Aware Develops Next-Generation Biometric Enrollment Application for Department of Justice

BEDFORD, Mass., Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ - Aware, Inc. (Nasdaq: AWRE), a global provider of biometrics and imaging software, today announced the development of the Next-Generation Universal Automated Booking Station, or "Universal ABS" for use by agencies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Universal ABS is a biometric enrollment application built upon Aware's new BioComponents^™ product family; a flexible, modular, COTS software framework that is far more easily configured and maintained than a "hardcoded" application that would otherwise require different source code for each agency's implementation. BioComponents provide a common code base that supports easy configuration of different Universal ABS implementations for each agency within the Department of Justice, fulfilling their specific requirements while simplifying ongoing maintenance and support of the applications.

"Our new BioComponents framework was designed to achieve ease of configuration without sacrificing ease of maintenance; requirements that are common among our customers," commented Rob Mungovan, Vice President at Aware. "BioComponents support either a Windows or browser-based approach, and avoid a traditionally brittle workstation design that hardcodes workflow, functionality, and peripherals into the application."

Each of the currently available components that comprise the BioComponents product are independent, self-contained software modules that provide their own user interface, biometric autocapture functionality, image processing and analysis, and peripheral capture device abstraction. They can be quickly assembled and configured to fulfill custom workflow and functionality requirements. Aware will participate on a panel that will present the Universal ABS at the Biometric 2011 Exhibition and Conference, taking place in LondonOctober 18-20.

About BioComponents

BioComponents is Aware's newest biometric user interface software application framework. It is API-based and designed to enable extremely fast implementation of a robust, advanced biometric enrollment application, yet also enable a high degree of configurability in terms of functionality and workflow. It is comprised of modular, independent, self-contained software components that can operate either independently or in concert, with each performing a specific biometric task. Each biometric capture Component has its own configurable user interface, and performs all tasks and workflows required for capture, hardware abstraction, and quality assurance.

The components are OEM focused software products that are available a la carte. Currently available BioComponents are: TextComponent, FingerprintComponent, FaceComponent, FormComponent, PrintComponent, and SubmitComponent. Each Component is packaged as either a Java applet or .NET user control, and can be used independently within either a Microsoft C#/.NET or Java application, or in a variety of web environments (ASP.NET, JSP, HTML). For more information about BioComponents, please visit: www.aware.com/biocomponents.

About JABS

Joint Automated Booking System (JABS) is an important Department of Justice information sharing project among its law enforcement agencies: Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Additionally, the customs and border security functions within the Border and Transportation Security (BTS) Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are primary users of JABS.

JABS is a fully functioning criminal booking system. Front-end Automated Booking Stations (ABS) connected to peripherals devices (e.g., livescan fingerprint capture devices, flatbed scanners for scanning inked fingerprint cards, cameras for taking photographs, and printers) are used by agencies within the Department of Justice and entities of DHS to capture the biographical and biometric data and create a booking package compliant with FBI standards (EFTS and EBTS). The biographic data include offense and background information associated with the defendant. The biometric include tenprint fingerprint sets, facial photographs, and photographs of identifying characteristics such as scars, marks, and tattoos. The booking packages created by the ABSs are sent to CoreJABS for electronic submission to FBI's IAFIS. JABS software automates the submission process to IAFIS, the FBI's official fingerprint repository, and enables the FBI to email responses back to the originator. The response is based on fingerprint analysis by IAFIS and consists of identity information and a copy of the defendant's criminal history (rap sheet).

About Aware

Aware is a leading technology and supplier for the telecommunications and biometrics industries. Aware has pioneered innovations at telecommunications standards-setting organizations for DSL and networking. Telecom equipment vendors and phone companies use Aware's DSL test and diagnostics modules and Dr. DSL® software to provision and troubleshoot DSL circuits globally. Aware is also a veteran of the biometrics industry, providing biometric and imaging software components used in government systems worldwide since 1992. Aware's interoperable, standard-compliant, field-proven imaging products are used in a number of applications, from border management to criminal justice to medical imaging. Aware is a publicly held company (Nasdaq: AWRE) based in Bedford, Massachusetts. www.aware.com

Safe Harbor Warning

Portions of this release contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as estimates or projections of future revenue and earnings and the growth of the biometrics markets. Aware wishes to caution you that there are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by such statements. Biometric factors include, but are not limited to: market acceptance of our biometric technologies and products; changes in contracting practices of government or law enforcement agencies; the failure of the biometrics market to experience continued growth; announcements or introductions of new technologies or products by our competitors; failures or problems in our biometric software products; delays in the adoption of new industry biometric standards; growth of proprietary biometric systems which do not conform to industry standards; our ability to sell services contracts in a manner that is consistent with our business model; our ability to deliver service contract milestones; and our dependence on third party contractors and consultants to deliver certain services contract milestones. We refer you to the documents Aware files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010 and other reports and filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Aware, BioComponents and Dr. DSL are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aware, Inc.
Any other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Aware, Inc.