Scott G. Sutton
President and Chief Executive Officer
Security With Advanced Technology, Inc. www.swat-systems.com
Nasdaq:SWAT
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com:
Thanks for joining us today, Scott. Please give us an overview of
your background.
Scott G. Sutton: Thanks. I founded Vizer Group, a technology
based security integrations firm in 2002 and Avurt International, which
specializes in non-lethal weapons in January 2006. Security With Advanced
Technology (SWAT) acquired Vizer Group and Avurt International in a reverse
merger in December 2006. I was appointed president of SWAT as part of
the reverse merger and was appointed as president and CEO of SWAT last
month. Prior to founding Vizer and Avurt I worked in sales, public relations
and operations management.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: SWAT is positioned with several interesting
security related business units. Please give us an overview of SWAT solutions.
Scott G. Sutton: Yes, through our four business units
we offer a well rounded portfolio of security products and services. Our
four business units are Avurt International— which provides non-lethal
personal protection devices, ShiftWatch— which provides mobile surveillance
systems, Veritas Tactical— which provides training and tools for
law enforcement and militaries, and Vizer Group— which provides
facility security systems, access control and intrusion detection.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Can you please describe your products
and target markets?
Scott G. Sutton: Sure. We have recently announced several
new products that we are very excited about.
We are getting ready to release the Avurt IM-5 at the end of second quarter.
The Avurt IM-5 is a non-lethal personal protection device that shoots
PAVA filled projectiles that break on impact causing a debilitating reaction
strong enough to stop an attacker. We plan to market the IM-5 to consumers,
campers and hikers, security guards, animal control officers, law enforcement,
and delivery personnel.
We are very excited about this product and expect it to be very successful
because it has many advantages over competitive products currently on
the market such as Taser and pepper spray. For example, the IM-5 can stop
an attacker from 40 feet away, whereas even the best pepper spray only
has a range of 15 feet and Taser only has a range of 20 feet. Also, the
IM-5’s projectiles are made with PAVA so it does not have a lot
of the damaging side effects of OC pepper spray such as blistering of
the eyes and esophagus. The IM-5 also has five shots, unlike Taser that
only has one shot. We believe people who are going to buy a non-lethal
personal protection device will likely choose an IM-5 because of these
benefits.
Our Veritas Tactical business unit has recently been developing products
for military and law enforcement. We recently announced the SafeMunitions
weapon conversion unit and the VT-MKIV.
The SafeMunitions unit is a weapon conversion unit that turns a real
firearm into a non-lethal training tool in seconds. We believe this will
be very beneficial for force-on-force simulation training for military
and law enforcement because it gives military and law enforcement the
opportunity to practice with their own weapon, which is important so that
the feel and trigger pull used in training is consistent with real life
use. Competitive products are dangerous because real bullets can, and
have accidentally been loaded and fired—there is no way a SafeMunitions
unit can fire a real bullet. Current competitive products sold in the
market today are also more expensive costing about 60 cents a shot; the
SafeMunitions unit projectiles will be considerably less expensive, making
this product a much safer and cheaper alternative for law enforcement
and military training operations.
The VT-MKIV is a non-lethal launcher similar to the Avurt IM-5 for military
and law enforcement, these launchers are propelled by compressed air or
nitrogen and shoot a synthetic pepper-based projectile which breaks upon
impact and has a debilitating effect on subjects. This powder substance
is significantly stronger than the effect of pepper spray. The VT-MKIV
gives users the ability to deliver non-lethal rounds accurately from distances
up to 100 meters, providing military and law enforcement officers a tactical
advantage in many control scenarios. We are experiencing significant interest
in the VT-MKIV, from law enforcement and military groups, nationally and
internationally. We expect to begin selling our first production units
in May.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Congratulations on your recent announcement
that Veritas Tactical, completed an intensive training class on MAIC (Martial
Arts Instructor Course) for the U.S. Marines at the Marine Corps Base
Camp Pendleton. Without divulging any confidential information, can you
tell us about this engagement and the future prospects for Veritas?
Scott G. Sutton: Thanks, working with the Marines is
very exciting and we actually have a standing invitation from the Marines
to go back and teach for the rest of the year. Our Veritas instructors
will be going to Pedleton and teaching once and month for the rest of
the year. Our trainers are also going to be teaching a women’s self
defense class for credit at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., for
the third year in a row. Veritas also plans to start offering self-defense
classes to corporations. But, as mentioned earlier, the actual training
classes are just one aspect of Veritas Tactical, we believe the training
tools and law enforcement and military products such as SafeMunitions
and the VT-MKIV have huge potential.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: May we have an overview of your management
team?
Scott G. Sutton: Yes. I have always been under the belief
as a manager and operator that success starts with building and maintaining
top level talent. I believe I am working with one of the most talented
and dedicated teams I have ever had the opportunity to work with. There
have recently been some additions to the SWAT team. We announced that
Greg Milan is the vice president of Sales; Greg has over 15 years of sales
experience in the medical, Aerospace, Consumer and Industrial markets
and has worked for Fortune 500 companies such as Johnson & Johnson
and General Mills as well as small to mid-sized companies. We also announced
that we hired Corey Holland as the director of our Technology Division,
which houses Vizer Group and ShiftWatch, Corey has a background in operations,
business development and sales and spent eight years at TimeCenter, Inc.,
a software development company, prior to joining SWAT. Ben Cook was appointed
as the director of “Division X,” which houses Avurt and Veritas
Tactical, Ben has over 10 years of experience in the firearms industry.
These new team members combined with my existing team will be the key
to the success of SWAT.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Going forward, with your recent acquisitions
and financing now completed, what are the key points you’d like
to make about the future prospects of SWAT.
Scott G. Sutton: With the acquisitions SWAT has grown
from a $1.5 billion market that specialized in mobile security to a $40
billion market with the additions of personal protection, training and
facility security to our product and service portfolio. We are concentrating
on making significant contributions to these market segments.
We are using the $5.2 million funding we just received to stay on track
with our product development and launch plans for the Avurt launcher release,
and we remain very excited and optimistic about the market reaction and
acceptance for our initial launcher. We are also creating accessories
for and additional variations of our initial design, for expanded revenue
opportunities. With the pending release of the Avurt Launcher we are optimistic
that revenues will begin to ramp up rapidly upon commencing shipments
of our new products.