DHS to test Crossmatch and Identix's ten-print scanners

Onward and upward, we always say. Such should be the mottos of Stamford, Connecticut-based L-1 Identity Solutions and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida-based Crossmatch Technologies, as the federal government moves forward with plans to test both companies’s ten-fingerprint scanners. As longtime readers know, developing such a device has been a major DHS priority for US-VISIT for some time now, and readers will also recall that Crossmatch’s Scan Guardian was the first to develop one. The Crossmatch and L-1 scanners — the latter via its Identix unit — are already in use at six consulates worldwide, and now they will be subject to a more critical test in a number of major airports, including in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston. All told, DHS will buy fifty units between the two companies at a cost of $7.2 million. DHS also hold an option to purchase 3,000 additional scanners.

DHS is also planning to change the way it tracks visitor exits through the US VISIT program, Washington Technology reported. Under the current system, departing visitors used airport kiosks to scan their documents and record their exit. These kiosks, however, prompted various complaints about usability, so DHS this summer will try a different process inwhich departure processing will be combined with one or more of the three stages of departure already in place: departure desk check-in, processing by Transportation Security Administration screeners and processing at the gate.