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Summit NW's website is http://www.summitnw.com/ and is interesting reading given they are the first shipper to select the QS-B220 for air cargo screening after it received TSA approval.
My opinion is there are more deals like this in the works, this just happens to be the first.
Also more evidence of IMSC's mass spectrometer development fro the April 19 Tech News Daily article mentioning IMSC:
Implant Sciences is also working on a mass spectrometer the size of a D-cell battery that can pick up traces of explosives from farther away. A mass spectrometer is a device that analyzes substances by measuring the weight of individual ions.
I agree with you. If you understand the story and potential out there, and trust or have met the senior management at imsc as we both have, I personally think the potential will be realized. Like you, I bought in at at similar share price as you. While the recent share price is very disappointing, like you I don't sweat the paper "losses" as I have more than doubled my investment in 3 years' time (or less actually, but my oldest shares are from January 2010). That is still nothing to sneeze at, in fact only three other investments of mine in the past have done that. Most others I am lucky enough to exceed the S&P by a very small percentage, and I have my share that do not outperform it or I have lost money on. Actually I generally do not invest in stocks in the $1 range or even less, as IMSC was when I bought many of my shares in the $0.30's.
That all being said you either believe in IMSC's story or you don't. I am a long term investor and I have lots of patience if I believe the stock has long term growth potential. I still believe that or of course I would have sold my shares if I did not. Yes, the goal posts have been moved, a lot due to how slow the TSA process turned out to be. Nothing has changed in my own opinion about the potential for sales now that TSA approval has been achieved. Having met Dr. Jones last year at IMSC and his telling me some about his sales strategy and also how Todd Swearingen came to join IMSC, it gives me confidence that things will come together, just a slower timeframe than many of us expected. That is all right for me, I was not looking to sell my shares at this point in time anyway. When I invested in the company my thought was to invest in it for a long time as it might take some years for the story to be fully realized.
I also do not believe DMRJ will kill the golden goose as you say, when it seems we are getting very close to seeing the potential of the B220 realized.
I understand there are those who may not see it this way and have felt they have waited too long, and I certainly understand that.
You are right, they updated the article since I read it. So they did find an explosive substance after all. Thanks for the correction and alerting me to the updated article.
Today they evacuated the cruise terminal in Tampa for several hours when two bomb sniffing dogs alerted on a package. In the end the package was harmless. So yes, bomb sniffing dogs generate fakes positives. This article tells about the false alarm by two separate dogs: http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2013/4/18/suspicious_package_f.html
Also at 7 PM he was on:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000161967&play=1
Seems like only at 4:30 PM was it mentioned he was with IMSC but maybe I missed that in this video and the 7:30 PM video
Also was on earlier at 4:30 PM it seems:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000162244&play=1 - introduces him as former assistant secretary for homeland security and mentions he's at Implant Sciences which develops explosive trace detection sensors.
That is exactly correct and a great summary. Any powder is sticky, and small amounts of particles attach to surfaces the person touches and to the person himself. They would be on the outside of the pressure cooker, on the backpack it is in, and the person himself.
People are saying that it would be like a needle in a haystack. The person has to enter and exit the marathon area at some point. Now it isn't an event easily secured, but other public events in smaller areas are. And, while I hope it doesn't have to come to this, for the Washington Presidential Innauguration anyone who enters the area of the innauguration or even the parade route - has to go through the security perimeter and be subjected to metal detectors, etc. I admit that a marathon that is 25 miles in length would be hard to secure in that way. However, in this case it was near the end, and certainly security could be put in place at the beginning and end of the route. It is unfortunate, but this is the world we live in, and I bet that there are going to be additional security procedures of some sort next year for the marathon.
I think it did not like something about the URL he posted, it was somewhat longer than the URL I posted but goes to same site. This one goes right to the article, the other had some article unrelated to this at the top.
Andy I saw your post with the interview of Robert Liscouski saying Homeland Security was warned about pressure cooker bombs in 2010. Not sure why your post isn't here now, that is an interesting article.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3008404/homeland-security-warned-2010-pressure-cooker-bombs-those-boston-marathon-explosions
Most likely packages leaving from, or going to major cities are getting extra scrutiny for the next few days. Sounds like it is going to slow things down a bit. Same thing must be happening with the other shipping companies.
