Testing of the digital fingerprints interoperability program as announced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in August 2004 has evolved into a test of eligibility involving the federal employee identification card initiative.
Recently, 15 vendors participated in the Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test (Minex) large-scale testing program. Eight of them earned certification for both interoperability and personal identity verification.
Through Minex, which took place last month, 14 vendor products were certified as interoperable. According to NIST, based on its Special Publication 800-76, released in February, these 14 products also met the performance requirements for use in the federal identity card initiative under Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. Included were extraction and matching products made by Bioscript Inc. of Van Nuys, Calif.; Cogent Systems Inc. of South Pasadena, Calif.; Dermalog Identification systems GMBH of Hamburg, Germany; and NEC Corp. of Melville, N.Y.
