Government integrator and services provider Lockheed Martin is getting into full-scale testing of biometric applications. The company announced this past week that it has founded its Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts (BEACON) center in White Hall, W.V., to help test and develop biometric solutions.
The company's BEACON center is placed in a 6,000-square-foot facility and is staffed by technology experts who will collaborate with vendors and academia to test out the future of biometric devices, especially those with a security bent. According to Lockheed, the facility will tie in with its other operations, including their CMMI biometrics operations in Florida, their Center for Innovation in Suffolk, Va., and the Draper Labs in Utah.
According to Carlaine Blizzard, vice president of Secure Enterprise Solutions, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions, the W.V.-based center will also work with the Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR).
Biometrics at Lockheed Martin has been a long-time pursuit. The company was a chief developer of the FBI's AFIS system and has worked heavily on the HSDP-12/FIPS 201 initiative for unified government access control, an initiative which requires a biometric element to the identification and enrollment.
"Biometric technology offers great promise for the future, especially in initiatives that are important to the security of our nation," said Judy Marks, president, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions, in announcing the new BEACON center. "Research and development are key to realizing this type of technology's full potential."
