Peocon signed a contract with Iceland’s biggest Mall, Smáralind, to integrate sales data into the counting database. In that way it will be possible for the Mall to monitor sales pr. m2 for a given period of time. Peocon will contact each shop and implement the data integration with their staff so that it is delivered automatically in the database.

Peocon and Elea have signed a Partnership Agreement. ELEA Group EHF. (LLC.) is a business intelligence systems developer headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Their main product is a statistical analysis and reporting product which is useful in data mining visitor count data and sales data.

Peocon has hired Gunnar Ţór Gunnarsson as Service Manager to support the increasing number of customers. He graduated from Odense Teknikum Danmark in 1992 as an Electronic Engineer and he has 15 years’ experience in the IT industry. Gunnar’s speciality in Engineering is Data Automation and Information technology.
His role is to serve and get to know our customers, understand their needs and use this knowledge to drive development of our systems.

Peocon, in co-operation with its Swedish partner Bedege AB (www.bedege.se) has entered into an agreement to implement its people counting and flow solutions in selected stores of Nilson Group Sweden. Nilson Group and its business divisions Din Sko, Nilson, Skopunkten, Jerns and Radical Sports make up the leading retail shoe company in Sweden. With the majority of outlets in Sweden, the Nilson Group also provides outlets in Norway, Denmark and Finland. The unique Peomanager™ will be implemented with a bridge to the back-office system, giving the management a new dynamic dimension to their business.

Peocon has installed its counting system in the Hästens beds flagship store in Sweden. The installation is managed in co-operation with Peocon's Swedish partner Bedege (www.bedege.se). Hästens beds have been around since 1852 and now have their stores in 23 countries. Hästens plans to use the Peocon system for conversion rates and better monitoring of its daily operations.

The Peocon solutions will be implemented in the Forum Mall in Tallin Estonia. The project is a cooperation between Peocon and its Baltic partner http://meto-baltic.com/ who are also the exclusive distributors of the Checkpoint systems in the Baltics. The solution will be used for performance management of the mall.

Peocon is currently being presented by Tecbrain in the annual ICSC event in Argentina. The event is a major Shopping Centre event for Latin America and the Peocon representatives have already set up meetings with many of the leading Malls in South- and Central America. You will find us in stand 11 in the main hall.

Peocon will implement its people flow solution in Glerartorg Mall in Akureyri Iceland. Glerartorg will be monitored on an ongoing basis from december 2006 as well as for reference for the planned enlargement of the mall in summer 2007. Glerartorg is owned by Smaratorg, which also ownes and operates 6 malls in the Baltic countries and Jysk and Pier1 in Europe and Canada.

Peocon is being presented by our Spanish partner Tecbrain, www.tecbrain.com, in the annual Spanish Shopping Centre conference in Valencia. The conference is a part of ICSC the international council of shopping centres. You will find us in stand 22a in X Congreso Espańol de Centros Comerciales in Valencia just outside the Airport.

Peocon has implemented its solution in the National Gallery of Iceland. The solution consists of IP based people counting cameras that allow the directors of the museum to accurately measeure the flow of people in and out of the building. Through the use of PeoWeb the data analysis tool they are able to anayse the data further and make predictions based on previous patterns.

Peocon will implement its people counting solution in Kungsmassan Shopping Mall in Gothenburg Sweden. Kungsmassan will be monitoring people in and out of the mall as well as the flow of people in selected spots inside the mall. Kungsmassan is just south of Gothenburg. The mall is 26.000 square meters in size, with 85 stores and restaurants. 

The Peocon solutions will be implemented in Reiss fashion stores in Sweden, www.reiss.se. Peocon signed the deal with Nordic Fashion the holding company of the Nordic franchise of Reiss, high end clothing fashion store chain. The Reiss managers will be utilising the Peocon newest technology including wirelss IP cameras that transmit Real time counting, combined with POS data, to the in-store Peocon Real Time interface. As well as automatic e-mail reports and PeoWeb the data analysis tool.

The Reiss floor staff will know at any given time throughout the day, how many visitors have come in that day, how many left without buying and what proportion was sold (the Hit Rate). They will also know if the average purchase so far is below or above the established target.

The Reiss managers will have standardised reports sent to them by e-mail, daily, weekly or monthly, with the newest updated counting data combined with POS numbers.

