WALL, N.J., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BIO-key International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BKYI), a leader in finger-based biometric identification solutions, today announced the launch of TruDonor ID, a fully hosted identity solution tailored to address the needs of the blood collection industry.

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With TruDonor ID, blood centers of any size now have a fast, convenient and accurate method to positively identify donors. Following on earlier successes in the blood donor identification market, BIO-key's introduction of this secure SaaS (Software as a Service) donor ID solution provides an affordable, fully supported, web based solution that staff can access from anywhere and at anytime.  

Leveraging BIO-key's award winning biometric identification software, TruDonor ID accurately identifies donors without the need for them to produce IDs or remember donor ID numbers. This virtually eliminates the potential of misidentification of donors and it reduces the time and errors associated with staff validating identities and manually entering information. TruDonor ID interfaces to existing blood management platforms or can operate as a standalone identity solution.

"This is a huge breakthrough not only for blood centers but for the biometric identification industry as well," stated Mike DePasquale, CEO of BIO-key International.  "Offering TruDonor ID as a SaaS solution eliminates one of the biggest hurdles faced by every blood center - costly IT expenditures on equipment, staff and maintenance. With TruDonor ID, blood centers have secure 24/7 access to their donor database on a superior computing environment supported by expert technicians." Mr. DePasquale also noted that "deployment times are far shorter since we eliminate the typical implementation learning curve associated with installing a licensed software solution.  This is a first for the Identity Management Industry, a first for BIO-key and the beginning of a whole new era in the deployment of advanced security solutions including finger biometrics."

In June of 2009 IDC and Gartner Research both issued growth projections of over 20% annually for the SaaS market. IDC reported that "The harsh economic climate will actually accelerate the growth prospects for the software as a service (SaaS) model as vendors position offerings as right-sized, zero-CAPEX alternatives to on-premise applications."  Additionally IDC found "The percentage of U.S. firms which plan to spend at least 25% of their IT budgets on SaaS applications will increase from 23% in 2008 to nearly 45% in 2010."

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. Our 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. (http://www.bio-key.com)

BIO-key Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release 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, the impact on our business of the recent financial crisis in the global capital markets and negative global economic trends, and 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, 2008 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 also undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE BIO-key International, Inc.