*IPKeys Technologies, LLC, has received a $3.3 million contract from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for support of the Acceleration of Smart Grid Interoperability and Cyber Security Standards, Testing and Certification effort. The award was made using Recovery Act monies.
*3M [MMM] says the expiration date on its cash tender offer for Cogent, Inc. [COGT] until 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday Oct. 26. So far 3M owns about 63.1 million of Cogent’s shares, or about 70 percent of Cogent’s outstanding shares. If after the new expiration period 3M owns more than 66.5 million Cogent shares, it plans to exercise its option to purchase directly from Cogent additional shares to give it one more share than 90 percent of Cogent’s outstanding common stock, allowing 3M to complete a short form merger without the need for a meeting of Cogent’s shareholders. If 3M isn’t able to obtain more than 66.5 million shares after the expiration, it plans to acquire the rest of Cogent’s common stock in a second step merger that will follow approval of the merger by a meeting of Cogent’s shareholders as soon as practicable. 3M now has sufficient voting power to approve the merger at such a meeting without the vote of any other Cogent shareholder.
*Cross Match Technologies is delivering its Mobile Rapid ID fingerprint scanner to the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office for use by narcotics detectives, community policing deputies and road patrol personnel. The handheld devices deliver standards-based, forensic quality images that can be submitted to an Automated Fingerprint Identification System database for identification and the search results are displayed on the scanner. “We have found that the handheld units provide us with the information we need anywhere in the field,” says Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder.