Lockheed Martin Opens Biometrics Center

Jun 5, 2007 4:02 PM

Lockheed Martin opened the Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts (BEACON) center in White Hall, W. Va., to serve as a collaborative center for the corporation, its customers, academia and other industry partners to develop integrated biometrics solutions for both current and future initiatives.

"Biometric technology offers great promise for the future, especially in initiatives that are important to the security of our nation," says Judy Marks, president of Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. "Research and development is 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," Marks says. "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, Fla. 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," says Carlaine Blizzard, vice president of Secure Enterprise Solutions, Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions. CITeR is an academic center at West Virginia University that focuses on advanced biometrics research.

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