Peocon will be presented in the 15th Biannual SICUR International Security Exhibition in Madrid 21-24th of February 2006. Stop by at our partner's stand, 3GSentinel, and experience a live Demo of the people counting in action or take a tour of the new data analysis tools such as RITA the In-Store Real Time Interface.

Peocon, in co-operation with its Spanish partner TechBrain TI, SL (www.tecbrain.com) has signed a deal to implement its people counting and flow solutions in the second batch of stores of Candelsa electronics retail chain. Candelsa has been using the Peocon solutions in selected stores for some time now. The unique Peomanager™ will be implemented with a bridge to the back-office system, giving the management a new dynamic dimension to their business.

Peocon releases new PeoWeb version: PeoWeb 3.5. A new exciting feature of PeoWeb is the new standardised email Report which can now be sent to anybody in the client's organisation on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. It contains new and updated data such as Conversion Ration (Hit Rate), Average Basket, Items Per Basket, and Visitor Average Value. The report automatically compares the best and worst stores and explains in a simple graphical format what exactly causes one store to sell more than another: a combination of visitor numbers, conversion ratio and average basket. 

To see a demonstration of Peoweb, click here.

Peocon releases new PeoWeb version: PeoWeb 3,5. RITA: the new Realtime Interface, will be placed in stores, in view of the floor staff, to motivate them to sell more. RITA has received a rapturous welcome by the current Peocon clients, who have made remarks such as "this will revolutionise my business", "by far the best tool I've seen to make my staff aware of what we're doing".

To see a demonstration of RiTA, click here.

Peocon has installed its system in Candelsa, an electronics retail chain in Barcelona. The installation is Peocon's first installation in Spain and managed in co-operation with Peocon's Spanish partner TecBrain TI, SL (www.tecbrain.com). TecBrain is a leading technology provider in the field of Spanish real estate and software to manage retailers and large buildings such as shopping malls.

Peocon has signed a contract to monitor the flow of visitors into Fjordurinn, Hafnarfjordur's main Shopping mall. Peocon will also monitor the flow of people inside the mall. The system is an IP based camera system allowing for extreme ease of setup where all data is transmitted through a wireless system into Peocon's proprietary web based data analysis tool where manangers can work with and analyse the data, anytime, anywhere.

Peocon has received a significant 2 year development grant from the RANNIS research institute. This substantial amount will enable Peocon to accelerate its ambitious development of Peomanager, an advanced IP CAMERA system which combines in one a people flow measurement and security surveillance. The system is expected to be a real breakthrough for many of Peocon's current and prospective clients who have repeatedly asked for a combined product to save cameras, cables, PCs, infrastructure, technical support needs and more.

Peocon will have the live DEMO of the Peocon people counting software up for display at the Retail Solutions 2005 in Birmingham. Retail Solutions is considered the main Pan-European Retail IT exhibition where IT providers from all over demonstrated the newest in Retail technology. The exhibition takes place from June 7 - 9 2005. Please stop by at stand F10 right at entrance E (the left entrance) where we are exhibiting with our UK partner Alpha Landsteinar (K3 group).
- For Alpha Landsteinar visit: http://www.theretailpeople.com
- For Retail Solutions 2005 visit: http://www.retailsolutions2002.co.uk/index.html

 

Peocon has entered into an agreement with Reykjavik Botanic Gardens to monitor the flow of people in selected spots in the Garden. The Garden covers an area of 2,5 acres and contains some 5.000 plant species. The Garden is open year around with a high season in the summer, during which time the executives of the Garden look forward to be able to serve their customes in a better and more efficient way due to the Peocon system. The Garden is located in Laugardalur recreational area, where Peocon is also monitoring people flow at Laugar Health Centre.

Peocon has signed a deal to monitor the flow of people through selective areas in Toyota´s headquarters in Iceland. Toyota Iceland is one of the largest and oldest dealerships in the country. Toyota’s facilities consist of various exhibition halls such as new cars, used cars, Lexus and Arctic Trucks where Toytoa specializes in converting regular Toyota jeeps and trucks into specialised off-road vehicles capable of adventurous glacier travel.

