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To: steve who wrote (25693)3/26/2004 2:35:09 AM
From: steve  Respond to of 26039
 
NATIONAL CHARITY ADOPTS FACIAL RECOGNITION
TECHNOLOGY TO HELP IDENTIFY MISSING PERSONS
4 March 2004

The National Missing Persons Helpline (NMPH) is one of the latest organisations to sign up
for a new generation of facial recognition technology. The charity recently launched the first
online database of missing persons in the UK, and the software will act as a valuable search
tool to help identify these people.
Auriole Prince, Head of the Identification and Reconstruction Department at NMPH, is very
aware of the potential that the software has for the Charity in their work for identifying
missing persons.
“The NMPH is thrilled to be working with Aurora’s cutting edge facial recognition software
package, Gallery. We are now using the software as a tool to help identify more people who
may have been reported missing. Gallery allows us to compare images of unidentified persons
against the vast database of missing persons’ photographs in a matter of seconds. This is an
invaluable resource for the NMPH.”
The software, provided by Aurora, the UK’s leading supplier of facial recognition technology,
has also been taken up by a number of innovative UK police forces looking for new ways to
improve their operations. The identification product, known as Gallery, allows a facial image
to be checked against a database of known images. The database is then reordered, within
seconds, to present the most likely matches on screen. Those currently implementing the
system include West Midlands Police, Greater Manchester Police, West Yorkshire Police,
The Ministry of Defence Police, Northamptonshire Police and Hampshire Constabulary.
Together with the NMPH, these forces are moving towards the latest product to be released in
the ‘facerec’ range – eGallery. This web-enabled version of the identification product will
provide greater scope for those using the software, as it will become accessible force-wide
across a secure intranet. An ‘early adopters’ group has been formed that will allow the police
forces and the NMPH to meet regularly with Aurora to work on ways of developing the
software further to meet individual needs. From a policing perspective, the technology will
act as a valuable investigative tool to help search custody databases for unidentified suspects.
These databases often contain tens of thousands of images, and simply cannot be searched
manually.
Hugh Carr-Archer, CEO of Aurora, is delighted for the company to be working with members
of the ‘early adopters’ group. “The scope and potential of the software is fantastic, but we are
keen to ensure that it is developed carefully, in line with user requirements. Meeting regularly
with those using the product is a really effective way of successfully developing the product to
a high specification.”
2
About Aurora
Aurora Computer Services Ltd was founded in 1998 to develop biometric solutions
particularly regarding security, surveillance and access control. After a period of rapid
product development, its face recognition programs are in use in operations involving
transport, construction, import/export and the police. It is the UK’s leading provider of
working face recognition software. It is a strategic partner of Identix Corporation, New
Jersey, the leading developer of face recognition technology worldwide.
More information on Aurora can be accessed via the company’s website at
www.auroracs.co.uk or by calling 0870 606 0412.

facerec.com

steve

ps, Facerec=FaceIt
facerec.com



To: steve who wrote (25693)3/26/2004 12:25:02 PM
From: steve  Respond to of 26039
 
Secure profits

Mar 25th 2004 | LOS ANGELES
From The Economist print edition

California's latest high-tech boom

“IT IS a renaissance for the economy of southern California,” says John Osborne of Clearstone Venture Partners. “I believe it with all my heart.” Indeed so, and Mr Osborne is hardly alone in connecting America's “war on terror” with an upturn in California's business fortunes. With the Department of Homeland Security planning to spend around $60 billion over the next two years on everything from safer airports to a nationwide network of “biosurveillance sensors”, there are opportunities galore for the private sector. That is why, on March 15th, General Electric paid $900m for InVision, a 1,000-employee firm based in Newark, California. On March 10th, Britain's Smiths Group paid $15m for Cyrano Sciences, a seven-year-old Pasadena firm which, like InVision, specialises in bomb detection. As venture capitalists and investment bankers hover, more deals are in the offing. “Thanks to Osama bin Laden, the sector's booming,” enthuses one entrepreneur.

Just in time, many would add. After all, the traditional centres of Californian high-tech are still feeling the blows of the past decade: in the early 1990s, the defence and aerospace industries around Los Angeles and San Diego were knocked back into recession by the ending of the cold war; then, in 2000, the Bay Area was hit by the bursting of the dotcom bubble.

Before the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, the focus of America's security industry was the relatively low-tech task of guarding homes and offices; now it is an increasingly high-tech business embracing everything from biometrics to chemical sensing. InVision, for example, uses X-ray diffraction and magnetic sensing to detect explosives and drugs; Cyrano has developed miniature sensors that can act as an “electronic nose” to sniff out chemical and biological agents. ImageWare Systems, based in San Diego, boasts “secure credential and biometric product lines” for driving licences and passports.

None of this success is really surprising. The digital evolution of the security sector plays to California's strengths: a tradition of scientific excellence in its universities and the ability to turn academic discovery into commercial achievement. Silicon Valley is the offspring of Berkeley and Stanford universities; the biotech and wireless communications clusters in San Diego can be traced back to the University of California at San Diego; the defence industry is linked to the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena. Moreover, one happy outcome of the cutbacks in the aerospace, defence and information-technology sectors is a ready supply of brainy people to work on homeland security.

Indeed, given that California produces almost a fifth of the nation's high-tech goods and services, accounts for more than half of America's biotech jobs and is the main centre for the country's aerospace and defence industries, it was logical enough that last November the Department of Homeland Security chose the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, for its first “centre of excellence”. This will try to analyse all risks, including economic, to the country's security, be they terrorist bombs and poisoned water or forest fires and stockmarket crashes.

