Document Reader from Cross Match Technologies Achieved Excellent Results at ePassport Interoperability Test in Berlin

June 21 2006

Cross Match Technologies, a global leader in providing high-quality interoperable biometric identity applications and solutions, successfully participated in this year's ePassport Interoperability test, which took place from May 29th until June 1st in Berlin, Germany. The event was organized by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), the German Institute for Standardization (DIN), and others. The aim of the test was to understand how well chip-based ePassports have been designed and how fast and easily they can be read by the passport readers from different manufacturers currently available on the market.

The first of this series of passport interoperability test events took place in 2004 in Canberra and further tests followed in Morgantown, Sydney, Baltimore, Tsukuba and Singapore. For the third time in a row, Cross Match's AUTHENTICATOR was able to read all of the ePassports presented at the test. As a further testament to the superior performance of its document reader, Cross Match Technologies was also recognized as one of the top five companies from an interoperability standpoint in the results published from the last round of passport interoperability testing in Singapore. To view the detailed results from the test, please visit Security Document World's editorial coverage, March 30, 2006.

All in all, more than 170 companies and organizations participated in the 2006 ePassport Interoperability test, and more than 450 people from 38 nations attended the event. Cross Match not only participated in the test itself, but as one of the sponsors of the event, was also present with a booth at the exhibition accompanying the test and the conference.

Cross Match Technologies is one of the few participants to use its own software rather than the Golden Reader Tool (GRT). This demonstrates that Cross Match is one of the few vendors worldwide who offers the entire range of tools for document inspection (optical, RFID, crypto functions such as Basic Access Control and Passive Authentication). The AUTHENTICATOR took less than 8 seconds to read and analyze all data from the passports from the time the passport was placed on the device, until the time the analysis of the data was completed.

"We are proud to offer a One Step Inspection device that allows the border control officer to place the passport on the device and after just a few seconds have all relevant data available - no separate reading of MRZ, no manual entering of personal data, no searching for the chip or the certificate. This allows the officer to concentrate on the travellers instead of being concerned with the document reader device," said Uwe Richter, senior vice president of the Product Management Office of Cross Match Technologies. "The AUTHENTICATOR's ergonomic design, ease-of-use, and range of functionalities make the device ideally suited for border control applications."

About Cross Match Technologies

Cross Match Technologies Inc. is a leading global provider of high-quality interoperable biometric identity applications and solutions. The company's offerings consist of a range of products, which are used to capture and process the unique physiological characteristics of individuals to establish and verify their identity, such as fingerprint and palm scan devices, document readers and access control systems, proprietary enterprise and application software, and services. Cross Match's products are used to conduct criminal bookings, perform background checks for job applicants, verify identities at borders and other checkpoints, register citizens for driver's license and national identification programs, prevent identity fraud in large-scale government and civil identification programs, and control access to office buildings, government facilities and other secure areas. Serving a broad range of vertical markets including national and US federal government, state and local government, law enforcement, transportation, financial services, education, healthcare and commercial, Cross Match has more than 5,000 customers worldwide, with application and solution installations in more than 50 countries.

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

For further information: Edelman, Brittany Morris, 312-233-1302, Brittany.morris@edelman.com