BEDFORD, Mass., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aware, Inc. (Nasdaq: AWRE), a leading supplier of broadband technology and biometrics software, today reported that Michael A. Tzannes, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Aware, was elected to the position of Chairman by the Aware Board of Directors. Mr. Tzannes will replace John K. Kerr, who recently resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aware, effective May 20, 2009. Mr. Kerr will remain on the Board as a Director. Adrian F. Kruse, a current Director of Aware, was elected to the position of Lead Director by the Aware Board of Directors.

Michael Tzannes, Aware's Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are thankful to John for his leadership over many years as Aware's Chairman and look forward to his continued service on the Board."

About Aware

Aware is a leading technology and software supplier for the telecommunications and biometrics industries. For more than ten years, Aware has pioneered innovations at telecommunications standards-setting organizations and continues to develop and market DSL silicon intellectual property and test and diagnostics products. Its StratiPHY^™ IP product line supports DSL standards, including ADSL2+ and VDSL2, and has been broadly licensed to leading semiconductor companies. Telecom equipment vendors and phone companies use Aware's DSL test and diagnostics modules and Dr. DSL^® software to help provision 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 DSL and 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. General factors include, but are not limited to: our quarterly results are unpredictable and may fluctuate significantly; our business is subject to rapid technological change; we face intense competition from a wide range of competitors; current economic conditions, including the credit crisis affecting the financial markets; our intellectual property is subject to limited protection; our ability to obtain or enforce patents could be affected by new laws, regulations or rules; and our business may be affected by government regulations. DSL factors include, but are not limited to: our DSL licensing and DSL test and diagnostic businesses depend upon a limited number of customers; there has been and may continue to be a cyclical demand for DSL chipsets; the success of our DSL licensing and test and diagnostics products businesses requires telephone companies to install DSL service in volume; our test and diagnostic hardware and software products could have quality problems; we depend on a single source contract manufacturer for the manufacture of our DSL hardware products; and we are dependent on single source suppliers for components in our DSL hardware products. 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, 2008 and other reports and filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Aware, StratiPHY, and Dr. DSL are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aware, Inc.