South Pasadena, CA - February 28, 2007 - Cogent Systems (Nasdaq: COGT) today announced that the Houston City Council has approved the contract for its new Criminal AFIS to be used by the Houston Police Department (HPD).
Contract negotiations began with HPD in October 2006. Total contract value covering system installation, configuration and ongoing maintenance and support is estimated at over $2 million.
After extensive system benchmarking, the HPD awarded the new AFIS contract to Cogent based on its proven technology merit and strong value proposition.
Under the contract, Cogent will convert HPD's existing Motorola fingerprint records and provide a wide range of products including: Cogent Fingerprint and Palmprint Identification System (CAFIS). Real Time Identification System (LiveID), Web-based Criminal Fingerprint Record Archive, Cogent Livescans and a Mugshot System.
The new AFIS will be capable of storing 1000ppi and 500ppi fingerprint records in ANSI/NIST standard native format. Cogent's use of the NIST standard format will transition the HPD from the proprietary technology of their legacy AFIS to a system that is completely interoperable with other major fingerprint databases, such as the FBI Integrated AFIS. Importantly, to also ensure the new AFIS could communicate with the Harris County Sheriff's AFIS database, HPD will install an interface server to convert the Cogent NIST standard format files into the Harris County AFIS proprietary format.
"This new system will dramatically increase the crime solving capability of our department," commented Michael Barrow, HPD AFIS Unit Manager. "The HPD is excited to have Cogent Systems as our AFIS vendor. Throughout the evaluation and testing phases of our decision-making process, not only was Cogent able to prove 100% conversion of our legacy database, but they also demonstrated the unparalleled accuracy of their fingerprint matching capabilities. Similarly, our evaluation team, consisting of AFIS officers, officers from investigative divisions, forensic and photographic experts were impacted by the wide array of fingerprint and mugshot tools that Cogent presented."
Continued Mr. Barrow, "We are also encouraged to transition our system to NIST standards making it completely interoperable with the majority of other fingerprint databases which will increase our ability to identify criminal suspects and solve crime. Cogent also went the extra mile to ensure our new AFIS would communicate with the Harris County Sheriff's AFIS database which is built on a proprietary technology. In comparing other vendor equipment, customer service, support and pricing, we felt Cogent had the lead."
"We are very excited to work with the HPD to provide them with leading edge and interoperable fingerprint identification technology," commented Ming Hsieh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cogent. "Our superior benchmark results during the evaluation process were a key to our success.
The HPD's crime solving ability will be benefited by the new features and now that their new system is built on NIST standards it can communicate with the larger fingerprint databases for investigation purposes. This new system is a great example of Cogent's ability to deliver leading technology and exceptional customer support and integration services all at a favorable value relative to our competitors."
About ANSI NIST Standards
In cooperation with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a uniform way for fingerprint, facial, scar, mark, and tattoo data to be exchanged between different jurisdictions and between dissimilar systems made by different manufacturers. History of ANSI/NIST standards for fingerprint collection
