SONIC FOUNDRY TO HOLD CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING OFFERING ALTERNATIVE TO NATIONAL ID CARD

As homeland security and the role of biometrics in ensuring it continue to grow, a Congressional briefing on Feb. 12 will discuss a more realistic and timely solution to the managing the avalanche of digital biometric data.

MEDIA ADVISORY

SONIC FOUNDRY TO HOLD CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING
OFFERING ALTERNATIVE TO NATIONAL ID CARD

Senators Kohl and Specter and
Representatives Baldwin, Doyle and Hart to co-sponsor briefing

WHO:   Howard D. Wactlar
Vice Provost for Research Computing and Associate Dean School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
      
Krishna Pendyala
Senior Vice President, Strategy, Sonic Foundry NASDAQ: SOFO)

WHAT:   As government officials search for answers to critical security problems in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the National ID Card continues to be discussed as a key component for accurately identifying potentially threatening individuals. Unfortunately, when one considers the time, money and legislation it would take to issue such a card to every adult living in the U.S., it becomes obvious that such a system is, at best, many years away.

Rather than start from scratch, a more realistic and timely solution, say long-time digital data experts Wactlar and Pendyala, is to manage biometric data in secure databases, as opposed to directly embedding information into an entirely new type of card. This system could then take full advantage of existing forms of IDs -- such as drivers licenses and passports -- and avoid the issuance of biometric-enabled cards and readers.

Sonic Foundry, a rich media company that helps some of the worlds largest entertainment companies capture, index and analyze massive amounts of digital information, has developed a complete system that can capture and manage multiple forms of biometric, media and text information as part of a single, unified identification dossier. This new software will be showcased at a congressional briefing on Feb. 12.

Designed to help government agencies capture and manage multiple types of human identification information, Sonic Foundrys Unified Security View (USV) utilizes continuous enrollment capabilities and a multi-biometric analysis engine to provide a more thorough, timely ID dossier that ensures greater accuracy in the identification process. The USV platform is derived from a seven-year, $20 million Carnegie Mellon University research effort funded by leading government agencies and private corporations, including NASA, DARPA, NSF, Bell Atlantic, Boeing, CNN, Intel and Microsoft.

WHEN: Feb. 12, 2002 at 1:30 p.m.
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2226
Washington, DC

CONTACT: To register for the briefing or to arrange a private interview with Mr. Wactlar and/or Mr. Pendyala, contact Terri Douglas at (303) 581-7760 or at tdouglas@catapultpr-ir.com.    

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