New SAFR Partnership Opens Door to Important China Market

“Homtar says it will launch the first trial of SAFR in Shenzhen within a month’s time.”

A new partnership offer RealNetworks a pipeline to the China market for its SAFR facial recognition platform: The company has teamed up with Shenzhen Homtar High-Tech Co., which will work with its partner Shenzhen Wiseme Electronics Co. to launch SAFR in the China market.

The distribution partnership could prove to be a major business boon to RealNetworks, which posted an increased year-over-year net loss in its recent Q3 update, but has seen improved sequential results after launched its facial recognition system this past summer. Facial recognition technology is highly popular in China with respect to government and commercial interests; facing little of the constitutional restrictions or civil resistance that the technology has faced in the West, facial recognition technology has proliferated across Chinese society in recent years.

Commenting on the partnership in a statement, Homtar Corp. Chairperson Lin Luhua asserted, “Through the development of localized applications, we will bring safer and more efficient products to our partners.”

Homtar says it will launch the first trial of SAFR in Shenzhen within a month’s time. Going forward, the RealNetworks and Homtar say they will collaborate on further commercial applications for SAFR “including VIP identification, retail analytics, secure area monitoring, live data collection, visitor IDs and screenings, and digital signatures.”

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December 4, 2018 – by Alex Perala