ADVANCED IMAGE SEARCH TECHNOLOGY MAKES DEBUT FOR STOLEN VALUABLES REGISTRY
London, UK – July 5, 2005 – Swift-Find, the world’s leading web-based registry of valuables, announced today a powerful new search tool for quickly locating lost or stolen property.
The global, real-time registry of valuables, designed for use by consumers, auction houses, museums, dealers, police forces, finance and insurance companies, is boosted by the inclusion of ‘Image Seeker’ software from LTU Technologies, a software widely used for specialized investigations by government and law enforcement agencies around the world including and ICE (US Immigration & Customs Enforcement)
The image-matching feature of Swift-Find's “Search It” product means customers and dealers can check the legitimacy of ownership of second-hand valuables before a sale – and so avoid unwittingly buying or selling stolen property.
Swift-Find’s global, detailed registry of valuables provides a number of services including the registration of valuables on its global database, reporting valuables when lost or stolen, searching second-hand items before purchase to make sure they are not lost and stolen, and recovering stolen property.
LTU Technologies is the world leader in image search and recognition solutions. LTU's product suite includes Image-Seeker, a highly accurate automatic image analysis software that allows comparison, search and retrieval of photographic images. The software is established as a standard investigation tool for law enforcement agencies (stolen art, child exploitation, counterfeiting), in order to help them to pursue visual evidence.
Swift-Find's "Search It" service allows users to check the validity of an item by simply defining key characteristics. By incorporating the image-based technology, the user enhances the search by simply uploading a picture. Users can conduct a search on the basis of the image only – particularly useful when certain details of an item are not known.
"The combination of Swift-Find's professional categorization of valuable items with LTU's technology makes "Search It" an even more effective tool to identify items that are either lost or stolen," said Ben Arbel, CEO of Swift-Find.
"Search It is just one of Swift-Find's services developed to protect buyers from purchasing stolen property and help crime victims get their stolen property back," added Arbel.
"We are extremely pleased to be a technology provider to Swift-Find. Our partnership will help deter the trade of stolen property" commented Chahab Nastar, CEO of LTU Technologies.
About Swift-Find
Swift-Find is the global, on-line, real-time registry of new, used and stolen valuables, and checking used valuables on Swift-Find before purchase will soon become the due diligence standard worldwide. Created by retail, insurance and hi-tech executives, Swift-Find has the commitment, talent and resources to create the world on-line standard for verifying the validity and authenticity of used valuables in real time. Swift-Find is a limited company headquartered in the UK. For more information, visit www.swift-find.com
About LTU Technologies
Founded in 1999 by veteran scientists of MIT, Oxford and INRIA, LTU Technologies provides mission-critical software for search, retrieval and classification of images and videos. LTU's technology is patented in France. LTU's clients include government organizations such as the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as commercial organizations such as Meredith Corporation. The technology has also successfully been integrated in third party solutions for brand protection, enterprise search, digital asset management, and email monitoring. LTU Technologies has offices in Paris, France and Washington DC. For more information, visit www.ltutech.com
Press contact:
LTU Technologies Francois Veltz Tel (France) : + 33 (1) 53 43 01 71
