ORBID Secure Product Protection Suite
Frequently Asked Questions

What are you announcing today?

ORBID has put together a comprehensive solution to help manufacturers stop all forms of counterfeiting, including diversion, fraud (replacement, repair, return and warranty), and IP infringement. ORBID Secure Product Protection (SPP) Suite currently covers three key areas: Risk Awareness, Authentication and Track & Trace.  

• Risk Awareness:  Assess challenges and recommend solution.
• Authentication:  Secure individual item/product identification.
• Track & Trace:  Item verification from production through distribution to the end consumer.

The cornerstone of the SPP Suite is ORBID 2DMI (2 Dimensional Marker Identification), a patented marker solution that utilizes chaos principals to encrypt data (i.e. serial number, production date, customer ID) into unique serialized two-dimensional marks that can be sized (as small as 10 microns) and applied overtly or covertly on almost any surface (rough, uneven, sticky), using common production techniques.

ORBID SPP Suite enables the verification of a product's authenticity, from production through distribution to the end consumer, using everyday imaging devices (camera phone, Web cam or hand held scanner).  This process can be tracked in real-time and alerts can be automatically generated when system and process intrusions occur.

The SPP Suite can be easily integrated with existing brand protection processes and distribution/supply chain management applications.  It can be used to enhance the effectiveness of a company's existing Brand Protection strategy or provide a complete outsourced stand-alone solution.


Why did you develop the Secure Product Protection Suite?

We recognized that illegal activities (diversion, returns fraud, counterfeiting, etc.) are a big cause of profit erosion.  For example, since 1982, the World Customs Organization and Interpol estimate that the global trade in illegitimate goods has increased from $5.5 billion to approximately $512 billion annually and continues to grow. Also, approximately 5%-7% of world trade is in counterfeit goods.  That means a lot of potential profit is slipping through the cracks.

In our dynamic global economy, it is clear that companies need to start looking beyond the usual places (increase revenues, cut costs) to increase their bottom line.  We created the Secure Product Protection Suite as a cost-effective way to help companies put together a strategy for protecting profits.

Another area addressed by the SPP Suite is protecting company reputations. The recent toy recalls have been a nightmare for Mattel.  People are becoming leery about products being manufactured in China.  The SPPS encrypted mass serialization capability gives manufacturers a viable means for managing products from manufacturing to assembly to distribution to the end customer.  This visibility would have provided early detection of the issues thus minimizing the extent of the recall.  We believe our new secure product protection solution will go a long way towards helping companies gain  "peace of mind."


What makes your solution better than what others are offering?

Our SPP Suite is pre-integrated, which means that it works "out-of-the-box" and can be implemented very quickly.

Could you provide more details on the components of the Suite?

As mentioned, the ORBID Secure Product Protection (SPP) Suite currently covers three key areas: Risk Awareness, Authentication and Track & Trace.  

• Risk Awareness:  Utilizing proven techniques, ORBID's team of product security experts performs an in-depth analysis of the company's counterfeiting and diversion risks -seeking a thorough understanding of the business challenges faced.  An actionable list of improvements is developed as well as a risk mitigation strategy for a sustainable product security program.
• Authentication:  A Unique Product Identification (UID) mark is created and sized (as small as 10 microns) to be applied (covertly or overtly) on nearly any type of surface. The UID is a graphical representation of data that supports encrypted mass serialization.  This mark is used in a "closed-layered" system:  it is "unique" to that particular company (thus "closed") and it is interoperable with other technologies ("layered") through well-defined Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
• Track & Trace:  A database is created that associates the UID code with the product information it represents and the logistics information collected throughout the supply chain.  The system supports confirming the authenticity of marks anywhere (i.e. in the supply chain, in the distribution channel) via the Web or call center. It automatically generates counterfeit and diverted product alerts when system and process intrusions occur.  It will also generate reports and analysis on all authentication activity.

Which industries will benefit from the ORBID Secure Product Protection Suite?

We anticipate our comprehensive Secure Product Protection solution will be popular with medical device manufacturers and companies manufacturing and distributing luxury goods and technology products.

These companies are faced with numerous challenges ranging from identifying counterfeits, to stopping diversion, and in the case of medical devices, ensuring government regulatory compliance.


ORBID 2DMI Mark - How does it compare with what's currently available?

ORBID 2DMI is the next generation marketing solution that can achieve so much more than what has been done before by its predecessors (i.e. bar coding and RFID).

Our partners are helping us take our unique marking capability to a whole new level.  And this level is quite affordable. One of the barriers to the adoption of RFID.

SPPS doesn't require "rip and replace".  The mark can be applied using standard marking equipment that most manufacturers already have in place.  The mark can be read with everyday imaging devices (camera phone, Web cam or hand held scanner).  Minimizing start-up costs enables quick and easy  adoption.


Speaking of partners, what role is Verify Brand playing in your Suite?

Verify Brand provides a patent pending product security solution that enables real time, Web-based product authentication, tracking, tracing and related services. The Verify Brand solution dramatically increases visibility into a supply chain and can thereby identify, reduce and potentially eliminate a myriad of issues plaguing brand owners, including counterfeiting, diversion, warranty and return fraud, recalls, manufacturing overruns and more.

Why did you choose them?

We found that Verify Brand (VB) had a nice balance of flexibility and back end integration. On the flexibility side, their Track & Trace solution can be hosted by ORBID (ASP model) or licensed directly to our customers for hosting within their own facility.  That means that a company can address a specific need today and then have a migration path that can span their entire product portfolio.  The VB solution works well with the types of enterprise systems companies have in place.


What is your Partner Strategy?

We are working closely with partners in several areas:

• We are continuously looking at ways to expand and improve the Suite.  Future additions include a Monitor & Enforce component.
• We have been working very closely with hardware and software vendors to ensure compatibility.  
• We continue to develop partnerships to expand the uses and markets of ORBID 2DMI technology with an emphasis on secure product protection.