March 9, 2014 – by Peter B. Counter
After the heavy focus on consumers and mobility the week prior, this one most recently past put our eyes right back on the verticals, where the mainstreaming of biometrics is having an immensely positive effect.
For proof, one need only take a look at the automated border control (ABC) eGates and Kiosks market. This vertical is extremely specialized, as those who have seen the recent findBIOMETRICS webinar on the subject will clearly understand, and it is on the verge of significant market growth. This week, Acuity Market Intelligence released information from its most recent report giving further insight into this biometric boom which will be significantly driven by airport spending to the tune of $2.2 billion globally on ABC solutions over the next five year period.
The majority of this spending will take place in the region expected to dominate the ABC eGate and kiosk revenue landscape during the measured period: Europe. This forecast bodes well for Cross Match Technologies, who provide a great deal of transportation identity management solutions and have just this past week opened a UK sales office to service the region.
Staying on the topic of border control biometrics, which encompasses a great deal of technology that goes well beyond the eGates and kiosks that are making immigration processes easier, Daon earned a major multifactor identity tech contract with one of the most substantial economies in the world. Primarily focusing on anti-terrorism and preventing illegal immigration, Daon will be deploying a biometric system that applies its philosophy that different situations call for different modalities, leveraging its platform that allows for customers to choose any authentication factor or multifactor that best fits the situation.
Border control is, when all is said and done, a massive deployment in physical access control. But it’s not just nations that need to protect themselves from outside threats, small, medium and large businesses need to start making the biometric upgrade in security too if they want to stay on top of protecting their most critical and sensitive materials, both physical and logical.
EnterTech Systems, Suprema’s US operating partner, announced the availability of a new low-cost fingerprint reader. The BioEntry Plus physical access control solution is in line with EnterTech’s well documented initiative to break down adoption barriers for enterprise customers. Already, the company invests much of its resources on keeping communication lines open with customers, making sure that all questions and need support is addressed immediately, and EnterTech’s BioConnect software enables administrators to manage templates and credentials from a single application. Now, EnterTech has value on its side too.
Speaking of providing solutions for SME customers that demand them, ZKTeco has announced that it has fully completed its transition from security technology provider to full enterprise solutions provider. Particularly, the company is aiming to expand into a cloud based identity management platform that will allow for easier adoption if its proprietary products. Notably, the completed transformation will see ZKTeco’s R&D service center in Xiamen grow to employ about 500 research and development staff by the end of this year.
Finally, this biometric boom would not be possible without strong leadership in the areas of innovation and standards. In this spirit, the European Association for Biometrics unanimously elected Bernard Didier, the founder of Morpho (Safran), as its very first honorary member.
During the announcement, Didier’s fostering attitude towards biometrics was illustrated with a quote he was well known for in the industry:
“Like any technology, the use of biometrics is not intrinsically good or bad; the real challenge is to strike a balance between freedom and security. It’s the role of governments and personal rights organizations to set up regulations allowing governments and business to use this technology correctly.”
It is a good quote to keep in mind as we march forward into an increasingly biometric future.
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