Thursday, March 29, 2007

Foresight is 2020 and Worth $10 Billion






Biometrics revenue to reach $10 billion by 2020: Report

Louisville, Colo. — Acuity Market Intelligence of Louisville, Colo. released results from its market research report "The Future of Biometrics."

This report indicates the biometrics market is poised for sustained growth through 2020 approaching revenues of $10 billion annually.

Ubiquitous reliance on digital transactions and the inevitability of broadband access virtually everywhere will require a level of authentication available only through the use of biometrics.

KEY CONCLUSION: Over the next 10 years the infrastructure to enable mainstream, ubiquitous biometric authentication will be developed. Biometrics will be a critical embedded component of the digital world, as it becomes a key enabler of trusted transaction control – data access and flow - for both personal and commercial use.

This secure transaction capability will ultimately define the genuine opportunity for revenue associated with deployment of biometric technologies. The technology itself will, in many respects, become inconsequential as the applications it delvers become essential components of 21st century life.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Hy-Vee Customers Really Like Pay By Touch


Amy Cline, of Ames, used Pay By Touch for the first time Monday. She said it may be the last time she takes her purse into the grocery store.

"I don't really like bringing my purse in and that was kind of nice. They said that I don't ever have to bring my purse back into the building, so it's quite nice," Cline said. Hy-Vee is looking at how customers respond to the pilot project. Depending on the response, which thus far, looks very favorable, the company will expand the technology to all their other stores.

Friday, March 23, 2007

PayCheck Secure Proven To Have Huge Benefits






Using Biometrics To Help Identify Check-Cashing Fraud

A grocery chain rolls out PayCheck Secure, a biometric solution from Pay By Touch, to reduce losses from bad checks and speed up check-cashing transactions.

Integrated Solutions For Retailers, March 2007 Written by: Lisa Kerner

While grocery stores are not necessarily in the banking business, many offer their customers the convenience of payroll check cashing, which in turn encourages customers to stay and shop. However, these same stores lose when customers use false IDs and pass worthless checks.

The BI-LO/Bruno’s chain of 310 grocery stores operating throughout the southeastern United States discovered check cashing to be an expensive problem back in 2003. “The chain was experiencing frequent losses due to bogus or counterfeit payroll checks being passed in our stores,” according to its Manager of Loss Prevention Services, Ray Kessler. “One of the major obstacles for us in preventing these incidents was our inability to prevent identity fraud.”

Typically, to cash a check, a customer presented a valid government-issued form of ID, such as a driver’s license, to a store clerk at the service desk. The clerk could cash the check, ask for additional ID if needed, or seek manager approval for the transaction. A manual system such as this made it easy for customers to use different IDs at different stores. In addition, BI-LO/Bruno’s lacked the ability to look up a customer’s check-cashing history or to easily flag bad checks.

Measuring Customer Acceptance

BI-LO/Bruno’s worked with Pay By Touch to pilot a biometric check-cashing verification system, including Paycheck Secure, at 12 of its stores in Charlotte, NC.

Our intent was to measure the reduction or prevention value of the technology, as well as measuring the customers’ acceptance of the use of the technology in the stores,” Kessler said.

Pay By Touch installed Paycheck Secure — which consists of a PC, software, cameras, an ID scanner, and biometric and check readers — at the Charlotte stores, using telephone lines for connectivity with the new system.

Check-cashing customers were photographed and their IDs scanned, as were their left and right index fingers. All this information was used to enroll the customers and create a historical database of check-cashing customers. Once enrolled, these customers simply place their fingers in a biometric reader to confirm their identity prior to presenting a payroll check for cashing.

The check reader verifies standard MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) information and formatting of information on each check, according to Pay By Touch Product Market Manager Leslie Connelly. Because the system can populate and store a “bad check list,” fraudulent checks are caught before they are cashed. Store clerks can add notes on customers and look up past check-cashing information, while managers have the flexibility of manual overrides. Connelly said the system pays for itself by stopping one or two bad checks.

