You may not know us by name, and you certainly won’t recognize our faces, but we are pretty confident you have benefited from our technology and services at one point over the past twenty years. If you have ever applied for a job that involves interaction with or access to children and other vulnerable sectors of society, worked as a transportation worker hauling hazardous materials, accessed a US port, or have simply travelled by air in the US, then you have seen what we do firsthand. We specialize in biometric enrollment, authentication and identification and our first priority is always to keep America safe.
Integrated Biometric Technology, LLC (IBT) is comprised of the individuals that were originally tasked with solving and implementing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Transportation Security Administration’s most ambitious biometric enrollment and state criminal background check programs after 9/11. Every member of the IBT executive and management teams has at least a full decade of hands-on experience with biometrics, identity management, document authentication, criminal history background checks, and serving the public. Most of us having been in the business as law enforcement or subject matter experts for well over 30 years now… but we still have more to do.
State and federal law enforcement agencies have always been responsible for checking an individual’s criminal history, but their service delivery model to the public they served was broken. Police are in the business of solving crimes and not fingerprinting applicants for jobs or volunteer work, and police booking stations are not a place most law-abiding citizens want to visit. IBT was the one that broke the old model of job applicants and volunteers going to police stations for ink-and-roll paper fingerprint cards by developing software to submit and transmit digital fingerprints to the FBI over the Internet, encrypted, from dedicated private sector applicant fingerprinting storefronts.
As the use of ‘live scan’ devices began to replace the ink and paper cards in police booking stations, we quickly established the first network of fingerprinting centers across the country. Our concept was well received as it made it easy and convenient for school employees and volunteers in Florida to get their fingerprint check done on their schedule, in a relaxing and hospitable environment, without using messy inks, and at a cost comparable to or lower than that of local police stations. Even more importantly, we were able to turn around an applicant’s criminal history in hours versus the weeks it takes with inked paper cards, ferreting out many bad people with serious offenses that you would never expect could be permitted to be around children or in the workplace.
Next, our Team implemented an important contract with the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration to have background checks performed on truck drivers that haul hazardous materials after credible threats that these vehicles could be carrying explosive devices. Fingerprinting truck drivers all across the US was a daunting task that required creative solutioning, like setting up enrollment centers at truck stops along the highway and in medical offices where truckers are required to go for their annual physicals. The successful implementation of these national biometric enrollment and identification program led IBT to be acquired by L-1 Identity Solutions at the end of 2005. Our ground-breaking work did not end there, as IBT/L-1 was selected to take over the biometric enrollment contract for a second national mandate related to identifying port workers across this great nation (TWIC).
Over the following years IBT/L-1 became the undisputed leader of biometric enrollment programs for national and state-wide criminal history background checks, standing up state-wide fingerprinting networks in over a dozen states. In 2011, our team was responsible for facilitating over millions of criminal history background checks using fingerprints.
Since we had operations all over the country and traveled to help state and federal agencies, we turned our attention to the skies. This was in part self-serving because of our own frustration of the whole ‘belt, shoes, laptop’ airport routine we were mercilessly subjected to on a regular basis. Members of the IBT team were the ones that made it safer and easier for you to fly across America with the roll-out of a national airport security program called TSA PreCheck.
By this time fingerprint biometrics were ubiquitous given Apple’s introduction of their iTouch and facial recognition features found on the iPhone. With biometrics now able to break out of the criminal history context to which it had been confined for over a hundred years, we knew it was time to bring biometric programs that focuses on security and convenience to the mainstream.
IBT Team members are recognized experts in moving large groups of people through security checkpoints in a convenient and expedited manner. We recognized a need to create a solution for stadiums and large events that required an innovative solution to the friction of moving tens of thousands of people from outside the event to inside the event. Our airport experience made the answer obvious, and so members of our Team devised a program with several sports franchises to facilitate and expedite the secure entry of sport fans into stadiums, all the while providing enhanced benefits for those taking advantage of the program.
Our Team decided to bring back the mission and values that started us on this journey in 1999, so we have come back together in 2020 to re-invent the industry and fulfill our original vision. We have come full circle and have returned to our roots, and Integrated Biometric Technology, LLC has been reborn!
We are committed to making IBT the leader of innovative solutions for biometric enrollment and identity management, without sacrificing our reputation in providing unparalleled customer service to our clients and the end-users of our biometric enrollment services. We are bringing the NEXT EVOLUTION of biometric solutions with reliable, easy-to-use biometric enrollment technology. Join us as we continue to work hard to keep America safe without being unduly burdensome for those responsible for this great obligation, and convenient for those for whom we are protecting.
