Viisage selected for U.S. government's largest smart card program.

Viisage (Nasdaq:VISG), a provider of advanced technology identity solutions and parent company of Trans Digital Technologies (TDT), today announced that it has been selected by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to support the production of secure, smart credentials as part of the agency's Common Access Card (CAC) program. When closed, the estimated total order from the DoD is expected to be in the range of $6 to $10 million. The CAC program, which has more than four million users across the DoD, is the largest and most advanced use of smart cards currently deployed by the U.S. government.

Congressman Tom Davis, Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee said, "Selection of this highly secure, counterfeit-resistant solution by the Department of Defense has the potential to significantly improve the common access card credential." This technology has been used successfully by the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security to produce over 30 million secure U.S. Passports and Refugee Travel Documents.

The selection follows rigorous testing by three nationally recognized commercial laboratories--EDS, L3 and Exponent--under the direction of Telos Corporation. Telos is the support contractor for the DoD's Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and is working with TDT, which was acquired by Viisage in February 2004. Viisage will provide a solution to the DMDC, which is expected to include 1,700 Toppan CP400 printers as the fixed site desktop printers, as well as consumables and services for the production of secure identification cards throughout the Real-time Automated Personnel Identification System (RAPIDS). This solution employs the most advanced, secure and counterfeit-resistant card printing system available, including pigment ink technology, which resists fading of images and barcodes, even under the most severe conditions.

"We are thrilled that the DoD has selected Viisage as a strategic partner in the CAC program. This achievement demonstrates the considerable value TDT adds to Viisage and is representative of the growing traction we are gaining in the Federal government market," said Bernard Bailey, Viisage president and CEO. "Worldwide, the DoD is a recognized leader in advanced technology identity solutions to secure physical facilities, borders and logical assets. As other governments look to benefit from the DoD's innovation and success, we anticipate additional important customers will choose Viisage to address their mission critical identity solution needs."

The CAC program has been recognized with major industry awards and is widely viewed as the best program of its type in the world. With over four million cards in circulation, the smart card technology maintains critical identity information to grant individuals varying privileges. DoD uniformed duty employees, qualified reserve personnel, DoD civilians, and authorized contractors use these standard identification cards to gain physical access to secure areas and logical access to the Department's computer networks. The card also serves as the authentication token for the Department's computerized public key infrastructure. The future DMDC roadmap for the program includes expanded use of biometrics and movement toward a contactless smart card.

"The CAC program seeks to bring the highest levels of security and uniformity to the process by which Department of Defense workers are granted access to DoD's systems and facilities," said Bob Marino, vice president of Telos. "The combination of Viisage's ability to meet the DoD's current and future needs governed the decision to choose Viisage."

Viisage's identity solutions are assisting the U.S. Government, departments of corrections, departments of social services, foreign government agencies, and 16 U.S. state departments of motor vehicles in the fight against identity theft and fraud. Since 1994, Viisage has delivered more than 165 million secure identification documents through more than 2,000 installations worldwide.