“After the test pilot, we installed the system through our existing network,” Kessler noted. The chain rolled out an additional 177 units to its stores two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday. Today, BI-LO/Bruno’s boasts a total of 226 Paycheck Secure systems and noticeably shorter check-cashing transaction times.

Information stored in the Pay By Touch system, such as photos and driver’s license information, is given to law enforcement to investigate bad checks. “We’ve been very successful in seeing arrests made on the local, state, and federal levels based on information provided by the technology,” Kessler explained.

The customers supported our efforts to protect them from identity theft, but more so from the convenience of not having to show ID after their initial enrollment,” offered Kessler. “The fact that a customer can be recognized in any of our retail locations using the technology has proven to be a huge benefit.


For More Information on PayCheck Secure go to http://paychecksecure.com/
For More Information On Pay By Touch go To www.paybytouch.com

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Saatchi Lovemark Ads Are Magnificent!





Last week I talked about the announcement that Pay By Touch had "formed a unique partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide". It probably didn't mean a whole lot to folks who read it, so I thought I might delve deeper into why I felt it was so significant.

It's a new age and Pay By Touch has undoubtedly teamed with a winner, that being Saatchi and their CEO, Kevin Roberts. As I stated last week, "Under the alliance, Saatchi & Saatchi will provide Pay By Touch with strategic and creative counsel to "build a global Lovemark(R)."

Here's the first report, from Advertising Age Magazine, regarding how the advertising industry perceives Saatchi's Lovemark branding.

It should provide further insight into how the Pay By Touch relationship with Saatchi will benefit the company in the long run. I look forward to seeing what Saatchi CEO, Kevin Roberts comes up with for Pay By Touch.

Here's the article along with the 60 second commercial they put together for JC Penney. Of course, JC probably paid a pretty Penney for their thoughts...







JC Penney's First Saatchi 'Lovemarks' Ads Are Magnificent
Gorgeous Music Attached to Gorgeous Video to Gorgeous Effect

By Bob Garfield
Published: March 19, 2007

How can it be that our impression of a declasse American retail institution can be altered in the space of exactly 60 seconds? Not that we're exactly rushing into JC Penney to buy a shirt, much less a suit, but for the moment we are prepared to imagine that what we'll find there does not entirely conform with our preconceived notion of end-of-the-mall plasticity. Yesterday, we would not have been prepared to imagine that. Today, however is another story...

Thanks to one TV commercial. (to view commercials click this link to the Ad Age site and then open the JC Penney Calendar Spot and, further down, Famous Screen Moments, my personal favorite, which includes a scene from the Hitchock thriller "The Birds")

Opening Lovemarks salvo

The spot, from Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, is the opening salvo in the agency's first campaign for Penney's, a piece of business it won after Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts wooed the client with his notion of Lovemarks -- which is Roberts' term for establishing an emotional relationship between the consumer and the brand.
So far, so good, mate.

The commercial is called "Calendar," and it is magnificent -- for reasons that have very little to do with the selling proposition (such that it is) and everything to do with technique. It depicts a young family living life in an outsize music box, which revolves as they go about their dollhouse-perfect little day. This is a cool image to begin with, but then there's that music track, by Australian Melanie Horsnell.


I say, and so say I
My morning thought
It knew itself just fine
Until across the room
It caught its first glimpse
Of my afternoon
How can it be
That these things live in me?


Georgeous effect
You probably can't hear the song just by looking at those italicized lyrics, but take our word for it: It's spare and pretty and mesmerizing. The result is a spot that's affecting along the lines of two 2005 U.K. masterpieces, "Balls" for Sony Bravia TV and "Grrrr" for Honda, both of which had gorgeous pieces of music attached to gorgeous video to gorgeous effect.

The other spots are pretty impressive too. One, done just for the Academy Awards broadcast, shows ordinary people in little episodes duplicating famous screen moments. Our particular favorite bit was a woman screaming at a cabbie in a New York crosswalk, a la Ratso Rizzo in "Midnight Cowboy." The joke is that the cabbie wears a freaky mohawk, like Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) in "Taxi Driver." (It also includes a scene from "The Birds" and Mary Poppins.)

