fB
ZK Software has been in the Biometric business since
1985. How do you see the market for Fingerprint
Biometrics now?
ZK
Yes, ZK started to develop
fingerprint algorithms in 1985, and business operation began in
1998. During the past 20 years, we have seen ZK grow
in every aspect, but especially during the past 2 years. In my
opinion, the fingerprint market is booming now. In the Asia Region,
the commercial market is larger, while in the USA market,
government projects still occupy the major biometric market share.
But in 1 or 2 years, the situation will be totally changed and the
commercial civil market will be in the leading position.
fB
Can you please describe your biometric product
line-up? Have you introduced any new products this past year?
ZK
Our biometric product line-up
includes 3 groups. The first group includes base products, such as
algorithm, license, sensor, embedded modules, etc. The second group
consists of middle products such as our fingerprint embedded
standalone modules like the ZEM100, ZEM200
and ZEM300. The third group includes the finished products such as
fingerprint T&A, Access control, doorlock, USB and safebox.
Since we are the manufacturer and have our own R&D center, we
provide OEM/ODM from PCB design and molding to Linux and Windows
operating system integration. We released our products F10, F4+
A11, which supports Linux, USB, web server and self-defined
functions key. They are welcomed and desired by our European and
USA customers.
fB
What are some of the advantages of your products
versus some of the others in the marketplace?
ZK
We have 90 R&D staff at ZK and
we export our products to more than 65 countries with nearly 50
million people now using ZK products. So compared with other
companies -- products, our key advantages are
first, our algorithm is 1:many, the speed is less than 1.5 second
and the fingerprint identification speed is 5,000/second. Secondly,
because we are an OEM/ODM manufacturer, we can meet
customers -- customization requirements. This is a
key strength. Thirdly, innovation is also a ZK advantage with a
release of new products almost every 2 months!
fB
Can you describe some of these new products?
ZK
Yes, we will soon be releasing our
iClock and feel that this product will change the history of the
Time & Attendance industry! iClock does not require software.
No matter where you physically are, you can access this clock. You
can manage the clocks in difference places intensively and
employees can query their attendance themselves. Users can also
access weather forecasts, release a notice or multimedia news to
the clocks throughout the organization.
We have also released our
fingerprint embedded development
platform—multimedia Linux ZEM 300 1.0 on July 1,
2006, which adopts 32 bit parallel high-speed CPU ZK6001 with main
frequency 400MHZ that can be conveniently connected with TFT, USB
Host, WIFI, GPRS/CDMA and such external equipments. Its identifying
speed can reach 10,000-20,000/S based on the 1: many verification
mode.
fB
You do a lot of work in the financial sector. Is this
a growth area for ZK? Can you describe a typical deployment in this
area?
ZK
Yes, in China, not all the companies
have an Administration Department, so the financial areas often
handles the payroll work and we provide the complete solution for
such companies. We have developed an excellent reputation in this
area. We also have worked extensively with the Chinese Government
on projects such as society security, driver license and student
examination identification projects.
fB
We are seeing significant growth in Time &
Attendance applications worldwide. Can you please comment?
ZK
As everyone knows, China has large
populations and each company no matter what size all need solutions
to manage their employees -- Time & Attendance
to eliminate things like buddy punching. ZK has secured
approximately 90% of the Chinese T&A market because we provide
the best solution, highest quality, best service and lowest prices.
It is our goal to expand this success globally.
fB
Has this past year been a good one for your
company?
ZK
Last year was a prosperous year for
ZK. We were able to double our revenue over 2004.
In 2005, we sold more than 200,000
units and we are very proud to have established our support center
in USA to allow ZK to continue to support our U.S. customers with
the same level of service as we do here in China.
fB
How do you see the marketplace for the coming
year?
ZK
We are very positive about the
market in general and coming off the success that we have seen over
the past year, we expect 2007 to also be prosperous year for ZK. We
will be releasing many new products and solutions and have plans to
make ZK a significant biometric company.
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