Peocon has released Peomanager version 3.0, the web based data analysis tool for its clients. After extensive testing it has proven to be a reliable source for visitor count data merged with back-office data if wanted. The new system has many interesting new features. It is now for example possible to receive an automatic e-mail every day/week/month with updated information on the newest development in the Hit Rate, customer count, average basket etc. Users can also save a query they make in order to retrieve it again with updated data, say a month later, without having to build the query again. PeoManager uses secure data communication and can be set up for the Internet or on a company's intranet.

Peocon and ARK bookstores, the leading Norvegian book store chain, have signed an agreement that states the implementation of the Peocon solutions in selected ARK bookstore outlets in Norway. Peocon has started the implementation in Oslo, but the ARK chain consists of a total of 68 bookstores in various locations in Norway such as Bodř, Sandnes, Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger og Trondheim.

Peocon has received a 5mkr grant from RANNIS, a framework operating under the auspices of the Council for Science and Technology Policy, headed by the Prime Minister of Iceland. Since the beginning of the year Peocon has been working on the improvements and furthering of the security surveillance system, Peoprotector. RANNIS has now decided to step in to encourage the ambitious plans of Peocon of combining into one system a security surveillance and people flow solution. Peocon expects to release the new system early 2005. The system is expected to be a real breakthrough for many of Peocon´s current and prospective clients who have repeatedly asked for a combined product, saving cameras, cables, PC´s, infrastructures, tech support system and more.

Earlier in the fall Peocon signed a deal with Byko hardware stores to monitor the flow of people into and inside selected Byko stores. Peocon has now implemented the system in Byko Akureyri and Byko BREIDD where the management is able to systematically evaluate the effect different store organisation and displays have on they way their visitors travel through the store. Byko BREIDD is the largest multipurpose construction / hardware store in the country.

Hljodfaerahusid, musical instruments dealer, will implement the Peomanager solutions in its flagship store in Reykjavik Iceland. The unique Peomanager™ will give the management a new dynamic dimension to their business. Peocon congratulates Hljodfaerahusid with their decision of choosing Peocon as their business solution partner.

Peocon has entered into an agreement with Leifur Eriksson Air Terminal, Iceland´s international airport located in Keflavik Iceland. Leifur Eriksson Airport will implement the unique Peomanager solution to monitor the flow of people in selected spots in the airport giving the management a new dynamic dimension to their business. Peocon congratulates Leifur Erikson Air Terminal in the decision to choose Peocon as its management solution partner.

ELKO, a leading electronic chain, will implement the Peomanager solutions in two of its stores in Iceland. The unique Peomanager™ will give the management a new dynamic dimension to their business. ELKO is a part of the Scandinavian electrical chain Elkjöp, which is owned by the UK electronics giant Dixons. Peocon congratulates ELKO with their decision of choosing Peocon as a management solution partner

Peocon has signed a contract to monitor the flow of visitors in selected stores of the leading retail group Norvik (Byko Group). Peocon has designed a complete people flow monitoring system to be implemented in Husgagnahollin shopping mall. Managers will be able to measure exactly how and when people pass through certain outlets of the mall including Intersport, Kronan, Bodum furnitures, Husgagnahollin 2^nd floor, Fifa and Nevada Bob, as well as measuring the flow of people through different entrances of the mall.

A recent software release has further improved some core Peocon systems. The Peocounter Quattro system has been extensively reviewed, now benefitting from improved counting algorithms and enhanced ability to cope with diurnal shadows. All versions of the Peocounter application have been tested and successfully integrated into hybrid installations. These allow use of greater combinations of data gathering techniques, representing savings in installation cost and time, and even greater reliability.

Peocon has signed a contract with World Class Laugar to map out the flow of people between various parts of Laugar, Iceland’s largest Health and Fitness Centre. The World Class share of Laugar is roughly 7000m2 on three floors. World Class Health and Fitness occupies around two thirds of the space, with the remainder dedicated to different health-related operations. Then there is a new state of the art indoor swimming centre of 5200m2 where a part of the pool floor can be raised or lowered to suit the needs of different users. Finally Laugar is directly connected to the largest swimming facilities in Iceland, Laugardalslaug, which also connects with other bits of Laugardalur, which houses the National Spots Centre of Iceland.

Peocon has signed a deal with New Energy, the joint venture of Daimler-Chrysler, Shell Hydrogen and Norsk Hydro, to monitor the flow of people in selected Hydrogen Buses. Peocon will produce very precise data of passenger flow, which will be combined with other data such as fuel consumption, exact location through GPS technology, engine usage and more. A total of 10 European cities participate in the project of testing Hydrogen Buses in various conditions over a period of 2 years. The project is supported by two commissions of the European Union, ECTOS and CUTE.

