Techwatch: Zetes establishes Israeli subsidiary

Zetes will have a 70% share in the company with its Israeli partner.

By AVI KRAWITZ
computer 88 (photo credit: )
computer 88
(photo credit: )
Brussels-based integrated solutions provider for supply chains Zetes Group has entered the Israeli market with the creation of a local subsidiary Zetes Ltd., its first venture outside of Europe. Zetes said it felt the timing was right to enter the Israeli market where customers are more and more becoming multinational companies demanding technology providers and partners with international scope. Zetes will have a 70% share in the company with Israeli partner Eli Harel taking the remaining 30%. It will initially employ two people at its office in Tel Aviv. The company supplies automatic identification to businesses for Goods ID and for People ID using technologies including barcode, voice recognition, RFID, smartcards and biometrics. Yokneam -based Given Imaging Ltd. has secured US insurance coverage for its PillCam technology, a camera in a capsule to diagnose digestive problems. Florida Medicare, administered by First Coast Service Options, will review claims for PillCam ESO for the esophagus on a case-by-case basis for individual consideration of payment, the company said. The deal marks the first time a third-party will provide reimbursement for esophageal capsule endoscopy. In the latest earnings news, Metalink Ltd., a Yakum-based provider of broadband silicon solutions, had revenues of $3.1m. in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 2% from the $3m. in the parallel period last year. This helped the company cut its net loss for the quarter by 23% to $4.1m., or 21 cents per share. The company said its strategic cooperation with semiconductor company Renesas Technology helped boost its performance in the quarter. Also, Yokneam-based LanOptics Ltd., a provider of network processors, extended its net loss in the first quarter to $2.6m., from $2.1m. in the same period last year, as revenue fell to $1.4m. from $1.8m. All of the revenues were attributable to LanOptics' subsidiary, EZchip Technologies, the company said. Herzlia-based Optibase Ltd., meanwhile, a provider of digital video high-end solutions, extended its net loss for the quarter on a year-over-year basis to $1.3 million, or 9 cents per share, from $174,000, or 1 cent per share. Revenues dropped to $4m. from $7m. Separately, Optibase said its Internet protocol TV (IPTV) streaming platforms are enabling Atlanta-based cellular management solutions provider SmartVideo, to provide full motion TV to cellular giants Verizon and Cingular mobile subscribers in the US. SmartVideo is using the Optibase MGW 5100 TV streaming platform to encode and transmit live video received from satellite provider Crawford Communications over a dedicated network to SmartVideo's facilities, where it is then decoded using Optibase's MGW 200 decoders and transmitted using SmartVideo's proprietary technology to cell phones and other smart, handheld devices.