Brand Protection News
Issue Five Volume Eight
18 September 2007


Q&A: Industry Profile - Tracy Currie, president and CEO ORBID Corporation, U.S.

US-based brand protection solutions provider ORBID Coroporation has developed a 2-D barcode system incorporating a number of features to secure products and provide a simple track-and-trace system. Brand Protection News talks to CEO, Tracy Currie, on the future of brand protection technology and the part ORBID will play.

Q How does ORBID's 2DMI coding system work?

A ORBID 2DMI (2 Dimensional Marker Identification) is a patented mark that secures, verifies and identifies products to prevent counterfeit and product tracking problems.
2DMI uses chaos principals to encrypt data (i.e. serial number, production date, customer ID), into a unique, serialised, two-dimensional mark that can be sized (as small as 10 microns), and applied overtly.
Our software produces the two-dimensional (encrypted) mark which provides unique identification, (overt and/or covert) of products on any type of surface.

Q Which markets are you targeting?

A Mainly medical device, luxury goods, pharmaceutical and electronics. The ORBID 2DMI is a key for handling anti-counterfeiting, brand protection, diversion control, fraud, regulatory compliance, and inventory control.

Q What's next for the 2DMI technology?

A In October we will offer a comprehensive line of applications that will provide track-and-trace devices that will monitor and enforce risk awareness. This should stop counterfeiting, diversion, fraud (replacement, repair, return and warranty), and IP infringement. We anticipate this comprehensive solution will be popular with medical device manufacturers and distributors of luxury goods.
Our new, comprehensive secure protection product can be used for micro-sized devices and implants. It should prevent illegal duplication/replication (proprietary coding, encryption).

Q Which regions are you most active in?

A Most of ORBID's customers are multinational. Typically we work with brand owners in the US, Europe and Japan.


Q What problems are brand protection technology providers facing?

A A lack of urgency. A lot of companies roll along doing the basics to manage their bottom line. Activity is triggered only as a reaction to something happening in the market or with their competitors. We know that diversion, returns fraud and counterfeiting are problems with huge dollar amounts associated.


Q How will new technologies help shape ORBID's future?

A We are introducing a new, cost-effective way to mark products/devices, though we also believe that RFID is a great solution to help the movement of products at the case or container level. Our technology is used to mark each individual item, tying that item to the case or container so that it is traceable and therefore defeat diversion, return fraud and counterfeiting.
We see technology such as 2D Datamatrix codes as direct competition. But we offer a robust, higher capacity, more secure technology. We have recently completed testing with one of the largest systems and services providers.

Q What about the cost of this new technology - does it have an effect on the markets you supply to?

A There has been a lot of talk in the past about barcoding and RFID tags. We believe that ORBID 2DMI is the next generation marking solution that can achieve so much more.
This new 2DMI is quite affordable. A big barrier to the RFID adoption is cost. Having a solution that doesn't require ‘rip and replace' is a start. The mark can be applied using standard equipment that most manufacturers already have.

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Tracy Currie, President and CEO, joined ORBID in August 2006 as President and COO and assumed leadership as CEO in January 2007. He has also held senior-level positions at FNStar Inc., McKesson and Horizon Technologies. He received his BSc in Computer Science Engineering from Montana State University.