Hodge said he and the others decided to switch to the software package from Viisage. Viisage offered some technical advantages over Visionics, he said, when analyzing faces in poorly-lit settings, as would be the case at the stadium's entrance gates. Todd says the selection of a software vendor was Graphco's call and privacy concerns were not a factor. He doesn't remember Atick or anyone else asking him to announce use of the software before the game. "Joseph never expressed those concerns to me," Todd said.
Atick says he simply told his local representatives they couldn't install the software without the announcement, which he said there wasn't time to arrange. He disputes the contention by Colatosti and Hodge that Visionics lost the contract.
Whatever the case, the football game clearly presented a big showcase opportunity for Viisage, and the company saw it as part of a recovery strategy. Viisage, created as a spinoff from defense contractor Lau Technologies, initially found some success making driver's licenses and voter-ID cards, lines that still account for 85 percent of its revenue. But it lost money in 1997, 1998 and 1999, as it bid too aggressively for contracts.
Colatosti, a veteran of Digital Equipment Corp., was made Viisage's chief executive and took on the task of developing new markets for facial-recognition software tools initially developed by a MIT professor, Alex Pentland. Looking for more sales to the private sector, Viisage still touts its Super Bowl role and even included a photo of the game on the cover of its annual report.
Following the criticism, Colatosti said, he decided to pull back. He said he passed up the chance to use the software with the Ybor City cameras after the game, calling the setting inappropriate. (Atick and Todd say Viisage lost that contract on technical grounds.) Colatosti said he also turned down requests from other towns, including Virginia Beach, Virginia, looking to use his software to scan public settings.
He said he hopes to drum up more sales to private-sector users like retailers, looking to catch shoplifters, and banks. The software might be more appropriate in some public settings like airports and stadiums if properly disclosed, Colatosti said.
RSS