Athlone Global Security completes round of Defensoft investment

Athlone Global Security Corporation (AGS), an investment company specializing in homeland security technologies, has completed a new round of investment in Israel-based, DefenSoft, Ltd. An affiliate of Goldman Sachs Asset Management also made an investment in the current round. Headquartered in Yokneam, Israel, DefenSoft was established in 2002 to bring modeling and simulation tools — proven by the founders of DefenSoft in other markets — to security system planning, design, performance analysis and visualization. The toolkit is used by operational security planners, analysts and engineers to automatically plan and optimize complex security designs for protecting large outdoor areas, like country borders, military bases, airports, seaports, utilities, industrial complexes, and other critical infrastructure sites using proprietary modeling and simulation techniques. The DefenSoft security planning toolkit does away the guesswork for determining sensor types and heights, sensor and communications tower locations, and response force locations, while reducing security project risk, costs and planning times. In the end, planners, analysts and engineers have the confidence that the security system deployment planned is optimal.

DefenSoft established its subsidiary in the U.S. in January 2008, which has since secured two contracts. Each contract is from a high-level client known throughout the U.S. and abroad. Shay Peretz, President and CEO of DefenSoft said the first contract was awarded for the evaluation of existing and future security deployments at an international airport. It will also be used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using the DefenSoft toolkit as compared with existing tools and methodologies used at airports. The second contract is for the evaluation of existing communication infrastructure in a remote area, consisting of 50 towers, and the planning for five additional towers. It will also be used to evaluate the toolkit cost-effectiveness for large open areas.

DefenSoft is one of eight current companies in the Athlone Global Security Corporation portfolio which specializes in homeland security technologies and solutions. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, AGS focuses on the homeland security market and emerging homeland security technologies. AGS specializes in technologies which aid in information security, prevention of unauthorized access, threat detection, and protection of critical infrastructure.