Meanwhile in related news it just has been reported that the off-site post office that handles mail for the US Capitol just intercepted an envelope that tested positive for ricin.
Who knows if this is connected but if so they aren't just sticking with bombs but also using biochemical agents.
I don't understand your comment. Just because reports say "no high grade explosive" so far has been found, it doesn't mean that something more simple with an explosive type such as TNT even was used, that can be detected by the B220. If you are referring to the fact the bombs were inside of pressure cookers, there still could be explosive residue on the outside of the pressure cookers.
We aren't talking about large amounts of explosive residue to be on the outside, we are taking very small particles. Whoever put these bombs together, some of the residue would have stuck to their hands and then to the outside of these containers, however they were assembled.
The BS220 does not just detect "high grade explosives" even though those usually are the explosives of choice of terrorists.
I am no expert in this, but I think it is unfounded to say the B220 probably would not have detected the explosives used yesterday.
If you have more reasoning behind what you said, it would be interesting to hear, as making that statement without elaboration isn't very helpful....
I agree, I think it would have looked like the company was taking advantage of a tragedy to sell its product. That could easily ruin a company's image. I saw posts yesterday saying Glenn should be interviewed on TV, again if it appeared he were "hawking" the company's product in light of the tragedy, that would be a very very bad thing in my opinion.
The company is doing the right thing, staying silent. Now, if one of the board of directors members who is a well-known security expert was just interviewed about security in general and changes needed in bomb detection, and happened to mention IMSC in the process as just a small piece of his interview, that in my opinion would be the way to go, possibly. It would not make it look like the company is trying to take advantage of this incident to gain publicity.
This makes no sense, in the budget proposal being put out there's something like 7.5 billion for the TSA, and about 2/3 of their budget is for air security. It breaks down further, but they still have a big budget going forward for screening technology of various types.
Are you saying Obama's going to take away all that and use it to grow other parts of the government?
I'm no fan of Obama but what you said simply doesn't make any sense.
Yet in the aftermath they are using bomb sniffing dogs (remember Dr. McGann's discussion of bomb sniffing dogs vs. ETD in last Thursday's CC):
Bomb-sniffing dogs were working the area of bombing and nearby streets, checking every single item on curb or near the street, "every construction cone, every Port-A-Jon" to make sure there were no explosive devises left, WHDH-TV in Boston reported.
Let's try and clarify something here. Everything the TSA approves first gets approved status. That does indeed allow a vendor to purchase that equipment. Once the equipment has been out in the field for some period of time performing successfully it moves up to the qualified list.
Right now there are not many choices either approved or qualified. Also, IMSC is the only device that meets the newer 2012 standards.
Let someone looking to purchase do a trial of both IMSC's QS-B220 and a competitor's device that is "qualified" rather than "approved". After they compare the two, they should find IMSC's QS-B220 performs better. This is what Dr. Jones was talking about when he spoke of trials vendors were performing comparing IMSC's QS-B220 to competitors devices.
- When does the QS-B220 move from the Approved list to the QPL?
From past history it appears some period of time (6 months to a year?) after an approved device has been out in the field successfully, it moves to the QPL. That just seems to be how the process works, as frustrating and slow as it is.
Great recap tedpeele and putting some of the things said together in that way. That is very helpful to summarize key points without having to wade through the entire CC transcript.
At this point, after the CC, let's fact it..It all comes down to who do you believe.
Do you believe the TSA which spent over 1 year testing and refining our product to bring it to Commercialization exactly the way they want it to be?
Do you believe the 3 scientists that left their jobs at the competition to come to IMSC because they know the patents IMSC has?
Do you believe the Dr. McGann, the Father of ETD who joined our Company with the vision to take it to the Leader in ETD technology?
Do you believe Dr Jones, who came here as Sales Director from a leading ETD very successful Company, when he saw what we had going for us.?
How about the Engineers that came here from Huge Companies like L3. Do you believe them?