Arguably, all this spending is excessive Star Wars-like extravagance at the taxpayer's expense. But it is hard to make that case when America's ports, airports, dams and rivers are so obviously vulnerable to terrorism. Now, only one in 20 of the containers entering America's ports is inspected, and few are kept under surveillance after clearing customs. That should mean a huge new market for radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, sensors that could be attached to each container to track its position, and for better imaging devices to see inside the container. USBX, a Santa Monica investment bank, reckons that sales of bomb-screening devices and metal detectors are set to grow by nearly a third annually.

Another intriguing opportunity is in biometrics—identification by unique physical characteristics such as fingerprints, iris scans or facial features. For all the long-term hopes of profit from tackling identity theft, the current boom is largely due to the American government's demand to know more about those visiting the country. From October 26th, some visitors who do not require visas to enter America will have to carry passports with embedded biometric chips. Already, passengers entering from abroad with a visa through, for example, Kennedy airport in New York are photographed and fingerprinted.

As all 19 of the September 11th hijackers had American Social Security numbers—six of them fraudulently obtained—you can see the government's point. But there is a downside. In “Minority Report”, Steven Spielberg's futuristic thriller, advertising hoardings recognise and speak directly to a fugitive Tom Cruise. Mr Spielberg got the idea from a visit to Neven Vision, a Santa Monica firm that has developed software to recognise faces even when moving. That may help in many contexts, from checking a traveller's identity to seeing if a car-driver is falling asleep. Nevertheless, there is also something creepy about this. Remember: Big Brother is watching you.

economist.com

steve



To: steve who wrote (25693)3/26/2004 2:52:40 PM
From: steve  Respond to of 26039
 
Survey Finds Companies Turning to Identity Management to Enable Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
Friday March 26, 8:01 am ET
Netegrity Survey Confirms That Companies Are Still Uncertain about the Requirements for Compliance

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 2004-- Netegrity, Inc. (Nasdaq: NETE - News), a leading provider of identity and access management solutions, today released the findings from a regulatory compliance survey. The survey revealed that senior IT executives and project managers are choosing security and identity management solutions to help facilitate compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

As the deadline for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance looms, companies are grappling with exactly what requirements and efforts are needed to achieve compliance. According to the survey results, 37% of organizations responding don't know where they are in the regulatory compliance process, while 28% of the respondents said they are currently conducting an analysis to see whether compliance gaps exist in their organizations.

Approximately 75% of the survey respondents said that software will play a vital role in helping their organizations comply with regulations, with approximately 60% using identity management solutions. In addition to identity management solutions, 50% of respondents will use document and records management and 43% will use business process management solutions to help in compliance efforts.

Other survey findings include:

* 64% of respondents said that they have developed a cross functional risk management team to address regulatory compliance issues.
* The budget owners for regulatory compliance seem to vary by organization - in 39% of respondents IT controls the budget, while 37% of respondents said that another group owns the budget.
* In terms of budget, 37% of the respondent said they have a separate budget for compliance efforts while 39% of the respondents do not.

Netegrity conducted a survey of approximately 100 senior IT executives and project managers as part of the company's ongoing efforts to educate the market on the use of identity and access management in regulatory compliance.

"Identity and access management solutions can help organizations improve their level of control over critical IT systems by managing users and their access privileges," said Stephanie Feraday, Vice President of Marketing. "Identity and access management solutions can help enable regulatory compliance by providing organizations tighter control over who has access to sensitive information or critical parts of the IT infrastructure. Companies can also build a strong audit trail, making it easier to comply with data privacy and financial regulations."

On Tuesday, March 30th at 1 pm ET, Netegrity and Ernst & Young will host a Web seminar that will discuss the survey findings in more detail and will also discuss Sarbanes-Oxley and how effective IT processes and systems can help enable compliance. To register, go to the events section of www.netegrity.com.

About Netegrity

Netegrity, Inc. is a leading provider of security software solutions that securely manage identities and their access to enterprise information assets, letting business in while keeping risk out. Netegrity provides a comprehensive identity and access management product line for continuously evolving computing environments, including legacy, Web, and service-oriented architectures. Netegrity's flexible, standards-based offerings increase security, reduce administrative costs, and enable revenue enhancement. Supported by a network of over 1200 trained integration consultants and 200 technology partners, Netegrity solutions are licensed to more than 300 million users at over 800 organizations worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 100. For more information, visit netegrity.com.

Netegrity, SiteMinder, IdentityMinder, and TransactionMinder are registered trademarks of Netegrity, Inc. All other product names, service marks, and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Various statements in this release concerning Netegrity's future expectations, plans, and prospects constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors such as, but not limited to, general economic conditions, weakness in the global economy, increased operating expenses, our ability to develop and enhance our products and services or remain competitive in product pricing, competition in the marketplace, including competitors' sales strategies, development and performance of our direct and indirect sales channels, delays in product development, changes in customer and market requirements and standards, market acceptance of new products and technologies, and technological changes in the computer industry, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the Company's reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission including the Company's latest Form 10-K/A, Form 10-Q and any subsequent filings. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent the Company's views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our estimates change and, therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to today.
Contact:

Netegrity, Inc.
Jennifer Menard, 781-530-6202
jmenard@netegrity.com
or
The Horn Group
Brenda Menard, 781-356-7133
bmenard@horngroup.com

Source: Netegrity, Inc.

biz.yahoo.com

Anyone know anything about Sarbanes-Oxley?

steve



To: steve who wrote (25693)3/26/2004 2:57:23 PM
From: steve  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 26039
 
Sarbanes-Oxley
sarbanes-oxley.com

steve