Peocon and Egilshollin, the multipurpose Sports & convention Centre in Grafarvogur Iceland, will be implementing the peoManager solutions in its facilities. Egilshollin houses a full size football court, an ice hockey/skating court, a boling hall and many more sports facilities along with restaurants, shops and a bank.

Peocon and Gerduberg, Reykjavik Cultural Center, have signed an agreement that states the implementation of the Peocon solutions in Gerduberg facilities. Gerduberg is a popular venue for exhibitions both by local and foreign artists.

Skífan, the dominant record label & chain of music stores in Iceland, is to implement the Peomanager solutions in its stores in Iceland. The unique Peomanager™ will give the management a new dynamic dimension to their business. Peocon congratulates Skifan with their decision of choosing Peocon as a management solution partner.

Peocon has signed an agreement with Perlan, the most visited tourist side in Iceland, to measure the flow of people through the building. The unique Peocounter™ will be implemented at Perlan giving the managers a new dynamic tool to map out the flow of their guests. Peocon congratulates Perlan with their decision of choosing Peocon as a management solution partner.

Peocon has signed a long-term contract to monitor the flow of visitors in selected stores of the leading Icelandic retail group Hagar (previously Baugur Island). Hagar operates close to 90 retail stores in Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Peocon has been measuring the flow of visitors in selected stores for Hagar since early 2003. The result of the test has been a great success for Hagar and consequently it was decided to expand the contract to include 3 stores of Utilif, Debenhams department store in Smaralind, Miss Selfridge, Top Shop and Zara.

Peocon will measure the flow of people coming in and out of Smarinn Sports Centre. Smarinn, Kopavogur´s main Sports Centre, is one of three new Sports/Convention Centres in the Reykjavik area. Smarinn will be using the services of Peocon to monitor it’s guests in both sporting and other events. Smarinn has been the host of the several international exhibitions such as the Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition, which attracts a high number of international guests to explore the newest in fisheries technology.

Peocon and the upscale electronic retailer SONY CENTER have signed an agreement that states the implementation of the Peocon solutions for the SONY CENTER in Iceland. The unique Peocounter™ will be implemented at the SONY CENTER giving the management a new dynamic dimension to their business. Peocon congratulates the SONY CENTER with their decision of choosing Peocon as a management solution partner

Peocon has signed an agreement with Tourist Information in Reykjavik to monitor the flow of tourists coming in and out of the Tourist Information´s facilities. Tourist Information will use the Peocon people flow information to further improve its services to its customers. The Tourist Information´s central location in Reykjavik was moved into a renovated building in Adalstraeti 2 in Reykjavik in the spring of 2003. The building also houses an upper class seafood restaurant, souvenir shop and more.

After receiving a third party verification on the excellent accuracy level of the Peocon counting system of 97,12% (see the Gallup verification link on the front page), Peocon development unit has laid out a plan to erase the small error margin that still resides in the system.

The causes of errors have been identified and classified and, as expected, the majority of errors comes from a few distinct sources. The first round of re-programming has taken place. In that round, the largest causes of errors were attacked and extensive testing that now takes place, indicates a clear improvement after the re-programming.

Other projects of the Peocon development unit include the implementation of a new frame grabber and interface that will further increase the applicability of the Peocon counting system. Furthermore, automatic calibration of the counting system is in the works so the setup becomes even more simple. With auto-calibration the system takes a deeper look into the counting area and counted individuals, performs a statisical analyzis and adjusts accordingly so that item focus (clear view of individuals) and item recognition (how big is a person? what is not a person? how do two individuals in one cluster look like?) is optimized.

Peocon development unit efforts have been acknowledged by respected institutions, such as the Icelandic Research Council and its research work extends into fields such as behavior analysis and of course program code optimization.

In June 2003 GALLUP International performed a test to verify the accuracy of the Peocon computer vision counting system. The test revealed a staggering 97,12% accuracy of the Peocon system. "We have been manually testing the system ourselves with similar results, but having a 3rd party verification from a recognized leader such as GALLUP is extremely helpful for any future promotions" says Einar Sigvaldason CEO of Peocon.

