(COMTEX) B: ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION and BLUESTONE SOFTWARE TEAM TO
B: ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION and BLUESTONE SOFTWARE TEAM TO PROVIDE END-TO-END
SMART ID CARD(TM) SOLUTIONS -- State-of-the-Art Identification Solution Demands
Best-of-Breed Application and Integration Server Technologies to Deliver
Personnel ID to Security-Conscious Organizations
SAN JOSE, Ca. & PHILADELPHIA, Feb 14, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Electronic Identification, Inc. (OTC BB: EISQ), the pioneer of the
Smart ID Card(TM), and Bluestone(R) Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLSW), a
leading provider of Enterprise Interaction Management software,
announced today that the companies have teamed to provide end-to-end
electronic identification solutions to security-conscious
organizations.
Electronic Identification (EI2) solutions achieve an unsurpassed level
of smart card security by embedding chip technology that contains
critical, fraud-proof information about the cardholder. The company's
advanced compression algorithms greatly increases the information
storage capacity of each card, thereby allowing organizations to use a
single Smart ID Card for multiple, wide-ranging purposes and service
programs -- from visas, to drivers licenses, to health care, to
welfare. The Smart ID Card employs radio frequencies to present its
electronic information to card readers and other devices. The resulting
"contact-free" process eliminates card swiping and other physical
contact to expedite card reading and verification activities.
To create the bullet-proof foundation required to run its Smart ID Card
solution, EI2 will use Bluestone's award-winning Sapphire/Web(R)
Application Server infrastructure and Bluestone XML Suite(TM)
Integration Server framework. Sapphire/Web provides robust,
field-proven fault tolerance, scalability, and performance, while
Bluestone XML Suite supplies the XML-based integration facilities
needed to exchange and integrate the disparate document information and
support any high security environment. The combined EI2 / Bluestone
solution will run on hardware provided by Hewlett-Packard Company
(NYSE: HWP).
The EI2 Smart ID Card technology has staggering implications for the
personal identification arena. With its ability to store photographs,
fingerprints, handprints, and other biometric data on a secure,
tamper-proof card, the Smart ID Card yields levels of authentication
and verification unheard of in earlier paper-based and smart card-based
ID systems. Consequently, the Smart ID Card presents a superior
solution to public and private organizations that need systems for
reliably and easily identifying their employees, customers, suppliers,
partners, citizens, residents, and others who require access to
restricted information, services, programs, and facilities.
Individuals, in turn, have a valuable tool in the fight against
identity theft and other fraudulent, ID-related crimes fostered by
increasing Internet activities and electronic data exchange.
With Bluestone's technology underpinning the Smart ID Card solution,
EI2 has a highly reliable, high performance personal identification
system that any security-conscious public or private organization can
depend on to deliver non-stop ID services. Bluestone's integration
prowess enables EI2 to incorporate identifying information of virtually
any type, from virtually any source, into its Smart ID Cards.
As part of this agreement, Bluestone joins EI2's newly-launched e*PICS
-- an initiative supported by industry leaders and dedicated to
providing best-of-breed electronic identification solutions. Bluestone
and Hewlett-Packard are charter members of e*PICS, whose membership is
expected to grow as EI2 further extends its Smart ID Card technology
and services.
One of the first deployments to result from the e*PICS initiative will
be a multi-million dollar project for the Middle East. Government
agencies in this region are highly sensitive to security issues and
need to adopt electronic identification as a means to provide a secure
level of service to its qualified citizens and expatriate workers,
while containing costs. EI2 Smart ID Card technology enables government
agencies of all types to protect themselves against forged passports,
driver's licenses and visas.
"Bluestone's participation in e*PICS is absolutely vital to the
initiative's success," stated Terry Kirby, EI2 Chairman and CEO. "They
have the infrastructure that can support the types of mission-critical
identification applications that the Middle East agencies simply cannot
allow to fail. Bluestone's integration services let us create a true
end-to-end solution that ties together all the internal and third-party
legacy systems and information repositories that an organization may
require to verify personal identification."
