News Roundup: Border Control, National ID, Elections

Last week at FindBiometrics border control and national ID made the headlines while we continued to unpack our 13th annual Biometrics Year in Review. Fingerprints and mobility took up a great portion of the headlines and we took a look at some of the first market research reports of 2016.

Here is a review of the top news in global identity management from the week that was.

Biometrics In Review, Biometrics Looking Forward

Last week we revealed the top biometric modalities of 2015 as chosen by the respondents to our Biometrics Year in Review. Fingerprints took the top spot on the list, and speaking on the topic of the popularity of said modality, we published an interview with Jörgen Lantto, CEO of Fingerprint Cards (FPC)—the company behind Europe’s best performing stock of last year.

Looking to the year ahead, we saw a variety of encouraging reports on the biometrics markets as well as a survey revealing increased acceptance for facial recognition in the American workplace.

Biometrics Year in Review: Top Modalities

In Conversation With Jörgen Lantto, President and CEO, FPC

Crossmatch Bolsters Executive Team With New Appointments

Global Biometric Sensor Market to Reach $1.8B by 2023: TMR

Global Biometrics Market to Reach $41.5B by 2020: BCC Research

‘Next Generation Biometrics Market’ to Reach $29B by 2022: Stratistics MRC

Poll Hints at Americans’ Acceptance of Workplace Biometrics

Fingerprints

The top modality of last year was a hot topic this week as Precise Biometrics expanded its list of hardware partners through new software licensing agreements. BIO-key International, meanwhile, issued a shareholder update that highlighted the company’s impressive Q4 revenues. That’s not all, of course, as fingerprints were also a major force in the mobility headlines too.

Precise Biometrics Enters Licensing Agreement with J-Metrics

Precise Biometrics Enters Licensing Agreement With Gingytech

BIO-key CEO Highlights Positive Trends in Shareholder Update

Mobility

Fingerprint Cards and Precise Biometrics were a major force in the mobile bometrics news last week with integrations of their technologies into new handsets from Coolpad, QiKu and Xaiomi. We saw a new app that allows for fingerprint sensor phones to be leveraged as biometric tokens, learned how Ford plans to integrate biometrics into its cars, and took a look at HID Global’s predictions for this year’s secure identity trends.

Here are the top mobile biometrics headlines from last week:

FPC Scores New Integration, Telekom Prize Nomination

KodeKey Turns Smartphones Into Biometric Authentication Tokens

New Apple Patent Describes Bezel-Based Touch ID

Precise Biometrics Tech Included With Coolpad Note 3 Lite

Coolpad Sticks With FPC1025 Sensor for New Device

QiKu Flagship Ultimate Features an FPC1025 Sensor

Mobile, IoT Factor Big Into HID’s Secure Identity Predictions

Fingerprint Sensors To Adorn All New Motorola Smartphones

Ford Looks to Leverage Biometrics and Wearables

MTN Nigeria Begins Efforts to Register User Biometrics

Border Control, National ID, Elections

MorphoTrust USA (Safran) announced last week that over two million travelers have enrolled in the TSA’s PreCheck biometric screening program. Meanwhile we heard from Vision-Box, which has completed an eGate deployment in Brazil’s Viracopos International Airport.

Voter ID was in the news too, with Daon announcing that it is helping to build a biometric voting system in Somaliland, and an update from the Philippines where the electoral commission has begun to deregister citizens who missed the biometric enrollment window for this year’s national election.

News out of Hungary had us talking about national ID as well, with biometric eIDs having been launched in the country.

Take a look at all they ways government applications made the identity management news last week:

Hungary Launches Biometric eIDs

Comelec Proceeds With Voter Deregistration Over Biometric Non-Compliance

Daon Tech Supports Peacebuilding Work in Somaliland

Vision-Box eGate Deployment Dramatically Reduces Screening Time

TSA PreCheck Enrollments Pass Two Million Mark

Security and Law Enforcement

Morpho (Safran) was contracted last week to provide biometric capabilities to the Victoria Police in Australia, deepening its 12 year relationship with the agency. Meanwhile, on a security level, we reported on a major deployment of Iris ID technology at the CERN facilities in Switzerland and learned how CCTV based biometrics are going to make this year’s Ardh Kumbh religious festival in India a safe ceremony.

Morpho Revamps Victoria Police Biometric Capabilities

Biometric Tech to Help Secure Hindu Festival

Iris ID Tech Secures CERN Facilities

Financial and Retail

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica is going to benefit from the use of facial recognition thanks to its recently announced contract with FacePhi. Meanwhile, new data about Apple Pay use has offered insights into how users are paying with biometrics. Looking ahead, NEC Corporation of America will be at week’s National Retail Federation Big Show this week in New York, showing off its biometric solutions for retail.

FacePhi Extends Presence in Costa Rican Banking Sector

Apple Pay Data Reveals Biometric Payment Insights

NEC to Showcase Facial Recognition Solutions for Retail at NRF16

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Stay posted to FindBiometrics throughout the week as we continue to bring you the best in identity management news. Be sure to follow us on Twitter so you don’t miss a thing.

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January 18, 2015 – by Peter B. Counter