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Northwest Digest
Biometrics projects to link with Microsoft

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The news pushed Saflink's share price up 78 cents, or nearly 29 percent, to $3.49 yesterday.

Saflink has already landed a role in the winning bid for a Department of Homeland Security program that identifies and tracks visitors to the United States. Now, the company said it will work with Microsoft as part of its participation in that program. The two companies will also jointly sell products to other government agencies and businesses that want to roll out biometrics-based systems.

Saflink and Microsoft have previously worked together to integrate their software offerings. The partnership announced yesterday will have more of a focus on selling to customers, the companies said.

Software piracy

Lost sales worldwide totaled $29 billion

SINGAPORE — Microsoft and other software makers lost $29 billion in sales last year as some 36 percent of all software installed on computers around the world was pirated, an industry trade group says.

China and Vietnam again had the highest rates of piracy, with more than 90 percent of software counterfeit, according to a study by the Business Software Alliance and International Data Corp. Software makers lost $7.5 billion in Asia last year, where more than half of all installed software was pirated, the study showed.

"Software piracy continues to be a major challenge for economies worldwide," said Robert Holleyman, chief executive officer of the Business Software Alliance. "Piracy deprives local governments of tax revenue, costs jobs throughout the technology supply chain and cripples the local, in-country software industry."

Pirated software is spreading through the sale of counterfeit discs, illegal use of licensed products and faster Internet connections, the study said.

Overall, the U.S. had the lowest piracy rate, at 22 percent. The U.S. also had the highest dollar loss of any single country, at $6.5 billion.
 
EYT

Merger between two software resellers

SEATTLE — Two of the largest resellers of Microsoft business software, ePartners and EYT, announced a merger yesterday that will create a 400-person company with 29 offices in the U.S. and England.

The merged company will be known as ePartners and be based in Seattle, headquarters of EYT.

EYT started in 1996 as Ernst & Young Technologies. It merged earlier this year with Seattle-based Microsoft reseller In2Gr8. Dallas-based ePartners, which is marking its 12th year in business this year, describes itself as the largest global partner of the Microsoft Business Solutions product line in North America.

Coinstar

Purchase completed of Colo. game vendor

BELLEVUE — Coinstar completed the purchase of American Coin Merchandising for $235 million in cash after securing $310 million in debt to fund the deal, the company said yesterday.

The financing will also be used for general business purposes.

The Bellevue coin counter said in late May that it would buy American Coin Merchandising, a Colorado vendor of video games, kiddie rides and stuffed-animal crane games. The deal allows Coinstar to diversify its business and expand beyond grocery stores, its main customer base.

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff and Bloomberg News