Good results during the last quarter for Finsiel's Defense and Security sector, which has consolidated its relations with its customers and concluded new contracts.

 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
At the end of December 2004, Finsiel entered into a contract for the outsourcing of the IT system of the Directorate General for Development Cooperation. The 3-year contract, awarded following a competition, confirms Finsiel as the operator of the Directorate General’s information systems. The new contract, besides the ordinary management and maintenance of the applications, also envisages broad-ranging system development and extension activities, with respect to management activities, with a view to strengthening the image of "development cooperation" as an "institution" of the Italian State, while at the same time providing online services both within and outside the department. The Services Portal will have an institutional section – the cooperation "showcase" – which will provide a complete and shared map of the development cooperation projects and activities nationwide; access to web services for cooperation stakeholders (regional, provincial and local authorities) and a section dedicated to internal services and reserved to the Department staff.

 

Ministry of the Interior
Finsiel has entered into new contracts also with respect to identification and security systems, a field in which Finsiel has developed an extensive experience in the various applications of biometric systems - from personal identification systems, to (physical and logical) access control, and area control. In particular, Finsiel operates as a system integrator using its know how to select, organize and integrate the technological platforms available on the market, providing consulting and continuous training services to its customers.

 

After a trial period conducted in partnership with Green Bit, Finsiel has entered into a contract with the State Police (provincial and regional laboratories of the Forensic Police) and the Carabinieri for supplying, maintaining, supporting and training with Visa Scan, with regard to both applications and systems. The solution is a personal identification tool based on the acquisition of digital fingerprints, plus the print of the entire palm and the image of the face, in line with the systems the use of which is spreading worldwide, to ensure increasingly enhanced identification, also by comparing biometric data.

 

The BEA-Platform is the platform chosen and marketed by Finsiel for access management purposes (identity and user profile checks) to the internet/intranet portal of the Forensic Police. Access to the portal occurs primarily from portable computers, which connect to the central system from the various locations in which the police work (e.g., banks and airports), and provides services also to other law enforcement bodies (Carabinieri and Tax Inspectorate). Therefore, hardware security and the certain identification of the operator is of key importance.

 

Spaid 500 is the evolution of the Peripheral Fingerprint Acquisition System - Spaid, developed by Finsiel and which has been used by the law enforcement agencies and prison authorities for a number of years now. The previous version, based on the use of a portable computer, required the installation of all the necessary software on a dedicated machine, with very high costs. On the contrary, with the Spaid 500 license, it is possible to connect via USB with the system of any PC: the

Spaid user and PC user are physically separate, but they can talk and exchange information in secure conditions, while the considerably reduced costs favors the widespread use of the system, especially at police stations. To date, 500 licenses of the new version of Spaid have been given.

 

At the end of December 2004, a first agreement was entered into with Adobe for supplying web licenses and services, according to the security standards certified by CNIPA and the European Union. With the Adobe platform the law enforcement agencies can exchange (signed and encrypted) information in xml format, with respect to both simple and riskless operations, such as taking stock of the vehicle fleet, based on the characteristics and age of the vehicles, and transmitting sensitive data, such as those relating to investigations under way or to instructions for police operations. Finsiel is responsible for integrating the technologies and provides assistance and maintenance.

 

Ministry of Justice
Finsiel has entered into a contract with the Prison Services Department of the Ministry of Justice for the functional management of the AFIS - matriculation system, for managing prison inmate details, recording movements within the prison circuit (arrival, transfers, release), and with respect to probation services (Community Service for Adult Offenders). To ensure maximum security in identifying individuals subject to detention, and in certifying the information that accompanies their daily lives, Finsiel has supported the integration of the Justice system and the Criminalpol identification system, based on the national central fingerprint database. The primary aim of the Information System is to ensure the collection of the largest possible amount of data on each individual (subject to imprisonment or house arrest) in the care of the Justice Department, and to contribute to managing the prison system as a whole. The database, whose data go back 20 years, constitutes the National Prison Service Database and:

Ministry of Defense
Lastly, with regard to the processing of military messages, Finsiel will be responsible for the maintenance of the messaging systems of the Italian Navy and Air Force, and assist other military bodies in developing their communications centers. The customer has provided a positive assessment of the work carried out by Finsiel to date, and has increased the number of orders, also in the administrative and management sectors.