ImageWare Systems and ActivCard sign co-marketing agreement

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, April 19, 2004

ImageWare Systems Inc. (AMEX:IW), a leading global provider of digital imaging, secure credential and biometric solutions, today announced the signing of a co-marketing agreement with ActivCard Corp. (NASDAQ:ACTI), a global provider of strong authentication and trusted digital identity solutions for secure remote access, single sign-on and enterprise access cards. The companies will collaborate to market identity management and badging solutions that enable convergence of physical and digital credentials for secure access and smart card-based identification capabilities.

The respective offerings of the companies address various technology requirements for streamlined, secure issuance and management of corporate IDs--as well as meet the needs of state, local, federal government and law enforcement ID card programs. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, both companies will collaborate on marketing the combined benefits of ActivCard authentication and card management capabilities with ImageWare secure credential and biometric technologies. This relationship brings together ImageWare's expertise and successful deployments of digital imaging and card printing solutions with proven ActivCard chip-based ID card and credential lifecycle management software--representing end-to-end user management, credentialing, provisioning, access management and biometric solutions that can be integrated with and enhance the offerings of physical security vendors.

ImageWare and ActivCard will undertake joint marketing initiatives in order to develop new business opportunities together through new and existing distributors, channels and other business relationships. The two companies also intend to work together to contribute to the development of industry standards within their joint areas of expertise.

"Our shared commitment to offering best-of-class solutions for the secure creation and issuance of ID cards, as well as the management of unique credentials assigned to each cardholder, makes the relationship with ImageWare a natural complement. We look forward to the impact of our initiatives to address the rapidly growing market for unified ID cards that consolidate physical and IT security," stated Ed MacBeth, ActivCard's vice president of worldwide channel sales and business development. "It's a clear trend that our enterprise and government customers are embracing this vision--and that they have requirements for next generation solutions that converge digital identities and multiple applications on a single card."

"Today's announcement represents a significant commitment to bringing focus and solutions to the challenge of managing people, credentials and access," said Bill Willis, ImageWare's senior vice president of technology and business development. "Working in partnership with leaders like ActivCard, ImageWare is committed to providing governments and industries with the ability to manage the issuance and lifecycle of digital identities and credentials."