Evanston, Ill., – The Homeland Security Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at Northwestern University (HSIEC), announced it has awarded Challenge Grants to two Illinois companies: Cogent Innovations, Champaign, Ill. and Lisle Technology Partners, Lisle, Ill.  The Center—formed to catalyze the development of homeland defense and security technologies, products and services—has now awarded 17 such grants since its inception in October 2005. Cogent Innovations, Inc. develops and markets NeXEO (Network eXtensible Emergency Operations), a web-based software system that provides communications and logging of data during emergency events, such as disasters and homeland security threats. NeXEO gathers critical real-time information resources from a client-determined library, and then processes and presents them in a clear manner for use by the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).  EOCs are located in each of the 50 states, as well as more than 3,100 counties.  NeXEO logs the resource information and allows the user to “replay” the resources that were available during an emergency for performance review and analysis. NeXEO is National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) compliant and is interoperable across multiple methods of communication, including various protocols within radio, TV, cellular and internet. Athena Security, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lisle Technology Partners, has developed AthenaVerify, a risk mitigation program.  AthenaVerify provides network security intelligence around operational action to protect against a cyber-attack, automatically verifying that network policy directives have been accurately executed.  It is a pre-emptive solution that helps correct errors in executed network policy before new threats reach mission critical information assets.  AthenaVerify provides a common platform on which the network group and the security group in an enterprise can communicate, as well as support for network threat simulation, vulnerability assessment, defense in depth analysis, risk calculation, regulatory compliance, trend analysis, change management, and change notification. “Technology advancements designed to improve our preparedness and respond to potential and existing threats is key to successful homeland security,” said Bret Johnson, director of HSIEC.  “We believe strongly that Cogent Innovations and Lisle Technology Partners have developed important technologies that have critical homeland security applications.  We are happy to provide them resources to help evolve their businesses and look forward to working with them in 2008.” Illinois Entrepreneurship Network Challenge Grants provide matching funds to help high-growth small businesses achieve critical business milestones.  Companies supported by the HSIEC also receive important business services including management assistance and coaching, product development and technology commercialization advice, market intelligence and access to angel and venture capital. About HSIEC HSIEC delivers specialized business development assistance in homeland security as part of the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network through a joint effort between Northwestern  University and the Homeland Security Market Development Bureau (HSMD) within the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The Center launched in October 2005 with $350,000 in Opportunity Returns support provided by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.  For more information, visit http://www.homelandsecurityiec.org. About HSMD HSMD was launched by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich in February 2005 to support businesses engaged in the homeland security industry.  The bureau offers a variety of investment tools designed to help existing Illinois  For more information, visit http://www.hsmd.illinois.gov.  Companies expand operations and utilize available state and federal programs and services. For more information, contact: Mara Conklin, HSIEC Phone: (847) 816-9411 Email: mconklin@teamclarus.com Linda Muskin, HSIEC Phone: (847) 432-7300 Email: lmuskin@teamclarus.com Megan Fellman, Northwestern University Phone: (847) 491-3115 Email: fellman@northwestern.edu