INK INC./ Local company hopes to make its mark with technology

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jul 20, 2003 | by CHRIS WALSH

But the inks currently used can be reproduced by chemicals available on the open market, so they are not 100 percent secure, Small said.

Chromatic, on the other hand, has developed its own chemical compounds that are tough, if not impossible, to copy, the company claims.

"These inks are very difficult to make," said Glenn Small, director of sales and Lyle's brother. "When Lyle invented them they didn't exist, not because people didn't want to make them, but because people couldn't make them."

INK MACHINE READABLE

Chromatic's new ink is machine-readable, meaning a machine or device can read the ink mark and determine whether it is authentic.

Small and his staff developed handheld devices that allow users to scan documents, products or virtually anything else containing the ink and verify their authenticity.

Each product could contain an invisible "signature," like a symbol or word, in ink. The device would be programmed to recognize that signature.

"You can't duplicate these signatures," Small said.

Devices could be installed on computers to prevent pirated software from loading. If the software didn't have the ink "signature," the computer wouldn't run the disk.

Scanners could be installed, much like bar code readers, at convenience stores, supermarkets and retail shops to detect counterfeit money and identify authentic brands.

The market for ink used for security is estimated in the billions, Small said.

Even if Chromatic gets a fraction of 1 percent of that market, the company would have more than $100 million in sales.

"The potential for the new technology is greater than the potential for our existing products," Small said.

Obstacles remain, however, before Chromatic can get its ink into the pocket of every American. Chromatic "is a complete unknown company in an industry that is secretive and difficult to enter into," LeRoux said.

The biggest hurdle for Chromatic now is making a name for itself, Glenn Small said.

"We have the ink and the chemicals and it all works. It's just a matter of getting it in front of the right people, and that may be very hard."

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