Network Technology, the Burgess Hill-based computer software and hardware company, has developed new products it hopes will revive its fortunes.

The company made its stock exchange debut with print servers in 1996.

It has now matured from its heavy dependency on the Japanese market to a more balanced customer base and a wider range of technology.

The firm grew into a multi-million pound operation when leading computer manufacturers in Japan and the United States started using its electronics to enable printers and computers to communicate.

But the collapse of the yen put the company under pressure, which led to job losses.

The latest home-grown developments are in access control systems, where people are either barred from using equipment or prevented from having access to restricted areas.

With the world on heightened security alert, Network's latest products could soon be in high demand.

Using face or fingerprint recognition, the technology will give access only to authorised people.

One of the more straightforward applications is securing areas in supermarkets where liquor is accessible to the public.

It alerts a supervisor if anyone is in the area without authority.

Other fields in which the firm has developed technology include access to specific floors in elevators, a system that can be used on most makes of lifts.

The technology is also available in conjunction with vending machines and enables accounting for food or drink dispensers, using any existing form of identification.

A low-cost, network-attached device, which includes an optional keypad, sends data to a server which verifies access to the associated equipment, which might be a computer or printer, and signals back to the unit to give access, exclude the user or sound an alarm.

Network Technology's latest systems can recognise a fingerprint in 0.04 seconds, making it the fastest server-based system available.

The firm has a won a contract from FaceKey Corporation in the United States to use its face-recognition technology along side fingerprint recognition, relacing a keypad for applications where high security and a large number of people have to be recognised fast and with accuracy.

Network Technology was founded in 1986 in the garage of his Hurstpierpoint home by Klaus Bollman.

He chose the UK because he found it easier to interest British investors in his ideas tham the more cautious Germans.