Time is Money, Timesavior is Pay By Touch

Firms invest in timesavers for customers
As Americans continue to live more hurried lives, businesses are realizing they need to provide faster service if they want to remain competitive.

Companies are investing millions in new technologies and programs that shave a few minutes off of the total transaction time.

Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation said time saving is increasingly becoming more of a priority for retailers.

“New technologies, new marketing and new payment programs are all about saving customers time,” Davis said. Pay By Touch, which offers both a new technology and a new payment program, allows consumers to identify themselves and pay with a fingerscan. The company is gaining huge momentum. Their personalized marketing program, which presents discounts and coupon offers based on personal preferences shows a lot of promise as well according to research done by Aite Group.

“As technology becomes less expensive for retailers and more embraced by consumers, retailers will continue to invest in new technologies that make the shopping experience quicker and more efficient,” Davis said.

Chuck Baine, owner of the Knoxville based convenience store chain Bread Box, was ahead of the curve in adding the Pay By Touch biometric finger scan payments at his stores, and he is waiting for more retailers and consumers to embrace it.

With Pay By Touch, a machine scans points on the finger and the money is automatically deducted from a person’s checking account. Baine added the technology more than a year ago as a way to reduce his credit card fees, but also found it saves customers’ time.

“It takes seconds to make your transaction,” Baine said. “There is no time spent waiting for a credit card to clear. You just put your finger down, put in a code, and walk out the door. It cuts a third of your time.”

Pay By Touch costs about $800 per store. In the convenience store business – which was created for speed – the money is well worth it, Baine said.

“If we can save you 10 seconds here, half a minute there, that’s what we are going to do, because then we become a value to you,” he said. “With both parents working, every minute you can save matters.”

Pay By Touch Awards $100,000 Worth of Groceries to 10 Lucky Chicagoans


SAN FRANCISCO and CHICAGO, March 21, 2007 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Ten Chicagoans are being celebrated as part of Pay By Touch's "Touch of Holiday Cheer" sweepstakes. The leader in biometric payments and personalized marketing has awarded 10 lucky winners an entire year's worth of free groceries (a $10,000 value for each).

Winners included both new enrollees and existing members of the Pay By Touch(R) biometric payment service who shopped at local Jewel-Osco grocery stores throughout the holiday season.

The ten Chicagoans include:
-- Sandra Goranson, Barrington Hills, Ill.
-- Kara Kramer, Buffalo Grove, Ill.
-- Canto Lee, Chicago, Ill.
-- Michael Murray, Chicago, Ill.
-- Claudia Konrad, Chicago, Ill.
-- Suzanne Swanson, Grayslake, Ill.
-- Malcolm Bourne, Lake Forest, Ill.
-- Tina Kapton, Oswego, Ill.
-- Susan Utterback, Sugar Grove, Ill.
-- Lucia Girolamo, Sugar Grove, Ill.

At the start of the holiday season, the company also made a matching $10,000 donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and Pay By Touch "holiday elves" spread goodwill to shoppers at 12 Jewel-Osco locations in November and December.

"We are extremely pleased to reward 10 lucky members for doing their holiday shopping with Pay By Touch and Jewel-Osco," said John Rogers, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Pay By Touch. "We are committed to bringing the convenience, privacy and security of biometrics to mainstream America, and are thrilled to be delighting Chicagoland shoppers one touch at a time."

Pay By Touch, a biometric payment service that lets shoppers pay for purchases with the touch of a finger, is available at more than 200 stores in the greater Chicagoland area. Already more than 3.6 million members are using Pay By Touch in 3,000 locations across 44 states, the UK and Singapore.

About Pay By Touch

Pay By Touch (http://www.paybytouch.com) is the global leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. Already, more than 3.6 million consumers are using Pay By Touch services to identify themselves, make purchases, cash checks and get personalized savings with the touch of a finger.

Pay By Touch services are free for consumers to use and available in more than 3,000 retail locations across 44 states, the UK and Singapore. Pay By Touch also provides robust data management and payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not- present debit and credit transactions for retail clients.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 800 professionals and holds more than 60 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost-effective transaction solutions.

