SRI Identity becomes Princeton Identity

PRINCETON, N.J.—Princeton Identity, formerly SRI Identity, on Aug. 29 announced its separation from SRI International, launching as an independent company.

“We basically have taken the entire biometrics line of business [from SRI], with the people, and spun that out into Princeton Identity,” Mark Clifton, CEO of Princeton Identity, told Security Systems News. The spin-off will help the company focus on completing its next generation of products, he said.

Princeton Identity manufactures biometric and identity mangement solutions. Following the spin-off, Clifton said that Princeton Identity's focus will not be “quite as broad as we were trying to do within SRI; we're really going to focus in the professional security space, in government infrastructures, airports, … those types of applications.”

Samsung Ventures was the primary investor in the split from SRI and is now part owner of the business, along with SRI and the company's employees. Samsung will also be working with some of Princeton's products, Clifton said, which will “reduce the cost of the products, make them easier to use and really structure them more for really high-volume applications.”

The company is currently working with a couple of airports, Clifton said, which it will announce in the future. Princeton's technology can also help identity management at countries' border crossings, he said.

Most of the key staff is moving from SRI to Princeton; the company will have between 30 and 40 employees total, Clifton said.

Clifton noted that the company is currently still occupying the same physical location but is currently looking for a new space, about 10,000 square feet, in the Princeton area. “It won't be far from the current location for the convenience of the employees,” he said. The company has an office in Connecticut that it will maintain.

The independent launch of the Princeton Identity “has been in the works for over a year,” Clifton said.