Viisage to Digitize Pa. Drivers' Licenses

By William Welsh, Staff Writer


JULY 31 ? The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has awarded a five-year contract valued at $21 million for a new digitized drivers' license system to Viisage Technology Inc. of Littleton, Mass.


Viisage disclosed in July that it will provide systems integration services for the design, development, and implementation of the digitized system that ultimately will be deployed at PennDOT Driver License and Photo Centers throughout the state.


Viisage, along with PennDOT, will take over the contract from DataCard Group of Minnetonka, Minn. Although the award has been made, the Viisage program is still in the design and development stage and will be implemented in 2001, said PennDOT spokesman Anthony Haubert.


Viisage products are used by 13 states and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Revenue at the company totaled $19.3 million in 1999. Viisage is 78 percent owned by defense contractor Lau Technologies of Littleton.


Viisage's business partners on other state drivers' license and ID programs include Compaq Computer Corp. of Houston, for its contract with Maryland, and CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., for its contract with South Carolina.


For the state of Illinois, Viisage provides facial recognition technology along with drivers' license and ID services to assist law enforcement in investigating fraudulent activities.


Other applications provided by Viisage include Internet, electronic and physical-access control, real-time image identification and verification, voter registration, national IDs and law enforcement and social services.