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To: RMP who wrote (17850)	5/10/2000 8:55:00 AM
From: Abuckatatime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26039

Eye-scan security gets airport test run Iris-recognition system in use at 2 employee entrances By TED REED A security system that recognizes airport workers by scanning one of their eyes was unveiled Tuesday at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, where it is being tested. "This changes the world," said Evan Smith, senior vice president of McLean, Va.-based EyeTicket Corp. "It means our grandchildren will not understand why we used to carry wallets full of plastic cards." EyeTicket has installed scanners at two of the airport's employee entrances. The system has been made available to the airport, the nation's 20th largest, for four months at no cost, in a test approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. "This is an opportunity to look at it up close and personal at no cost," said Jerry Orr, airport aviation director. "We know what (EyeTicket) says it will do, but we don't know whether it works." Airport employees and USAirways managers, pilots and flight attendants are eligible to participate in the testing, but are not required to, because the airport will maintain its system of ID scanners at employee checkpoints. So far, about 200 people have agreed to participate in the test, but EyeTicket expects hundreds more to join them over the next four months. The system involves photographing a person's iris, the colored portion of the eye. The image is filed so that a quick glance into a camera provides instant recognition. EyeTicket executives say the system is cleaner, more accurate and less intrusive than fingerprinting, which some people dislike because of its association with the criminal justice system. EyeTicket has won support from the USAirways chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, whose members prefer it to the current requirement that pilots and flight attendants pass through the same security checkpoints used by the public. Other airline employees use the employee entrance. "It's a shorter line at security for our customers and less aggravation for our crews," said pilots spokesman Mark Thorp. EyeTicket's Smith said the system has the potential to produce billions of dollars in revenue. The privately held company has exclusive use of iris-recognition technology for airline passengers because it has made a deal with the New Jersey ophthalmologists who developed the technology and hold the single patent for its use. EyeTicket has no current revenue, but plans several projects. It has agreed to install scanners for employee use at Frankfurt International Airport in Germany, starting this summer; that deal involves a "modest" lease fee during the trial period, but could evolve into a major project involving passengers as well as airport employees, Smith said. In addition, EyeTicket has talked with many airlines about systems to speed passenger check-ins by using iris identification rather than ticket agents. It expects deals with both European and U.S. airlines within the next few weeks. Smith would not name the airlines. He said EyeTicket is using airport security as a means to enter the passenger identification business. "We're in the airport security business to facilitate our passenger boarding business," he said. "We need to establish good relationships with airports because we will need to install equipment in their buildings." EyeTicket selected Charlotte because Hans Schreiber, its vice president for airline and airport solutions, has lived in the city since he worked as Lufthansa's regional manager from 1990 to 1992, when the airline served Charlotte. Schreiber praised Orr's receptivity to the deal. Orr said iris-recognition screening can save the airport money, because the current security systems for passengers and employees cost $2million to install and require many employees to operate. In addition, iris recognition has clear advantages over identification cards because "it's easy for you to take my card. It's more difficult to take my eye," Orr said. charlotte.com