GALLUP manually counted visitors passing through three heavily used entrances to two Icelandic shopping malls and the NEXT store in Reykjavik, a total of 16 hours of test on 4 different occasions. Subsequently GALLUP had Peocon send in the visitor count numbers produced by the counting system of Peocon computer vision. As previously stated the average accuracy was 97,12%. For a complete report of the test click on the GALLUP link on the front page.

Towards the end of this summer, thorough testing has marked a successful end to the second development phase of a full suite of Peocon tools. In the toolbox, you will find a wide range of products, from data aquisition, through data recording, data transmission to data viewing. Users can now easily configure the Peocon customer counting system to match their existing information systems or to simply view the data in the most common text editors or spread sheets.

The Peocounter is at the core of the Peocon range, allowing easy setup and configuration. Peocon systems utilize two of the most reliable counting methods, computer vision and infra-red sensing. To this end, Peocounter can handle counting in all circumstances. The customer can choose how far he wants the data to be transferred. The simplest setup leaves data files on disk, ready for access. From there to the sophisticated PeoManager web based information system, there are various methods integrated in the Peocon Suite to serve the data right to the destination of the customer's wish. Send your inquiries or preferences to the Peocon information desk. You'll be surprised to see how easy it is for Peocon to implement a customer counting system in your company.

Peocon is lucky to have the most proficient developers working on the Peocon systems. They have created a new generation of counting systems, using a broad spectrum of technologies ranging from basic electronics to the latest trends in Internet methods and protocols.

Peocon has successfully launced PeoManager, the web based information service for its customers. A lot of effort has gone into finalizing the product since January and after extensive testing it proves to be a reliable source for visitor count data merged with various back-office data. By the end of May it is put to work. Over fifteen customers are already utilizing the PeoManager and it has attracted the eyes of many prospective customers. PeoManager uses secure data communication and can be set up for the Internet or on a company's intranet. Turnover data and visitor count data holds a lot of information that most often is unused. Managers are gradually becoming aware of the great potential for better operations with the insight that PeoManager can give.

Today, Peocon launched a new counting system in the new NEXT store in Iceland. The NEXT store is in Kringlan shopping mall and is considered an important anchor shop in the south-end of the 150 store mall. The counting started as the door opened for the first time at 10:00. At noon the PeoCounter had reliably registered a thousand visitors and by 15:00 the visitor count had reached 3500. The store managers are aiming at 15 thousand visitors the first four days and judging by the PeoCounter figures, that margin will most easily be broken.

NEXT is a fashion retail chain for all age groups with over 400 stores world wide. Marketing managers for the chain rewieved the counting system during the opening and showed great interest in the technology and the various applications it offers.

Security surveillance is a constantly growing field in all kind of operations, not only in mall management but also in open-air environments.

The topic was raised in the March 2003 issue of Shopping Centers Today magazine, published by the International Council of Shopping Centers. In an article called "Open-air security" the shopping center security was expanded to also include community, neighborhood and strip centers.

Many methods, old and new, are used to safeguard various shopping centers. Substantial lighting and visible presence of security cameras is the key, according to James Sheuchenko, director of property management at Kimco Realty Corp., USA. Kimco is USA's largest strip center owner. Also a powerful preventative tool are watchful property managers and police patrols.

(To deter loitering by youths, many shopping centers use a humorous yet effective tactic. They play muzak or "elevator music" which apparently drives youngsters - and no doubt a good many adults - crazy.)

These tools - substantial lighting, visible security cameras and watchful staff - are being given a great supplement in automatic surveillance systems such as the PeoProtector that utilize computer vision to analyze various scenarios. Alarms can be given at predefined events, such as loitering, trespassing or other unwanted behavior.

Computer vision systems enable the use of video cameras as sensors for complex variables such as behavior or object shape. These sensing techniques will gain further acceptance in coming years, as important applications are successfully deployed.

Peocon and clothing retailer NEXT have signed an agreement that states the implementation of the Peocon Solutions for NEXT in Iceland. The unique Peocounter™ will be implemented at NEXT giving the management a new dynamic dimension to their business. Peocon congratulates NEXT with their decision of choosing Peocon as a management solution partner.

Peocon has entered into an agreement with Baugur Group to implement its people counting solutions in the Baugur retail outlets. Peocon will monitor customer flow into selected Baugur stores in Iceland (including Debenhams) allowing Baugur to systematically compare the conversion rate, determine opening hours and estimate the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns.

