ImageWare IWS Biometric Image Quality Assessment and Enhancement to Help Government Organizations Save Time and Costs Associated with Biometric Enrollment

SAN DIEGO, CA, September 22, 2006 - ImageWare® Systems, Inc. (AMEX: IW), a leading developer and provider of identity management solutions, today announced a partnership with CyberExtruder to help prevent fraud and enable multi-dimensional facial recognition that will enhance biometric identity management applications including Driver Licenses, Passports, Visas, Watch Lists, among other highly-secure applications.

ImageWare has integrated CyberExtruder’s AutoMesh software into its IWS™ Biometric Image Quality Assessment & Enhancement (IWS Biometric IQA&E) solution, a biometric image enhancement and assessment solution that assists government organizations with the ability to evaluate and enrich millions of biometric images automatically, saving time and costs associated with biometric enrollment while maintaining image and database integrity.

“The biometric identity management industry is demanding next generation technology to meet the more stringent [identification] requirements, and ImageWare is answering its needs,” said Jim Miller, ImageWare’s chairman and CEO. “Our customers have requested enterprise-class tools for assessing biometric image quality and enhancing images to eliminate identity fraud, save time and cost, and improve identification system performance. The integration of CyberExtruder’s AutoMesh software with ImageWare’s Biometric Image Quality Assessment & Enhancement tool further streamlines the identification process, converting two-dimensional (2D) facial images to three-dimensional (3D) within seconds. This is a critical tool for any highly-secure identity management program.”

“We are excited to combine our expertise and capabilities with a world-class partner like ImageWare,” said Larry Gardner, CEO of CyberExtruder. “This partnership marks a significant initiative in the biometric identity management space and offers customers the most comprehensive image quality assessment and enhancement tool for enhancing the accuracy of facial recognition.“

About IWS Biometrics IQA&E
The IWS Biometric IQA&E improves the accuracy and effectiveness of biometric template enrollments. The software may be used standalone or in conjunction with the IWS™ Biometric Engine®, a biometric identity management platform for multi-biometric searching and matching that is scalable, technology agnostic and allows organizations to manage population databases of unlimited sizes.

This solution provides automated image quality assessment with respect to relevant image quality standards from organizations such as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), International Organization for Standards (ISO) and American Association of Motor Vehicle Association (AAMVA). IWS Biometric IQA&E also enables organizations to conduct multi-dimensional facial recognition which further enhances accuracy for numerous applications including driver licenses, passports and watch lists.

IWS Biometric IQA&E automatically provides real-time biometric image quality analysis and feedback to improve the overall effectiveness of biometric images thus increasing the biometric verification performance, and maintaining database and image data integrity. IWS Biometric IQA&E provides a complete platform that includes an image enhancement library for biometric types including face, finger and iris.

The image assessment process occurs automatically or manually, and passes high-quality images to the IWS™ Biometric Engine®, or attempts to automatically enhance the image and reduce the number of poor quality submissions of images. The manual mode benefits from automated quality assessments, improving administrator productivity with their manual analysis and manual processing of the available biometric images. Return on Investment (ROI) is achieved through cost savings from avoiding the re-enrollment process.

With IWS Biometric IQA&E, biometrics images will be compared with a reference and assessed as to the need for any enhancement which will automatically alert the image quality enhancement function to provide enhancements to the biometric images. If the assess and enhance process does not produce an image of acceptable quality, the image will then be sent to a queue for manual image enhancement. Acceptable images received from the quality process will be delivered to the IWS™ Biometric Engine® for template generation and storage. Additional features include:

• Manual and Auto image manipulation such as size, contrast, brightness, saturation and color levels in accordance to ISO compliance for reliable biometric storage
• Customizable plug-and-play imaging library which can be integrated into existing applications
• Advanced face extraction and eye finding algorithms
• Advanced graphic filters for fingerprints
• Integration with IWS™ Biometric Engine® for searching and match capabilities
• Supports automated operation with the IWS™ Biometric Engine® in a Microsoft Windows 2003 server environment, and manual operation on Windows XP workstations

IWS Biometric Image Quality Assessment & Enhancement is available immediately. For more information, please contact sales@iwsinc.com or call 800-842-4199.

About CyberExtruder
CyberExtruder is a software development company whose patent pending core technology enables the automatic conversion of a single two dimensional (“2D”) facial image (e.g. passport photo) to an accurate three dimensional (“3D”) model of the subject’s face or head. The process happens in less than one second. This technology has significant applications in two industry segments: (1) as an enabling technology in the biometric technology segment of the security industry, and (2) as a personalization technology in the entertainment / communications industry. More information on CyberExtruder is available at www.cyberextruder.com.

About ImageWare Systems, Inc.
ImageWare Systems, Inc. (AMEX:IW), is a leading developer and provider of identity management solutions, providing biometric, secure credential, law enforcement and digital imaging technologies. Scalable for worldwide deployment, the Company's biometric product line includes a multi-biometric engine that is hardware and algorithm independent, enabling the enrollment and management of unlimited population sizes. ImageWare's identification products are used to manage and issue secure credentials including national IDs, passports, driver licenses, smart cards and access control credentials. ImageWare's digital booking products provide law enforcement with integrated mug shot, fingerprint Livescan and investigative capabilities. The Company also provides comprehensive digital workflow solutions for the professional photography industry. ImageWare is headquartered in San Diego, with offices in Washington DC and Canada. For more information visit www.iwsinc.com.

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