StevesPlace: Hoover's - Cross Match, L-1 Get Initial U.S.-VISIT 10-Print Orders

12/12/2007 05:10:24 PM EST
Terror Response Technology Report

Cross Match Technologies and L-1 Identity Solutions [ID] have received

initial orders for both companies' 10-print livescan systems as part of an

upgrade of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S.-VISIT program that

requires collecting 10 fingerprints from most foreign travelers in the U.S.

instead of the current two. DHS awarded CounterTrade Products, Inc., which is

Cross Match's distributor, $7.2 million, and Technica, which is L-1's

distributor, $7.6 million, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-VISIT program office,

tells TR2. L-1 is delivering 127 of its TouchPrint 4100 livescan units and Cross

Match 120 of its L Scan Guardian devices for use in 10 airports. The first

deployment was to Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia last week.

Cross Match and L-1 supplied the original two-print scanners for U.S.-VISIT when

the program originally rolled out. Collecting 10 fingerprints instead of two

increases the accuracy of the database searches, particularly as the database of

fingerprints grows. A 10-print based U.S. VISIT database will also improve

interoperability with the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification

System as well. DHS plans to upgrade to the new livescan devices at all U.S.

ports of entry over the next year. Whether DHS sticks with two suppliers or

eventually decides on one is expected to be decided early next year. Stanford

Equity Group security analyst Jeremy Grant estimates that Cross Match won about

75 percent of the State Department's purchase of the 10-print devices for its

overseas consulates as part of the U.S.-VISIT upgrade. He also believes that

Cogent Systems [COGT], which supplies the automated fingerprint identification

system for the two-print U.S.-VISIT database, will be the primary beneficiary of

the upgrade.

StevesPlace