MINNETONKA, Minn. - Identix Incorporated (Nasdaq:IDNX) announced today that it has received orders valued at approximately $4 million from the U.S. Department of State (DoS) to supply and integrate additional biometric knowledge discovery engines (ABIS(TM)) into DoS' recently launched visa processing programs.
These orders, which include the exercise of the first option year of the initial contract to Identix, are part of DoS's mandate to augment its automated fraud-detection assistance capabilities through the use of facial recognition to screen for duplicates, aliases and for faces on a watch list prior to issuance of a visa. With more than 45 million facial images enrolled to-date, it is believed that DoS is currently operating the world's largest facial recognition identity management program. In September 2004, Identix was selected after a competitive bidding process and detailed technical evaluation as the sole recipient of the DoS's Facial Recognition System and Integration Support contract. Identix expects to recognize the majority of the revenue from these orders over the next 12 months.
In the first six months of the original terms of the contract, Identix deployed three fully operational systems in support of the Visa Office, including an ABIS system with more than 40 million enrolled images and the e-Diversity Visa system. Within the first few weeks of operation of the e-Diversity Visa system, DOS credited Identix' ABIS with helping to identify more than 5,000 individuals attempting to enter the U.S. under fraudulent conditions.
"These additional orders from DoS represent a solid stamp of approval from the operators of the largest facial recognition system in the world - with over 45 million images enrolled - and underscore the confidence and success DoS continues to experienced with the Identix ABIS-based identity management system," said Identix President & CEO Dr. Joseph J. Atick. "The DoS visa program also continues to provide an excellent example of the overall power of facial recognition for identity management programs worldwide.
"We believe these follow-on orders are representative of the type of recurring business Identix can hope to expect from large-scale identity management contracts," Atick said. "Identity management programs are based on information and the collection of ever increasing amounts of data. The databases are constantly growing, requiring additional enrollment and storage capacity, as well as increased searching speed and functionality. We continue to believe that this is an excellent business model for Identix. We are extremely proud to provide leading-edge technology to DoS to help secure our Nation and look forward to the opportunity to meet their future biometrics requirements."
