Department of Defense Awards Multimodal Biometric Contract to Ultra-Scan.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Identity Management Solutions Provider to Partner with Viisage (NASDAQ: VISG), Panasonic and the University at Buffalo's Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors to Develop a High Confidence Multimodal Biometric System

In an effort to develop an advanced multimodal biometric recognition system for unsurpassed accurate personnel identification, the Department of Defense (DoD), through the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, has awarded Ultra-Scan Corporation a highly competitive Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II contract. Ultra-Scan, an identity management solutions provider, will partner with industry leaders Viisage, Panasonic and the University at Buffalo's Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS) to design a system that will combine multiple biometric technologies to improve positive identification while reducing crossover error rates, or misidentification.

The partnership will seamlessly blend the biometric technology of Viisage's FaceTOOLS(R) SDK, Panasonic and CUBS' with Ultra-Scan's patented Livescan Ultrasonic Identification System (LUIS(R)) technology to create an Automatic Multimodal Biometric Identification System, or AMBIS. LUIS is widely recognized as the most accurate method for personal fingerprint identification and identity management services. The technology uses high frequency sound waves to "see through" dirt, newsprint, hand lotions and other common finger contaminants, guaranteeing unsurpassed accuracy, reliability and ease of use.

The attacks of September 11 highlighted the need to improve the capability for accurate personal identification in a large scale, high volume environment, and the DoD initiated a number of research activities focused on advancing the nation's ability to quickly and correctly identify potential security threats. As a result, multimodal biometric-based recognition emerged as one of the most promising technologies to achieve high confidence in positively identifying individuals without creating throughput delays caused by less accurate and inferior systems.

The goal of the STTR Phase II contract is to design effective data fusion techniques to precisely identify individuals based upon multiple physical characteristics (biometrics). By combining multiple biometric measurements, such as a person's fingerprint, iris pattern, facial features and signature, additional improvements in identification system accuracy and processing speed are possible. This project builds upon an ongoing project awarded to Ultra-Scan from the Army Research Office to develop a biometric identification system that is far more accurate than any existing system today.

The contract was awarded to Ultra-Scan after the successful completion of a Phase I study, where the initiative was to create an optimal method of combining multiple biometric technologies to identify individuals in large-scale identity management programs. For Phase I, Ultra-Scan delivered technology that combined fingerprint, face recognition, iris recognition, and signature analysis to increase accuracy over what is attainable when any of the technologies is used individually. As a result of the superior performance on Phase I, Ultra-Scan was the only company awarded the Phase II contract, with the goal to create an Automatic Multimodal Biometric Identification System suitable for large-scale, high-traffic identification points, such as airports and border crossings.

"Until the completion of the research in Phase I, little scientific data existed to validate the ability to fuse multiple biometric technologies to create a more accurate identification system," said Dr. John K. Schneider, president and founder of Ultra-Scan. "Through Ultra-Scan's initiatives under the STTR program, we have been able to not only substantiate our preliminary results, but devise a truly optimal approach when combining multiple biometrics to ensure the maximum identification performance possible."

As part of the contract, Ultra-Scan will design a prototype recognition system (both hardware and software) that will be able to capture biometric data for positive identification and verification. In order to produce a high confidence multimodal biometric system, Ultra-Scan will partner with the following industry leaders:

--Viisage - Identity solutions including face recognition technology

"Customers in both government and commercial sectors are seeking more advanced systems to accurately identity people, and the combined solution we are forming through the partnership with Ultra-Scan will demonstrate the power of successfully integrating our two technologies to produce a highly accurate multimodal biometric system," said Mohamed Lazzouni, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief technology officer at Viisage. "We expect these types of solutions to open the door for additional research into many other large-scale deployments and into different applications."

--Panasonic - Iris recognition technology

"Layering different components of biometrics will deliver the most accurate form of identification and authentication attainable," said Tim Meyerhoff, business development manager, iris recognition at Panasonic. "We view our iris recognition technology to be the perfect complement to the other biometric elements going into this research and development initiative."

--CUBS - Signature analysis

"The sophistication of the technology being poured into this initiative will inevitably produce a flexible and highly adaptable biometric identification system," said Venu Govindaraju, Ph.D., UB professor of computer science and engineering and director of CUBS. "Combining signature, face, iris and fingerprint recognition will be a significant catalyst to introducing additional applications in the biometric industry surrounding financial and 'point of sale' transactions."

The successful design of a high confidence multimodal biometric system will produce low crossover error rates, while being able to effectively operate in either high volume, low security identification and verification settings, or in high security, low volume identification and verification situations.

About Ultra-Scan Corporation

Ultra-Scan Corporation is an identity management solutions provider serving the healthcare, government and transportation security, and financial markets. Ultra-Scan's breakthrough biometric technology is distinguished from other authentication systems in three key areas: enrollability - the ability to read and enroll virtually any fingerprint; usability - the robustness to operate indoors or outdoors in real-world environments with quick throughput processing; and accuracy - the ability to perform faster and more accurate matches than any other biometric technology. The company holds U.S. pat. Nos. 5,224,174; 5,689,576; 5,587,533; 5,456,256; 5,647,364; 5,935,071; 6,296,610; 6,715,674 and has several foreign and U.S. patents pending. Additional information can be found at www.ultra-scan.com.

About Viisage

Viisage (NASDAQ: VISG) delivers advanced technology identity solutions for governments, law enforcement agencies and businesses concerned with enhancing security, reducing identity theft, and protecting personal privacy. Viisage solutions include secure credentials such as passports and drivers' licenses, biometric technologies for uniquely linking individuals to those credentials, and credential authentication technologies to ensure the documents are valid before individuals are allowed to cross borders, gain access to finances, or granted other privileges. With over 3,000 installations worldwide, Viisage's identity solutions stand out as a result of the Company's industry-leading technology and unique understanding of customer needs. Viisage's product suite includes FaceTOOLS(R) SDK, Viisage PROOF(TM), FaceEXPLORER(R), iA-thenticate(R), BorderGuard(R), FacePASS(TM) and FaceFINDER(R).

About Panasonic

Panasonic System Solutions Company, a Unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, is a leader in Intelligent Technology for the professional security industry. The company's comprehensive line of security and surveillance systems products features Super Dynamic III DSP cameras and dome systems, comprehensive analog/digital Hybrid networking solutions, digital video recorders, matrix and sequential switching systems, control software, plasma displays, LCD monitors, lenses, peripheral devices, and iris reader access control and identity management systems. Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America is the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE:MC) of Japan, and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at www.panasonic.com. Additional company information for journalists is available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.

About the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS), University at Buffalo, the State University at New York 

The Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS) will advance the science of biometrics to provide key enabling technologies to build engineered systems with focus on homeland security applications. By fostering cross-disciplinary programs of research, education, community outreach, industry collaboration, and technology transfer, CUBS bridges academia and industry to design, develop, and prototype sensors and other devices for commercialization. The Center enables development of new biometric technologies from proof-of-concept to product-readiness including usability studies and educational outreach to evaluate and mitigate any ethical and legal concerns. It will also foster the development of radically different biometric technologies geared toward developing applications focused on improving comfort, convenience and security for personal and commercial use (http://cubs.buffalo.edu).