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New Joint Panel to Identify Interoperability Issues in Biometric Systems

New Joint Panel to Identify Interoperability Issues in Biometric Systems

Panel will be led by the IJIS Institute’s Criminal Justice Information Services Programs Advisory Committee

Ashburn, VA, June 07, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The IJIS Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on mission-critical information sharing for justice, public safety, and homeland security, announces the formation of a joint Government Industry Panel to identify challenges in interoperability between biometric-based products and systems.

In spite of significant progress in the development of national and international biometric standards, many interoperability problems still remain. This panel will be a major catalyst for enhancing biometric interoperability in specific context areas that have fallen short in meeting interoperability goals.

The panel will meet as part of BIGSIG (Biometrics Industry Government Standards and Interoperability Group) subcommittee of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Programs Advisory Committee (CPAC) on July 28, 2012 at the IJIS Institute Summer Industry Briefing in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico to collaboratively explore various perspectives on the challenges of and future for improving biometrics interoperability. The CPAC is comprised of IJIS Institute member companies, as well as FBI representatives, and defines a role for industry in collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state-level agencies to improve, expand, and help implement numerous FBI CJIS Division programs.

Representatives from the FBI, U.S. VISIT, National Security Agency, Department of State, Department of Defense (Biometrics Identity Management Agency), and state and local governments have been invited to represent government. Also invited are members of relevant standards organizations, including: the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS), and the Joint Technical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC JTC 1), as well as, representatives from leading biometric and technology companies.

The panel will be led by Bruce Kelling of Athena and Sudhi Umarji of Trusted Federal Systems, Inc. who are Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, of the CPAC.

About the IJIS Institute—The IJIS Institute unites the private and public sectors to improve mission-critical information sharing for those who protect and serve our communities. The IJIS Institute provides training, technical assistance, national scope issue management, and program management services to help government fully realize the power of information sharing. Founded in 2001 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with national headquarters on The George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, the IJIS Institute has grown to nearly 200 member and affiliate companies across the United States. For more information, please visit www.IJIS.org.

About Athena —Athena provides network and system administration services to mission critical agencies and is a long-time supporter of the IJIS Institute and its mission to unite the private and public sections to improve critical information sharing for those who provide public safety and administer justice in our communities. Athena is also committed to the development and adoption of industry standards to improve system interoperability. Athena staffs have worked with the IJIS Institute since its inception and have provided hundreds of volunteer hours to help the Institute achieve its mission. For more information, please visit http://www.athenaadvancednetworks.com/Home.html

About Trusted Federal Systems, Inc.—Trusted Federal Systems, Inc. (TFS), an IT integrator, helps government agencies achieve a higher level of performance. TFS is a leading provider of NIEM (National Information Exchange Model) technical support. We earned our stripes by serving on the NTAC (NIEM Technical Architecture Committee) and NBAC (NIEM Business Architecture Committee), teaching the NIEM Practical Implementer's Course, and authoring well-regarded articles on NIEM development. TFS has also established an outstanding reputation with its customers by delivering excellent value and satisfaction in NIEM Biometrics and ANSI/NIST XML support through talented staff and well-practiced methodologies. Over the past five years, TFS has been at the nexus of the ongoing revision of ANSI/NIST-based biometric standards - as agencies migrate (from the older method of defining data via the use of tagged fields) to the newer approach of supporting the use of NIEM conformant extensible markup language (XML). For more information, please visit www.trustedfederal.com.