IDEX Biometrics ASA — M&A Activity 2014

Mar 31, 2014

IDEX and BIO-key sign license agreement to deliver advanced biometric solutions for mobility market

IDEX and BIO-key sign license agreement to deliver advanced biometric solutions for mobility market

The agreement will provide the next generation of secure identification

solutions for mass market consumer devices.

BIO-key International, Inc. (OTCBB: BKYI) and IDEX ASA (OSE: IDEX) have entered

into a license agreement and will collaborate to deliver a sensor-to-server

infrastructure solution for trustworthy, yet simple and low-cost, in device and

online authentication for consumer applications and in particular the

smartphone, tablet, and PC markets. The software and hardware combination will

be capable of delivering the most accurate, flexible and cost-efficient

fingerprint biometric solutions available. BIO-key is a global leader in

fingerprint biometric identification solutions, advanced mobile authentication

and identity assurance technologies and IDEX is a leader in low cost, high

quality fingerprint sensor technologies.

IDEX ASA has since 1997 been a pioneering company in the field of capacitive

fingerprint sensing technology offering its award-winning miniaturized

SmartFinger swipe and touch fingerprint sensors for mass market applications.

SmartFinger is ideally suited for smartphones, tablets, PCs and other devices.

BIO-key develops and supplies its NIST-validated, highly accurate fingerprint

matching software and WEB-key secure multifactor authentication platform. When

combined, the IDEX/BIO-key solutions will provide handset, tablet, PC as well as

other device manufacturers and value-added resellers the most accurate and

efficient identity assurance and fingerprint authentication available - both on

device and in the cloud. Gartner analyst Gregg Kreizman predicted recently that

by 2020, 60% of all digital identities interacting with enterprises would come

from an external provider, and fellow Gartner analyst Ant Allan predicts that by

2015, 30% of users accessing corporate networks or high-value Web applications

from smartphones or tablets will use biometric authentication. This is the

market that IDEX and BIO-key are positioned to capitalize on.

"The mobile market is rapidly adopting fingerprint sensors for convenient user

authentication, leading to secure payment solutions and opening up opportunities

for new identity-based applications. IDEX and BIO-key offer a combined solution

for secure user identification, leveraging IDEX' best in class fingerprint

sensors, a new generation of powerful recognition algorithms, together with

proven BIO-key secure multifactor authentication software. The combined solution

and IP creates the potential for significant value-added services to be

developed with market leading customers," stated Dr. Hemant Mardia, CEO of IDEX.

"IDEX chose BIO-key after an extensive evaluation of the available fingerprint

matching algorithms in the market to pair with our leading sensor products, and

feel that BIO-key's accuracy in mobile applications, combined with their vision

for advanced secure biometric systems, make them the ideal partner for IDEX,"

said Ralph W. Bernstein, CTO of IDEX

"This is a significant validation of BIO-key's commitment to mobile and the

consumer market as a core component of our overall strategy. The out-of-the-box

combination of IDEX's outstanding sensor technology with BIO-key highly regarded

algorithm technology promises to be disruptive in the marketplace. Our combined

strengths solve for technological, architectural and economic weaknesses in

contemporary fingerprint deployments and will provide higher fingerprint

accuracy rates, at faster matching speeds, in more operating system

environments, with more efficient yields and costs," stated Mike DePasquale,

BIO-key Chairman and CEO. "With market estimates approaching billions of

biometrically enabled mobile devices over the coming years, we believe this

alliance will command a significant market share, and change the dialog about

what biometrics can do for mobile identity trust and security."

"The consumer market for mobile biometric authentication is emerging quickly,"

said Jim Sullivan, BIO-key Vice President of Strategy and Business Development.

"That market will rely on flexible solutions that can securely connect the

endpoint fingerprint scanner devices into the existing Identity and Access

Management (IAM) infrastructures that enterprises, mobile carriers and online

service providers already operate. BIO-key has longstanding partnerships with

the leading IAM platforms such as CA Siteminder, IBM ISAM/ESSO, Oracle Access

Manager, major EHR platforms from EPIC and AllScripts, and patient ID solutions

from Healthcare-ID. As a result, the combined IDEX/BIO-key solution will be

quickly deployable for enterprises who want trustworthy and simple

authentication options for their users' devices. We will give our mutual

customers the best of all worlds - for example, in-device FIDO (Fast Identity

Online) authentication, but with the confidence and usability of BIO-key's NIST-

tested matching inside, as well as 'FIDO plus Trust' with a trusted service

performing biometric identity proofing before activating a user via FIDO. The

combined solution will also work seamlessly with our recently announced OpenID

Multi-Factor Authentication Solution (MFAS), developed in collaboration with

InterDigital."

31 March 2014

IDEX ASA

Contacts:

BIO-key International, Inc.: Jay Meier, VP Corp. Dev., Jay.meier@bio-key.com,

+1-651-789-6116

IDEX ASA: Hemant Mardia, CEO, hm@idex.no, +44-7788-922-171

About BIO-key

BIO-key International, Inc., headquartered in Wall, New Jersey, develops and

delivers advanced identification solutions to commercial and government

enterprises, integrators, and custom application developers. BIO-key's award-

winning, high performance, scalable, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy biometric

finger identification technology accurately identifies and authenticates users

of wireless and enterprise applications. The solutions are used in local

embedded OEM products as well as some of the world's largest identification

deployments to improve security, guarantee identity, and help reduce identity

theft. BIO-key's technology is offered directly or by market leading partners

around the world. www.bio-key.com

About IDEX

IDEX ASA at Fornebu, Norway, specializes in fingerprint imaging and recognition

technology. IDEX's vision is to ensure individuals a safe, secure, and user-

friendly use of personal ID. IDEX has developed the award-winning SmartFinger

technology platform based on the Company's core intellectual property, including

the patented fingerprint imaging principle, sensing scheme and chip design.

Combined with core software solutions for imaging and authentication, the

SmartFinger technology enables on-device enrollment, template storage and

verification within the very same module. SmartFinger solutions can be

seamlessly integrated into a variety of embedded applications such as mobile

phones, one-time password devices, Smartcards, payment and ID cards, payment

terminals, access control devices and biometric security and login tokens.

www.idex.no

BIO-key safe harbor statement

Certain statements contained in this notice may be construed as "forward-looking

statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

(the "Act"). The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects,"

"anticipates," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify

forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on

management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently

available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Act.

These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause

actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of these

statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our

history of losses and limited revenue, our ability to develop new products and

evolve existing ones, wider market acceptance of biometric technologies, our

ability to raise additional financing, our ability to attract and retain key

personnel. For a more complete description of these and other risk factors that

may affect the future performance of BIO-key International, Inc., see "Risk

Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December

31, 2012 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking

statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no

obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements whether

to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or otherwise.

--o--

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section

5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

[HUG#1772776]