Sonic Foundry To Expand Offering For Government Security And Surveillance Marketplace

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Nov 26, 2001

Sonic Foundry (Nasdaq:SOFO), a provider of media software, systems and services, will demonstrate new software designed to help government agencies streamline the capture, analysis and management of disparate types of media -- including both live and archived speech, video, biometric, text and database information -- at the upcoming Government Video Technology Expo in Washington, D.C. on November 28-29, 2001.

The software is the result of the core technologies integration of Sonic Foundry's industry leading media capture and production capability and the recently acquired MediaSite expertise in indexing, analyzing and understanding media and biometric information. Sonic Foundry completed the acquisition of MediaSite just one month ago. The Company is providing an offering to enhance enterprise-based biometric and media storage and analysis applications for surveillance, pre-screening, data scanning and random security checks, that help government agencies effectively manage, and analyze disparate media types -- such as fingerprints, face scans, video files and voice prints -- with a single and cost effective platform.

MediaSite's core technology was derived from a Carnegie Mellon University research effort funded by leading government agencies and private corporations, including NASA, DARPA, NSF, Bell Atlantic, Boeing, CNN, Intel and Microsoft. It spans seven years of research, representing more than $20 million in research investment. MediaSite brings a solid base of government experience and customers to Sonic Foundry's coffer, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, Joint Training, Analysis and Simulation Command (JTASC) and Office of Naval Research. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Commerce also funded MediaSite to develop systems for real-time indexing and retrieval of unstructured video presentations, such as video conferencing, under its Advanced Technology Program.

"Current security and surveillance applications lack the ability to compile, integrate and analyze the growing volume of disparate types and sources of rich media and biometric data," said Rimas Buinevicius, CEO of Sonic Foundry. "Our acquisition of MediaSite, and our mutual drive for commercializing innovative technologies, led to the development of a fully integrated system that empowers government and security organizations to capture, analyze and interact with the vast resources of multiple profile databases from a single, easy-to-use software application."

Sonic Foundry's rapid integration of the two companies' technologies is intended to address the rising importance of multi-dimensional media capture and analysis as a key technology enabler in the security arena. "Accurate human identification is best accomplished by tracking individuals over time, using an aggregation of identification technologies," explained Buinevicius. "Never before has it been possible to build and track a unified profile of individuals, leaving security personnel with a one-dimensional view based on a single identification technique. The upcoming Sonic Foundry solution will address this challenge for the first time."