Wages of war invested in creating high-tech security

Unable to raise money from venture capitalists to finance their hot idea, Tim Tofaute and Charles O'Connor went to war.

No.

Really.

They went to war earning good money as security contractors to the State Department in Afghanistan and the Middle East, saving every dime and investing it in their Sparks-based Tactical Security Network Inc.

Now they figure they've got enough capital to get the company's Automated Risk Management Systems launched right.

The system, known as ARMS, and developed by Wayne Crawford, an ex-Marine who now works as chief technical officer of Tactical Security Network, seamlessly blends security technology into an easy-to-use system.

From a single computer terminal, a security officer can control the locks on doors and gates, click on closed-circuit cameras, and control other security devices throughout a facility or even multiple facilities.

In case of a crisis, the officer need only hit one button "Lockdown," for instance and the system automatically works through a preassigned series of steps such as phone calls to local police.

Crawford uses off-the-shelf hardware for ARMS.

The value added by Tactical Security Network is the programming that keeps the hardware working together and allows users to learn the system in only a couple of minutes.

The combination of hardware and programming savvy doesn't come cheap $250,000 and up for a single facility.

But O'Connor, Tofaute and Crawford believe that schools a market they view as particularly promising for the ARMS system probably could win federal Homeland Security grants to finance the purchases.

In fact, Tactical Security Network is beginning talks with a contractor who would provide those grant-writing services to schools just to get the ball rolling.

Another stumbling block: Educators are notoriously conservative, and none wants to be the first to try a new technology.

Although Tactical Security Network has installed ARMS at a couple of locations in Louisiana, it badly needs a school to serve as a demonstration site.And rather than tie up their own precious capital in a demonstration, the company's founders hope to find an angel investor to finance the first installation in a school.

Executives of the four-employee company figure, however, they've got some staying power while they ramp up sales of ARMS.

Tofaute and O'Connor,who served as Navy SEALS, originally launched Tactical Security Network to provide consulting on security and crisis-management issues to SWAT teams, federal agencies and some foreign governments.

In fact, Tofaute says, a fair amount of that knowledge is reflected in the way the ARMS package was developed.

And the consulting work, he says, continues to provide a flow of income

until ARMS stands on its own.