BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- From ShowStoppers @ MWC 2014– ImageWare Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: IWSY) (IWS), a leader in mobile and cloud-based, multi-modal biometric identity management solutions, will showcase its next-generation cloud identity management and authentication service, GoMobile Interactive™ (GMI), and more at Mobile World Congress 2014.

Mobile World Congress will be held at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain February 24-27, 2014.  Visit ImageWare at booth 7K08 Hall 7, mobile payment pavilion.

As Silicon India recently reported, the number of active cell phones will reach 7.3 billion by 2014. In other words, there will be more in-use cell phones than there are people on the planet right now.  In 2013, the United States saw more than 12 million identity fraud victims at a dollar cost of $24 billion, with the average financial loss per identity theft totaling $4,930.  Goode Intelligence predicts that by the end of 2015 there will be 619 million people using biometrics on their mobile device.

"Smartphones are having a huge and growing impact on the bottom line in retail, banking and financial services. Mobile sales hit $5.9 billion in Q1 2013, nearly 11% of total web sales of $56.0 billion, comScore says. In the first quarter, total U.S. retail sales grew 1% year over year, web sales grew 13% and mobile sales grew 31%. Mobile commerce is growing far faster than the web," said Jim Miller, chairman and CEO of ImageWare Systems. "Worldwide mobile payments are expected to become a $400 billion market by 2015 and global enterprise businesses will be at the forefront to protect themselves and their consumers. We are pleased to demonstrate such an important service and technology at MWC 2014 with the IT security industry's most reliable form of identity theft protection for accessing their gateway accounts via desktop and mobile devices."

GoMobile Interactive (GMI) is a cloud-based, multi-modal biometric mobile identity management solution that enables messaged based unparalleled identity verification for existing and new mobile banking, mobile wallet, and other mobile applications that require a next-generation method to automate and verify the identity of the customer. GMI ensures fraud protection now at risk though legacy services and verifies user transactions securely and quickly. ImageWare GMI replaces unsecure, vulnerable usernames, passwords and pin-codes with voice, facial, palm, finger and iris recognition, among others. GMI brings U.S. government-hardened and tested high-end security to an increasingly mobile world.  Messaged based verification is bundled with GMI, and is also available as a separate application, or service.

GoMobile Interactive is built upon the award winning IWS Biometric Engine (IWS BE), a SOA based server platform that enables advanced biometric data process and management with ESB connectivity. Key features of the IWS BE include:

Scalability: Enroll, identify & verify unlimited population sizes, Interoperability: Hardware & algorithm independent processing
, Easy: Future-proof, plug-and-play software development kits (SDK), 
Adaptable: Product modules that can be implemented together or individually, 
Flexible: License and/or subscription service offering, 
Compatible: Compatible with most biometric products

ImageWare's services are delivered for a one-time enrollment fee per new customer and a monthly subscription fee basis that will vary per customer. Services are to be delivered via the Fujitsu Trusted Public Cloud S5 platform providing fully-configured, secure, and on-demand IT infrastructure for the ImageWare CloudID SaaS.

The challenges of complex password requirements and various kinds of tokens for mobile access are driving information security and IAM leader's interest in biometric authentication. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2016, 30% of enterprises will employ biometric methods for user authentication from mobile devices, up from 5% today. (Source: Gartner: Good Authentication Choices, May 2013).

Jim Miller, concluded: "Gartner's estimate of 30% enterprise adoption for biometrics as the authentication standard by 2016 presents a huge opportunity for ImageWare in the projected $400 billion dollar market place estimated for mobile payments by 2015."

About ImageWare Systems, Inc.
ImageWare Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: IWSY) is a leading developer of mobile and cloud-based identity management solutions, providing biometric, secure credential and law enforcement technologies. Scalable for worldwide deployment, ImageWare's biometric product line includes a multi-biometric engine that is hardware and algorithm independent, enabling the enrollment and management of unlimited population sizes. ImageWare's identification products are used to manage and issue secure credentials, including national IDs, passports, driver's licenses, smart cards and access control credentials. ImageWare's digital booking products provide law enforcement with integrated mug shot, fingerprint livescan and investigative capabilities. ImageWare is headquartered in San Diego, CA, with offices in Portland, OR, Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, Ontario. For more information on ImageWare Systems, Inc., visit www.iwsinc.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure
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SOURCE ImageWare Systems, Inc.