Australian Biometric Border Project Taking Shape with Unisys, IDEMIA Contract

“IDEMIA says its solution is designed to support up to a billion identities.”

Unisys and IDEMIA will collaborate on a biometric matching system to be used in Australia’s border control efforts.

The project comes by way of the Australian Department of Home Affairs, with Unisys acting as the prime contractor. Unisys will provide its Unisys Stealth(Identity) biometric identity platform, while IDEMIA brings to the table its MorphoBSS engine, which offers biometric matching algorithms for facial and fingerprint recognition, and support for additional modalities as needed. IDEMIA says its solution is designed to support up to a billion identities.

In a statement announcing the project, IDEMIA explained that the “Enterprise Biometric Identity Service” to be developed will underlie “in particular the processing of visas, border crossings and citizenship applications.” The company also noted that it “pioneered Automated Border Control in Australia through the implementation of Smartgates since 2004”.

The contract’s announcement comes after last month’s news that Sydney Airport is embarking on a biometric boarding system for passengers, and a press briefing from Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton indicating that government authorities are looking to biometric border screening to deal with challenging traveler volumes. The developments suggest that a very large biometric border project is getting underway in the country, with Unisys and IDEMIA now playing an important role.

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March 19, 2018 – by Alex Perala