[Infowarrior] - TSA approves two more firms for Registered Traveler

[Richard Forno]

TSA approves two more firms for Registered Traveler
By Alice Lipowicz, Contributing Writer
http://mobile.gcn.com/articles/vol1_no1/42849-1.html

01/02/07
Two more companies have been approved by the Transportation Security
Administration as providers of the Registered Traveler program designed to
speed enrolled travelers through airports nationwide.

The agency announced on its Web site that Unisys Corp., Blue Bell, Pa., and
Verant Identification Systems Inc. of Rochester, N.Y., were certified by the
agency in December as having met the minimum requirements for offering
registered traveler services to sponsoring entities. A month before a
subsidiary of Verified Identity Pass Inc. of New York became the first
company approved.

Registered Traveler is a program sponsored by the Homeland Security
Department in which frequent travelers voluntarily enroll in advance their
biometric and personal information in exchange for expedited passage through
airport security. The travelers pay a fee to participate. Until now,
Registered Traveler has been operated as a demonstration project at a
handful of airports.

In the upcoming nationwide rollout, the program will be sponsored by
airports and operated by service providers approved by the TSA. To date
Unisys, Verant and Verified Identity Pass are the only authorized providers,
though more may be approved.

Unisys officials said in recent interviews with media outlets that they
expect to begin operating a Registered Traveler program at Reno/Tahoe
International Airport. Unisys operated pilot programs at the Minneapolis,
Los Angeles and Houston airports.

Verified has been operating a pilot program at Orlando International Airport
in Florida since June 2005. Verified said in a recent news release it
expects to begin initiating Registered Traveler services this month at John
F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as well as at airports in San
Jose, Calif., Indianapolis and Cincinnati, and expanding to as many as 20
airports within a year.

Lockheed Martin Corp., which was systems integrator for enrollments and
biometric capture for Verified at the Orlando program, will continue as a
subcontractor to Verified Identity Pass for account management, network
management and operations. General Electric Co., which earlier this year
became a partner in Verified Identity Pass, will handle enrollment.

In related news, the American Association of Airport Executives, which
operates a clearinghouse that has been designated by the TSA as the central
information management system for Registered Traveler, said it has signed
agreements with Unisys, Verant, Verified Identity Pass and Vigilant
Solutions Inc. of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. to utilize the clearinghouse for
Registered Traveler.

Vigilant operates a Registered Traveler program at the Jacksonville airport
and expects to receive TSA approval shortly for participating in the
national rollout, Chuck Crossman, senior vice president of Vigilant, said an
interview today.

Also participating in Registered Traveler pilot projects was EDS Corp. of
Plano, Texas, which operated pilot programs at Boston and Washington
airports.

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer for Government Computer News¹ affiliate
publication, Washington Technology.