Georgia company, ChoicePoint buys out Bridger Systems of Bozeman

Bridger Systems, http://www.BridgerSystems.com a software research and development company in Bozeman, has sold its main product to ChoicePoint http://www.choicepoint.com/ of Alpharetta, Ga.

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL, Chronicle Staff Writer

The product, known as Tracker, is used by financial institutions to check customers for connections to terrorist activity, said Colleen Howell, former president of Bridger Systems. The company was founded in Bozeman in 1991.

"We’ve had several opportunities to sell over the years," Howell said. "We were always concerned about our employees."

ChoicePoint agreed to buy the product, but also to continue to employ Bridger Systems employees in Bozeman.

Howell will stay on as a vice president of ChoicePoint here, managing 36 of the 45 former Bridger Systems employees. The company has also hired four new people and is looking for three more.

Because ChoicePoint was only interested in buying one of Bridger System’s products, eight former employees have branched off to start a new business called Xionetic Technologies. They will continue to research and develop other Bridger Systems products.

The other products are good, said Michael Reene of ChoicePoint, but they don’t fit ChoicePoint’s mission.

"Overall, ChoicePoint is a company that uses information to increase safety and security," Reene said. "Our goal is a safer world."

Financial institutions can use Tracker to scan 18 federal databases of "very bad people," Reene said.

With the passage of the Patriot Act, he said, other industries will have a need for the software, including automobile sales and pawn shops.

"Nobody wants to do business with a terrorist," he said. "You want to know your customer list."

ChoicePoint, which has been around in one form or another for more than 100 years, is used to working long distance. The company is based in Georgia, but has more than 50 offices throughout the country.

"We found Bridger Systems because of the product," Reene said. "As we got to know Bozeman there’s a great talent structure here."

Because of the connections that local businesses have to Montana State University and because of the reasonable pay scale, Reene said Bozeman is the type of community where ChoicePoint wants to be.

"As a national employer, ChoicePoint looks favorable on a community like Bozeman," he said.

Kayley Mendenhall is at [email protected]