Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

FLO and Omega Travel enter Registered Traveler 2.0 partnership

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

FLO Corporation, a Registered Traveler (RT) services provider, announced an agreement with Omega World Travel for distribution of FLO’s RT 2.0, a membership program in Washington, D.C. FLO’s customer-centric model offers RT members three tiers of benefits that can improve their convenience and productivity throughout the door-to-door travel experience, not just in the security lane.


FLO and Omega Enter Registered Traveler 2.0 Marketing Partnership

CHANTILLY, Va. — FLO Corporation, a next-generation Registered Traveler (RT) services provider today announced the execution of an agreement with Omega World Travel for distribution of FLO’s RT 2.0, multi- tiered membership program in the Washington, DC marketplace. The agreement combines Omega’s resources and relationships as the largest corporate business travel distribution channel in Washington with FLO’s travel industry team, the most experienced in the national RT space.

FLO offers a RT program that innovates on the platform developed during the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) pilot programs. FLO’s customer-centric model offers RT members three tiers of benefits that can improve their convenience and productivity throughout the door-to-door travel experience, not just in the security lane. FLO’s sales results validate this multi-price-point model, which importantly, broadens the marketplace appeal of RT and reduces the risk of slow airport enrollment results.

Omega, one of the largest travel management companies in the U.S., and a global travel services provider in some 200 countries, boasts over $1 billion in annual sales. Omega services 400,000 business traveler customers nationally; 100,000 in the Washington, DC area alone. Significantly, Omega is the top woman-owned business in the United States, according to DiversityBusiness.com. FLO, with more than 100 years of business travel and hospitality industry experience, has the most seasoned travel team in the RT market, by an order of magnitude. Together these firms will succeed in introducing the next generation RT program in our nation’s capital.

“Of importance to Omega World Travel, in considering a strategic partnership with FLO was the firm’s long-term commitment to this new industry. FLO has invested some three years in designing RT 2.0. It has assembled a best-in-breed team of strategic partners, and significantly, it understands the travel industry and the needs of business travelers. FLO represents the ‘Gold Standard’ for RT,” stated Omega Executive Vice President Goran Gligorovic.

Fred Fischer, Senior Vice President, Strategic Sales for FLO, stated, “We are pleased to partner with a company with the expertise and customer focus of Omega. Their excellent management team, Washington presence and global reach make them an ideal strategic distribution partner. We know from our research and RT sales results, that targeted marketing yields solid results in a relationship-based industry. Teaming with a firm of Omega’s stature will no doubt greatly accelerate our success in enrolling RT members in Washington.”

FLO believes this is an exciting time for customer service and aviation system security innovation. With less than one percent of the projected national marketplace for RT members participating in the program so far, it is truly an industry in its infancy. Travelers want more than the stripped down RT 1.0 model that grew directly out of the early TSA pilots. They seek convenience and productivity enhancement options throughout the entire business trip; they are embracing RT 2.0.

About Registered Traveler

For information about how RT works visit www.flocard.com/about/howfloworks.htm.

About FLO

FLO Corporation provides a comprehensive solution for the Registered Traveler program, which is administered by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. FLO recently announced the execution of an agreement under which FLO will acquire the “rtGO” RT business of Unisys Corporation. The Registered Traveler program is designed to identify air passengers who pose a minimal security risk and then to provide those passengers with access to faster and simpler processing at airport security checkpoints. FLO Corporation has formed the “FLO Alliance” – strategic relationships with several companies with extensive expertise in credentialing, security, access control, customer service, travel services, political lobbying and corporate and consumer marketing – designed to develop, market, sell and deploy an end-to- end solution and to provide next-generation RT 2.0 membership benefits to qualified individuals for expedited security screening in designated lanes at participating airports in addition to receiving promotional offers and discounts offered by retail partners. The FLO Alliance partnership consists of FLO Corporation, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Johnson Controls, Inc., Smiths Detection Inc., The Paradies Shops, International RAM and ID Technology Partners. For more information about the FLO program and Alliance visit www,flocard.com.

About Omega

Ranked by Business Travel News as the second largest travel management company in the U.S., Omega World Travel provides technology-based travel solutions – as well as personalized service at 200 locations worldwide – to a diverse clientele: from individual leisure travelers to Fortune 500 companies and the federal government. Launched as a small business in 1972, Omega World Travel now boasts annual sales revenues in excess of $1 billion, over 1100 employees, and is the top woman-owned business in the country-founded and headed by President and CEO Gloria Bohan. [end] 

GD Burti, the Brazilian subsidiary of Giesecke & Devrient, has met the security requirements to issue Brazilian eID cards.

The high-security Registry of Civil Identity cards have been granted certification by Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia da Informação, Brazil’s IT authority. GD Burti has delivered more than one million cards as part of an initial pilot project. RIC cards store biometric data and will make it easier for Brazilian nationals to visit other Mercosur treaty states.

read more »

3M Security Systems introduced the 3M CR100/CR100M Document Readers, which give users the ability to read MRZ data from passports, IDs and other Machine Readable Travel Documents, as well as three-track magnetic stripe cards.

read more »

New passport-reading and biometrics technology installed at Dubai International Airport is catching increasing numbers of people who attempt to enter the country with fake identity documents, reports the Gulf News.

read more »

British retailer WHSmith announced that it will be introducing contactless payments across 46 of its UK stores by Spring 2012, according to Retail Gazette.

In partnership with Visa Europe and Streamline, initial contactless payments will be deployed at WHSmith stores located at major travel hubs: the Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airport stores in London and shops at Main Line railway stations across the UK.

read more »

Biometrics firms Morpho and AOptix have formed a partnership to deploy advanced biometric systems targeted to border management and aviation security industries.

Under the terms of the partnership, AOptix products will be integrated into Morpho’s border management product line. This includes InSight Duo, AOptix’s combined face capture and iris recognition system.

read more »

Cubic Transportation Systems and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) have entered into a collaborative partnership to research the next generation of intelligent travel technologies for cities.

read more »