Early and actively involved in the SBIR program from soon after its founding and continuing after the firm achieved publicly traded status, Aware, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWRE) works in the biometrics space. In 1993, the firm provided COTS biometrics software products since to include the firm having been nvolved with the FBI in the design and optimization of the WSQ fingerprint image compression algorithm for the first large-scale fingerprint digitization effort. The firm's products continue to address the range of functions critical to biometric authentication and search using fingerprints, face, and iris, including sample autocapture, image quality assurance, abstraction of capture hardware peripherals, centralized data processing and workflow, subsystem connectivity, and biometric matching algorithms. Products are used to enable identity-centric security solutions with biometrics for applications including law enforcement, border management, credentialing and access control, and defense and intelligence. In addition, it also provides software engineering services comprising project planning and management; system design; software design, development, customization, configuration, and testing; and software integration and installation. The company sells its software products and services through systems integrators, OEMs, and directly to end user customers in the United States and internationally. Aware, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts.