why Track and Trace™ is novel

SSI's patent is a business-method patent covering the identification of item-level product, novel encryption and secure data collection, authorized dissemination, and validation of products through a supply chain.

Some companies print bar codes on the production line; some companies collect data; some companies do variations of track and trace; and some offer validation services. Examples of companies offering select pieces of SSI's service are IBM, Raining Data, UNISYS, Zebra and Symbol Technologies.

While no company offers SSI's turnkey solution, any of the companies who offer pieces either individually or collectively attempting to provide a solution similar to SSI will be in violation of the company's patent. SSI will vigorously defend its intellectual property.

Other Patents Pending

In addition to SSI's Track and Trace,™ the company has other patent-pending iterations flowing from the original filings.

One involves the ability to add additional composite codes to the UCC/EAN family of bar codes containing already existing one- and two-dimensional composite codes, to enhance original data (at the manufacturing, supply chain or retail level), such as:

  • Supplemental data like "may cause drowsiness"

  • URL links to specific product data online

  • Utilizing SSI's "dual code" to provide an alternative e-pedigree solution, by embedding a URL to access an updated supply chain data-base and provide an alternative to RFID

  • Provide a secure way to validate offshore containers crossing borders

  • Validating RFID data with globally accepted bar codes


Executives

GRAHAM SAMPSON:  CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Mr. Sampson is a lifelong entrepreneur who has successfully built and sold numerous companies across an array of industries.  Most recently, he was the founder and chairman of ECI Conference Call Services, a company with more than 300 employees that generates over $40 million in annual revenue.  As a result of Mr. Sampson’s business acumen and overall business success, he and ECI received many prestigious awards, including:

Inc. Magazine Inc. 500 Company, One of America’s 500 fastest growing companies, 1996 to 1999.

NJ Business News  New Jersey’s Finest Company Award, 1996 to 1999. Inducted Into the Hall Of Fame, 1999.

Ernst & Young Business Services Entrepreneur of the Year 1997, First Place winner in the nine-state Northeast region, Second Place winner in the national competition.

Mass Mutual United States Commerce & Industry Award, 1998. In recognition of the turnaround at ECI, after it posted a 75% loss in its revenue base in its second year of operations.

Mr. Sampson was instrumental in structuring the sale of ECI to the public company Teligent in September 2000.  The total transaction was valued in excess of $128 million.  Mr. Sampson then spearheaded the merger transactions for all seven companies that were subsequently acquired by Teligent.

After Teligent’s bankruptcy filing, Mr. Sampson was again instrumental in negotiating a re-purchase price of $60 million with multiple parties within a difficult bankruptcy procedure, and successfully securing venture capital funding to buy back ECI in January 2002.  As chairman, Mr. Sampson led the ECI board in discussions that resulted in merging with a larger, more competitive company that was able to increase ECI’s market reach and its market share. On December 1, 2004, ECI was acquired by public company West/InterCall in an all-cash transaction.

Mr. Sampson’s industry affiliations include the International Teleconferencing Association, The Telecom Association of America, The Telecom Reseller Association, The Wall Street Telecom Association, The New Jersey Technology Council, The Eastern Technology Council and The Commerce & Industry Association of New Jersey.  Mr. Sampson holds various board seats on for-profit companies in addition to charitable organizations. He has been involved with The CEO Clubs for over 15 years. Mr. Sampson also has business interests in real estate development and real estate management.


KAMAL MUSTAFA: DIRECTOR

Mr. Mustafa has over 30 years of experience in the investment banking industry.  During this period, he served as head of corporate finance/credit at Connecticut Bank and Trust; head of planning and forecasting for midcap companies (Forplan) at Citibank Investment Bank; head of corporate finance origination at Citibank Investment Bank; head of global mergers & acquisitions at Citibank Investment Bank; managing director of mergers & acquisitions and merchant banking at PaineWebber; member of the Commitment Committee and managing director of PaineWebber’s joint venture with Young & Rubicam; managing director and executive vice president of KSP, a $1 billion private leveraged-buyout fund; founder and chairman of Bluestone Capital Partners and Trade.com; and chairman of Wildwood Capital LLC.


