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Press and Media
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findBIOMETRICS.com 10/03/2002 - findBIOMETRICS speaks with Brett Johnson, President of Targus
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findBIOMETRICS:
Could you give us a brief history of Targus and explain when the focus to biometrics took place and how that developed?
Targus:
We are officially celebrating our 20th financial year. We go back to the early 80s and have built up a leadership position in mobile accessories.
We were founded in the UK in 1983 and the founder of the company from the outset wanted to have global distribution. We founded the actual category of notebook computer carrying cases. Neil Copp, our founder was the inventor of the category. He sold the first computer carrying case to IBM and from that day to this day we've always remained the market share brand leader in computer carrying cases.
In January of 1988 we acquired a US company by the name of Port. Port was a substantial, respected competitor of ours that had a full line of computer carrying cases, as well as a full line of mobile accessories outside the realm of computer carrying cases. They had security products under the name of DEFCON, one of which was a cable lock that you could attach to either your notebook computer or your computer carrying case to secure it.
Port also had a full range of portable power products specific to the notebook computer industry and a host of other mobile accessories. The fit for us was fantastic because it diversified us away from our dependency on computer carrying cases and it diversified them geographically, as they had a very strong domestic focus.
One of Targus’ hallmarks is the strength of our distribution. We distribute our products in 145 countries and have a primary focus on three channels; the retail channel, the OEM channel, and the corporate sector. We sell all our products to all the major OEM customers in our space - Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compac, Sony, Fujitsu, Acer and Apple. We count them as customers in most of the geographies around the world. We also have a substantial focus on the corporate sector, those that have mobile computing as a central need like insurance companies and consulting companies. The demographics for mobile computing in the corporate world are fantastic, so that’s a huge channel for us as well.
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findBIOMETRICS:
When did you make the move into the Biometric area and what brought that about?
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Targus:
Biometrics for us started to evolve because of the strength of our physical security. Because of the DEFCON brand we had a great number of supportable locks for the DEFCON 1, which has done very well for us. We recognized that in retail, corporate and the OEM space, security was one of the main issues that people faced.
For several years through our product managers and our sales people we also started to recognize the issue of data protection, data access, that side of the security debate and had been keeping our eye on biometrics.
As a company we really view ourselves as a marketing/sales/distribution company and so we really want to partner up with investors and companies that can bring solutions we can feed into our distribution. So we looked at biometrics and realized that it was increasingly becoming more and more viable as a category and unfortunately as tragic as it was, September 11, 2001 obviously attracted a great deal more attention to the need for more security in every facet, and as a result attracted more attention and awareness to the category.
Our biometric USB Hub product was launched in January 2002. About two months after, we came out with a PC Card biometric product which slots into notebook computers. It has been a nice addition to the product family and further complements that space for us.
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findBIOMETRICS:
Your HUB product, is that a total stand alone unit?
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Targus:
That’s correct. It attaches into either the USB port on a notebook computer or a USB Hub.
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findBIOMETRICS:
How has the feedback on these products been?
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Targus:
We’re thrilled with it; we are a huge believer in the category. We've seen a great deal of interest from primarily the corporate market, which has been driving a great deal of the demand for this category.
We are seeing large financial institutions, the health care industry, almost in every industry we feel there is a need in one facet or another for security products.
We also know that it’s not specific to large or small companies. We are seeing a fair bit of diversity from the size of organizations we are talking to.
The one thing that is clear is that it is a longer sales cycle. Given the complexity of trying to make sure that the software matches up with the operating system, makes biometrics a longer sale, and we are working closely with software partners to mirror up with our hardware solutions to make sure that we can provide the right solution for our corporate customers.
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findBIOMETRICS:
I noticed on your website that BioNetrix, for example, is a partner in the software/ middleware portion of that equation?
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Targus:
Exactly.
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findBIOMETRICS:
It seems like a perfect fit for the corporate world. Is part of the longer sales cycle that you are experiencing, due to of the lack of education in the market place about the Biometrics Industry in general and the fact that this is a fairly new industry?
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Targus:
Intuitively I would agree…biometrics is a new technology. It will take time for it to become ubiquitous. The other element is that obviously there is a complexity with making sure a corporation’s software, in terms of data access and the operating system that is installed in corporate environment, functions seamlessly with a new biometric solution.
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findBIOMETRICS:
Do you have any new biometric products ready for release?
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Targus:
We are currently looking at a host of different products to incorporate biometrics into. On the roadmap we have a keyboard, a mouse, a smart card reader… we definitely view an opportunity to place biometrics in different accessories for either desktop or mobile computers.
Because we are starting to establish ourselves in this field, a lot of companies are coming to us with products that they think can be applicable to some type of biometric tie in. I am greatly encouraged because, as this sort of field develops, we can feed this into our established distribution.
I also like being associated with this category and think that the overall demographics are very appealing. It’s only going to add increasing awareness and will ultimately increase adoption. With the whole confusion over people trying to remember passwords and the incredible sensitivity in data security and network access, I feel this will be an outstanding field for us to work in.
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findBIOMETRICS:
You mentioned that you are distributing in 145 countries. Do you notice with biometrics that there are particular regions where you anticipate greater growth?
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Targus:
The US market is the biggest in the world and we expect substantial growth from this market. It’s a lot easier because you don’t have translation issues with the manual or the software. So in terms of the low hanging fruit for sales, it’s the US market.
Long term we feel very optimistic about the opportunity in Japan. I was in Japan a couple of months ago and was very encouraged with the market potential there. Also the opportunity with emerging markets holds a great deal of attraction for us. For example, China and India present opportunities. For the more mature market Germany, the UK and France will also be strong. We have also seen a very positive response from Canada. So in all the major markets that we play in, we are seeing a great deal of interest.
Its going to take time to really make sure that we educate not only the end user and the corporate decision maker but that we are also focusing on our sales people to make sure that they understand the products and the support for those products. That is the strong value add that we bring. We really need to make sure that if someone has a problem with the product, Targus can take care of it… that is a hallmark of our company. Taking care of a biometric product is different than some of the other less technical accessories that we sell.
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findBIOMETRICS:
Interesting to hear your comments on the international marketplace. We also experience interest in our site from all over the world. In summary can you comment on where you think the Biometric Industry is heading?
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Targus:
I think the demographics are huge for biometrics. We have only been playing in field since the beginning of this year and, with the feedback that I have seen from so many different parts of the world and from so many different industries, I have no doubt that biometrics is going to become very established.
Four or five years from now biometrics will be common to many different aspects of everyday life. Up until now, biometrics has been something we’ve seen in movies, and rarely do you actually see it applied in day-to-day life. In the next five years you are going to see a paradigm shift where you’ll see a lot of products in a host of different areas using biometrics.
That’s exciting for us. Consumers will become more accustomed to biometrics and it will become second nature to use in place of other conventional solutions.
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To read the full interview, visit www.findbiometrics.com.
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