Acquisition is part of ongoing effort to become a one-stop shop for identity needs
By Jennifer Slattery
Contributing Editor

The acquisition of Toronto-based Bioscrypt Inc. is the latest purchase for the Stamford, Conn.-based company, L-1 Identity Solutions. Over the years the company also acquired Viisage, Identix, Integrated Biometric Technology, SecuriMetrics, Iridian, SpecTal, ComnetiX, McClendon and Advanced Concepts Inc. “L-1 is the first true consolidator to emerge in the biometrics and identity space,” says Jeremy Grant, senior vice president and identity solutions analyst at the Stanford Group Company.

By Zack Martin, Editor
President Bush is asking for $390.3 million to fund the US VISIT program for the 2009 fiscal year. Other biometric and identification programs, including Real ID and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, were also highlighted in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s budget-in-brief.

But the overall budget is a mixed bag for security and identification projects, according to Jeremy Grant, senior vice president and identity solutions analyst at the Stanford Group Company.

But this must change

By Zack Martin, Editor
When trying to get into a bar or club there is typically someone at the door checking IDs. But on social networking sites there is no bouncer, which means there’s no way to tell whether you’re corresponding with a 15-year-old girl or a 32-year-old man.

New Passport Card introduces new technology, new set of issues

By Zack Martin, Editor

Another type of travel document has joined the fray: the Passport Card. The ID card is being touted as an alternative to the traditional passport book, but is an additional technology that customs and border officials will have to be prepared to read.

Contactless company to benefit from new board member’s deep industry ties

In the spring of 2007, one of the most influential names in security shocked the industry when he announced that he was leaving the company that he had helped build. As the year came to a close, he resurfaced announcing that he would join the board of directors of a small, entrepreneurial competitor to his former employer.

Company takes pride in its 155-year history, as well as its bright future

By Andy Williams Contributing Editor

G&D prides itself on being the world’s number two producer of smart cards. But G&D is about more than just smart cards. For one, its genealogy dates back to 1852 when two men first created the company. For another, it prints banknotes, a lot of them for a lot of countries throughout the world. And for many, like the Federal Reserve in the U.S., it delivers the systems used to count and sort those banknotes and to weed out counterfeits.

Despite Real ID opposition, as symbolized by web sites like realnightmare.org, an ACLU site, unrealid.com and blogs like stoprealidnow, the 2005 law isn’t going away. The federal government even tried to soften the monetary blow when it issued its final compliance regulations earlier this year. But in the end, it’s as U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said when the regulations were first rolled out: “The rule is the rule. It was passed by Congress, it was enacted into the law of the land, and I’m obliged to enforce it.”

The technology show, scheduled for May 12-15 in Orlando, Fla., is rebranding from CardTech/SecurTech to CTST, and it has a new partner.The Smart Card Alliance has joined forces with SourceMedia, CTST’s producer, to manage the show’s content.

It’s as if the Alliance is returning to its roots, since the CTST conference was originally a joint venture between smart card pioneer Ben Miller, the conference founder and former chairman, and the Smart Card Industry Association, a vendor group that merged with the Smart Card Forum to create the Smart Card Alliance. CTST was founded in 1991 and purchased in 1998 by Faulkner & Gray, now SourceMedia.

Transportation Security Administration creates Qualified Products List to approve products

By Jennifer Slattery, Contributing Editor

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was directed by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to develop standards for use of biometric technology in airport access control systems. The goal of this effort is to establish procedures for implementing biometric systems to ensure that individuals do not use an assumed identity to enroll in a biometric system and to resolve failures to enroll, false matches, and false non-matches.

Vendor consolidation heats up competition as key airport contracts hang in balance

By Chris Corum, Executive Editor

When Denver International Airport issued its RFP to select a vendor to supply its Registered Traveler (RT) initiative in June 2006, three companies were actively vying for the business. Fast forward about 18 months … Denver still has not made its decision and only one of those three companies is still offering services under its original name. (Editor's note: Following publication of this article, Denver did award to Verified Identity Pass.)