Lockheed, Cognitec team up for biometrics

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Cognitec Systems Corp., a provider of facial-recognition biometric technology, have signed a cooperative agreement to pursue new business together.

Biometrics is a key technology area for Lockheed Martin's intelligence, defense, law enforcement and homeland security customers, said Bob Eastman, the company's Information Systems vice president. "This cooperation agreement will improve our ability to offer our customers a complete and fully integrated portfolio of biometrics technologies."

Cognitec is based in Dresden, Germany, and has its U.S. headquarters in Herndon, Va. The company's main offering is a facial-recognition system called FaceVACS that scans and measures several facial features to verify an individual's identity.

"We look forward to working with Lockheed Martin to integrate and deploy our technology in a variety of important biometrics projects," said Alfredo Herrera, Cognitec's chief executive officer.

Lockheed Martin ranks No. 1 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.