SOURCE Pay By Touch

Monday, March 19, 2007

New Jewel Osco Features Pay By Touch







Jewel-Osco Cuts Ribbon on New Store


Jewel-Osco based here opened the doors of its newest store in Bourbonnais, Ill., a 62,000 square-footer that features its parent company, Supervalu's, "Premium Fresh and Healthy" decor package, as well as expanded frozen aisles and a variety of diverse foods, including a "Wild Harvest" shop that contains a large selection of natural and organic foods.

Other amenities at the latest Jewel-Osco include an in-store bakery, a full- and self-service meat department, fresh produce department, a floral department; and a Chef Kitchen Deli, which serves ready-to-eat and heat-and-eat foods such as Jewel-Osco's signature fried chicken and a soup bar.

A full-service TCF Bank and ATM are also featured in the new store.

Building on its successful adoption by Chicagoland shoppers, the new store will also feature the Pay-By-Touch biometric payment service, which lets shoppers pay for purchases with the touch of a finger.

Pay-By-Touch, which is available at more than 200 Jewel-Osco stores in the greater Chicagoland area, will be available at each of the seven checkouts and five self-checkouts located in the store.

The new Osco Drug store offers a drive-through pharmacy, a camera department with a digital kiosk, and a liquor department carrying domestic and imported beers and fine wines. With 185 stores in Illinois, Iowa and Indiana, Jewel-Osco is the leading chain in the Chicago market.

Friday, March 16, 2007

ZDNet Asia- Fingers Will Replace Cards

weekly roundup
by Eileen Yu, ZDNet Asia
No cash? Show me your fingerCan't Leave Home Without It...
Credit card giant Visa has declared that by 2012 credit and debit cards would become cheaper and more convenient than cash, and boldly anticipated that retailers could start making customers pay a surcharge if they paid with cash.

I think Visa got it half right. Yes, cash may indeed be on its way out.
But, I think the same can be said for credit and debit cards. Instead, what's coming up is...your finger.

Citibank Singapore (click for Citi/PBT Site) has been driving a marketing campaign to encourage customers to use its new biometric payment service, dubbed Pay By Touch. Officially launched late last year, consumers can swipe their finger to pay for their beverage at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf or booze at Zouk. According to Citibank, millions in the U.S. already use Pay By Touch.

Overview

Citibank has partnered with Pay By Touch™ to bring to you a revolutionary payment method that is fast, easy, and secure. Using the identification that you were born with, your unique fingerprint, you can now pay with just one touch.

I'm a sucker for credit, and other forms of plastic cards, because each offers rebates and discounts at various dining and shopping outlets that I frequent. I use a different one each time to get additional discounts at the petrol kiosk Caltex, department store Robinsons and phone accessories at M1 outlets, and to earn rebates when I get my groceries at Carrefour.

That's four credit cards already, and I haven't listed the other discount cards that I have crammed into my wallet--or "the brick", as some of my friends call it. If I could leave all the plastic at home, it'll be a load off my shoulder, literally, because they do feel heavier in my bag after a long day.

But, for biometrics to take off as a viable payment option in Singapore, or anywhere else in Asia for that matter, it cannot be supported only by a handful of merchants. You can't exactly leave your cash and credit cards behind if your neighborhood corner shop doesn't accept your fingerprint as a form of payment. Of course, I'm not telling Citibank anything they don't know. They state that the biometric payment technology will be introduced to other retailers in the near future.

With
identity theft and fraud on the rise, biometric security tools may just be the answer--though you could very well end up with a blistered finger at the end of the day.

So, where does that leave credit card companies if we no longer need plastic in future? They still have a role to play as a payment processing facility, but more importantly, they need to continue to focus on providing better customer service. Time to waive all annual subscription fees, permanently? In addition, banks and other financial players will need to
beef up their security infrastructure to ensure all the data that's collected to facilitate biometric transactions are well protected.

Now, if only
IT products have fingerprints, too.

Would you
pay by finger?


Here's how Citi's Biometric Payment Works...



