Government study demonstrates leading performance for facial technology.

Digimarc ID Systems, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Digimarc Corporation (Nasdaq:DMRC), recently announced that the facial recognition technology Digimarc sources for drivers license applications in North America, FaceIt, was a top performer according to the recent Facial Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) 2002 sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

FaceIt technology is developed by Identix Incorporated (Nasdaq:IDNX), the world's leading multi-biometric security technology company.

NIST evaluated 14 facial recognition products based on the analysis of 121,589 images of 37,437 people in three large-scale, real-world application areas: verification, identification and watch list recognition performance. In all cases, Identix technology ranked among the top 3.

For large-scale database searching--the tests most relevant to DMV applications that seek to eliminate duplicate registrations and identity fraud--Identix performed at over 70 percent, while most of the other participants performed at less than 40%. For verification applications, which are used to verify whether the identity of a person matches that shown on an identity document, Identix performed at over 90% correct (with false accept rates of 1 in 100), again dramatically exceeding the performance of the majority of the other participants.

"We are very pleased with the results of the FRVT, as it validates and demonstrates the accuracy and performance of our identity verification solutions," said Paul Gifford, Digimarc President. "Our strategic alliance with Identix allows Digimarc to offer an industry leading biometric capability, with proven accuracy and scalability, for a range of drivers license, law enforcement and security applications. Our strategy of using the best-of-breed biometrics technologies, unlike other vendors who are locked into specific algorithms, allows us to offer the best overall value and performance to our customers. The bottom line is that we offer issuers and users of identity documents solutions that are able to detect and prevent a higher percentage of attempted identity frauds than our competitors."

Digimarc ID Systems is the supplier of Identix's FaceIt facial recognition technology for drivers licenses in North America. FRVT 2002, administered in July and August of 2002, was co-sponsored by the Counterdrug Technology Development Program Office, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NAVSEA).

Identix is the only FRVT 2002 vendor selected to participate in DARPA's multi-year Human ID at a Distance program. The Company has also been a past recipient of competitive contract awards from the National Institute of Justice and other government agencies. Its FaceIt technology is the most widely deployed, covering a broad range of applications including law enforcement, surveillance, and identification (i.e., driver license, voter registration) solutions. The most recent state to adopt Digimarc's biometric solution with integrated FaceIt technology is Colorado, where driver's license applicants are compared with the 10 million records on file to identify possible duplicates and aid in the investigation of driver license identity fraud.