Viisage to acquire Iridian, become L1 Identity Solutions

BILLERICA, Mass.--Viisage Technology is on its way to achieving a biometric hat trick--"the full range of biometric recognition solutions encompassing iris, finger and face"--with the July 17 announcement of a $35 million acquisition agreement with Iridian Technologies, of Moorestown, N.J. Iridian, the company that initially developed and commercialized iris recognition technology, brings with it the industry-standard iris recognition algorithm also known as Dr. John Dougman's algorithm. Viisage plans to combine Iridian's portfolio with its wholly owned subsidiary SecuriMetrics "to advance the development and implementation of SecuriMetrics' advanced hardware, software and database capabilities" said Greg Peterson, founder and chief executive officer of SecuriMetrics. "The vision that Bob LaPenta [chairman of the Board of Directors of Viisage] had some time ago, of bringing together these very individual, but related, core pieces of biometrics--this last move makes it a complete set," Peterson said. The Iridian agreement is subject to Iridian shareholder approval and is expected to close next month. Viisage also has a merger pending with Identix, a fingerprint and facial recognition biometric company in Minnetonka, Minn., which should close in mid August. Once the Identix merger is complete, the company name will become L1 Identity Solutions, said Doni Fordyce, a partner with L1 Investment Partners. At that time, LaPenta, who, in addition to being chairman of the board of Viisage, is chairman and founder of L1 Investment Partners, "will take on the role of CEO of L1 Industry Solutions," Fordyce explained. For more on the Iridian acquisition, including further comments from Greg Peterson, see the September issue of Security Systems News.