Consequently the aim is to expand the Peocon solutions into the remainder of the Baugur stores in Iceland. Baugur is by far the largest retail chain in Iceland with close to 90 stores including Bonus, Hagkaup, 10-11, Zara, Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, Utilif, Debenhams, Lyfja and BabySam. Additionally Baugur operates 362 Bonus dollar stores in the USA, 13 stores in Sweden and is a major shareholder in the UK based Big Food Group, House of Fraser and Somerfield.

At Peocon we are proud to be chosen by Baugur as a people counting partner and we look forward to a fruitful co-operation. We are also convinced that our solutions will be of great help to Baugur in making better business decisions.

Peocon, together with Pattern Vision Inc (www.patternvision.com), recently received a grant from The Icelandic Research Center to further define the companies' research project on behavior analysis. Peocon considers this valuable acknowledgement for the research that have been carried out by Peocon. The project is divided into two phases:
-To begin with the project will look at hidden patterns and trends in a complex combination of data from shopping malls or retail stores. These data are for example visitor count, car traffic count, turnover data, weather data etc. The results from this part are likely to give mall or store managers better insights into the patterns and trends between variables that affect their operations. This might then give them a powerful tool to decide on which variables they should try to affect in order to increase their sales or customer satisfaction.
- In the second phase, Peocon's image analysis products will be used to automatically collect data on an organism's behavior and Pattern Vision's software will search the data for repeating patterns. This part of the project is at first aimed at scientists that need some means to automatically gather behavior data but in the future we see possibilities for use in various surveillance applications. 
   This scientific research project is expected to further increase our scientists' perspective on various possible data collection schemes and methods to analyze the data.
   On Pattern Vision:
PatternVision focuses on developing new and innovative solutions to discover and analyze hidden patterns in a broad range of data structures. Their customers range from scientist and analysts to commercial business users. Based on years of research effort PatternVision can provide unique methods for solving complex data mining problems as well as relatively simple pattern detection tasks. They have provided tools to behavior scientists, molecular biologists, mechanical engineers, geophysics, criminologist, sports coaches and many more.

Peocon today signed an agreement with ATV the largest electronic retail chain in Iceland to monitor pedestrian flow in all of ATV´s major stores. ATV has been testing the services of Peocon in two BT stores since last fall. According to ATV the results were quite satisfactory and now it has been decided to add the remainder of the BT stores in Iceland as well as Office 1 Superstore, or a total of 7 stores.

The retail arm of ATV is known for the sophistication of its internal information systems. Now ATV management team is able to incorporate the visitor count numbers into its tailor-made database. This allows it among other things to systematically work with the buyer/browser rate and compare it between stores and in time. As a result ATV expects to be able to improve the sales performance of its stores as well as more effectively be able to plan opening hours, staffing between different time intervals and fine tune advertising expenditure.

Most experienced IT managers are familiar with the complexities posed by a multitude of proprietary structures and interfaces in their information systems. They may need to build bridges between different cash registers and back-office systems. They may need to program their own user interface to the database or make a data cable connector to an old electronic device. Proprietary structures delay the implementation of new IT systems or ideas.

Peocon products have, from the beginning, been developed with a vision of keeping all data as transparent as possible. Ambigously presenting data under some proprietary format is often considered a competitive advantage when, on the contrary, it loses more opportunities than it creates.

Instead, simple data format increases the value of the product since its usability is higher. The simple data creates open ends that enable various back-office systems or other applications to easily collect and integrate the information.

Standards are important because they reduce time-to-delivery of business solutions, they enable cross-company process optimization, they maximize the value derived from it investments and they make all kinds of partnering opportunities easy as 1-2-3. Peocon development team is oriented towards open standards and therefore you can be sure that Peocon solutions are durable and will hold their value throughout the life span of your company.

One of Peocon´s more exciting new development projects is the Peoprotector. Peocon recently hired a team of four software specialists to design and build the Peoprotector software, which combines some of the most important technological features available in security surveillance today.

Peoprotector is built on the foundation of Vaki´s and Peocon´s technological know how in the field of computer vision. It receives signals from a digital camera monitoring a pre-defined area. Once something out of the ordinary happens (such as if an object enters the picture when it should be empty or a bag is left on the floor of an airport unattended for more than a certain time) Peoprotector does two things. First it turns on the recording if required and secondly it sends a message to a person such as a security guard who immediately looks at the picture to determine if further action is needed.

