In a purchase order values in excess of $1 million, Identix
Inc. will provide fingerprint biometric live scan systems
to Saudi Arabia’s Aramco which is listed as the world’s
largest oil producing company.

Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, will
use the systems to provide identity management for its more
than 54,000 employees worldwide. Identix will provide
multiple Identix TouchPrint™ 3500 live scan systems to
Aramco, which is instituting a program to enroll its
employees via fingerprint biometrics to help ensure that
the company can identify employees based on absolute
identification that cannot be duplicated, lost or stolen.

“We believe this win, with such a reputable and established
multi-national conglomerate as Aramco, provides solid
affirmation of the progress we are making in the
international marketplace and provides a high profile
illustration of how biometrics can provide a safer and more
secure work environment for both public and private
enterprises,” Identix President and CEO Joseph J. Atick
said in a statement.

Identix expects to begin shipping the live scan systems in
November and to have all ordered systems installed by the
end of March.

The company was also awarded a contract for its TouchPrint
machines this week by the County Sheriffs of Colorado
(CSOC), which will install 44 of the TouchPrint™ live scan
booking stations. The CSOC received a grant from the
Department of Homeland Security for the purchase and
deployment of ten-print live scan systems to Sheriff’s
Offices throughout the State. The CSOC Board of Directors
voted unanimously to award Identix the contract.

Meanwhile, analysts have chimed in on the news this week
that the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has put a hold on its
five-year purchase agreement with Identix.

J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster downgraded Identix’s stock from “neutral” to “underweight,” saying, “the delays in the DHS contract represent challenges to revenue growth as well as possibly to gross margins, as contracts are delayed, renegotiated or possibly split across vendors.”

However, another analyst, Timothy Quillin at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, Ark., told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the contract halt probably was not that serious. “Protests are not uncommon in the government contracting process. It’s not unreasonable to believe that Identix’s winning of the contract will be supported,” says Quillin, who adds there is no question that Identix biometric software works. “They have industry-leading technology for fingerprint and facial recognition, but facial surveillance is difficult to perfect at this point.”

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