August 22, 2013 – by Peter B. Counter
A contract recently awarded to a large consortium of companies by the German Border Police will have all major German airports equipped with eGates that feature face recognition solutions from Dresden-based biometrics company Cognitec Systems. The contract is the largest of its kind ever seen in Europe, seeing the involved companies on the receiving end of 30 million Euro.
Dubbed the EasyPASS project, the group of companies involved, which also includes secunet Security Networks and Bundesdruckerei, will in addition to providing face recognizing eGates will also distribute ePassports to travelers with the goal of expediting check-in security measures. As with other eGate solutions, the hardware captures a portrait image of the traveler passing through and compares it to the passport photo, scanned by Bundesdruckerei provided document readers, authenticating the subject’s identity.
Cognitec’s facial authentication has been optimized for this purpose, and is compliant to the European Border Police’s guidelines. Alfredo Herrera, Cognitec’s managing director, when speaking to the importance of the project, praised the contract partners, looking forward to the duration of the ten year agreement that could see a total of 280 eGates in Germany’s airports.
Follow Us