Additionally Peoprotector will be equipped to send out a picture on an MMS format. This allows a security guard, for example, who is on duty nearby the incident to receive an exact picture of what is happening on his mobile phone in seconds.

The PeoManager, soon to be launched, will have the anything, anytime, anywhere feeling because of the Internet access and the abundance of valuable information it generates. Many of us realize the long and winding road between data and information and need the opportunity to generate the information without manual labor, collecting data, importing into a spreadsheet and executing all kinds of calculations and numerical acrobatics.

The PeoManager is yet another tool to stimulate companies' growth and is all about delivering information of real value to retail store managers, retail chain managers and other staff in charge of store or mall operations. Peocon has developed a robust people counting system using computer vision as well as infrared technology. This state of the art system is still just one building block in the extensive IT system Peocon develops.

Retail or mall managers acquire new insight into their operations by knowing the browser vs. buyer ratio, the staff efficiency, the store value and other indexes PeoManager generates instantly. With this knowledge the managers take respective actions, such as adjusting service level according to real needs, rearranging staff scedules or even seeking out less expensive store facilities.

In an interesting article in July 2002 edition of CIO magazine (www.cio.com), Wal-Mart's CIO, Kevin Turner discusses the IT inside the worlds biggest company. Mr. Turner shares his view with Peocon when he says: "Technology at this point is simply a means to an end. What is really strategic is the use of the information and how we exploit and maximize it."

Peocon is working closely with Landsteinar, a leading provider of information systems, on the development of PeoManager. PeoManager is a web-based software for viewing and analyzing visitor count and turnover data. The product is intended for retail stores and shopping centers.

After a thorough design phase, Peocon and Landsteinar are now implementing the design in PeoManager, aiming to launch the product this coming spring. This product will introduce a new dimension to managers in the retail business. PeoManager will give a clear indication of factors that can increase hit-rate and the software presents various graphs, charts and tables to give great information on the condition of business.

Another rush for Peocon is that it's PeoCounter has recently been tested against a competitors counter and the results were clearly in favor of PeoCounter. Peocon's unique image analysis methods are hard to match and this was confirmed in tests carried out in December.

Peocon has opened up a renewed version of its online web interface for existing clients to use when browsing their counting data. This allows customers to compare various data in a user-friendly environment in any location connected to the Internet.

In the meantime Peocon, the GoPro Landsteinar Group and some of Peocon´s retail clients are jointly working to further develop the Peocon software and add to it some new and exciting usability factors.

Peocon is happy to announce the recruitment of Einar Sigvaldason as a Chief Executive Officer of the firm. Einar joins the firm to further expand its successful operations as an emerging leader in the field of computer vision people counting technology combined with a total business solution package for the retail industry.

Einar will lend a global perspective to the Peocon team but Einar has an MBA from UC Berkeley where he specialized in Information Technology. Einar speaks 5 languages and has previous work experience in both retail and Information Technology. Einar has founded and managed his own web based Information Technology firm for the seafood industry.

As Peocon welcomes Einar to the new job, we would like to thank the outgoing CEO Thorir Olafsson for his contribution to the firm over the years.

Agora is an international exhibition where the most prominent technology companies in Iceland present their work, ideas and future vision. In Agora Peocon will exhibit it's unique counting and business solutions. The Peocounter will be installed by all entrances and and provide real-time information on exhibition traffic.

Peocon and Noa Noa stores in Iceland have signed an agreement that states the implementation of Peocon Solutions for Noa Noa. The unique Peomanager™ will be implemented with a bridge to Navision back-office system, giving the management a new dynamic dimention to their business. Peocon congratulates Noa Noa in their decission of Peocon as a management solution partner.

Peocon has signed an agreement with Glaesibaer, an Icelandic shopping center that is currently under renovation and is schedueld to open with new and improved customer environment in October 2002.

The shopping center Glaesibaer, has choosen the Peocon solution as a superior management tool to have improved knowledge about their customers.

Peocon want's to congratulate Glaesibaer with their wise choice and is looking forward to the co-operation in the future!

Peocon and Samkaup, Iceland's third largest retail chain, have signed an agreement of implementing Peocon solutions for its stores.

