The Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), which oversees airport operations for the city of Los Angeles, has awarded a contract modification to Unisys (NYSE: UIS) to upgrade its access control and alarm monitoring system, used to identify the 45,000 airport employees, contractors, police and others who work at the organization’s three airports.

The work is an early step in LAWA’s plan to move to a biometrics-based identification system in which workers at the airports will be identified based on personal attributes such as fingerprints.

LAWA awarded a contract to Unisys to operate and maintain the access control and alarm monitoring system in 2009.

Under the modification, potentially worth an estimated $10.3 million over one year, Unisys will provide services such as site assessments, engineering, installation and training on the system’s new features. Unisys will also upgrade LAWA’s network infrastructure to provide greater levels of reliability and security.

With the new modification, Unisys will replace the airports’ existing magnetic stripe card readers with a contactless system that will make it more difficult for non-authorized individuals to access secure areas. The contactless system can also save money by reducing the wear on cards and readers associated with magnetic stripe systems. The readers will be installed at 870 access points in the airports.

“As the operator of one of the world’s busiest airports, LAWA understands the need for secure airport facilities,” said Steve Soroka, managing partner, homeland security, Unisys Federal Systems. “Through our expertise in physical access control, identity management, video surveillance and mobile communications network systems, Unisys is helping LAWA build and deploy a security environment that can serve as a model for other aviation facilities.”

Unisys has more than 45 years experience providing advanced, mission-critical IT solutions to the aviation industry. More than 35 percent of the world’s air cargo is processed by Unisys solutions, while 19 of the top 25 airlines – and over 200 worldwide – rely on Unisys solutions.

Forward-looking Statements

Any statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements rely on assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. In particular, the statement in this release regarding the potential maximum contract value is based on assumptions that the actual work performed will be consistent with estimates regarding products and services to be delivered and LAWA will order certain additional services, which is entirely within its discretion. Additional discussion of factors that could affect Unisys future results is contained in periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.