BusinessTN

They may not wear capes or possess superhuman powers, but the engineers at Knoxville-based technology firm, Cadre5, want to save the world. One city at a time. Starting with Memphis.

The seven-year-old company, headed by former Whittle Communications and Scripps Networks tech guru Steve Hicks, was recently thrust into the media limelight after launching its first anti-terrorist mobile unit commercially for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.

The system, called S. N. A. P. S. (Sensor Network Area Protection System), essentially acts as a mechanical nose to sniff out hazardous chemicals in the air and, based on weather conditions, determines where the contaminants are headed. Situated near areas used for large public gatherings or otherwise subject to high congestion, this device can give invaluable information to first responders, saving them precious time during an evacuation or rescue.

Since Memphis ranks high as an area deemed most at risk of an attack, Shelby County’s law enforcement agencies feel its investment of the government’s $500,000 homeland security grant was well spent.

Should other Tennessee cities with a lower threat threshold follow suit? Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell Jr. gives a resounding, “yes.”

“If other law enforcement agencies have similar equipment, the monitoring network could be greatly expanded during large-scale emergencies,” he adds.

Back at Cadre5’s home, the S. N. A. P. S. installation marks a turning point in the company’s short history, adding a hardware manufacturing business component to its existing systems integration offerings.

Not that Cadre5 has been suffering. The privately held firm pulled in $4.5 million in revenue in 2006 with 40% stemming from government projects. Most of the work involves computer software programming, which requires lots of billable service hours. An average project runs about $150,000, soup to nuts. “We usually don’t take projects under $50,000 unless it’s a publicly traded company, which could lead to multiple contracts,” Hicks says.

He admits having the good problem of too much work to handle. “The only way to scale in a business like this is to hire more people. We’re also looking to provide more [of a hardware] product that fits into our core competencies,” he says.

This explains Hicks desire to peddle the save-the-world technology to any city official with sufficient budget funding to seek protection for his or her community. With a permanent Memphis office and recent hiring of Kent Fourman as vice president and general manager for Nashville, it could only be a matter of months before S. N. A. P. S. units start cropping up all across the state.

It’s not a bird or a plane. It’s Cadre5.