Aware, Inc. – News & Events

Aware to Demonstrate PIV Compliant Biometrics Software
for U.S. Federal Employee IDs

A comprehensive suite of field-tested software tools provides developers with key
biometric functionality for registration, ID personalization, and access control applications

BEDFORD, Mass. – March 1, 2005 – Aware, Inc. (NASDAQ: AWRE), a global provider of imaging and biometrics software, today announced it will demonstrate a comprehensive suite of biometrics software tools in their booth (#209) at the Smart Card Alliance’s “Smart Cards in eGovernment” Conference and Exhibition, taking place March 9th through 11th in Washington D.C. The Aware tools are designed to provide system developers with key biometric functionality in compliance with the new FIPS 201 PIV (personal identity verification) standards. PIV standards specify biometric ID cards and their issuance to federal employees and contractors, as mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-12.

Aware’s biometrics software development kits provide a broad range of functionality required to develop PIV-compliant applications for registration and identity proofing, ID personalization, and access control. These functions include quality scoring, optimization, and compression of biometric facial and fingerprint images as well as biometric file reading, writing, validation, and networking; all in compliance with mandated standards to ensure interoperability and interchangeability of system components.

“HSPD-12 mandates an aggressive timeline for the issuance of PIV-compliant ID cards to millions of federal employees and contractors,” commented David Benini, Aware’s director of product marketing. “Aware’s time-tested biometrics software components are well-suited for the task, enabling system developers to quickly build fully-functional, standard-compliant solutions with flexibility to accommodate specific customer requirements.”

About PIV and the new federal employee IDs
New biometric specifications for the new federal employee ID program were recently published by NIST in Special Publication 800-76. These specifications are part of a larger body of work headed by NIST to standardize biometric-enabled ID cards for all federal government employees and contractors, as specified in the new “FIPS 201: Personal Identity Verification (PIV) for Federal Employees and Contractors”. This new standard is a result of Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-12 issued by President Bush in August 2004, which mandates standardization of IDs and their use for the purpose of controlling access to government facilities and information systems. More information on HSPD-12 can be found online at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040827-8.html.

The Aware tools are designed to assist federal contractors with standards-based design requirements for the data acquired by the enrollment systems, stored on the ID cards, and read by the verification systems.

An integral part of the earliest federal biometrics systems, Aware’s software has been used globally to read and write millions of biometric files since 1995. Aware software tools are available a la carte and include developer’s guides, sample program source code, and full technical support. More information is available at www.aware.com/piv.

About Aware
Aware is the recognized leading provider of high-quality, standards-compliant biometrics software tools, having developed among the first forensic-grade biometrics software for the U.S. government in the early 1990s. Today, Aware continues its global biometrics leadership with software tools that enable integrators, solution providers, and government agencies to compress, analyze, optimize, format, and transport biometric images and data according to international standards. Aware also designs, develops, licenses and markets DSL technologies that enable broadband communications over existing telephone networks. Aware, Inc. is a publicly held company based in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Safe Harbor Warning
Portions of this release contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as estimates or projections of future revenue and earnings and the growth of the biometrics market. Aware wishes to caution you that there are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by such statements. We refer you to the documents Aware files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.