Daon Powers Qatar's National ID Program



    Daon, a global provider of identity assurance software and
    services, announced today that its software is being used to power a
    new national identification program in the State of Qatar. The new
    biometric system which replaces an existing program enrolled its first
    citizen last week and was opened to the public on Sunday, October 7,
    with all national ID cards issued since that date utilizing the Daon
    solution.

    Qatar is one of many nations whose citizens are issued a national
    ID card, which serves as easy and secure proof of identity and
    residency and also provides access to various services and benefits.
    With the increasing risk of identity theft and the growing need to
    better manage citizen security, the Government of Qatar sought to
    increase the level of trust in the identity of individuals who present
    these ID cards. The addition of biometric identifiers on the ID cards
    was selected to provide that additional level of trust.

    Following a rigorous selection process to identify a solution
    provider, Daon was selected in partnership with local integrators
    ProtechT and QPGI, to provide the National Biometric Infrastructure
    for the Qatar National Identification Project. Daon provides the core
    biometric infrastructure product -- DaonEngine(TM) -- and finger, face
    and iris biometric snap-in interfaces to leading biometric matching
    algorithms. As part of the project, Daon is integrating with a number
    of other technology partners.

    "Daon was selected to be part of our team because of their
    unrivalled industry expertise in major biometric programs worldwide in
    addition to their expert resources and innovative products and
    technology," commented Antoine Chamieh of ProtechT. "Daon are a highly
    professional and committed partner of ours and have gone the extra
    mile in helping to ensure program success."

    "This is a major step forward for the State of Qatar Ministry of
    Interior in the implementation of our e-Security Strategy." commented
    Col. Saleh Alkubaisi, Director of Information System Department,
    Ministry of Interior, Qatar. He continued, "Our vision is to build a
    biometric database and public-key infrastructure (PK)I for all people
    living in the state of Qatar in addition to the biographic database we
    have built over the last few years. This vision is becoming a reality
    and our next step is to provide services using biometric data in
    addition to the PKI."

    Commenting on the launch, Tom Grissen, Daon's CEO said, "This
    infrastructure will support almost 1 million people in using their
    biometrics to authenticate themselves to a range of biometrically
    enable applications. We are pleased to add Qatar to the growing list
    of countries who have selected Daon products for an end-to-end
    security scheme based on the principle of one system, multiple
    missions."

    About ProtechT

    ProtechT is a Middle-East based IT Security Solutions and Services
    integrator established to assist organizations in the success of their
    e-transformation by aggregating secure IT Solutions covering: Network
    Security, Biometric Identification Systems, Smart Cards, Digital
    Signatures, Encryption and BS7799 Consulting. For more
    information please visit www.protecht-me.com

    About Daon

    Daon is a leading provider of identity assurance software products
    focused on meeting the needs of governments and commercial
    organizations worldwide. Daon supports customers and system
    integrators in building enterprise solutions requiring the highest
    level of security, performance, scalability, reliability and privacy.
    The DaonApplicationSuite provides a powerful tool for faster
    development of scalable, robust and secure identity registration and
    vetting solutions. Daon's multi-modal authentication infrastructure,
    DaonEngine, integrates seamlessly with IT platforms and applications
    and manages the identity life-cycle of small and large populations.
    Daon's offices are located in Washington DC, Canberra, London and
    Dublin. For further information please visit www.daon.com.