The Samkaup chain has today 25 stores, all around Iceland under brand names such as Samkaup, Sparkaup, Netto, Kasko, Strax and Urval.

Peocon congratulates Samkaup on their decision to strenghten their business model with Peocon solutions.

Peocon and Tal, one of Icelands most prominent firm in the mobile telephone service provider, have signed an agreement that Peocon will implement their solutions for Tal stores. Congratulations Tal!

Peocon Systems and Aco-Tćknival, a major computer and technology retailer in Iceland, have signed an agreement that Peocon will install it's solution for customer counting and behaviour analysis in it's stores in Reykjavík.

Aco-Tćknival operates several stores in Iceland. Their main goal is to increase customer satisfaction and service. To achive this goal Aco-Tćknival has to be constantly aware of the needs and demands of their customers. The introduction of Peocon's counting solutions gives the firm an oppertunity to observe the service level accurately.

Aco-Tćknival has established itself as a market leader in the computer and technology retail sector. Peocon Systems are proud to participate in Aco-Tćknivals effort to increase customer satisfaction.

The Icelandic shopping center, Kringlan, will have to install again two escalators that were removed in January 2001. The removal of those escalators was taken to court by some of the store owners that claimed they has lost much of their traffic and therefore had an considerable negative affect on their business.

The judge, hounorable Arngrímur Ísberg, went on the scene to see the changes that had been made, to evaluate the possible affect on the stores in question. It was his opinion that the removal must have had an dramatic affect on customer flow and therefore also on the business of the stores.

The court agrees with the store owners and has ruled that Kringlan shall re-install the two escalators within 30 days.

This is a clear example of how the Peocon technique could have saved time, money and time in court. The PeoFlow technique could have assisted in this matter by delivering accurate data on the traffic, before and after the removal of the escalators. It could also have assisted the management of Kringlan to evaluate the profit and affects of the removal, before it was done. By investing in the Peocon technique, you always have right and accurate data, when needed.

According to Value Retail News, then demographically, the typical outlet shopper is a married, career woman who’s 43 years old, with a family income of $53,000. Four time a year she travels about 45 minutes to outlet shop, and spends more than $100 each visit.

Hermann Kristjánsson, general manager of Vaki-DNG, the initial founding company of Peocon, presented the Peocon System concept to guests at the technical convention organized last April by the Icelandic Society of Engineers. This was the final presentation of the technical convention and drew much attention as well over a hundred guests attended the presentation.

The methods employed by Peocon arouse the interest of engineers and laymen as well. Advanced as they may be, simplicity is still the main strength of the counting system as well as compatibility with most computer networks, internal and external data.

In April, Peocon participated in a technical convention organized by the Icelandic Society of Engineers. The theme of the week was Smáralind shopping mall, the business concept, architecture, technical design, and R&D related work. The counting system was introduced to interested guests as the main R&D project.

In relation to the convention the mathematical and engineering basis of the Peocon system was vividly explained to school children. Students of Kópavogur elementary school Lindarskóli were enchanted by the Peocon presentation and suddenly got really curious about what happens inside this kind of analytical engine, such as the counting system. Many interesting questions were raised and some questions the Peocon engineers had never heard before. The questions somtimes happen to enrich the engineers' understanding of their own system.

Following the Peocon presentation, the Icelandic Society of Engineers and Peocon decided to work together on a project to strengthen elementary students' interest in mathematical and engineering studies. Presentations will continue next fall. With this precedent, Peocon wants to show that everyone is responsible for young people being interested in stimulating studies and research.

Peocon Systems and Benís Ltd, a franchisee for Benetton and Sisley stores in Iceland have signed an agreement that Peocon Systems will implement tailor-made solutions for customer counting and behavior analyzing, for stores in Iceland.

Peocon Systems are proud to assist in the creation of Benís Ltd future vision. Benís has proven to be a leader in the retail- and business management sector and the co-operation agreement is considered to be of great value.

One of the core competitive goals at Benís is to be able to constantly adopt and value their client needs and demands. The introduction of Peocon solutions gives the firm a competitive edge and assures the high service level to customers that Benís values of great importance for the Benetton and Sisley stores.

Smáralind shopping center management values the strength of the system and empathizes on the fact that it’s highly important to be able to assist tenants within Smáralind in the effort to constantly build a better business.