Put your finger on the reader then enter your personal search number (usually your NRIC number)
Enter your search code (usually your NRIC)
Take your purchases and go!


Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Saatchi Empowers Pay By Touch with Global Lovemark

Biometric Industry Leader Teams with Saatchi & Saatchi to Build Future Beyond Brands

"Our mission is to build a consumer-driven platform that delivers unprecedented value to consumers, merchants, manufacturers and service providers alike," said John Rogers, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Pay By Touch. "We look forward to working with Saatchi & Saatchi's Worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts and his team to change the way the world shops -- forever."

A world-renowned marketing agency, Saatchi & Saatchi is considered a hothouse for world-changing ideas that create sustainable growth. Mr. Roberts is a proven innovator who has created several groundbreaking concepts in brand, people and product management, including Lovemarks.

"John Rogers and Pay By Touch are using the power of biometrics to bring new ease and convenience to every day life," said Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi. "Pay By Touch is also delivering on the promise of personalized marketing across retail settings."

Mary Baglivo, New York CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi added, "We are thrilled to be working together to usher in a new era of individualized retail in which consumers are recognized and rewarded wherever they go."

Pay By Touch is a better way to pay and get personalized savings. The company's popular biometric payment solutions and new SmartShop(TM) service let shoppers make purchases and get personalized rewards with the touch of a finger. Pay By Touch is free to use, and more secure than cash or debit and credit cards. If there's nothing to carry, there's nothing to be lost or stolen.

SmartShop, powered by Pay By Touch, gives shoppers customized offers on the products they buy most when they enter the store -- before they shop. It provides merchants and consumer packaged goods companies with an unprecedented return on investment by enabling them to deliver the right offer to the right shopper at the right time -- both in-store and online.

The SmartShop service is currently available at Green Hills Market in Syracuse, New York, where 50 percent of shoppers adopted the service in less than 8 months. There, the service has also driven a substantial increase in revenue, with redemption rates exceeding 20 percent and monthly shopping visits up by 10 percent. SuperValu has also signed on to install SmartShop in Pittsburgh.

Already, more than 3.6 million consumers are using Pay By Touch in 3,000 locations across 44 states, the UK and Singapore. To learn more, go to www.paybytouch.com in the United States, or www.paybytouch.sg
for their Singapore site..




Ideas company Saatchi & Saatchi New York is the largest agency in the 143-office Saatchi & Saatchi global network, part of Publicis Groupe, the world’s fourth largest communications group.

Our purpose is to be revered as the hothouse for world-changing creative ideas that create sustainable growth for our clients. Sustainable growth – not just the sexy, short term skyrocket growth many agencies tout in their case histories, which is often followed by declines in years two, three and beyond. Rather, we apply our creativity to helping client partners like P&G, General Mills, Ameriprise, Novartis and Toyota grow in a fiscally responsible and reliable way, as in every quarterly earnings report.

We believe the future belongs to brands that achieve potent and meaningful connections with consumers. And here’s another key thing we believe: A great idea is not a great idea until it touches the buyer. And that can happen in media, on-line, in the store, through packaging or on a cell phone – so we take every touch point into consideration.

About Lovemarks


Brands have run out of juice. More and more people in the world have grown to expect great performance from products, services and experiences. And most often, we get it. Cars start first time, fries are always crisp, dishes shine.

A few years ago, Saatchi & Saatchi looked closely at the question: What makes some brands inspirational, while others struggle?

And we came up with the answer: Lovemarks: the future beyond brands

How do I know a Lovemark?

Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance. Like great brands, they sit on top of high levels of respect - but there the similarities end.

Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.

Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go.

Put simply, Lovemarks inspire... (from the www.lovemarks.com website)

About Pay By Touch

Pay By Touch ( www.paybytouch.com ) is the global leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. Already, more than 3.6 million consumers are using Pay By Touch services to identify themselves, make purchases, cash checks and get personalized savings with the touch of a finger. Pay By Touch services are free for consumers to use and available in more than 3,000 retail locations across 44 states, the UK and Singapore. Pay By Touch also provides robust data management and payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not-present debit and credit transactions for retail clients. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 800 professionals and holds more than 60 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost-effective transaction solutions.

