IRIS' Imaging Research Subsidiary Receives Clearance for External Testing of 3-D Face Recognition Technology

Business Wire, Oct 5, 2005

CHATSWORTH, Calif -- IRIS International, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRIS), a manufacturer and marketer of automated IVD urinalysis systems and medical devices used in hospitals and reference clinical laboratories worldwide, today announced that its Advanced Digital Imaging Research, LLC subsidiary (ADIR) has received authorization from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for testing of its 3-D Face Recognition technology on public populations. This amendment to the grant award authorizes an exemption for human subject research under 15 CFR 27.202(b)(2) and allows ADIR to move forward with its plans to begin testing on contractors, local volunteers, and routine airport passenger traffic, in addition to IRIS employees.

Under an Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant from NIST, ADIR is developing 3-D face recognition technology intended to provide convenient and unobtrusive personal identification for air travelers and for personnel who work in secure environments. The three-year project is being carried out in conjunction with academic collaborators at The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, and Indiana University. Dr. Kenneth Castleman, President of ADIR, is the Principal Investigator on the project.

"This approval now lets us move into the next phase of development and testing," stated Dr. Castleman. "We are very satisfied with our progress to date and our internal testing is showing promising results. We are encouraged by the accuracy we have obtained while testing on a small population of employees and we are quite interested to see how the prototype system will perform on larger populations."

With this authorization, ADIR can now proceed to negotiate test protocols with future evaluation sites and expects to begin acquiring face images in a commercial environment by December 2005. Although the length of testing cannot be definitively established before the protocols are approved, the Company plans an iterative process whereby testing and development will proceed in parallel. The testing will progress through a series of incrementally challenging operational scenarios.

Cesar Garcia, President and Chief Executive Officer of IRIS, said, "We are committed to obtaining statistically valid performance estimates for our face recognition technology. This is a very important project for IRIS because it has the potential for significant positive impact on the Company, and it could add a new dimension to IRIS' future. We will be contacting potential partners to develop and exploit the technology once we have clear indications of the system's performance in commercial environments."

THE COMPANY

IRIS International, Inc. (www.proiris.com), based in Chatsworth, Calif., is a leader in automated urinalysis technology with systems in major medical institutions throughout the world. The Company's new generation iQ(R)200 Automated Urinalysis platform, utilizing image flow cytometry, patented Automated Intelligent Microscopy (AIM) technology and neural network-based particle recognition, achieves a significant reduction in the cost and time-consuming steps involved in manual microscopic analysis. The Company's StatSpin(R) (www.statspin.com) subsidiary, based in Norwood, Mass., manufactures innovative centrifuges and blood analysis products. Advanced Digital Imaging Research, LLC (ADIR), (www.adires.com) based near Houston, Texas, is the Company's imaging research and development subsidiary.

SAFE HARBOR PROVISION

This news release contains forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's views on future commercial revenues, market growth, capital requirements, new product introductions, and are generally identified by phrases such as "thinks," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," and similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statement. Examples of forward looking statements in this new release include the commencement dates for testing on larger populations, the face recognition technologies' potential for significant positive impact on the Company, the Company's plans to test and develop the product in parallel, and the Company's plans to deploy its face recognition technologies in commercial environments. These statements are based upon, among other things, assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management, including management's own knowledge and assessment of the Company's industry, competition and capital requirements. Other factors and uncertainties that could affect the Company's forward-looking statements include, among other things, the following: results from testing the face recognition technologies on larger populations; continued successful product development; the acceptance by customers of any face recognition product deployed for commercial use; rapid technological change in the security industry; and increasing competition from other face recognition and security products. The Company refers interested persons to its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other SEC filings for a description of additional uncertainties and factors that may affect forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no duty to update its forward-looking statements.