Traveler safety advanced

Electronic Data Systems Corp., PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp. have created a suite of integrated IT solutions to address transportation security challenges.

Called the National Integrated Security Suite, the solution builds on an airport security system developed by EDS and used at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport since 1998. It combines biometric and risk assessment technologies that airports either may implement separately or assemble together in a single solution.

The suite comprises the "known traveler" and "secure employees" transportation security solutions, the companies said.

Known traveler is a voluntary passenger registration program that enables government security agencies to establish identity and assess the security risk of registered travelers, easing their movement through checkpoints.

Secure employee is a registration and authentication program designed to work with existing employee information to identify and assess security risk. Specifically, secure employee uses a 10-print scanner to obtain fingerprints required for pre-employment background investigations of airport employees and contractors, thus authenticating identity and establishing a risk assessment.

The employee's biometric data is used to manage access to secured areas and computer systems.