"Biometric technology offers great promise for the future, especially in initiatives that are important to the security of our nation," said Judy Marks, president, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. "Research and development are key to realizing this type of technology's full potential."

The 6,000 square-foot facility, located in West Virginia's High Technology Corridor, will be staffed by operational domain experts and highly trained specialists in service-oriented architecture and biometric technology. The company is also actively soliciting vendors to bring solutions forward for integration into Lockheed Martin's service-oriented biometric framework and extensive testing.

"We're serious about making the BEACON a success," commented Marks. "With some of our best and brightest at the helm, we look forward to working with West Virginia businesses - and others nationwide - to develop leading edge biometric innovation."

The BEACON will leverage two key networks as part of this development effort:

The Global Vision Network - connects Lockheed Martin engineering and laboratory locations, including the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation in Suffolk, VA; Draper Labs in Utah; and Lockheed Martin's CMMI Level 5 biometrics organizations in Orlando, FL and Rockville, Md.

The Multi-Sector Crisis Management Consortium - This organization is a collaboration of multiple government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector entities united in the common goal of improving national and international crisis management and emergency response capabilities using advanced and emerging information technologies.

"In addition to the great resources we can reach through these networks, we're also actively engaged with the Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), which offers the progressive thinking and outstanding research that will be a hallmark of the BEACON," said Carlaine Blizzard, vice president of Secure Enterprise Solutions, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. CITeR is a distinguished academic center at West Virginia University which focuses on advanced biometrics research.

"The Center for Identification Technology Research at West Virginia University, its faculty, students and staff, are excited about the research infrastructure developed by Lockheed Martin," remarked Bojan Cukic, co-director of CITeR. "The creation of BEACON will further increase the opportunities for WVU students and faculty - and support economic growth in the region."

Lockheed Martin has played a role in several biometric technology-based programs in recent years. The corporation designed, developed, deployed and maintains the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), the world's largest law enforcement and criminal history database.

Containing more than 500 million fingerprints, the IAFIS system has trimmed the time it takes to identify criminals from days to only minutes. Additionally, as the lead systems integrator on Verified Identity Pass, Inc.'s Registered Traveler program, Lockheed Martin is responsible for the enrollment, biometrics capture, and access control systems that give credentialed individuals expedited access through airport security checkpoints.

The corporation also has delivered for customers on Homeland Security Presidential-12 (HSPD-12), a presidential mandate that ensures federal buildings and resources are protected by giving vetted workers a standards-based biometric credential for access; Lockheed Martin is also the lead on a credentialing program for maritime workers.

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