Potomac-deployed buoy opening up business opportunities for Intellicheck

New York-based Intellicheck found its business niche selling technology used by Target, L.L. Bean and other retailers to verify customers’ identities when they apply for store credit cards.

Mobilisa of Washington state produced identity verification technology commonly employed on military bases and it had a wireless communications business.

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In the latest venture of the two companies — Intellicheck bought Mobilisa in 2008 — they’ve deployed a bright yellow buoy in the Potomac River visible from the U.S. Route 301 bridge.

The solar-powered buoy is collecting both security and environmental data; it uses sensors to track approaching boats or individuals and to detect changes in the water’s pH levels, salinity and contaminants. If the buoy’s sensors notice a significant change, it alerts a shore-based operations center so workers can access its camera to zoom in on the problem area.

Intellicheck Mobilisa, which is based in Washington state but has an office in Alexandria, is now seeing no end of business possibilities for the technology, which Steve Williams, the company’s chief executive, said is mature enough for sale.

Intellicheck Mobilisa is looking to sell the buoys to government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and commercial customers such as oil companies.

Thus far, the company has deployed eight buoys — its other seven are in the Puget Sound — as part of a Navy-funded $20 million research and development program.

Mobilisa first started developing the buoy technology in 2005 after it had won work in Washington state using wireless technology to link a ferry system. The company’s success — it created a mobile hot spot on the ferries and in waiting areas for consumers and provided the boats’ operators with real-time surveillance video — got the attention of the Navy.

Mobilisa then built a floating network that allowed ships to communicate directly over cheaper wireless systems, rather than rely on a satellite, said Williams. The company eventually started producing the buoys, which can be custom-equipped with a variety of sensors depending on what the user wants to track.

Williams said the company has received in task orders about $15 million of the $20 million included in the Navy’s contract vehicle and is now pursuing another Navy contract. Data the buoys collect are sent to research centers in Washington state and in Mississippi.

“It’s really proven out,” he said of the technology. “The design is sustainable.”