Analogic [ALOG] received a $7.6 million contract and Reveal Imaging Technologies a $5.9 million award from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for the companies to supply their respective Automated Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) to screen carry-on bags at checkpoints at select U.S. airports. Analogic will provide 12 of its COBRA systems and Reveal eight of its Fusion 4D systems. Both EDS systems are based on Computed Tomography, the same technology used in larger EDS machines that screen checked bags at airports. TSA says it hasn’t determined where, or when, the checkpoint EDS machines will be rolled out. The order is positive for both companies, who earlier this year were in danger of being shut out of business for checkpoint security in favor of the X-Ray Advanced Technology machines currently being pilot tested at several airports. That’s because the checkpoint EDS machines are deemed as being too costly and having too high a false alarm rate. Indeed, at Cleveland’s Hopkins Airport, where a COBRA system is being pilot tested, operators are not using the Auto-EDS features but like how they can rotate a colored display image of a parcel, giving them superior clarity as to the contents of the bag versus standard X-Ray machines. Stanford Equity analyst Josephine Millward cites several positives for Analogic from the sale, including direct sales to TSA which means higher margins for the company and an average selling price of $630,000 per unit, which is about $300,000 higher than expected. She believes that TSA will buy another 50 COBRAs in FY ’08 and over 60 percent of the market share relative to Reveal.