ABIS provider Griaule Biometrics has been in the business for many years and boasts of having the biggest, most experienced team of biometrics experts in the Southern Hemisphere. With its highly certified technology, the company offers biometric systems for major, large-scale deployments; and with a recently-opened office in West Virginia, home of the FBI’s Biometric Technology Center, the company is poised for expansion.
FindBiometrics President Peter O’Neill recently had the opportunity to speak with Griaule Biometrics CEO Iron Daher on his company’s positioning in a changing market, the challenges of big data, and Griaule’s aims going forward.
Peter O’Neill, President, FindBiometrics: Can you please provide our readers with a brief background of your company?
Iron Daher, CEO, Griaule: The company started fifteen years ago. We used to provide fingerprint authentication software for system integrators. We evolved our algorithm and received FBI and NIST certifications. In 2006 we ranked first as the most precise algorithm for fingerprint verification in the FVC, the European competition. Now we specialize in large scale biometric systems for governments, banks and healthcare. Today we have offices the United States and in Brazil and we provide biometric software for system integrators and customers in about 70 countries worldwide.
FB: You mentioned a few of verticals markets that you are focusing on; national ID, big data biometrics, are you also focusing on any enterprise solutions?
G: Our large scale identification market is usually government focusing on integration, identification like voting id’s, passports and driver licences. But banks are using more and more biometrics today so we have been providing technology for banks and financial institutions like credit cards especially for mobile identification.
FB: That is a big market. I just returned from the first Money20/20 Europe FinTech event in Copenhagen. It was very well attended and HSBC was on my panel there and the question that I asked them was exactly that. They are very pro utilizing biometrics to help them in the next few years.
Has this been a good year for your company?
G: Yes, for sure. We have been mostly replacing legacy ABIS systems because of our new and improved architecture relates well with the large scale challenges of today. We are really busy with all the projects and opportunities we are having.
FB: Tell us about big data ABIS?
G: The existing ABIS were not planned for the amount of data we’re handling right now. Biometric databases of with tens of millions of people, millions of transactions, thousands of simultaneous access across hundreds of locations, sometimes worldwide. The solution is rethinking how you manage the biometric information, using approaches that have been proved to handle large amounts of data. Doesn’t matter if it’s on premise or cloud based, it’s our architecture that allows us to do better, with more availability, security and speed. The sooner the market takes action regarding this paradigm shift, the less money will be invested in dated technologies.
FB: Griaule delivered one of the largest ABIS in the world, with fingerprints and face. Please tell us about this.
G: When the Electoral Court in Brazil started looking for an ABIS solution, we knew that we had to get it. It was a tough competition, but our technical strengths spoke loudly. Our solution provides deduplication, authentication, business process management, business intelligence, in an open architecture for 160 million voters.
FB: Is there a particular area in the world where you are seeing the greatest success?
G: There are a lot of opportunities, but the country where we see the most opportunity is the United States, especially with system integrators and federal government agencies. We need to pay attention to these opportunities but also to banks. In the United States they are starting to use biometrics to add security to their transactions.
FB: Will you be attending the Global Identity Summit in Tampa this September?
G: Yes, we have a booth there and we welcome anyone to come visit us and get more information about our technology. As well, contact us anytime or contact our new office in West Virginia.
FB: Thank you for speaking with us today and I look forward to seeing you at the Global Identity Summit.
G: Thank you very much Peter.
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