SOURCE Pay By Touch

media, Krista Thomas of Pay By Touch, +1-415-371-5766, or
Krista.Thomas@paybytouch.com; or media, Lynne Collins of Saatchi & Saatchi, +1-646-286-4724, or Lynne.Collins@saatchiny.com,

Copyright (C) 2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved End of Story
Comtex

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Pay By Touch On Fast Track

Pay By Touch Indy (in the) Champ Car World Series

Pay By Touch showed up as the primary sponsor on the Tristan Gommendy car Friday at Mazda Raceway and a spokesperson for PKV Racing told AutoRacing1.com that there would be two more sponsors coming aboard soon. Pay By Touch provides biometric and credit/debit card transactions.

Although a technical bulletin advised teams to present themselves with fully liveried racecars for this test, the balance of the Panoz DP01 machines are the unpainted basic carbon black.

Gommendy’s #22 Pay By Touch car simply has their partial logo on sidepods and full logo on the front and rear spoilers, but is otherwise, as delivered, lacking any paint.

Looking forward to seeing it in PBT green.
Here's some pictures taken and posted by http://autoracing1.com/(subscription required)

The last picture is "touched up" in PBT green. The Champ Car World Series schedule includes pit stops in Australia, China, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Mexico as well as several here in the US
.

Click any picture to enlarge

































































Friday, March 9, 2007

Pay By Touch to Sponsor PKV Racing

Well, here we go!

The first offical time trials of the 2007 season are underway and the Champ Car World Series, North America's premiere open-wheel racing series is off to a blazing start.

Sporting a new chassis, a new logo, and having added six new venues (two of the venues in Europe) to a 17 race season, the Champ Car World Series (remnants of the old CART) looks to be set for one of the most exciting years yet.

Among the announcements that were made, PKV Racing principals Kevin Kalkhoven, who is a co-owner of the series, and Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 series champion, revealed its driver lineup of Neel Jani of Switzerland and Tristan Gommendy, who have both been racing in Europe.

Kalkhoven also said the Pay by Touch, a Silicon Valley high tech company, has joined PKVs list of sponsors. (I'll have more on this early next week)

Champ Car President Steve Johnson announced a partnership agreement with Mazda North American Operations. Mazda will become the official vehicle of the series, providing pace and safety cars and each will market the other to its customer base.

Champ Car also announced the television package with veteran broadcasters Rick Benjamin and Jan Beekhuis in the booth for TV coverage of the series on ABC/ESPN, which will carry all but three of the events. Two races will be seen on NBC and one on CBS. Frantz Cayo, director of motorsports for ESPN said the entire series would be carried on ESPN in 2008.

The opening two days of Champ Car's spring training were for Champ Car's driver development series. Today and Saturday, the Champ Cars take over the world-renowned 2.238-mile, 11-turn permanent road course on which they raced until 2004 when the series pulled out of Laguna Seca, opting to go with a street race in San Jose.


The Champ Car World Series enters a new era in 2007 with six new venues, a number of new drivers and the brand-new Panoz DP01 chassis.To go along with the new-look series, Champ Car today unveiled its new logo that will be featured prominently on the cars, the driver and official uniforms as well as the new-look television package.

The logo is a sleeker, racier design than that of the past, and features the new DP01 on the right side of the layout. The traditional Champ Car colors of orange, silver and black are featured, and the style of the logo includes a chicane-like quality that stylizes the road and street courses that make up the 2007 Champ Car schedule.

---- “This new logo portrays many of the things that makes Champ Car special and unique and does it in an effective and stylish manner,” said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. “Having the DP01 in the logo is also a key for us, as it displays what Champ Car racing is all about.”The logo will begin to be displayed on the cars as early as tomorrow in the first of the year’s three open test session, which is taking place at Sebring International Raceway. Further tests will take place at MSR Houston in February and at Laguna Seca in March as teams prepare for the 2007 season opener, April 6-8 in Las Vegas.