Smarte Carte airport lockers reopen WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. (AP) =97 Federal airport security officials have= given=20 the green light for Smarte Cart to reopen about 3,300 airport lockers=20 nationwide that were shut down after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.=20 However, the lockers =97 located at 41 major U.S. airports =97 first must be= =20 updated to add biometic technology requiring travelers to provide a=20 fingerprint to rent and open a locker. The 225 Smarte Cart lockers at=20 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport now operate with the fingerprint= =20 technology. White Bear Lake-based Smarte Carte recently completed a=20 five-month test of the lockers, convincing the federal Transportation=20 Security Administration that the sophisticated lockers do not pose a=20 security risk. "This is hugely important to us," said Chris Westphal, vice president of=20 marketing and strategy of the privately held company. "Now, we can work on= =20 opening up our other lockers and work on getting the revenue we lost when=20 we were shut down." Airport lockers were shut down after the attacks because federal security=20 officials were afraid terrorists would use them as drops to pass on=20 weapons. With the new fingerprints technology, only the person who rents a= =20 locker can retrieve its contents. The fingerprint ID system is 99.99=20 percent accurate, the company said. Smarte Carte electronic lockers do not= =20 match customer names, obtainable via credit or debit cards, with prints.=20 Prints are not compared to those of known or suspected terrorists, and the= =20 prints are discarded once a rental is concluded, the company says. Smarte Carte has lost about $400,000 a month in revenue as a result of the= =20 locker shutdown at airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Detroit,= =20 Philadelphia, San Jose, Calif., Washington, D.C., and 34 other cities. It=20 has laid off more than 300 employees, including about two dozen in=20 Minnesota, since the attacks. The TSA notified Smarte Carte last week that= =20 it was lifting its locker ban, the company said. However, Smarte Carte must= =20 get approval from TSA and airport managers at each airport before reopening= =20 the lockers. Westphal expects some lockers will reopen in 30 to 60 days.=20 Smarte Carte, best known for its baggage carts, provides carts, strollers=20 and electronic lockers at more than 1,000 airports, train and bus=20 terminals, shopping malls, amusement parks, ski resorts and zoos around the= =20 world. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.dbombo.net/muddyangels/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************