Do you believe DMRJ, Our primary lender, who has supported us for over 4 years, speaking on our Conference Calls, Refi our loans and converting part of the debt at $1.08 and $1.18? They also agreed to get rid of the clause that would have allowed them to reconvert equity to debt that they had converted previously to equity.
That is one of the things Dr. McGann was talking about last night when he said he expected to have TSA approval for passenger baggage screening by the end of the year. Obviously IMSC has submitted the white paper at the very least. As he indicated, having gone through the process for TSA approval for air cargo screening, should help speed the process this time around. One assumes the requirements for baggage screening can't be too different than for air cargo screening.
That's right E. Right now anyone using an existing ETD device that expires on January 1, 2014, Dr. Jones specifically said they would have to have a device that doesn't expire on January 1 in place by that date. Dr. Jones also said the TSA IS enforcing the 100% cargo inspection mandate. Right now, as of today, we are the only device meeting the new 2012 TSA ETD requirements, and it gives us an advantage for those who have these devices expiring. They will be looking to purchase a device to get them past January 1.
Also, Dr. McGann was very confident IMSC would achieve TSA certifications for both passenger screening and passenger baggage screening by the end of the year.
I really urge everyone to read the transcript if they missed the CC. I found some of the things said by Dr. Jones and Dr. McGann during the Q&A very interesting. My take is that things are moving forward in the correct direction and there should be interesting developments as the year progresses.
I agree with both you and pulpman regarding speculation about the CC.
Glad to hear that, thanks for reporting on it as I haven't been able to listen to it yet. I am hoping to listen to it during lunchtime.
I am not sure what you expect IMSC to do. Put out a PR about the sales pipeline? And without detailed information what would it be worth? They can't reveal deals in progress for many reasons, two of which are it is probably confidential information and another is it would tip off competitors.
What else do you want them to do? Hold a conference call? Again, what information can they really reveal. If they just reiterate they are confident in the sales pipeline and making progress, and deals are in the works, would anyone believe them? Do you actually think that would do anything?
When there is information that is worth revealing I am sure they will reveal it, as in when a sale occurs.
It is comes down to the following: why would all this effort have been expended by both IMSC and the TSA to get the QS-B220 approved if there were no opportunities forthcoming to deploy it? Has anyone seen any sales to competitors for ETD for air cargo screening since the QS-B220 got approved? I haven't. If someone else has, let me know.
Remember, that's what Verges always counted on, a never ending supply of new investors who failed to pay any attention to past promises unfulfilled, to keep buying shares he was printing. Right up until the end we heard how NWMT was this great company with all these revenues. Obviously it can now be seen that was all a scam. What makes anyone think Barclays is anything other than a mechanism Verges used to bail out, and is anything but another scam? They've had plenty of time to do something, and obviously haven't. Even if they do, can't imagine current shareholders benefiting from it.
Right, never believe anything PV says! History has shown he has never been truthful, nothing he ever said came to pass. Those of us who got in when it was over $1 know that for a fact. All that happened is PV told many lies, the share price kept on falling and never recovered. For those left with shares it is too late to get out anyway, but they aren't ever going to see their shares worth anything, that's for sure. The pumping on here is funny, I remember it being said "the ask is really thin" when it was at $0.0008!
Actually the package shipping business is where the US Postal Service is doing well, and package delivery is going to continue on Saturdays, despite letter delivery ending in August. I don't see this as any effect on US Postal Service business for potential sales, if anything they are looking to save money and if they need to implement ETD they will look for the lowest cost solution.
Finally package shipping isn't going away, if the US Postal Service somehow loses the package shipping business competitors like UPS, FedEx, etc. will as they have done in the past, pick up the slack.
Where the US Postal Service has lost business in a big way is letters and junk mail pamphlets, being replaced by e-mails and so on.
Probably in each country there are offices in major cities which are the point of exit for that country, where all international mail leaves. Those would definitely be the places to focus on as far as air cargo that is destined for the US.
Pick any Asian country, there are probably thousands of post offices.
Yes, you are right, and that is a very excellent point. Grandfathered equipment is not recommended for purchase, instead it says purchase from the approved or qualified list. All ETD equipment on the qualified list is also on the grandfathered list. That leaves only us on the approved list.
Only "non-grandfathered" ETD on the list. The others that are grandfathered have expiration dates of June or January unless they get recertified under the new rules.
Who would buy a device that is expiring in June? One of Morpho's and one of Smith's devices are expiring in June. The others are in January 2014, less than a year from now.
Exactly, that was what they pointed out during the CC. Some of those who had "hard requirement of TSA approval" that called prior they now are telling they do have TSA approval. One was a potential customer who called at 2:30 PM on January 15 that they had to tell they didn't have approval, they called that customer back right after 5:30 PM when they got approval.
To be fair, here's a recent beginning of a quote, that it, along with others, doesn't seem to be in favor of what you just said:
"I guess next time you'll think twice before asking the opinion of someone...."
There are other quotes but I won't bother quoting them.
I agree, we have no need for dumb investors who jumped in on TSA approval and are now bailing because they did not get the quick profits they were looking for. There has to be some of that going on, especially looking at the huge volume the day of approval and the next couple of days. Those are the kind of investors who have no interest in the company they are investing in, just looking to jump in and out for quick profit. And they are also the kind of investors who do no due diligence, just react to headlines without even understanding what it is they are investing in. If they are now selling, good riddance to them, and hopefully we are gaining smarter investors in the process, who won't be so impatient or have so much fear about price drops such as these, as we have all seen them before. Even the one right before approval to $1.10, no telling what it would have dropped to had approval not come that day. Just the same, that one, and others in the past have come and gone and at least some investors are smart enough not to give into the fear caused by those drops.
Just to add on to your post as a guide to new investors, an article written about IMSC back in June but still very relevant, in Government Security News: http://www.implantsciences.com/pdf/IMSC-GSN-June2012.pdf
I need to do a little better about following that advice, although I definitely have been a buyer at IMSC when it has been through lows like this one. Picked up a pile awhile ago when panic took it back to the $0.30's for example. I am very good about not panic selling on other stocks when they hit temporary lows like this. Of course I haven't sold at all on IMSC and don't intend to anytime soon. It is very hard though as you say to not get caught up in quick rises in SP on some stocks and buy in.
That may have been what happened here when TSA approval hit and is now influencing some of the selling, people panicking who bought in at $1.50 and higher and now are underwater by 10% or more. Most likely it is, and that is what's causing this volatility. Unfortunately we probably picked up a lot of investors that expected an immediate huge volume of sales days after approval, and are now dumping when they aren't seeing that. They probably didn't do a whole lot of research on the company before they bought in.
Indeed, like you I've seen this pattern before and getting used to it. Same old fear and doubts being raised (well instead of "we won't get TSA approval" it now is "we won't get any sales") and then they seize upon any SP price drop to add ammo to the argument.
As you said, "this too will come to pass". I never doubted it would the last time, nor do I this time.
Website for Air Cargo 2013 conference is http://www.aircargoconference.com/
List of exhibitors dated January 10 shows IMSC on the list in booth 91. Rapidscan has booth 13. Morpho Detection has booths 58 and 67. Many air cargo shippers represented, looks like great conference for IMSC to attend.
Your statement that other people don't have the drive to do the best they can just because they don't act like you or trade like you, makes absolutely no sense. To each his own, but don't impose your standards on others. Perhaps we also feel that bitching and moaning often accomplishes nothing, and our energies are better directed elsewhere. Not that I have anything to bitch and moan about, actually.
What that means is customers were saying they would buy upon TSA approval. I am sure that still means contracts have to be negotiated, and signed by higher ups within the customers' organizations. Too much expectation that a day or even a week after approval contracts will be finalized. I do think within the next 2 weeks we should start seeing results. I see a lot of impatience out there. Glenn said he expects a lot of sales this quarter, and I believe him - and think that will happen February and March. It sounded to me he expects revenues to meet or exceed last quarter, which we know are big due to the India order plus all the other orders which total up to a substantial amount.
I think you are right, salespeople's salaries, a large percentage is based on commission. If they don't sell, they won't get paid very much at all.