L-1 gets orders for iris-scanning

L-1 Identity Solutions Inc. has won contracts from the Army and Navy for its portable iris and enrollment recognition devices.

The Army order is for PIER 2.3 and PIER-T devices. The Navy Spawar Systems Center order is for PIER 2.3 and 2.4 devices for the Marine Corps. The PIER devices will be used in connection with the Defense Department's Biometrics Automated Toolset system. The orders, which have an aggregate value of more than $2.5 million, will be processed by L-1's subsidiary SecuriMetrics Inc., a Martinez, Calif., biometric security solutions provider.

SecuriMetrics' products are used by DOD, various intelligence agencies and by corrections and law enforcement agencies.

The PIER is a rugged handheld device that allows the user to enroll and identify individuals based on the unique patterns and textures of the human iris. The PIER database can store up to 200,000 individuals (both left and right eye) and quickly identify subjects with extremely high accuracy, L-1 said.

When connected to an L-1 SIRIS matching engine, PIER devices can confirm an individual's identity against a database of 1 billion records in less than one second.

PIER 2.3 and 2.4 have the same functionality, L-1 said, but the 2.4 contains twice the on-board memory. PIER-T is designed to operate while connected to a PC or laptop computer. Thousands of PIER devices are in use throughout Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and other areas of conflict.