Cross Match Technologies Gets GSA Approval for HSPD-12 Biometrics Capture

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. AND Washington, D.C., July 18, 2006 – Cross Match Technologies, Inc., a leading global provider of high-quality interoperable biometric identity applications and solutions, furthered its leadership in the biometrics industry today by announcing that the General Services Administration (GSA) has made the company an approved contractor of President Bush’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-12). Cross Match’s ID 500, ID 700 and L Scan Guardian units are now listed as the first and currently only fingerprint capture stations on the approved list of products to help government agencies improve the identification and authentication of federal workers and contractors.

“The GSA informed applicant vendors that it would be selecting and approving products that had matched certain qualifications,” said Paul Frasca, Vice President, US Federal Sales Division, Cross Match Technologies. “The criteria met by Cross Match in order to gain approval from the GSA were set by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Institute of Technology (NIST) which demanded the highest of quality certification and interoperability standards.”

The HSPD-12 mandate establishes guidelines for government employees to comply with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201 program, and also requires major government agencies to issue at least one secure, interoperable biometric ID card for their employees and contractors by October 27, 2006. Cross Match is already a major supplier of the Department of Defense and other key civilian and federal government agencies, and is anticipating a high demand for its approved biometric products to help government agencies and system integrators meet the October deadline and implement a compliant identification program.

The federally-approved Cross Match identification products quickly and easily capture the fingerprints of government employees, helping agencies achieve fast compliance and prevent security breaches from fraudulent ID use at government buildings. After being scanned into a Cross Match fingerprint module, each employee’s identification is converted into an Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification (EFTS) file and submitted to the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) for background checks. Prior to submission to the FBI, the solutions will perform a 1:N fingerprint based duplicate check to ensure no applicant or employee is enrolled multiple times under separate alias. Once an applicant is cleared the records can again be accessed to provide the appropriate information and fingerprint minutia data to be embedded into the biometric smart ID card that federal employees and contractors are required to use and carry under FIPS 201 and HSPD-12. Cross Match also enables government agencies to enhance overall efficiency and reduce costs with a single identification system that is already compliant with government standards and interoperable with other agencies.

More information on Cross Match can be accessed via the company website at www.crossmatch.com.