Info Touch Technologies is about to make their software available to a few good men.

Make that quiet a few, and some females as well, as the Burnaby technology company begins its partnership with MCI WorldCom to bring public-access Internet kiosk terminals to the U.S. Marine Corps.

The kiosks will give service personnel the opportunity to e-mail, and video teleconference, in real time, with friends and families back home, as well as perform day-to-day activities such as surfing the web and paying bills.

The number of units being served to start is a modest 24 at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, but the potential market is more than 600.

But that's just a drop in the bucket for Info Touch, already established in a market that is just starting to mature. It has deployed more than 8,000 units of its software packages in 55 countries.

"The industry is really starting to grow as the technology catches up," said Hamed Shahbazi, the firm's chairman, CEO and co-founder. "The technology has become really robust and that makes the platform more attractive."

Info Touch's client base includes Chase Manhattan Bank, MCI World Com, Chapters Bookstores, Future Shop, Alamo Rent-a-Car, Telus, Telefonos de Mexico, S.A., Mac's Convenience Stores, Tosco, Sears Canada, Burger King Corp, Staples, Telemex, Cable and Wireless (Caribbean), the Pentagon in Washington DC, and the United States Army.

Chapters has 350 terminals across Canada using Info Touch software in a cyber-cafe type of environment. In fact, one of the company's largest customer bases os cyber cafes, where the solution provides billing and security management.

Info Touch employs 42 people in its 14,500 square-foot facility.