GSA Approves BIO-key Algorithms for FIPS 201

June 8, 2007
BIO-key templates used to enroll and match over 80 million fingerprints in a single deployment

WALL, N.J., June 6 -- BIO-key International, Inc., a leader in finger-based biometric identification and wireless public safety solutions, today announced that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has included BIO-key's Vector Segment Technology (VST) fingerprint software in their listing of approved products as part of the GSA's FIPS 201 Evaluation Program (GSA FIPS 201 APL).

BIO-key's VST software enables ANSI-INCITS 378 template generation and matching and can be easily integrated into a wide range of credentialing, logical and physical access control solutions. The ability to comply with the latest government standards for open interoperability and card management is a critical element for any system integrator, middleware provider or OEM partner building a personal identity verification (PIV) solution.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) validated BIO-key's fingerprint algorithms in November of 2006 during NIST's on-going Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test (MINEX) for algorithm accuracy. BIO-key's overall performance in the MINEX test included some of the highest marks to date for both template generation and template matching.

BIO-key's fingerprint software is reader-independent and works seamlessly with every major fingerprint reader manufacturer, and provides full support for a wide number of single-finger devices certified to the FBI IQS Appendix G specification and included on the GSA FIPS 201 APL. This allows the integrator to select the most appropriate fingerprint device to suit the specific application and provides the flexibility to add new devices from a wide spectrum of suppliers.

Recently, in the Nigerian Voter Registration Project, over 80 million ISO 19794-2 fingerprint templates (a minor variation of the American ANSI format specified in FIPS 201) were generated and matched by BIO-key's VST software. The Nigerian Voter Registration project is currently regarded as the largest digital biometric enrollment of a population using standards-based fingerprint technology worldwide.

"GSA's inclusion of BIO-key products on the FIPS 201 APL is our most recent milestone and proof of our continued commitment to deliver robust, interoperable and scalable standards-based biometric solutions," stated Mira LaCous, BIO-key's VP of Technology and Development. "We are committed to providing our integrators and solution partners with software products that meet the needs of virtually every domestic and international identification project."