Added John H. Capobianco, senior vice president of worldwide marketing
for Bluestone, "The Smart ID Card breaks new ground in personal
identification by creating a fast, fraud-proof way of verifying
individual identity. The Smart ID Card could potentially be used for
visas, passports, insurance, drivers' licenses - any application that
demands secure, positive personal identification. Within the e*PICS
initiative, Bluestone software enables the card's electronic
information to interact with and travel over multiple network
infrastructures and computer operating systems with a wide variety of
legacy applications. Our participation in e*PICS reaffirms our
expertise at unifying disparate applications to create a single,
seamless interaction."
Bluestone Drives Smart ID Card Solution
The Smart ID Card solution comprises several individual components,
including EI2's application, the various public and private databases
and information repositories supplying and verifying the personal ID
information, and the Smart ID Cards themselves. To make these
components work in unison, Bluestone technology works in the background
to coordinate the interaction between them.
Using the Middle East as an example, the application receives ID
information from various sources, including the Smart ID card and
hand-held scanners, and connects to databases, which store information
about incoming and outgoing people. Bluestone technology enables this
database connectivity and lets the application send identification
information out to the disparate sources, using Bluestone
XML-Server(TM) to pass the information as an XML document. Bluestone's
XML technology also lets the application easily exchange information
with border centers and the central site.
Meanwhile, Bluestone's Sapphire/Web Application Server technology
provides the high-performance, fault tolerant infrastructure on which
these applications sit and helps deliver specific information from the
centralized databases out to the border stations, and then back to the
central site. Key to the Smart ID Card solution are Bluestone's
deployment facilities, application management and load balancing. The
latter feature is particularly significant given the fluctuating load
at the individual borders.
About Bluestone Software, Inc.
Bluestone(R) Software, Inc. is a leading provider of Enterprise
Interaction Management software. Companies deploying e-business
applications, like Avnet, CDNow, Food.com, MCI WorldCom, Reliance
National, Strategic Weather Services, and Time Inc., rely on Bluestone
Total-e-Business(TM), Bluestone Sapphire/Web(R), and Bluestone XML
Suite(TM) to provide comprehensive e-business platforms, Internet-class
infrastructures, and robust integration services that e-business
success demands. Bluestone is headquartered at 300 Stevens Drive,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19113-1597. For more information, please
call 888-Bluestone or 610-915-5000, email info@bluestone.com, or visit
bluestone.com
About Electronic Identification, Inc.
Electronic Identification, Inc. develops and markets its Smart ID
Card(TM) technology and works with affiliated industry leaders to
provide e*PICS (Electronic Identification and Control Systems) a
best-of-breed Intranet-based framework for end-to-end electronic
identification solutions that improve quality of service and contain
costs.
For more information, please visit eisq.com.
Smart ID Card is a trademark of Electronic Identification, Inc.
Bluestone and Sapphire/Web are registered trademarks, and Bluestone XML
Suite, Bluestone XML-Server and Total-e-Business are trademarks of
Bluestone Software, Inc. All other names, brands or products may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Certain statements in this press release constitute forward looking
statements as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those
contained in Bluestone's publicly filed reports with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, which may cause Bluestone's actual results,
performance, or achievements or those of its customers or its industry
to be materially different from the future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by these forward looking statements.
Specifically, the Company's beliefs with respect to the business
opportunities presented by electronic identification and the Company's
ability to profitably market and deploy its product solutions may prove
to be inaccurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in
these forward looking statements, the information in this press release
should not be considered a representation by the Company or any other
person that Bluestone's objectives and plans will be achieved.
Copyright (C) 2000 Business Wire. All rights reserved.
Distributed via COMTEX.
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CONTACT: Susan D'Elia
Bluestone Software
Press Relations
650-344-1260
sdelia@bluestone.com
OR
Joe DeSimone
Bluestone Software
Investor Relations
610-915-5000 x3213
jdesimone@bluestone.com
OR
John Di Cicco
Electronic Identification
Press Relations
604-684-6906
info@eisq.com
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