RON BARENBURG:  DIRECTOR OF BAR CODE TECHNOLOGY & PATENTS

Mr. Barenburg co-founded International Barcode Corporation (IBC) in 2000.  He has over six years experience working specifically with bar code technology, software, and its applications and is credited with introducing and selling the first RSS software to most of the major U.S. and EU pharmaceutical companies.  His influence in the pharmaceutical sector is the reason major Fortune 100 companies have bought and adopted Mr. Barenburg's bar code solutions and have brought products to market marked with Reduced Space Symbology bar codes.  He has been on two Reduced Space Symbology bar code committees with the Uniform Code Council.  Prior to co-founding IBC, he was the Director of Sales for SNX, a bar code software development company.  He has over 20 years of sales, technology and management experience.


WILLIAM JEFFRIES: DIRECTOR OF SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY 

Mr. Jeffries is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and has successfully served in key executive roles in a number of specialized technology companies over the past decade.  Most recently, he was the founder and chief executive officer of AcWire Technologies – a firm that designs and implements a suite of PDA survey products.  AcWire Technologies was a natural transition for Mr.Jeffries who previously served as the co-founder and president of technology for SmartRevenue, the leading provider of consumer insights and solutions for manufacturers and retailers.  He designed, architected and developed SmartRevenue.com's survey and reporting application, using ASP.NET, IIS, COM+, XML, and SQL Server 2000.  He converted the company’s online survey engine into wireless (PocketPC) and voice recognition (VoiceXML) applications.


RICHARD SMITH: DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING 

Mr. Smith has focused his entire 26-year career in packaging line automation on creative, effective solutions to difficult packaging problems. In 1990 he co-founded Luciano Packaging Technologies where he held the position as Vice President of Controls and Operations. He has successfully managed the development of equipment from the prototype phase to the production phase for major pharmaceutical companies. He provides insight to the regulatory requirements in the pharmaceutical industry and has expertise in the implementation of solid dose and liquid packaging line systems.  He was instrumental in the integration of Tamper Evident Packaging into J&J and other pharmaceutical companies. His team developed state of the art prototype and production equipment for the Disposable Contact Lens business that transformed the industry.  His most recent accomplishment was the successful development and integration of a revolutionary high-speed laser drilling technology for time-release tablets for Pfizer, which resulted in 100% increase in production; quality improvement and 50% labor reduction. 
 
Mr. Smith was educated at RETS Technical School of Electronics where he holds a degree in Electronic Engineering Technology. He is a professional member of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP). A popular instructor, he taught a packaging line design course for 6 years sponsored by the IOPP. He has presented at numerous IOPP conferences and has several publications in the packaging industry.


BRIAN HASTINGS: CHIEF SOFTWARE ARCHITECT

Mr. Hastings is a graduate of the University of Maryland's School of Engineering, and has extensive experience in software design, development and management.  As the chief technology officer of AcWire Technologies, he helped design and implement an advanced suite of data collection products ranging from wireless devices to desktop tools to an Internet portal.  Previously Mr.Hastings served as chief technology officer of SmartRevenue, the leading provider of consumer insights and solutions. He has extensive experience, having created mission critical software applications for the U.S. Navy, Thomson Financial, and SmartRevenue, using a variety of technologies such as C, C++, C#, VB, VB.Net, ASP, ASP.Net, SQL and XML.

MARK CONNORS: VICE PRESIDENT OF
SALES AND MARKETING

Mr. Connors has over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. During the last 15 years his focus has been centered upon assisting pharmaceutical and biotech organizations solve their primary issues that deal with; protecting the integrity of their products as they travel throughout the supply chain, meeting all manufacturing and distribution regulatory requirements, and patient safety.

Mr. Connors depth of experience spans many key ownership groups including the big three wholesalers (ADR’s), Retail Pharmacy Chains, Independent Retailers, Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO’s),The Veterans Administration, Military Treatment Facilities, The Department of Defense, Large Mail-Put Pharmacies, Nursing Home Groups, Clinics, Physicians Groups, State Boards of Pharmacies, and the FDA, to mention a few

Mr. Connors thirty plus years in the pharmaceutical packaging and distribution environment, where he has been called upon and has examined virtually every aspect of America’s pharmaceutical supply chain, from the manufacturers plants to the patients ingestion of their medicine has given him an extensive knowledge, and a depth of hands-on experience, which has made him uniquely qualified to assist manufactures and packagers in developing programs and systems that insure the integrity of their products throughout the supply chain.

Mr. Connors professional affiliations include the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, American Society of Healthcare Pharmacists, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, and the National Council for Prescription Drugs, to mention a few.